Return of the wolf but not to provide more 'fun' for hunters

Both were subject to the zealous Conquering of the Savage West, with the Redman and the wolf regarded in the majority of cases as in need of extermination in order for the country to “progress”.

I am not suggesting the US had a monopoly on such a policy: the British set the yardstick in respect of the Redman, but it was in the US newspapers a couple of centuries later that the question of extermination rather than reservation was advocated.

The wolf has been re-introduced into Wyoming and Montana, where we visited last autumn and they have also been brought back to Yellowstone National Park. The grey wolf had been labelled an endangered species in the US in the 1990’s but the plans to re-introduce wolves to various areas were deemed controversial.

In Wyoming, is about 12 times bigger than Wales and fewer inhabitants than the combination of Swansea and Cardiff. While the local inhabitants and visitors spend weeks killing anything that moves during the hunting season, the grey wolf was off-limits. After the wolf became established, the powers that be decided to drop it from the list of endangered species in Wyoming.

So, not content with slaying cougar, bear, elk and moose, the hunters flooded into Wyoming during the season, delighted by the rare opportunity to hunt wolves. This they did, killing them in such numbers, the creatures were heading for extermination yet again.

All this occurred in the last 15 years, so, in reality, man has not prospered in the knowledge department or in his preparedness to co-exist with other creatures on this planet. It was a brief interlude however, for the US authorities have now put wolves back on the endangered list in Wyoming, which has officially brought an end to wolf hunting.

We loved Wyoming and the vast expanses, but we did not know, as we travelled across at the end of September, looking for motels late in the afternoons and having little trouble getting a room, that a week later the state would be swarming with hunters and hotel rooms would be hard to find.

Being assured that bear can taste nice and cougar too, did not sit well with me, especially as most hunters apparently drop off their kills at the local butcher’s, rather than leave the corpse to rot. So you could drop into the butcher and have some cougar steaks cut up for you, while someone is back at home with a mounted picture of him and his kill, presumably feeling better and superior for the experience.

Hunting is the way of life in Wyoming, which is deep in snow for half the year. The towns/villages welcome you and state the population on the name-board on the outskirts. We checked out Emblem (population 10) as we drove through and there were more than ten houses but most were boarded up. “Even the ol' Anderson place atop the hill hasn't been lived-in in a coon's age”.

We pulled up at a place called Shell, which has a population of 50. I wonder if they go out and repaint the sign every time there is a birth or a death.

The sign outside the one bar/cafe stated: It’s hunting season, we may be closed. Fortunately we were just in time. At the cafe the woman there cooked us hamburgers: that was all she had. I detest hamburgers but hers were home-cooked and thick and lovely. I didn’t spend the rest of the day repeating.

We talked some, perhaps we talked a bunch, as they say. When we mentioned Beartooth Pass, which I wrote about in a previous blog when travelling to Yellowstone, she flipped. She goes there every couple of years for a fix. Thinks it’s the greatest in the USA.

I wish now we had stopped at Wikita post office. It is on the main route through the Bighorn Mountains. As we passed we noticed there was a post office, a house attached and that was all. That was Wikita but of course it is a collection point for folks up in the hills etc.

The thing that really amazed me about Wikita (and we are talking remote Wyoming here and I doubt if there is much more remote than remote Wyoming in mainland USA), was that parked in the back yard was an English, green, double-decker bus.

Maybe they are waiting for parts to be posted through. Tough being a conductor on that route.

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