Wolves have blown elk off western Wyoming’s elk feedgrounds on numerous occasions – it’s something that we’ve come to expect with Wyoming’s protected wolf population. Jim and I learned about the 19 elk that had been killed in one night by a wolf pack on an elk feedground in the northern portion of the county …
Author: Cat Urbigkit
Old Mama
She’s not much to look at, some cross between livestock guardian dog breeds. Born on the range to working guardians, she’s lived all her 10+ years of life there, migrating with the flocks from the sagebrush-covered low country in winter, to the high country of the Wind River Mountains as the flocks move for summer …
Playing with Food
Because sometimes it’s fun to play with your food – a coyote in western Wyoming this morning.
Winter tension
My cell phone rang just as I was stepping out the door to fork some hay to the sheep in the -10 degree nip of the morning. It was our local large carnivore biologist calling to give me a heads-up about a pack of wolves roaming just outside our sheep pasture. Apparently state wildlife officials …
In the Hawk Pasture
What I call the “hawk pasture” is an open hay meadow tucked into the foothills of Wyoming’s southern Wind River Mountains. Irrigation water and a water gap for cattle provide a draw for a variety of wildlife, but this year the birds that have taken over, including sandhill cranes, sage grouse, a pair of Northern …
Curs On Coyotes
We parked the truck under the crest of the ridge and the two yellow female curs jumped from the cab to the ground, sniffing around unconcernedly for ground squirrels. Jeff quietly called the dogs back to the truck so he could snap electronic collars onto their necks. The girls remained quiet and seemed calm, but …
Spring Reds
This seems to be the spring for red fox in western Wyoming. It’s not that we have more of them, but we’ve got a few litters that have been more visible than usual. Fortunately they aren’t near our lambing grounds, so they aren’t in areas where conflicts would be expected. I spotted six kits at …
Black Marmots
This dark marmot lives in Grand Teton National Park, and the more typical colored one below lives 100 miles north in Yellowstone National Park. A melanistic population of yellow-bellied marmots have persisted in the Tetons for more than 80 years, with 15-23% of the population consisting of these “black marmots.”
Spring’s Arrival
A pair of sandhill cranes arrive for breakfast every morning, slowly striding across the green sweep of ground where we’ve fed the sheep flock the day before. They appear in the early dawn, and I step out the back door to quietly call out my wishes for a good morning. The cranes respond with their …
Settling In For Winter
Our fenceline marks the border of the Mesa big game winter range. It’s located south of Pinedale, Wyoming and is closed to motorized traffic from Jan. 1 through April 30 every year so that the mule deer and pronghorn antelope can spend winter days free from disturbance. This 76,000-acre range covers the broad expanse between …