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Wyoming taxidermist takes top award at world championships

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Wyoming taxidermist takes top award at world championships


BUFFALO — Within the nook of the showroom, even amongst different bighorn sheep, antelope and mule deer, the mountain lion stands out. He rests on a picket stand, posed atop a shale outcrop, mountain mahogany sprouting from a crack. He watches, forehead ever-so-slightly furrowed, eyes cooly centered, like a cat eyeing a mouse it could’t be bothered to chase.

This mountain lion, created by Johnson County-based taxidermist Dave Lengthy, was the recipient of the Carl Akeley award on the 2022 World Taxidermy Championships, amongst many different awards. When Lengthy lays out all of the awards the piece acquired on the Wyoming championships and the world championships, there are 4 plaques, three ribbons, two gold medallions, a buckle and a trophy.

However the Carl Akeley award stands out, some of the prestigious awards a taxidermist can obtain.

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“I am nonetheless in awe of all of it,” Lengthy mentioned.

The world championships are a biennial occasion, held alternatively in Europe and America. This 12 months it was held in Springfield, Missouri, on the finish of Might.

Individuals are additionally studying…

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Lengthy entered the mountain lion with the encouragement of his household and of judges on the Wyoming state championships, the place he’d already acquired quite a few awards this 12 months, together with finest in present.

Lengthy, his father, stepmother and 13-year-old son packed their issues and headed to Springfield for the weeklong competitors. He did not have any expectations to win — not to mention the coveted Carl Akeley award, equal, Lengthy mentioned, to the most effective in present.

However when, surrounded by his household, Lengthy did win, it was probably the greatest emotions of his life.

“After they referred to as my identify and put the image of it up on the display screen, I used to be simply shaking. It is actually laborious to place into phrases, however I used to be simply ecstatic and stunned, in a approach. Simply tons of various feelings working by way of me,” Lengthy mentioned. “However the most effective a part of all of it … to have my dad and my son there with me, that was the most effective half.”

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Taxidermy runs within the Lengthy household. Lengthy’s father, John Lengthy, began Trophies Limitless Taxidermy in Johnson County 40 years in the past. Lengthy has reminiscences of his father working within the basement at their home on North DeSmet, perfecting his artwork after which looking for a approach to haul it up the steps.

As a toddler, Lengthy helped out, studying from his father, and in 2016, he started working full time on the enterprise, now situated in a full-sized store. It was a pure match, he mentioned, particularly together with his father by his facet.

“I perceive how lucky I’m to have been round it my total life and to have the mentor I’ve, after which not solely to have that mentor, however for it additionally to be my dad,” Lengthy mentioned. “It is fairly particular.”

Like his father and grandfather earlier than him, Lengthy’s son additionally has an artist’s intuition. His medium is clay, Lengthy mentioned, and he has spent many hours sculpting figures, some from Marvel Comics, others from his personal creativeness.

Extra not too long ago, Lengthy’s son has expressed an curiosity in taxidermy.

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Like his father, Lengthy mentioned he’ll be there to assist when — or if — his son decides to check out the household artwork kind.

“The primary piece he does,” Lengthy mentioned, “I will be proper by his facet.”

Today, Lengthy spends a lot of his time ending the items that the seven-person store produces, making use of the final touches that convey every animal again to life. It is rewarding, he mentioned, to see a tanned disguise rework — by way of weeks of labor — into one thing akin to what the creature was in actual life.

Lengthy mentioned he is taxidermied animals from each continent besides Antarctica, and the store’s partitions are coated in initiatives from completely different locations: a bear from Alaska, a mountain goat from Canada, two savannah buffalo from Africa.

His clients, too, hail from a big selection of nations.

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However the award-winning mountain lion was for somebody nearer to dwelling; it was a present for his brother’s birthday.

On a looking journey together with his father, Lengthy’s brother harvested the mountain lion close to Kaycee when he was 13, virtually 20 years in the past. They stored the disguise however by no means obtained round to doing something with it. Regardless that the household enterprise is taxidermy, they not often do work for themselves, Lengthy mentioned.

From the start, he mentioned, he needed to do one thing distinctive however unassuming. He prefers easy poses, versus extra “outlandish” postures. And whereas he usually has to meet the client’s imaginative and prescient, this time he had full artistic freedom.

Lengthy selected a half life-size sculpture, eliminating the rear half of the mountain lion. He rests in a relaxed place, paws out, mouth closed. His head is turned to the left, the muscle mass in his neck flexing as he gazes into the space. His face is probably the most putting. There is a softness to the options that conceals the painstaking work beneath the pores and skin.

Lengthy mentioned that he receives probably the most feedback — from specialists and non-experts alike – concerning the lion’s face. It is the symmetry and the softness, he mentioned, that creates the sensation that the mountain lion actually is watching.

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“There isn’t any harsh strains. He is very full and mushy. And, you realize, that is how they’re after they’re alive, you realize what I imply?” Lengthy mentioned.

He mentioned he does not do taxidermy to win awards. However the a part of the Carl Akeley award that he is proudest of and factors to when speaking about it’s embedded within the judging standards, the place it specifies that the piece have to be a “stunning and legitimate type of wildlife artwork and painting the topic with style and dignity.”

For Lengthy, his work comes as shut as attainable to giving the animals one other life.

“That is sort of preserving, I assume, that animal’s life in one of the simplest ways attainable,” he mentioned.

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Everything on the Line: Week 8 Decides Wyoming’s Football Playoff Brackets

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Everything on the Line: Week 8 Decides Wyoming’s Football Playoff Brackets


It all comes down to this. It is Week 8 of high school football in Wyoming, which means the playoff brackets will be decided by Saturday afternoon. Playoff berths and seeds will be on the line this week, but some teams are already locked in. Games will be played on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Five teams are on the field on Thursday. Friday features 27 games on the schedule. Three six-man games will be on Saturday. All but three of the matchups are conference games. Four will have ranked teams playing each other, which includes a No. 1 versus No. 2 game in Encampment on Saturday between the top-ranked Rattlers and second-ranked Tigers in six-man football. This is our Week 8 football scoreboard. WyoPreps will post the game scores below.

WYOPREPS WEEK 8 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE 2025

Sixteen games on the schedule will impact seeding and/or playoff berths.

Next to certain games, you will find a link where you can listen to or watch football games from local broadcasters in Wyoming. These links are provided as a courtesy. If we’re missing a local broadcast link, you can email david@wyopreps.com. Here is the Week 8 schedule for the gridiron.

Class 4A

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Final Score: Thunder Basin 55 Cheyenne South 6 – Bolts clinch the No. 6 seed in the 4A playoffs.

Class 1A 9-man

Final Score: #2 Greybull 94 Wyoming Indian 12

Class 1A 6-man

Final Score: Riverside 28 Meeteetse 22 – OT – Rebels get the No. 3 seed, and the Longhorns will be the No. 4 seed.

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Out-of-State Opponent

Final Score: 1A 6-man #4 Hulett 1 Edgemont, SD 0 – forfeit win

 

Read More Football News From WyoPreps

WyoPreps Football Playoff Scenarios 2025

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WyoPreps Football Rankings 10-22-25

WyoPreps Football Standings 10-19-25

WyoPreps Week 7 Football Scoreboard 2025

WyoPreps Week 6 Football Scoreboard 2025

WyoPreps Week 5 Football Scoreboard 2025

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WyoPreps Week 4 Football Scoreboard 2025

WyoPreps Week 3 Football Scoreboard 2025

WyoPreps Week 2 Football Scoreboard 2025

WyoPreps Week 1 Football Scoreboard 2025

WyoPreps Week 0 Football Scoreboard 2025

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Class 4A

Laramie at #1 Sheridan, 6 p.m. – Sheridan Media Watch Live

#3 Campbell County at #2 Cheyenne East, 6 p.m. – KFBC Watch Live or KAML Watch Live

#5 Natrona County at #4 Cheyenne Central, 6 p.m. – KRAE Watch Live

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Kelly Walsh at Rock Springs, 6 p.m. – TRN Watch Live

Class 3A

#5 Jackson at #2 Cody, 5 p.m. – KODI Listen Live or KZJH Watch Live

#1 Star Valley at Green River, 6 p.m. – TRN Watch Live or SVI Media Watch Live

Rawlins at #3 Riverton, 6 p.m. – County 10 Watch Live or WyoToday Watch Live

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#4 Lander at Buffalo, 6 p.m. – 307Buffalo.com Listen Live or County 10 Watch Live or WyoToday Watch Live

Douglas at Torrington, 6 p.m. – KGOS Watch Live or KKTY Listen Live

Evanston at Powell, 6 p.m. – KPOW Listen Live or Mylocalradio.com Watch Live

Class 2A

#5 Lovell at Cokeville, noon

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#2 Mountain View at Lyman, 1 p.m. – Mylocalradio.com Watch Live

Worland at Kemmerer, 5 p.m. – SVI Listen Live

Upton-Sundance at #1 Big Horn, 6 p.m.

Pinedale at #3 Thermopolis, 6 p.m. – WyoToday Watch Live

Wheatland at #4 Newcastle, 6 p.m. – KASL Listen Live or KZEW Listen Live

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Burns at Moorcroft, 6 p.m.

Tongue River at Glenrock, 6 p.m.

Class 1A 9-man

#1 Pine Bluffs at Southeast, 6 p.m. – KERM Listen Live

#3 Big Piney at Shoshoni, 6 p.m.

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Wind River at #4 Rocky Mountain, 6 p.m.

#5 Lingle-Ft. Laramie at Saratoga, 6 p.m.

Wright at Lusk, 6 p.m.

Class 1A 6-man

Guernsey-Sunrise at H.E.M., 1 p.m. – does not count in the standings, per WHSAA.

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Ten Sleep at Kaycee, 1 p.m.

Midwest at #3 Burlington, 2 p.m.

 

Class 1A 6-man

#1 Little Snake River at #2 Encampment, noon

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Dubois at #5 Casper Christian, 1 p.m. (at NCHS)

Non-Varsity Opponent

1A 6-man Farson-Eden at Rock Springs JV, 4 p.m.

 

Campbell County vs. Thunder Basin Football Game 10-10-25

The Camels held off the crosstown rival Bolts, 17-14, on October 10, 2025.

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Gallery Credit: Courtesy: Eric Barber





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Kenneth (Ken) Nyberg

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Kenneth (Ken) Nyberg


A Celebration of Life for Kenneth “Ken” Nyberg will be held on Friday, October 24, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. at the Big Horn County Fairgrounds in Basin, Wyoming.

Ken passed away on October 11, 2025, at Billings Clinic in Billings, Montana, after a long and courageous battle with a rare autoimmune lung disease related to Agent Orange exposure.

Ken was born in Springfield, Minnesota, and raised in Lamberton, Minnesota. His parents, Laurel and Pat Nyberg, owned and operated the Lamberton Hatchery, where Ken and his four siblings learned early the values of love, hard work, and family.

After graduating high school, Ken was drafted into the U.S. Army and proudly served in Vietnam. After his honorable discharge and upon returning home, he attended college in Mankato, Minnesota.

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In 1977, Ken moved to Sheridan, Wyoming, where he met Kathy (Kas) and her three sons. The couple married on May 27, 1978, and later moved to Craig, Colorado, where they raised their family. Together, Ken and Kas began fostering children and eventually opened a group home for at-risk teens-a calling that became the work of their hearts. Their shared love for helping others and working side by side was truly extraordinary.

In 1989, they moved to Escalante, Utah, where they served as primary counselors at Turn-About Ranch, once again dedicating their lives to guiding and supporting teens. In 1994, Ken and Kas settled in Basin, Wyoming, where they managed the local boys’ group home until their retirement.

Beyond his work, Ken had a deep love for the outdoors-fishing, hunting, camping, and working on their place in Manderson, Wyoming. He had a special gift for including “the kids” in his hobbies and projects, making every experience both a lesson and an adventure.

Ken is survived by his wife Kas; three sons: Kraig Nyberg of Basin, Kevin (Brigette) Nyberg of Ocklawaha, Florida, and Ken Nyberg of Thornton, Colorado; his brother Dave (Ann) Nyberg of Cheyenne, Wyoming; sister Sandy of Dacono, Colorado; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Laurel and Pat Nyberg, brother Randy Nyberg, and sister Judy Lehne.

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In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the ASPCA or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Ken’s memory. Arrangements have been entrusted to Atwood Family Funeral Directors.



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Wyo authors, literary history featured on PBS Books reading road trip episode

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Wyo authors, literary history featured on PBS Books reading road trip episode


JACKSON, Wyo. — PBS Books is taking a virtual road trip across the country, and an episode about Wyoming literature will be released on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

The journey seeks to celebrate and highlight iconic authors, stories, bookstores and real-life locations that inspired unforgettable works. The series is diving into different corners of the U.S. to find out how each location has left its mark on the bookshelves of the nation’s readers.

The Wyoming episode of “American Stories: A Reading Road Trip” will air at 8 p.m. on the PBS Books YouTube channel, pbsbooks.org, the PBS Books Facebook page and the PBS app. All installments are available to watch on the PBS Books website after they premiere.

“Aligned with America’s 250th birthday, each episode invites viewers to explore the heart, history and creative spirit of the United States — all through the lens of books and storytelling,” reads the description of the series.

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Amy Ryan, owner of local mainstay Valley Bookstore, discussed the importance of Wyoming literature and authors with Buckrail.

“I think a lot of people would be surprised to find out that Wyoming is actually a very literary state,” said Ryan. “We have authors like Jack Turner, who [lives] here. We had Margaret Murie, who’s written a couple classics, and we have writers who are still active.”

The episode will focus on the scenery that influenced Ernest Hemingway’s “Death in the Afternoon”; the dawn of the Western genre through Owen Wister’s novel “The Virginian”; and modern authors like well-known mystery writers Craig Johnson and C.J. Box. The show will also visit the Toppan Rare Books Library at the University of Wyoming.

Ryan highlighted some Wyoming creators who might not have world fame, but have influenced the literary landscape just the same. Authors like Alexandra Fuller, Tim Sandlin, Grant Golliher and Bridget Crocker have drawn inspiration from Wyoming’s backdrop and communities.

A Murie Ranch Front Porch conversation on Tuesday, Oct. 21, presented Crocker as she talked about her recent book “The River’s Daughter.” According to Teton Science Schools, her story is one of “resilience and empowerment, from a turbulent childhood in Wyoming to a globe-spanning career as a whitewater rafting guide” that began on the Snake River in Jackson Hole.

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“We do have a really grand tradition of chroniclers of Western history,” Ryan said. “It’s a very lively community for such a sparsely populated state. We seem to attract real writers.”



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