Halloween: Trick or Treat

It’s the season for trick or treating and there’s no exception here in Wyoming. Up at the house we have our own special goblins that come around checking for treats. The other night we were visited by some Halloween goblins, and they weren’t little children dress up as spooks. The general deer season had just ended and the gang moved in to clean up the leftovers. Yesterday morning I was going down the road and run into wolfs! Two large adults accompanied by some young pups. The family group was walking up my road. I think they were checking for gut piles. One little pup puffed up his thick winter hair making him look like a small cub bear.  Then in the afternoon, I was out and about and ran right into a pack of 4 wolfs! Before I could get my camera out the gang was on top of the ridge and heading up the creek. They didn’t stick around for a photo op.

Last night it snowed a bit and those tricksters were nosing around the house. My neighbor Delmar, saw the wolf pack standing by my gate about 9:30 looking into my house. That goblin wolf pack had picked up another trickster. Walking down the road was a small, three-year-old grizzly with the wolf pack trailing not far behind. The grizzly walked up to my neighbor’s doorstep and looked around, then went back on the road and wondered pass my house with the wolves in toe. He wondered up to my wood burn pile and made sure there weren’t any goodies buried. Then they all wondered on down the creek. Three miles down the creek drainage the grizzle found a little pay dirt when he came to a pickup bed containing some elk blood from hunting season. Fortunately he only stood up and looked into the bed. What a surprise it would have been if the owner had come out in the morning to get into his pickup and there was a grizzly sitting in the bed. But by morning he moved off over the mountain. I know when cow elk season starts in a few weeks he will be back for sure!

If you want to know the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear footprint, take a look at these photos. A grizzly track has toes that string straight across the front of the pad. A blackie’s toes curve in a half circle around the pad. This grizzly isn’t large like the big old boy that lives in the neighborhood. But young grizzly bears usually are the most aggressive and apt to get into trouble with human contact.  This young bear has been hanging around the area the last few months and could be one of the problem bears the game and fish transplanted into our area.

Well, trick or treat Wyoming style!

Last stop Arizona for late mule deer hunting the end of this month. I’ll let you know how we do. Mike Eastman