Jackson Hole Underground

I have returned to river guiding on my first and favorite stretch of the Snake in Grand Teton National Park. There are many reasons for this, chief among them a desire to spend more time outside and less staring at a computer, while getting paid for it.

Late last week, a call came over the radio from two guides in front that I should hug a certain bank a few miles downstream of Deadman’s Bar. There was a carcass I might want to have a look at, the guides said.

So I rowed my boat, slowly rounding a curve. I stood on the oar frame to get a better look, and as ten expectant tourists arched their necks, we came in sight of … a dead wolf.

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Were you freaked out by those photos of a mountain lion purportedly taken in Rafter J?

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is hosting a free workshop from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at Snow King Resort, titled “Staying Safe in Bear, Lion and Wolf Country.”

Among the tips Game and Fish will share are mountain lion and bear feeding habits, where you’d expect to find those animals (not on your back porch in Rafter J) and what to do if you have an encounter.

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A Game and Fish officer counts the ungulates. Photo by Mark Gocke

Apparently, elk are getting along just fine despite the presence of wolves in northwest Wyoming. Wildlife managers recently counted 11,790 elk in the Jackson herd, 60 fewer than last year. In addition, the ratio of 25 calves per 100 cows is just about on par with the historical average.

The Jackson herd is Wyoming’s largest and lives in close proximity to a multitude of wolf packs in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and the Teton and Gros Ventre wilderness areas.

Will these latest scientific figures stop state lawmakers and the governor from claiming that wolves are “savaging” wildlife? Probably not. But at least we know claims that the National Elk Refuge has been starving elk are pure fiction.

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Mountaineers continue to report sightings of wolf activity in the Tetons.

Stephen Koch, skiing down after putting a new climbing route up the North Face of the Grand Teton with Hans Johnstone, excavated himself from a faceplant and discovered wolf tracks in the snow (pictured at left) on the night of Feb. 6. Koch found the large prints at the bottom of Glacier Gulch.

On Friday, Rando Steve came upon the carcass of a young moose apparently killed by wolves in the vicinity of Death Canyon. Photos of the scene and tracks are posted at Teton AT.

While wolves have denned in the park before, this could be the first time the predators have established territory in the canyons below the southern peaks.

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Should wolves in northwest Wyoming be running for cover or digging a deep den?

With the predators in the Legislature loading machine guns and gassing up the helicopters, a war of eradication is brewing, and Canis lupus is squarely in the crosshairs.

Lawmakers in Cheyenne, and the governor, appear content to continue digging in their heels in hopes of forcing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to compromise and allow more liberal killing of wolves, once the species is delisted. So far Fish and Wildlife has resisted bending on any measure that could lead to the wolves’ near-extinction.

But a recent appointment that received scant media attention locally may help stack the deck in the state’s favor.

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