Dangerous Wildlife in Wyoming

[Wyody]

Down in the south and west of Wyoming, there are dangerous animals out there in the dark - and sometimes in the daylight.
Wolves, Coyote, Moose, Elk, Cougar (also called Puma and Mountain Lion), Bobcat and though rare, the occasional bear.
To tell the truth though, any real problems are very rare. It's the 4-wheel drive pick-up, the fog-banks and ice that are more dangerous.
I'm wondering, 53, how things have become up in the North and West?
Ahem ... seen any Cougar lately?

[Wyoming53]

Last year, we had a bear spotted in town, and one mountain lion.

This year, it's been a little more prevelent. A mountain lion was found dead, just South of town. One was spotted on the East side of town. One was heard on the North West side of town (growled at a lady walking her dog.) And now, one has been spotted on the West side of town in my yard. It growled at my neighbor this morning but she didn't see it.

The mountain lion heard on the North West side, may be the same one that was spotted on the West side of town. Same creek runs along and it could be using that to wander back and forth.

We used to have an elk bugle about a block from my house. He was over in the creek bed almost every evening.

Suprisingly, I've never seen a coyote in town. Have seen them a ways out and I've heard them in town, but you know how their yap can carry.

Last year, I took my grandson fishing on the LittleHorn. We fished and walked and fished and walked. I was pointing out tracks in the snow of raccoons and stuff. When we walked back to the pickup, he said, "Grandpa, look." He pointed at a set of cat tracks (mountain lion) that were overtop of ours. He had followed us up the canyon. We never saw him, but his tracks were there.

Usually a cat won't attack you unless cornered or if you appear to be a deer. You know, dressed in tan or brown. But if you dress brightly you're usually fine. They'll follow you because they are curious.

[NHYRNUT]

That's cool. We had a bear take our trash the other night. Dragged it almost 100 ft before it got it. My other half being a city girl through and through is discovering that you can tell what got the trash by the way it is messed with. In 9 months we have had Skunk, Coon, Coyote, and Bear at it. We don't have Cougar here officially but they have been scat and tracks found in VT and One dead Cougar found in the road. But they say they are not there You know how they stray states away. LOL Buddy of mine is a tracker and Guide he has found wolf scat and tracks in Northern NH. As he is used by the Canadian Government to confirm cattle kill and aggressive wolf sittings I believe he is a reliable source of info on this. LOL Aside from the occasional Boar that one runs across up here though there really isn't nothing that compares to a cougar.

[Curious George]

Use to have some bears around my place some years ago , the dogs would go nuts at night barking , so that kept them away from the house a little . I worked nights then an when I would get home at 3 am I would go down as start my irrigator .i would go down to wear the pump was sit there for a min or two, then when I got out of the truck I had this little baseball bat I carried with an would pound on the irrigation pipe an make some noise so if there was a bear around he would know wear I was . I pulled water out of a slew an every now an then they liked to go for a swim in it . it’s been my experience that if you don’t scare or startle them they will run from you , but that don’t mean I would walk around in the woods without a gun . well later on that year the bear thought he would have some fun in my corn field , so he would roll around in one spot knocking down the corn then move to another an do the same thing , all toll that sucker messed up about 2 acres. Next year I had beans an I counter 9 dear in the field one night eating my beans. Well later that year my son an dad wear hunting an my son got 2 of them , shot at 4 got 2 an nicked 1 other never did find him . funny part was he was sitting in the house all day, came out to see me in the barn about 5 ,an I told him to go sit in the tall grass an wait , I think he was there for 10 min before I heard all the shooting. He never had it so easy.

[Wyoming53]

Should I kick the fence to see what he'll do?

[Curious George]

Looks like he’s been rubbing on the fence , all the hide is rubbed of his right shoulder,
You kick the fence an he’ll probably just grunt at you , that an expect you to feed him.

[Wyody]

Let's see ... late summer ... you're probably right CG. Try it in about another month and he might rip that fence down to tear you apart. Depends if there are any females around.
If you ever make a winter trip to Wyoming, be sure to try and go by one of the "Elk Refuges" - thousands of them coming and going every day. One north of Jackson and one south. I can't recall if there are others or not.
Peace.
Nice Pic 53 - just got gifted a piece of Elk Hide (fur on) at Pow Wow yesterday. Tanned but not worked. Guess that means "partially tanned".

[Wyoming53]

I guess the mountain lion is full. My rabbits are all gone. haha Got a neighbor that has two dogs. Woops, HAD two dogs. Now she has one.

[Wyody]

Sounds like you'd better get busy.
Now, I've never peeled a cat before - but I would imagine it'd be about the same as a yearling deer - just be careful not to poke thru the hide too often.
Take as much meat and fat off it as you can - don't have to totally prep it - but be sure to rub salt into the INSIDE of the hide - generous but not too much - and fold it flesh-side to flesh-side, roll it up, put it in a plastic bag, box it and I'll tell you where to send it. Do the salt the same day you peel it.
Now, if you just want it tanned for yourself - I'll refer you to a Furrier - or, it you want to tan it, be sure to yank the brain - bag it and put it in the fridge or freezer 'til you're ready to start work (about a month after you salt it and put it in a barrel of water).
I can only imagine it being difficult to work as it should be thin ... like one of them rabbits it ett.
Peace and Happy Killing!!

[Wyoming53]

Wyody,

Got any good remedies for snake bite? Specially for "I have no clue what kind of snake it was bite?"

Yup, one got me in the cucumbers this afternoon. I looked all over, my son looked all over, can't find the little guy.

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by Wyoming53

Wyody,

Got any good remedies for snake bite? Specially for "I have no clue what kind of snake it was bite?"

Yup, one got me in the cucumbers this afternoon. I looked all over, my son looked all over, can't find the little guy.

Assuming that it's too late now to even bother ... whether you're still alive or not ... and assuming that it really was a snake (sure it wasn't a scorpion?) ... the best thing I know to do is bleed it out while it's still fresh (too late), keep it open for a while then clean it, bandage it, pull out the liquor.
Perhaps using some Golden Seal or any antibiotic wouldn't be a bad idea. Got any Dragon's Blood?
Aw, heck with it. Pull out the liquor. Get sloppy with it!
Oh, if it's still open (the wound) - if you have any organic or canadian tobacco, poultice it.
Good Luck.

[Wyoming53]

Originally Posted by Wyody

Assuming that it's too late now to even bother ... whether you're still alive or not ... and assuming that it really was a snake (sure it wasn't a scorpion?) ... the best thing I know to do is bleed it out while it's still fresh (too late), keep it open for a while then clean it, bandage it, pull out the liquor.
Perhaps using some Golden Seal or any antibiotic wouldn't be a bad idea. Got any Dragon's Blood?
Aw, heck with it. Pull out the liquor. Get sloppy with it!
Oh, if it's still open (the wound) - if you have any organic or canadian tobacco, poultice it.
Good Luck.

I was holding some tomato plants out of the way with my right hand and reaching down under the cucumber leaves with my left. Something snapped the back of my hand. I thought it was a branch or something that got loose from my right hand. Just kept picking cuc's. Then about 2 minutes went by and it started burning so I looked at it. Nope, wasn't a branch. I looked all through the tubs and had my son come over and search. We couldn't find anything. We don't have scorpions around here.

I know it wasn't poisonous. I've been bit by a rattler and this was nothing like that. Swelled up a bit, drained really good for a long time. Course, initially, I sucked what I could out of it. I got bit at about 5 and this picture was taken about 8. It's been going down since then but it itches like crazy.

[MyAzi]

I hope you don't have the brown recluse where you are because with that white ring around it... that is what it looks like!

I got bit while sitting outside this summer... I started itching and thought mosquito but by the next morning I was swollen on the back of mythigh and just below the knee. And I mean BADLY!!!! It took weeks to heal! Keep us posted!

[Wyody]

Well, Fitty, hard to say just looking at it.
Surprises me you say you don't have scorpions around there. They've got 'em just on the west side of the mountains ... of course, a garden isn't usual scorpion turf anyhow.
Don't know about your side but there are Recluses in western Wyoming. At least, I was always told there were but nobody could ever say for sure what they looked like - and the pics were always bad. Now I've seen them and have a pic I can post - pretty boring looking little spider actually.
I'd guess that, if you can see bone in a couple weeks, might've been a Recluse. Perhaps you'd better stop in at your local patch-'em-up shop for a look-see.
Good time to mention gloves. After all, it is Wyoming

[Wyoming53]

Originally Posted by Wyody

Well, Fitty, hard to say just looking at it.
Surprises me you say you don't have scorpions around there. They've got 'em just on the west side of the mountains ... of course, a garden isn't usual scorpion turf anyhow.
Don't know about your side but there are Recluses in western Wyoming. At least, I was always told there were but nobody could ever say for sure what they looked like - and the pics were always bad. Now I've seen them and have a pic I can post - pretty boring looking little spider actually.
I'd guess that, if you can see bone in a couple weeks, might've been a Recluse. Perhaps you'd better stop in at your local patch-'em-up shop for a look-see.
Good time to mention gloves. After all, it is Wyoming

The swelling is down. Still a little red. Yeah we have recluses around here. But no scorpions. Down south of Buffalo you see a few but it's a lot dryer.

No, this was definately something that snapped me in the back of the hand. And by the way, I did have gloves on. haha Leather, but real thin.

But I'll keep watchin for bone just to make sure.

[Wyoming53]

Odey,

Ever see any sloths in Wyoming? Me neither. So tell me what this track is. Can't be a duck because it's way too deep and no webbing in between the toes.

[Wyody]

Hard to figure the size, 53.
Well, my first thoughts are to figure out what animule we know it could be and figure out why one toe didn't leave a print.
I've been out west too long - can't recall if we even have sloths in this country. Seems like we do - can't recall if I've seen one or not.
Then, there's also the notion that it is a prehistoric print exposed by a glacier-melt ... don't remember too many glacier-fields near Sheridan ... but we have many strange animules from prehistoric Wyoming - like, for example, a duck-billed platypus found at 10,000 ft. near Kemmerer/Diamondville.
Off-hand, I'd say somebody somewhere picked up a hitchhiker or somebody else had a good time inventing a print in the mud.
You keep looking and I'll try and find a good recipe for Sloth-Stew. This might be a left-over from Ice Age 2!

[Curious George]

I doubt it’s prehistoric because you can see the outline of somebody’s shoe print to the right of it . 53 did you step on it?

[Wyoming53]

Originally Posted by Wyody

Hard to figure the size, 53.
Well, my first thoughts are to figure out what animule we know it could be and figure out why one toe didn't leave a print.
I've been out west too long - can't recall if we even have sloths in this country. Seems like we do - can't recall if I've seen one or not.
Then, there's also the notion that it is a prehistoric print exposed by a glacier-melt ... don't remember too many glacier-fields near Sheridan ... but we have many strange animules from prehistoric Wyoming - like, for example, a duck-billed platypus found at 10,000 ft. near Kemmerer/Diamondville.
Off-hand, I'd say somebody somewhere picked up a hitchhiker or somebody else had a good time inventing a print in the mud.
You keep looking and I'll try and find a good recipe for Sloth-Stew. This might be a left-over from Ice Age 2!

The track was about 2 3/4 inches from heal to toe. Approximately 3/4 inch deep.

Not prehistoric, not man made. Of if it is man made, they did tracks all the way from the grassy area, across 40 feet of sandy beach to the water, then off in another direction for about 60 feet before it was lost on grass again.

All 4 feet were 3 toed. This one happened to be the best print. It appears that the hind legs caused tracks about an inch wider then the front tracks.

Boy, it's got me buffaloed. I pride myself in being able to track just about anything and be able to tell you what it is and whether it's male or female. but this one has me stumped.

[Wyoming53]

Originally Posted by Curious George

I doubt it’s prehistoric because you can see the outline of somebody’s shoe print to the right of it . 53 did you step on it?

Yeah, I stepped on it. I weigh in at 250 and you can see I didn't make an imprint that deep. But it could have been wet when this critter walked through.

[Wyody]

Originally Posted by Wyoming53

Yeah, I stepped on it. I weigh in at 250 and you can see I didn't make an imprint that deep. But it could have been wet when this critter walked through.

Well, you outweigh me now, 53. Guess this no-meat, no-dairy, no-egg, no crapo-oils diet is working. Find that sucker what made those prints - I'll eat 'im!!
Well, I have no freaking clue. Guess it must be a sloth - but I'm really not up on my 3-toed critters. Are there others? Hold on a sec ... Well, I see 3-toed box-turtles that get about 8" long, 3-toed Woodpeckers (?) and a 3-toed WTF that gets up to 42" long - all are southern, swampy critters ('cept maybe the Pecker) so, NO, I can't help with this one. A transplant or something else with a deformity seems most likely to me.
Thanks for sharing - and don't tell any Dakotans. The Narth Derkoterans will claim it's a South Derkoteran and the South Derkoterans will claim it's a Narth Derkoteran and things will break loose.

[Wyoming53]

We have another mountain lion in town. He/she was first spotted on Thursday of last week. A lady walking her dog saw some deer and then saw the mountain lion leap a fence and take after the deer. She said that she hurried home. haha That was on a walking trail right in the middle of town. Said lion was also spotted on Saturday not too far from the original sighting.