Wyoming
Cowboy State Daily Video News: Monday, May 6, 2024
It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming! I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom, for Monday, May 6th.
Upon hearing the phrase “air-dropping grizzlies,” a layperson’s mind might go wild with images of huge, roaring bears parachuting from the sky.
The reality isn’t quite that crazy, but outdoors reporter Mark Heinz says if all goes as planned, perhaps some Wyoming grizzlies could find themselves slung under helicopters, in a drug-induced stupor, on the last leg of their journey to a new home in Washington state.
“If anybody ever saw the movie Operation Dumbo drop, where they dropped an elephant with a parachute, it’s not going to be that fun. It’s pretty mundane, basically it just means they’re going – just as they would move grizzlies into some areas with trucks, it’s the same thing, except they use an aircraft. So the grizzly is put inside a cage or container – they’re tranquilized, of course, and then put inside a cage or container of some sort. And then they’re taken by aircraft to the location, and then allowed to wake up and get their bearings a little bit and then released. So sorry, folks, if you thought I was gonna have a story about Grizzlies dropping from the sky in parachutes.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies have said that air-dropping bears will likely be the preferred method of getting new grizzlies to remote locations in Washington’s North Cascades Ecosystem.
Hot Springs State Park is the most visited state park in Wyoming. The state of Wyoming recently asked potential investors to dream big about the park’s future,
and Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the state is willing to put a large chunk of money behind any improvements.
“The state is proposing to spend about $25 million there on upgrades, but that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to what its selected partner, Wyoming LLC, would be putting into the park. Their punch list includes really big projects – reconstructing the Hot Springs Hotel so that it has a convention center, positioning that so that the rooms, the motel rooms face the river instead of the parking lot. They’d reconstruct the teepee pools and turn that into kind of an adult oriented Wellness Center. The Star Plunge would keep its mid century historic theme, but it would get a poolside diner, kid friendly water features like slides and swimming pools. And then some of the other things they talked about possibly doing – adding a drive in theater, a brew pub, you know, the specific details of that are going to be worked out in upcoming negotiations. They’ll have to sign a long term lease with the state in order to do the project.”
The park has long laid claim to being the world’s largest mineral hot springs, and draws upward of 1.2 million to 1.9 million visitors a year.
The Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site, located near Hyattville in the Bighorn Basin, just completed the installation of a first-of-its-kind educational experience. And Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi says it’s a mind-blowing integration of technology and culture that immerses visitors in thousands of years of indigenous history through seasons, sights and sound.
“At medicine Lodge, they felt they were telling the story of the archeology, the history, and the wildlife that are there now, but they didn’t really have a way to tell the cultural story. And the culture of medicine lodge goes back for 1000s upon 1000s of years. So the cultural experience is just that it’s an experience. It’s not a museum exhibit, or like anything else that a lot of people probably experienced because the best way to experience culture is to have culture experience with you with the people who created it. And that’s exactly what the cultural experience is. It’s been several years in the making. And it’s an entirely unique thing and Wyoming possibly the United States because it lets the culture tell its own story.”
The Medicine Lodge Cultural Experience will officially open to visitors later this spring.
A local effort to establish passenger trail service connecting Cheyenne to Colorado’s Front Range may seem a pipe dream to some, but an effort to make it happen has been gaining momentum, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson.
“Supporters of this project have been coordinating with the Front Range passenger rail project to kind of try to kind of hop on to that effort, which is basically a rail service that would connect Fort Collins through Denver and south to Pueblo. They are hoping in Cheyenne that there could be an extension built on to this project to connect Cheyenne to Fort Collins. It’s a really interesting effort and one that is possibly gaining steam, especially considering there’s going to be a ballot initiative going before the Colorado voters this November, that would provide a significant amount of funding for the rail line through a tax if if it is passed by the voters, which would really open up a door for the Cheyenne extension on the project.”
Under the best case scenario, the project would still be three to five years off, but Wolfson says supporters are trying to explore different options for different carriers, which could include Amtrak.
Updates to the Biden administration’s Western Solar Plan would allow more streamlined development of utility scale solar farms in Wyoming, which means more money being invested in solar farms here. But critics feel the Bureau of Land Management, which would oversee the project, isn’t considering all the options, according to energy reporter Pat Maio.
“They feel that the BLM is overlooking what is called distributed generation. So what is that? That is, like solar panels on parking canopies on tops of roofs of buildings. Suggestions are being made to build solar farms on top of abandoned coal mines, things of that sort. That’s distributed generation. The BLM doesn’t seem to be considering that, though – they seem to be kind of moving in a different direction where they would just build these huge agrivoltaic farms, you know, that would involve maybe sheep grazing underneath the panels and so forth, and cattle too.”
The plan is meant to serve as a road map for solar development in areas where the BLM doesn’t think dangers will be posed to local habitats.
Stacy Boisseau and her daughters have been the first in line to enter Yellowstone National Park through the East Entrance on opening day of the summer season for six years running. She did it again Friday, and Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi was there.
“Stacey and her daughters thought, why not be the first family in the park? And it’s just a tradition that they’ve kept going. And they say, they don’t plan on doing it every year. They like doing it every year, but it’s kind of an impulsive decision. They just decide a couple days before if they want to do it, and then they pack up the car, make all their plans and head up there. They won’t give me exactly the time that they get there to make sure they are there first but they get there early. And it is a long night in the chilly region of the east entrance. But they do it, not be to be first – they do it because it’s a fun tradition that they’ve developed, where they get to spend time with and enjoy each other, as a family wants to do.”
There will be a time when Boisseau and her family won’t be at the front of the line. But for one more year, they were together with an empty road in front of them, soon filled with more laughter and memories.
And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming’s only statewide newspaper by hitting the subscribe button on cowboystatedaily.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel! I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
Radio Stations
The following radio stations are airing Cowboy State Daily Radio on weekday mornings, afternoons and evenings. More radio stations will be added soon.
KYDT 103.1 FM – Sundance
KBFS 1450 AM — Sundance
KYCN 1340 AM / 92.7 FM — Wheatland
KZEW 101.7 FM — Wheatland
KANT 104.1 FM — Guernsey
KZQL 105.5 FM — Casper
KMXW 92.5 FM — Casper
KBDY 102.1 FM — Saratoga
KTGA 99.3 FM — Saratoga
KJAX 93.5 FM — Jackson
KZWY 106.3 FM — Sheridan
KROE 930 AM / 103.9 FM — Sheridan
KWYO 1410 AM / 106.9 FM — Sheridan
KYOY 92.3 FM Hillsdale-Cheyenne / 106.9 FM Cheyenne
KRAE 1480 AM — Cheyenne
KDLY 97.5 FM — Lander
KOVE 1330 AM — Lander
KZMQ 100.3/102.3 FM — Cody, Powell, Medicine Wheel, Greybull, Basin, Meeteetse
KKLX 96.1 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep, Greybull
KCGL 104.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin, Lovell, Clark, Red Lodge, MT
KTAG 97.9 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin
KCWB 92.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin
KVGL 105.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Basin, Ten Sleep
KODI 1400 AM / 96.7 FM — Cody, Powell, Lovell, Basin, Clark, Red Lodge
KWOR 1340 AM / 104.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep
KREO 93.5 FM — Sweetwater and Sublette Counties
KGOS 1490 AM — Goshen County
KERM 98.3 FM — Goshen County
Check with individual radio stations for airtime of the newscasts.
LARAMIE — Nasir Meyer converted a three-point play with 35 seconds remaining to give Wyoming Cowboys men’s basketball the lead for good, and Wyoming held Air Force Falcons men’s basketball scoreless over the final two minutes to secure a 66-62 victory Saturday night.
The win marked the 13th home victory of the season for Wyoming, which improved to 16-13 overall and 7-11 in conference play.
“Air Force deserves all the credit and let’s talk about a team that has every reason not to fight, but thats why they are Air Force and the cadets and I have a lot of respect for them,” Wyoming coach Sundance Wicks said. “They were not going to quit, and I didn’t drive that message home enough and hats off to Air Force because they deserved to win. We snuck away with a win. Adam Harakow showed when we need him and he was massive for us. Simm-Marten was made big plays and Naz was clutch for us late.”
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Wyoming shot 35% from the field and went 7 of 28 from 3-point range, making just two from beyond the arc in the second half. Air Force shot 49% overall and 44% from 3, hitting eight shots from long distance. The Cowboys made 13 of 16 free throws (81%) and scored 22 points off 15 Air Force turnovers while holding a 39-36 edge in rebounding.
Damarion Dennis led Wyoming with 16 points and three assists, going 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Meyer finished with 14 points and tied a career best with eight rebounds. Adam Harakow added 14 points off the bench on 5-of-6 shooting, his first double-figure scoring game since the first meeting with Air Force. Simm-Marten Saadi had nine points in 13 minutes, and Kiani Saxon grabbed seven rebounds.
Air Force opened with back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 6-0 lead. Meyer scored Wyoming’s first basket, and Leland Walker added a 3-pointer to make it 8-5 with 16 minutes left in the first half.
Wyoming responded with a 9-0 run over nearly four minutes, with Saadi and Harakow each connecting from beyond the arc to give the Cowboys an 11-8 lead with under 14 minutes remaining. Air Force regained a 12-11 advantage as Wyoming went scoreless for more than two minutes.
Harakow’s second 3-pointer pushed the lead to 22-16 with nine minutes left in the half, and Wyoming used a 6-0 run while holding the Falcons without a field goal for more than four minutes to build a 28-18 lead with six minutes remaining. The Cowboys closed the half on a defensive stand, keeping Air Force scoreless for the final two minutes to take a 35-25 lead into the break. Wyoming scored 15 first-half points off turnovers.
The teams traded 3-pointers early in the second half, and Air Force cut the deficit to 40-31 with under 17 minutes left before trimming it to seven 90 seconds later. Walker answered with a 3-pointer to make it 43-33 with 15 minutes to go.
Air Force used a 9-0 run during a stretch in which Wyoming went more than 3 1/2 minutes without a point to pull within one with nine minutes left. The Falcons later tied the game at 51-51 with 5:30 remaining after forcing six straight missed shots.
A pair of free throws by Meyer and a basket from Saadi gave Wyoming a 57-53 lead with under four minutes to play. Air Force answered with three consecutive 3-pointers from Kam Sanders to take a 62-59 lead with two minutes left.
Meyer scored with 90 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to one. On the next trip, he converted an and-one to give Wyoming a 64-62 lead with 35 seconds left. The Cowboys added late free throws to close out the 66-62 win.
Sanders led Air Force with 16 points and nine rebounds, going 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Eli Robinson added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Wyoming closes its home schedule Tuesday against Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball at 8 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the Cowgirls.
The 2-time defending champ Tongue River girls, along with both teams from Big Horn will represent Sheridan County in the small school version of March Madness.
Click here to see results from the regional tournaments.
2A Boys:
First Round:
Thursday, March 5th: (All games played at Casper College)
(#2E) Big Horn vs. (#3W) Shoshoni – Noon
(#1W) Thermopolis vs. (#4E) Sundance – 1:30pm
(#2W) Wyoming Indian vs. (#3E) Wright – 6:30pm
(#1E) Pine Bluffs vs. (#4W) Rocky Mountain – 8pm
Friday, March 6th: (All games played at Ford Wyoming Center)
Consolation Round:
Big Horn/Shoshoni loser vs. Thermopolis/Sundance loser – Noon LOSER OUT!
Wyoming Indian/Wright loser vs. Pine Bluffs/Rocky Mountain loser – 1:30pm LOSER OUT!
Semi-Finals:
Big Horn/Shoshoni winner vs. Thermopolis/Sundance winner – 6:30pm
Wyoming Indian/Wright winner vs. Pine Bluffs/Rocky Mountain winner – 8pm
Saturday, March 7th:
Friday Noon winner vs. Friday 1:30pm – Noon at Ford Wyoming Center Consolation Championship
Friday 6:30pm loser vs. Friday 8pm loser – 3pm at Natrona County High School 3rd Place
Friday 6:30pm winner vs. Friday 8pm winner – 7pm at Ford Wyoming Center Championship
2A Girls:
First Round:
Thursday, March 5th: (All games played at Casper College)
(#2W) Wyoming Indian vs. (#3E) Big Horn – 9am
(#1E) Sundance vs. (#4W) Shoshoni – 10:30am
(#2E) Tongue River vs. (#3W) Greybull – 3:30pm
(#1W) Thermopolis vs. (#4E) Pine Bluffs – 5pm
Friday, March 6th: (All games played at Ford Wyoming Center)
Consolation Round:
Wyoming Indian/Big Horn loser vs. Sundance/Shoshoni loser – 9am LOSER OUT!
Tongue River/Greybull loser vs. Thermopolis/Pine Bluffs loser – 10:30am LOSER OUT!
Semi-Finals:
Wyoming Indian/Big Horn winner vs. Sundance/Shoshoni winner – 3:30pm
Tongue River/Greybull loser vs. Thermopolis/Pine Bluffs loser – 5pm
Saturday, March 7th:
Friday 9am winner vs. Friday 10:30am winner – 9am at Ford Wyoming Center Consolation Championship
Friday 3:30pm loser vs. Friday 5pm loser – 10:30am at Ford Wyoming Center 3rd Place
Friday 3:30pm winner vs. Friday 5pm winner – 5:30pm at Ford Wyoming Center Championship
Mention of bird hunting might conjure up images of hunters and their dogs huddling in freezing duck blinds or pounding the brush in hopes of kicking up pheasants. But crow hunting is a thing in Wyoming too.
“It’s about the sport of it,” Dan Kinneman of Riverton told Cowboy State Daily.
He started crow hunting when he was 14 and is about to turn 85. He’s never tried cooking and eating crows or known anybody who has.
Instead, shooting crows is essentially nuisance bird control, as they’re known to wreak havoc on agricultural crops.
“All the ranchers will let you hunt crows. I’ve never been refused access to hunt crows. They all hate them,” he said.
In Wyoming, crow hunting season runs from Nov. 1 to Feb. 28. No license is required, and there’s no bag limit. Hunters can shoot all the crows they want to.
It’s a ball for hunting dogs too, Kinneman said.
“My yellow Labrador retriever, he doesn’t care whether it’s a crow or duck. In fact, he likes crow hunting more than duck hunting, because there’s more action,” he said.
Don’t Expect It To Be Easy
Kinneman said that in the days of his youth, crow hunting was as simple as driving around and “shooting them out of trees with rifles.”
However, as the number of people and buildings potentially in the paths of bullets grew, such practices fell out of favor. Crow hunting became more regulated.
And it evolved to resemble hunting other birds, such as waterfowl.
Meaning, hunters started setting out decoys, hiding in blinds and using calls to tempt crows to within shotgun range.
Kinneman is no stranger to hunting of all types. He’s taken numerous species of big game in Wyoming and elsewhere. And in July 2005, he shot a prairie dog near Rock Springs from well over a mile away.
He hit the prairie dog from 2,157 yards away. A mile is 1,760 yards.
But bird hunting has always been his favorite.
“It’s my life,” he said.
He has a huge collection of duck, goose and dove decoys. And two tubs full of crow decoys.
The uninitiated might think that going out and blasting crows would be a slam dunk.
That isn’t so, Kinneman said. He likes crow hunting for the challenge of it.
“Hunting crows is hard. They are a lot smarter than ducks and geese,” he said.
Pick Up After Yourself
Even though he doesn’t eat crows, Kinneman said he never just left them littering the ground where he shot them.
“I never let them lay out there. I always picked them up and disposed of the carcasses,” he said.
That’s good ethics and it shows respect for the ranchers, he said.
“Leaving them (dead crows) out there would be no different than just leaving all of your empty shotgun shells out there,” he said.
“You have to pick up after yourself, or the ranchers won’t let you back onto their land,” he added.
Slow Year
At his age, Kinneman isn’t sure how much longer he’ll be able to get out crow hunting. And this year has been a total bust.
“I love doing it. But this year there are no crows,” he said.
The Riverton area is along major crow migration routes.
Picking a good hunting spot is a matter of “finding a flyway” that the crows are on and then setting up a spread of decoys and a blind along the route.
But with an unusually warm winter, the crow flyways have been practically empty, he said.
Migrations Are Off Everywhere
Avid birdwatcher Lucas Fralick of Laramie said that warm, dry conditions much of this winter have knocked bird migrations out of whack.
“I do know that because of the weather, migrations are off all over the place,” he said.
One of his favorite species is the dark-eyed junco, a “small, sparrow-like bird,” he said.
They usually winter in the Laramie area and leave right around March. This year, they were gone by November, he said.
“They’re a cold-weather bird,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
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