Caught in a horny situation.

A drunken Montana man made a fool of himself when he tried to impress a potential love interest by climbing a Wyoming landmark — only to be stopped by police.

The man was caught scaling Wyoming’s famous elk antler arches when the Jackson Police Department responded to a call at around 12:40 a.m. on May 13, the Cowboy State Daily reported.

The man — who was not identified by name but was from Montana — told police that he was “drinking” and got the idea to try the drunken escapade to “impress some girls he had just met.”

Ruschill said the man cooperated and was given a “$100 citation.”

Photos shared on the Instagram page touronsofyellowstone of the inebriated romancer show the moment he was caught on top of the arches when police arrived.

Shockingly, he wasn’t the only one captured climbing the structure, as a woman in a white dress and cowboy boots was also snapped committing the act.

Social media users claiming to have lived in or are familiar with the area were stunned that the man thought it was a good idea — even if he was drunk.

“I lived there for a few years right after college and walked by there intoxicated on several occasions from the bars across the street and not once did me or my friends think, ‘Hey, anyone want to climb the antler arches?’” one user commented.

“I have been to Jackson over a hundred times. Never have I ever thought – oh I should climb those horns in the park,” another shared.

“I live here and had not heard about this. Unless it’s today. I hope they were punished but I’m not sure what law they were breaking, unless it was drunk in public,” wrote another.

While many commenters were shocked by the drunken stunt, Ruschill said it wasn’t his first time seeing someone take on the horny task.

“I’ve seen it a couple of times in my career here, but don’t remember the last time we’ve written a citation specifically for climbing one of the arches,” he told the Cowboy State Daily.

However, what surprised the officer was how high up the drunken man got up the arches.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody quite get up as far onto the top like this gentleman,” he said. “We usually catch them thinking about it, talking about it or just starting to climb,” Ruschill said.

“From the photos I saw on Instagram, this guy has made his way to the very top of the arch.”

Ruschill stressed that no one should attempt to climb the structure since it’s not only illegal but also dangerous.

“Our defendant is innocent until proven guilty. But in Jackson, it’s illegal to climb something that’s not meant to be climbed,” Ruschill said.

“It’s a long way to fall from the top of the southwest arch. Someone could get injured or killed doing such a thing. That’s the public safety message to this incident.”

The Jackson elk arches were built by the Jackson Rotary Club in 1953 and comprise 10,000 to 12,000 pounds of antlers, according to Yellowstone Park.com.

They are the first of four stunning arches across the city, with the rest added between 1966 and 1969.

Jackson researchers had been attempting to trap the male barred owl for more than a week, but the wary raptor was proving elusive. First, the owl swooped in for the bait mouse but glanced off the trap. The next time, he performed evasive flight maneuvers and escaped. 

Then on Thursday, they set up a different trap in the Teton County forest habitat, this time with dho-gazza nets — fine mist nets designed to envelop raptors that unknowingly fly into them. 

“And then, literally out of nowhere, the female came in and got caught,” said Bryan Bedrosian, conservation director at the Teton Raptor Center. 

His team affixed the female with a GPS tracker. And like that, the bird became the first-known barred owl tagged in Wyoming. To Bedrosian’s knowledge, it’s also the first barred owl tagged in the Rocky Mountains.

The tagging comes two years after the pair became the first documented nesting barred owls in Wyoming, news that ruffled some scientific feathers. Though they are eastern birds, barred owls have expanded their range westward through the boreal forests of Canada and down into the Pacific Northwest, where they have outcompeted the imperiled northern spotted owls and created significant management conflicts. 

Wyoming raptor experts and others are wary about the impact the adaptable and aggressive barred owls could have on native species like great gray owls. 

Those concerns prompted the Teton Raptor Center to initiate the tracking project. Bedrosian and his team aim to tag the female’s wily mate, along with any chicks that hatch from a nest the pair is currently tending. The goal is to gather data on the birds’ movement and behavior to see if and how it’s impacting other raptors.

“I’m not suggesting we do anything right now, but with any invasive species, it’s always easiest to do action at the beginning rather than being reactionary later,” Bedrosian said. Information gathering is step one. 

Potential competition

Barred owls are similar in size to great horned owls, but lack the distinctive “horns.” They are similar in profile to great gray owls, but are smaller and have black eyes in contrast to the great grays’ yellow ones. 

In Washington, Oregon and California, their negative impacts on federally protected northern spotted owls have prompted wildlife authorities to classify them as invasive. Barred owls, which are territorial and eat a variety of prey, have edged out the more shy and specialized spotted owls. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has wrestled with the issue for years, even resorting to killing barred owls to help prevent further damage to the declining spotted owls. Those conflicts stirred up concern after the nesting pair was documented in Wyoming by nature photographer Tom Stanton. 

But Wyoming, unlike the PNW, has limited data.

The relationship between barred and spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest is “one of the most extensively studied cases of competitive exclusion in the history of wildlife ecology,” said Wyoming Fish and Game Nongame Bird Biologist Zach Wallace.

Meanwhile, Wallace said, “next to nothing is known about potential competition between barred owls and great gray owls.”

The Wyoming project, he said, is a good step toward filling in that information gap. That’s why his agency helped support the application for a grant that’s helping to fund it. 

The National Park Service is also in the loop on the project and monitoring the situation, Bedrosian said. 

Data gathering 

Barred owl sightings are not unheard of in Wyoming — the 2023 report is just the first documentation of a nesting pair. What scientists are trying to understand now is what the nesting birds do year round, and if others are present in the state and pose competition to other owls. 

Teton Raptor Center is approaching the questions with a multi-pronged strategy. One prong involves analyzing years of historic acoustic data in the region.

The center also received grants from the Wyoming Governor’s Big Game License Coalition, the Jackson Hole Community Foundation and the Jackson Conservation District to help monitor the birds with GPS transmitters, satellite trackers and acoustic recorders. 

The team this spring placed recorders in roughly 200 spots in the Grand Teton National Park vicinity — those recorders yielded proof that at least one other individual, likely a bachelor male, has been in the region.

The final piece is the tracking. The hope is to tag each member of the nesting family, Bedrosian said. The owls produced three chicks in 2023, but their nest failed in 2024. They are nesting again currently, though it’s unknown how many eggs they have. 

But if they get trackers on all of the owls, ecologists can better understand their territory, where they spend the winter months, where their offspring go and if there is competition with other species. 

“One of the biggest concerns is the potential impact on other species that aren’t used to this generalist, very aggressive predator,” Bedrosian said. 

“Where this bird has been located is a historic great gray owl territory that is now vacant,” he continued. “And so did the barred owls push out the great gray? We don’t know. But if you take evidence from the Pacific Northwest with the spotted owls, it doesn’t look good.” 

As Wyoming Housing Network (WHN) celebrates its 20th anniversary, the organization reflects on two decades of service to communities across the state. Founded in 2005, WHN is a statewide nonprofit with a mission to strengthen Wyoming communities by providing quality resources and opportunities for people to reach their housing goals.

A Legacy of Affordable Housing

Over the past 20 years, WHN has played a crucial role in expanding access to affordable rental housing. With 14 properties located in cities such as Cheyenne, Powell, Casper, Cody, Guernsey, Riverton, Torrington and Wheatland, WHN provides safe, affordable homes for hundreds of Wyoming residents. These properties are the result of strong partnerships with local communities and are part of WHN’s ongoing effort to meet the state’s growing housing needs.

The organization’s most recent project, Robins’ Point in Cheyenne, is a 48-unit multi-family affordable housing complex currently under construction. As WHN continues to look ahead, it actively seeks new partnerships with Wyoming communities to develop additional affordable and permanent supportive housing projects — ensuring that all residents have access to stable, quality homes.

Comprehensive Housing Counseling for Every Stage

WHN’s impact extends beyond bricks and mortar. Through its robust housing counseling program, WHN empowers individuals and families to navigate their housing and financial journeys with confidence. Most services are offered at no cost, ensuring they are accessible to all.

“As counselors, our goal is to equip Wyoming families with the tools they need to succeed in their housing journey,” says Manuela Ortiz, the housing counseling manager for WHN. “We are honored that they’ve chosen us to help guide them and answer their questions.” With decades of experience as a team, WHN loves to help guide residents in their home buying and give them the tools to financial success that isn’t limited to homeownership.

The services WHN counseling includes:

• Homebuyer Education – Helping prospective buyers understand the homeownership process and prepare for long-term success.
• Financial Capabilities Coaching – Supporting residents in managing money, building credit and achieving financial stability.
• Rental Counseling – Assisting renters with budgeting, lease understanding and tenant rights.
• Foreclosure Counseling – Offering support to homeowners facing hardship and exploring solutions to keep them in their homes.
• Reverse Mortgage Counseling – Helping seniors make informed decisions about reverse mortgage options.

WHN’s counselors provide personalized guidance to help residents make informed, empowered decisions about their housing and finances. One participant noted, “The counselor was very knowledgeable and easy to work with. Super helpful when I had questions and understood our concerns when we expressed them. I definitely feel that this information will be helpful to my husband and myself as we adjust to being homeowners instead of lifelong renters.”

Looking Toward the Future

As WHN commemorates 20 years of service, the organization remains deeply committed to its mission. Looking forward, WHN plans to continue expanding homeownership opportunities, increasing the availability of affordable rental housing and offering comprehensive counseling and education services.

The celebration of this milestone is not just a look back, but a reaffirmation of WHN’s vision: a Wyoming where everyone has access to a safe, affordable and sustainable place to call home. For more information about WHN’s housing developments or counseling services, visit www.whninc.org. Whether you’re looking for a home, facing financial hardship or planning for the future, WHN is here to help — every step of the way.

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