Outdoors

An elk calf got entangled in some barbed wire over the weekend but thankfully a Wyoming ranch hand rescued it.

Hooray! Ranch Hand Rescues Squealing Elk Calf Entangled In Barbed Wire

An elk calf got entangled in barbed wire over the weekend at a ranch in southern Montana but thankfully a ranch hand from Buffalo, Wyoming, heard it squealing and rescued it. “We care about all of the wildlife living out here,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

Mark HeinzAugust 12, 2026

Black Bear Attacks Woman Hiking With Dogs Near Jackson, Hiking Trail Closed

A woman was hospitalized Monday after a presumed black bear attacked her while hiking with her dogs near Teton Pass. Game and Fish officials, who closed the trail, described the incident as a "defensive encounter."

Mark HeinzAugust 11, 2026

Yellowstone Tourists Watch As Rangers Use Kitchen Knives To Dismember Bison

A crowd gathered in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley on Monday as three rangers used kitchen knives to dismember a bison carcass. "They opened up her belly and backside to expose more flesh and blood for the predators to smell," one tour guide said.

Andrew RossiAugust 11, 2026

Angi Bruce's Resignation As Game and Fish Director Catches Sportsmen By Surprise

Wyoming sportsmen said the sudden resignation of Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce came as a surprise despite some misgivings about the department's direction. Bruce, the department's first female director, now has a job in the governor's office.

Mark HeinzAugust 10, 2026

Scarce Food Sources Could Put Bears In A Bind As They Seek Protein For Hibernation

Grizzlies are stuffing themselves with moths at higher elevations, but once the moths are gone food supplies could get scarce as bears move to lower elevations seeking protein for hibernation, one ecologist says. A poor chokecherry crop is one concern.

Mark HeinzAugust 10, 2026

Seminoe Reservoir in Carbon County is so low a proposed pumped-water storage project wouldn’t work and could devastate Wyoming's famus Miracle Mile trout fishery, opponents say. Scientists say they the North Platte to remain vulnerable to drought.

Critics Say Proposed Seminoe Power Project Won’t Have Enough Water

Seminoe Reservoir in Carbon County is so low a proposed pumped-water storage project wouldn’t work and could devastate Wyoming's famous Miracle Mile trout fishery, critics say. Scientists say the drought won't end any time soon.

Mark HeinzAugust 09, 2026

Vampire bats are expanding their range northward. A wildlife disease expert thinks they could start carrying chronic wasting disease, or CWD.

Biologists Concerned Vampire Bats Could Transmit Chronic Wasting Disease To Cattle, Humans

As vampire bats move north from Mexico and chronic wasting disease moves south from the Northern Rockies, a disease expert worries that the bats could start carrying the disease and transmitting them to cattle or even humans.

Mark HeinzAugust 08, 2026

A firefighter tends to a field of burning cheatgrass in Wyoming.

Cheatgrass An Nightmare For Wyoming Rangeland, Costing $110 Million In Losses

Cheatgrass has become a nightmare for Wyoming ranchers, costing an estimated $110 million in annual losses. Hot Springs rancher Chip Axtell estimates 20% of his own rangeland has been taken over by cheatgrass. “It grabs up all the moisture," he said.

Jackie DorothyAugust 08, 2026

"They just liked me," Pamela Chrisman said of the generations of wild moose that returned to her ranch.

Meet The Moose Whisperer: For 40 Years, Wild Moose Return To Her Big Piney Ranch

For nearly 40 years, generations of wild moose have returned to Fish Creek Ranch near Big Piney, Wyoming, where they trust Pamela Chrisman so much she can walk up and pet them. "This is kind of a safe haven for all those guys," she said.

Kolby FedoreAugust 08, 2026

Shonna Kaye Dehl of Lovell (foreground) and Maggie Bassett of Powell have camped in the Bighorn Mountains for years. Their camp was trashed by an aggressive black bear late July 5, 2026.

Game And Fish Kills Black Bear That Drove Women From Bighorns Camp, Shredded Tent

Wyoming Game and Fish wardens have killed a black bear that drove two women from their camp and shredded their tent in the Bighorn Mountains early last month. The bear likely was food-conditioned and continued to enter other camps through July.

Mark HeinzAugust 07, 2026

Mountain peaks border the Gros Ventre Wilderness in western Wyoming.

Conservationists To Sue Forest Service To Stop Cattle Grazing In Gros Ventre Range

Conservationists plan to sue the Forest Service to stop grazing on a part of Wyoming’s remote Gros Ventre Range. They say it will lead to grizzlies killing cattle and, in turn, wildlife agents killing the bears. A cattleman from the area disagrees.

Mark HeinzAugust 07, 2026

This bull bison, suffering with a massive abscess on his right rear quarter, was seen early Wednesday in the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park. (

Bison Rancher: Yellowstone Bull With Gigantic Abscess Will Be OK Once It Gushes

A massive abscess on a Yellowstone bull bison’s right rear quarter likely is the result of an infected wound from a rut battle. When it ruptures, “a 5-gallon bucketful of stuff” will gush out, a top bison rancher says, adding the bison should be fine.

Mark HeinzAugust 06, 2026

A pack of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park.

Hageman Says Wolf Delisting Bill Stalled By ‘Elitist East Coast Politicians’

A bill to delist wolves across the Lower 48 co-sponsored by Wyoming U.S. Sens. Barrasso and Lummis was blocked by a New Jersey Democrat. Rep. Hageman on Wednesday blasted "elitist East Coast politicians' continued objections to common-sense proposals.”

Mark HeinzAugust 05, 2026

A barred owl, inset, with a group of spotted owls.

Feds Continue With Plan To Save Spotted Owls By Killing Nearly 500,000 Other Owls

A federal campaign to kill nearly a half-million barred owls in the Pacific Northwest to save threatened spotted owls continues, even though recent lifting of protections for spotted owl habitat defeats the entire purpose, an animal welfare advocate says.

Mark HeinzAugust 05, 2026

Judge Who Tossed Oil And Gas Leases Declines To Let New Case Move To Wyoming

A Montana U.S. District Court Judge who threw out 1.5 million acres of Wyoming oil and gas leases due to sage-grouse concerns has declined a request to send a newer case to Wyoming. "Wyoming provides no authority” for its argument, he wrote.

Clair McFarlandAugust 04, 2026

Sublette County residents came out mostly against a proposed 18-mile mountain bike trail network near Pinedale on Tuesday, telling the county commission it would harm a vital migration route for the prized Sublette mule deer herd.

Sublette Residents Say Mountain Bike Trails Would Harm Famed Mule Deer Migration

Sublette County residents came out mostly against proposed mountain biking trails near Pinedale on Tuesday, telling commissioners they worry about harming a vital migration corridor for some 20,000 mule deer. Proponents say the trails won't overlap.

Mark HeinzAugust 04, 2026

Ranger Who Quit Over Trump Policies Calls Removing Grand Teton Placard Censorship

A Park Service ranger who quit over Trump's policies says removing a placard at the Grand Teton visitor center about a massacre of Blackfeet was censorship. A retired ranger from Wyoming says Trump's just doing away with years of “woke” misguidance.

Mark HeinzAugust 03, 2026

Search and rescue volunteers in Big Horn County cover more than 3,100 square miles that range from desert badlands to towering alpine peaks, caves and swift mountain rivers.

Big Horn County Search & Rescue Calls Nearly Quadruple While Funding Slashed

Big Horn County Search & Rescue is second only to Teton County in calls due to booming tourism and uniquely rugged and remote terrain leading to the high-risk missions. But as demand for rescues have quadrupled, the agency's budget has been cut in half.

Kate MeadowsAugust 03, 2026

100-Foot ‘Fire Devil’ Spirals Out Of Control In Eastern Idaho Wildfire

A wildfire watcher observing the Big Draw Fire in eastern Idaho on Sunday captured video of a spiraling tower of flame rising more than 100 feet into the air. "Fire devils" are created when flames reach high enough that they swirl.

Andrew RossiAugust 03, 2026

Bruno has long been one of the most dominant male grizzlies in Grand Teton National Park, but fans are saying that he’s looking past his prime.

End Of An Era: Grand Teton's Favorite Mighty Grizzly, Bruno, Is Getting Old

For years, a huge male grizzly called Bruno was one of the brawniest bears in Grand Teton National Park. But at roughly age 22, Bruno is past his prime and those who routinely watch him are saying he's gotten thinner and "is on the downhill side."

Mark HeinzAugust 03, 2026

Smoke from the Left Creek Fire southwest of Devils Tower on Saturday in a photo by Jennifer Pierson and shared by Crook County Fire.

‘Really Scary’: Devils Tower Reopens As Two Wildfires Burn Nearby

After getting bookended by a pair of wildfires that prompted the closure of Devils Tower over the weekend, it reopened again Monday as the fires continue to burn. “It was really scary,” said Ogden Driskill, whose ranch is impacted.

Greg JohnsonAugust 03, 2026

Devils Tower National Monument continues to be closed as a wildfire burning just southwest of the monument’s boundary has so far consumed nearly 300 acres without containment. “This is genuinely serious,” observed a nearby camper.

Second Wildfire Breaks Out Near Devils Tower, Monument Still Closed

Just as firefighters seemed to be getting a handle on a nearly 300-acre fire burning just outside the southwest boundary of a closed Devils Tower, another fire erupted to the southeast Sunday. “It sucks,” was the blunt assessment from a county official.

Greg JohnsonAugust 02, 2026

‘This Is Genuinely Serious’: Race On To Contain Wildfire That Closed Devils Tower

Devils Tower National Monument continues to be closed as a wildfire burning just southwest of the monument’s boundary has so far consumed nearly 300 acres without containment. “This is genuinely serious,” observed a nearby camper.