More Cougars with some Wolves thrown in

I’ve said it before and I’ll write it again:  animals present themselves to you, not the other way around.  And for the last six months, cougars are what have been presenting themselves to me to learn about. If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve seen that cougars have been constantly coming into my awareness now [...]

Wolves, cougars, and the little woods

There is so much wildlife activity in the little piece of woods and meadows next to my home that I don’t need to venture much farther than ‘around the block’.  Sometimes just sitting on my front patio is enough. Besides the nesting bluebirds and house wrens, the red-tailed hawk making its’ rounds, and the pair [...]

Last chance to have your voice heard on Wyomings’ wolf delisting plan

Comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding Wyoming’s wolf delisting plan MUST be received within a 100 days on or before January 13, 2012.  This is our last chance to be heard regarding this plan.  I sent a letter to Wyoming Game and Fish before the comment closing date which was on a Thursday. [...]

What is the wolf experience?

Wolf hunts are going on right now.  I recently read that in Montana you can shoot a wolf, tag it, and walk away, leaving the carcass to rot on the ground.  In Idaho, the wolf hunt is practically year round with no legal limits.  Idaho’s first legal wolf trapping season is about to begin.  They [...]

Kye Oh Tay

The notion of the trickster and the culture hero, together, is fascinating to me.   Around the West, coyote was the hero of these tales.  In the Northeast it was Raven, and in the South and Eastern United States it was hare and rabbit. But what is a trickster?  And what is a culture hero? [...]

Wolves, Scouts and a new beginning–The Wyoming Wolf Management Plan

I’ve been filling my ears with Jon Young’s ‘Advanced Bird Language’ CD’s.  If you don’t know Jon Young, he’s an expert tracker and naturalist.   On tape 7, something caught my attention that’s so pertinent to what’s about to occur in Wyoming. Native Americans considered wolves their brothers.  Many tribes called their scouts ‘wolves’.  The [...]

Coyote as Creator

Several weeks ago, while botanizing, I noticed a dead-end steep drainage with a series of picturesque hoodoos.  It drew me and I decided to hike up and explore.  The drainage was thin and narrow with steep sides, so I was following up the bottom.  Although the nearby creek was full of run-off, this little tributary [...]

Moose, wolves, and a false spring

Yesterday was another glorious early spring day.  Some friends came up and we took a drive north towards Crandall and beyond, as far as the road is plowed.  The lonely 11 or so miles between Pilot Creek, a parking pull-out for snowmobilers, and the NE entrance to the Park won’t be open for another 5 [...]

“Wolfer”

I’ve just finished a great read.  Carter Niemeyer’s new memoir Wolfer.  I’d say its a must for anyone living in the West, or anyone interested in the conflicts around wolves. Niemeyer tells his story of growing up in Iowa, learning how to trap.  He trapped for a living, got his masters in biology, then took [...]

Shapeshifter

This is a great documentary, free online, by Canadian Geographic on coyotes.  Humans have been trying to eradicate coyotes for years, unsuccessfully.  In fact, whereas coyotes were confined to a small area of the West a hundred years ago, now they are ubiquitous, all over North America, from cities to suburbs, on islands and the [...]