Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Monday, June 9th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Community Foundation, who asks you to give back to the place you call home. "5 to thrive" is YOUR opportunity to leave a legacy for generations to come. Support the community nonprofits you care about with a gift through the Wyoming Community Foundation. Visit wycf.org to learn more.

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The days of Wyoming bursting at the seams with nearly a half-million mule deer are long gone and aren't coming back.

That's what an official with Wyoming's Game and Fish department told outdoors reporter Mark Heinz. According to the latest available number from 2024 counts, Wyoming's mule deer population is sitting about 50% below the Game and Fish Department's objective for the species.

"The numbers peaked at about half a million mule deer in Wyoming in the like the 60s through 80s. That was like the golden age of mule deer… We're down to about 213,000 mule deer in Wyoming now, which is fewer than what game and fish would like to see on the landscape… human development, whether it be subdivisions or energy projects, whatever, that disrupts mule deer migration routes… Another thing that kills a lot of them is roadkill getting hit on the highways. Mule Deer are by far the most commonly struck large animal in Wyoming."

Other factors influencing the decline in mule deer numbers include weather-related problems such as drought and winterkill, competition with other species, disease and predation.

Read the full story HERE.

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Wildlife photographers Rob and Jennifer Gunderson have seen a lot of questionable behavior over the years in Yellowstone.

But on Tuesday, when the couple was celebrating their 20th anniversary with a visit to Yellowstone National Park, they told Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi that they captured an increasingly common incident of dangerous behavior in Yellowstone.

"It was their first time in Yellowstone in decades, and they were joking about the fact that people can be that foolish in the park, but they didn't think that they'd ever see anything like that with their own eyes… that nobody could be that reckless with their lives, let alone their children's lives, while they're in the park. And yet it played out right in front of them. They saw this, and it's not just one woman with one toddler. If you look in the video, there are several mothers with very young children. One's holding an infant well within the 25 yard boundary that the park asks that you keep between yourself and bison. And it's just very fortunate for them that the bison was patient, because had it decided it was having a bad day, we might not just be talking about injuries, there could have been fatalities."

While seemingly placid most of the time, bison are aggressive, multi-ton wild animals that are decidedly not child-friendly. Approaching a bison is one of the most dangerous decisions anyone can make in Yellowstone.

Read the full story HERE.

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Ernest Hemingway did some of his best writing in Big Horn, Wyoming, at the historic Spear Ranch, which he prized for its solitude and s