Getting video of a grizzly mother and cub fighting over food, practically within arm’s reach, seemed cool enough to share on social media for a Cody man, but he didn’t expect it to catch fire.

“It was funny. It was just a typical day at work for me. I had no idea it was going to blow up like that,” Ryan Aune told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday afternoon.

It’s easy to see why it did. From inside the cab of his truck, Aune had his camera running when the sow and cub burst through the underbrush next to the road, each with their jaws clamped tight on some sort of carcass. They were fighting over control of the food even while on the move. Another cub runs alongside them.

Both bears are vocalizing while trying to get the meat from the other, an example that while grizzly mommas take good care of their cubs, they don’t always share. And it’s a lesson for the cub that as an apex predator, it takes what it needs.

The video, which he posted Wednesday, already had more than 1.2 million views on Facebook by Thursday afternoon.

“That’s what it’s like living in Wyoming. What you think is normal is insane to other people,” said Aune, who owns Wyoming Wings & Waters guide service.

Reaction to the video has been mostly positive, although there have been some peanut gallery comments, he said.

“Somebody commented something like, ‘Great filming, said no one, ever.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Sure, you try being right next to grizzlies fighting and not flinch,” Aune said.

He took the video at 5:50 a.m. Wednesday alongside the highway between Cub Creek and Lake Butte in Yellowstone National Park, as he was on his way to meet a fishing client.

It wasn’t his first close encounter with grizzlies. In 2019, Aune shot and killed a grizzly with birdshot from just a few feet away when it charged him near the Clarks Fork River.

Wildlife agents investigated the shooting and cleared it as a case legitimate self-defense, but Aune said the experience still made him sad.

‘I Could Feel Every Little Bit Of It’

Aune frequently drives into Yellowstone through the East Gate early in morning, so he’s used to seeing grizzlies and other wildlife along the way.

When he spotted some grizzlies coming out of the cover right next to the highway, he decided it was worth pulling over and maybe get some video.

“It was like, ‘Oh, there’s bears, it looks like they’re playing. No, wait, they’re fighting over something,’” he said.

By time he his rig pulled over and he rolled down his window to shoot video on his smartphone, the grizzlies had retreated into the trees and brush. But he started recording anyway, just in case.

“All of the sudden, there comes momma grizzly out of the trees, straight at me,” Aune said.

And the cubs were right with her. One cub just seemed to be following along.

The other was tussling violently with its mother over a scrap of food.

Exactly what it was they were fighting over, Aune isn’t sure.

“I think it was a marmot, but I’m not sure. I was more focused on safety at that point,” he said.

The mother grizzly and cub didn’t appear to be trying to hurt each other, but each was tugging mightily at the tasty treat, not wanting the other to get it.

They were growling and huffing ferociously.

The trio of bears was maybe 15 feet away from his open window.

“I could feel the sound in my body. I could feel every bit of it,” Aune said.

The bears were completely caught up in what they were doing and didn’t seem to notice Aune or his truck.

“I’ve got a 2022 F-350, which is very noticeable,” he said.

After a few seconds of mighty struggle, the video ends with the cub claiming the prize and running back into the cover, with its mother and sibling close behind.

After viewing the video, Wyoming Game and Fish Large Carnivore Specialist Dan Thompson said it appeared to be a typical case of grizzlies struggling over who got the last bite.

But whether the cub ultimately prevailed remains unknown, he told Cowboy State Daily.

“It looks to me like they’re having a tussle over the last scrap of food at the table, and junior won … for now,” he said.

2019 Encounter Ending In Shooting

Aune said that Wednesday’s encounter gave him “flashbacks” to nearly being mauled in 2019.

He and his father were bird hunting along the Clarks Fork River one November day.

“We had just gotten finished burying a great bird dog, and we were just trying to make a bummer of a day into a good day by going hunting in that dog’s honor,” he said.

Aune was in what he described as a “tunnel of trees” near the river when he heard his father yell, “grizzly!”

He heard some thrashing, and a grizzly cub appeared out of the cover in front of him. He shouted at it, and the cub turned to run toward the river.

“I turned to my left, and there was momma grizzly not about 10 feet from me,” he said. “I had nowhere to go, and I just started shooting.”

His semiautomatic Berretta 12-gauge was loaded with No. 6 birdshot. Those are small pellets made to knock upland gamebirds out of the air, not to take down angry grizzlies.

But at near point-blank range, the pattern was so bunched up that each blast hit almost like single projectile.

The bear was standing when Aune opened fire, and the first two shots hit it in the upper chest and neck area.

The bear dropped to all fours and tried to charge, but the third blast “went right through the skull” and instantly killed it, Aune said.

He left the bear’s carcass and the empty shotgun shell hulls right where they fell so game agents could investigate the scene.

It’s illegal to shoot a grizzly in the Lower 48, unless it’s in self-defense. Investigators must be called to the scene as soon as possible.

Though he was cleared of any wrongdoing, and the bear appeared to have already been in poor bodily condition, Aune said killing the grizzly weighed heavily on him.

He was particularly saddened by orphaning the cub.

“It took me a while to get over that,” he said.

He hopes that any future encounters with grizzlies will involve photos and video, not gunfire.

“I don’t wish that feeling on anyone. What you feel like when you have to kill something to save your own life,” he said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, July 26th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom – brought to you by Wyoming Senior Olympics, reminding you that this year’s Summer Olympics start July 31st in Cheyenne – and volunteers are needed! Become a volunteer today at Wyoming senior Olympics dot org.

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The body of a man found wrapped in a tarp and left at the Mirror Lake Recreation Area in Albany County, Wyoming, in early July has been identified as a 56-year-old Colorado man whose death is being investigated as a homicide.

Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that the former “John Doe” who was found with no identification has been identified as James Bitner of Blackhawk, Colorado.

“Law enforcement are being very tight lipped in this case. And that’s not uncommon, but it’s very tight lipped. And I do know, there weren’t any details that either the coroner or sheriff would share about this case at all, except about how the body was identified, and that was through his fingerprints. I will tell you, there’s a lot going on here in terms of the agencies involved. They have Wyoming State Police, Albany County Sheriff, and they also have three agencies in Colorado, including their state police.” 

The discovery of Bitner’s body over the Fourth of July weekend shut down the popular Snow Range picnic and fishing site near the base of Medicine Bow Peak for two days as law enforcement investigated the scene.

Read the full story HERE.

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A campaign organization run by former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney has been actively paying into and receiving donations through a Democratic fundraising platform this year.

Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the mission of her group, named “Our Great Task,” is to unite Republicans, Democrats and Independents in a combined effort to ensure that, quote, “Donald Trump and those who have enabled him are defeated.”

“Our Great TAsk has been utilizing a Democrat fundraising platform called Act Blue… Act Blue basically acts as kind of an intermediate, like middleman to allow people to kind of donate to her group and other groups through them… what’s interesting, though, is Act Blue is really solely dedicated to the Democratic campaigns.”

Cheney was Wyoming’s congresswoman from 2017-2023, rising to the No. 3 position in the Republican caucus, before losing that role due to her opposition of Trump.

Read the full story HERE.

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A Utah man who worked as a concessionaire employee in Yellowstone National Park was sentenced Tuesday to five years’ probation for making threats one day after a fatal shootout in the same park.

Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that 55-year-old Robert Sherman of Holladay, Utah, was overheard making threatening statements referencing another mass shooting at the Roosevelt area of the Park, the day after a Xanterra employee was shot and killed in Canyon Village.

“This case lasted … less than two weeks… this is only like a disturbance charge, it’s a misdemeanor. I’m not going to speak for the prosecutors or for Congress in making these federal laws, but I think in America, people tend to be cautious about prosecuting speech, even if it does take the form of a threat, which is not constitutionally protected.”

Sherman was also sentenced to 14 days in jail, but received credit for the 14 days he spent in jail during his prosecution. 

Read the full story HERE.

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Two Rock Springs Republican legislators are suing the fundraising arm of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, over election mailers that claim that the two Republicans want former President Donald Trump off Cowboy State ballots. 

Cody Wylie and J.T. Larson say the claims are deliberately false and meant to mislead, according to politics reporter Leo Wolfson.

“This was in reference to a budget amendment that was brought last session to basically restrict Secretary of State Chuck Gray from filing lawsuits with state money, that came in response to an amicus brief that he filed against the Colorado Supreme Court, when they decided to keep Trump off the election ballots in that state… They say that the mailers were made purposely false, knowingly false, and they want a court injunction to stop their production and to possibly get defamation fees.” 

Wylie and Larson said the accusations extend past honest debate about votes, and drift into the realm of slander. Neither has ever taken a direct vote on whether to keep Trump on or off any ballot.

Read the full story HERE.

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Arch Resources Inc. reported Thursday that thermal coal shipped from Wyoming’s energy-rich Powder River Basin faltered again in the second quarter of 2024, but is expected to rebound in the second half of the year.

However, energy reporter Pat Maio writes that the company is already foreshadowing the closure of its once-mighty coal mining operations.

“There’s also filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission… there was notation also that they’re moving forward with closure of the Black Thunder and Coal Creek mines, and that they’ve almost caught up all of the payment of the reclamation costs, you know, after they leave… they’re just reaffirming that they’re going to be doing that. That’s a big deal. Once the world’s mightiest and biggest coal mine about to close.”

While Arch hasn’t said what its timeline is for shuttering its Wyoming mines, it has repeatedly maintained a corporate stance that it wants to be out of the thermal coal business.

Read the full story HERE. 

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And a big draw for visitors to Cheyenne during Frontier Days is the world’s largest collection of operable old-time wagons.

Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean spoke to a couple of very experienced wagon drivers – Sam Gill and Mike Stein have both driven teams of horses for the famous “Yellowstone” prequel television series “1883,” but they said they would not miss the Cheyenne Frontier Days parade.

“Mike and Sam have been coming up from Texas for eight and 11 years respectively, to drive a team of horses in the Cheyenne Frontier Days Parade. These guys ride in events all across the country, but they make a point of coming to Cheyenne Frontier Days. And the reason is because the parade just has the most prestigious carriage collection in the world… There’s really nothing like it for these guys who enjoy, you know, driving teams of horses and buggies. And there’s actually a waiting list to be part of the team that pulls these wagons.” 

Gill’s team pulled an actual fire station wagon during the parade Thursday, complete with fire hoses in the back, while Stein pulled an oil tank wagon that was once used to deliver heating oil to homes in the Cheyenne area.

Read the full story HERE.

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President Joe Biden’s speech on Wednesday night explaining to America why he halted his reelection bid did little to ease concerns felt by Wyoming’s congressional delegation about the president’s ability to continue as the nation’s leader through the end of his term.

Politics reporter Leo Wolfson spoke to Representative Harriet Hageman, who told him that she believed Biden’s entire speech to be a lie.

“What she really wanted to hear from Biden was, ‘I’m resigning from the presidency.’ She says that he is too feeble to continue holding the office of president. And that just the fact that he’s dropping out shows… if he’s too feeble to be a candidate, he’s too feeble to be a president.” 

Biden is far from the first president to not seek reelection while continuing to serve his term in office. Former President Lyndon Johnson surprised the nation in March 1968 when he announced he would not seek reelection. 

Read the full story HERE.

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The death of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in Casper two months ago continues to complicate the Casper/Natrona County International Airport’s international service and trade zone opportunities.

Since the death of “Dale” Leatham, customs clearances have been slowed at the state’s only international airport – and Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that a federal foreign trade zone application remains on hold.

“They’re not seeing as many flights landing to clear at the airport. And what that means is there’s possibly a little bit of loss of revenue, because the airport gets 30 cents per gallon of aviation fuel on that. But even more importantly, is that a couple of businesses in Casper… have Foreign Trade Zones that they’re trying to set up. And so not having that customs officer in place is impacting kind of the timeline on that.” 

U.S. Customs is aware of the importance of putting an officer in place, but it may be two months before the position is filled.

Read the full story HERE.

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News that Park County won a much-coveted $10 million Wyoming shooting complex has some wondering if it makes sense to build it in a more remote area in the northwest corner of Wyoming, rather than a more central location.

But Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that backers of the plan remain confident that putting it near Cody will draw plenty of competitive shooters, firearms-related companies and big money to the Cowboy State.

“Cody already gets upwards of a million people a year coming from elsewhere to Cody… this will just give them one more reason to come to Cody and to Wyoming. And then the other argument is there are things there that will keep them there. Yellowstone is right there. Of course a Firearms Museum will be a huge draw for these folks, that’s right there.”

If all goes as planned, the Legislature will release the money and greenlight the project in Park County during its 2025 session.

Read the full story HERE.

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And the National Weather Service office in Cheyenne is calling for “monsoon moisture” in southeastern Wyoming on Friday and Saturday, but it’ll take a lot more than a monsoon to stop the momentum of Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that there have been several wet and dry years during Cheyenne Frontier Days. But it’s never been enough to stop the fun.

“They’re prepared to deal with the rain. I mean, obviously, you don’t want a muddy arena when you have your animal athletes, as I heard them called, in there, because that can be hazardous. But the teams are ready. They’ve been out there with bulldozers before just taking off all the water and all the mud to get the arena ready. They don’t play around because they want everything to keep going.”

Anyone with CFD tickets for Friday and Saturday might want to bring a poncho to the rodeo. Yet, even if there are a few weather-related delays, the show will go on.

Read the full story HERE.

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And that’s today’s news! For a deeper dive into the people and issues that affect Wyoming, check out The Roundup, conversations with the most interesting people in the Cowboy State. A new episode drops tomorrow, when I have a conversation with Gunwerks founder Aaron Davidson. You can find the link on our website, on our YouTube Channel, and wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, you’ll find it in our FREE daily newsletter!

Thanks for tuning in – I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.

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A federal judge has told the Bureau of Land Management to temporarily halt issuing new oil and gas drilling permits on nearly 120,000 acres of public land in Wyoming until after a review of environmental impacts is completed by mid-January.

The July 16 decision by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., is the result of a need to reassess the environmental impacts associated with a controversial lease sale held by BLM’s Wyoming office in June 2022.

Cooper didn’t toss out the leases entirely, but any permitting on those leases has paused for six months while BLM conducts its own environmental review of the land won for lease in the 2022 auction by several energy companies, according to a copy of Cooper’s ruling.

Ryan McConnaughey, a spokesman for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, said that the ruling turned out to be a “good one” for the industry because conservation groups that challenged the lease sales in the 2022 auction wanted them tossed out completely.

Cooper ruled that this wasn’t necessary because several of the environmental assessments related to sage grouse, mule deer and groundwater protections were “minor technical issues” that were easy to overcome.

“These leases could provide significant revenues over the lifetime of the wells if they are drilled,” said McConnaughey of royalties and other fees that the state could collect from the drilling.

Cooper’s ruling comes on the heels of his March verdict, which found that the BLM had not adhered to the National Environmental Policy Act when it decided to auction the land for oil and gas development over two years ago.

NEPA is a cornerstone environmental law that requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions.

Siding With Wilderness Society

In siding with the Denver-based conservation group Wilderness Society and other organizations who brought the lawsuit against the BLM, Cooper highlighted that the federal lands management agency had not properly evaluated the potential environmental impacts of future drilling activities.

Cooper found that the agency failed to adequately explain how it considered the potential climate harms resulting from “greenhouse gas emissions produced by drilling operations.”

The conservation groups raised several challenges under NEPA and the Administrative Procedure Act to BLM’s assessment of the “foreseeable environmental impacts of future drilling on the leased parcels and explaining its decision to authorize a lease sale of this magnitude in light of its own estimates of the steep social costs from the projected greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the judge’s ruling.

The conservation groups said that BLM did not perform a “sufficiently granular analysis of impacts to groundwater and ignored the proven possibility that inadequate well casing or hydraulic fracturing near usable water sources may cause contamination,” according to the ruling.

Fracking involves fracturing formations in bedrock with a pressurized liquid to tap natural gas and oil deposits deep below the earth’s surface.

Cooper wrote that the BLM can’t approve new drilling permits on these leased parcels or authorize new “surface disturbing activities” until it completes its environmental review of the land by mid-January 2025.

The 120,000 acres that energy companies bid on in the 2022 auction are located in the obvious BLM territories throughout Wyoming, including the southwestern part of the state near Rock Springs, south of Pinedale in Sublette County and in the Powder River Basin area in Campbell and Converse counties.

Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.