8-Year Sting: Wyoming Outfitter Busted, 10 Hunters Lose Rights for 20 Years 🚨

☕ Good Morning, Westerners

Eight years. Ten defendants. Dozens of wildlife crimes. And one Wyoming outfitter who thought he could game the system.

Last week, the final sentencing wrapped up in what might be the longest-running residency fraud case in Western hunting. Fake addresses, illegal tags, and a guide service that crossed every line.

Grab your coffee. This one's a gut punch for anyone who's played by the rules.

🔖 Quick Guide

Ten people convicted. $326 antelope tags bought with fake addresses. An outfitter who helped them do it.

After an investigation that started in 2017 and involved game wardens from Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Utah, the final defendant was sentenced last month in Sweetwater County.

The Ringleader: Sean Thomas of Farson, Wyoming, operated Great Basin Outfitters while allegedly helping out-of-state hunters fraudulently claim Wyoming residency to access cheaper tags and better draw odds.

What They Did:

The Temptation: It's easy to see why people try. A nonresident Wyoming antelope tag costs $326. Residents pay $37. Elk tags? $692 for nonresidents, $57 for residents. That's a $635 difference.

Wyoming requires a full calendar year of residency before you can buy resident tags - the strictest requirement in the West. Most states only require 90 days.

The Consequences: Thomas received:

Nine other defendants from Minnesota, Utah, and Wyoming also received convictions, fines, and hunting bans.

The Takeaway: While you're building preference points for a decade, someone's cutting the line with a fake address. Until they're not.

Retired game warden H.R. Longobardi told Cowboy State Daily that residency fraud is "more common than most people would think."

Bottom Line: Ethics matter. Addresses matter. And an 8-year investigation proves game wardens don't forget.

👉 Read the full story at Cowboy State Daily

You can't make this up.

A wolf pack killed a cow elk near the Yellowstone River on October 16. After the pack stripped most of the meat, a rack of ribs broke free and started floating downstream.

One determined wolf wasn't about to let dinner escape.

Wildlife photographer April Mead captured the whole scene: a wolf wading into the Yellowstone River, pursuing the floating ribcage around the bend, struggling to grab it with teeth too sharp to hold onto slippery bone.

"Runaway dinner," someone says in the background of Mead's video.

The wolf finally snagged the ribs and dragged them back to shore, where the Wapiti Lake Pack finished what they started. One wolf even buried a chunk across the river, caching it for later.

The Bigger Scene: Mead watched wolves for an entire day near Mud Volcano - a rare opportunity in Yellowstone. The pack defended the carcass from at least two grizzlies, crossed the road multiple times, and gave tourists a show they won't forget.

"You don't experience wolves that close," Mead said. "There was a lot of really cool interaction between the pack. At one point, they were all howling."

Why It Matters: When wolves make a kill (which only succeeds 10-15% of the time), they make the most of it. Every scrap counts. Even floating ribs.

👉 See the full story and photos

Faster than a Ferrari. Deadlier than you'd think.

Vahe Alaverdian owns about 40 falcons in Boulder, Wyoming. His peregrine falcons can dive at 242 mph - faster than most sports cars on Earth.

"When they dive out of the sky in a vertical stoop, there's nothing - no organism on this planet - that can move that fast," Alaverdian told Cowboy State Daily.

The kinetic energy of a 240 mph dive can snap a larger bird's neck on impact.

The C.J. Box Connection: Alaverdian is one of the real-world falconers that Wyoming author C.J. Box consulted with when creating Nate Romanowski - the falconer character in the Joe Pickett series.

Mike Rowe even featured Alaverdian on his show "Somebody's Gotta Do It" in 2016.

How He Trains Them: Alaverdian uses drones to simulate how parent falcons teach their young to hunt. A drone carries bait to a set altitude, the falcon grabs it, and a parachute brings the bird back down.

Before drones? Helium balloons and kites. But helium got too expensive, and wind isn't always cooperative.

Making a Living: Alaverdian's falcons work across a dozen states scaring away pest birds from berry crops, vineyards, golf courses, and airports. It's called bird abatement, and it's incredibly effective.

"We don't have to kill anything. We don't have to poison anything," Alaverdian said. Falcons use natural instinct to keep starlings, seagulls, and other pests away from crops without netting, noise makers, or chemicals.

Why Wyoming: "I grew up in Los Angeles," Alaverdian said. "I had to drive two hours just to find open area where I could fly a bird. I came to this part of the world because my favorite quarry is sage grouse. I fell in love with sage grouse. It's about my love of the open country and the sagebrush. Everything about it."

👉 Read the full feature

Here's something you won't find in Alberta: a legal Lynx hunt paired with mountain lion.

One of our readers doubled up on his 2025 hunt - mountain lion and lynx in the same trip. Both are trophy-class cats, and BC is one of the few places you can legally take both.

The Details:

Why This Hunt: If you've been building cat points or looking for a legitimate lynx opportunity, this is it. BC's terrain is spectacular, success rates are strong, and doubling up on two cats in one trip is something most hunters never get to do.

Interested? Reply to this email and I will get you more information on this hunt.

🦁 Idaho Wildlife Tech Films Mountain Lion Encounter An Idaho Fish & Game technician investigating a GPS-collared mule deer carcass in the Owyhees encountered an adult mountain lion and two juveniles feeding on the kill. She filmed the whole thing. Reminder: always be aware in predator country. 👉 Watch the video

🦌 Peak Rut is Happening RIGHT NOW The rutting moon (second full moon after autumn equinox) fell on November 5. Peak breeding is November 6-12 in northern states. If you can hunt, hunt all day. The chase phase is in full swing. 👉 Read the rut forecast

🔪 Processing Your Harvest: 5 New Ways to Handle Meat Idaho Fish & Game put together a solid guide on processing deer and elk beyond the standard burger-and-steaks approach. If you just filled a tag, this is worth reading. 👉 See the processing tips

🐺 Wolf Wars Update: Colorado Blocked from Canadian Wolves Trump administration ruled out Canada as a wolf source for Colorado's reintroduction program. Colorado officials say the 10(j) rule doesn't actually require specific sources, but the fight's heating up. This isn't going away. 👉 Read the latest

Eight years of investigation. Ten hunters convicted. One outfitter who thought he was smarter than the system.

Meanwhile, a wolf chased floating ribs down the Yellowstone River, a falconer's birds hit 240 mph, and peak rut is happening right now across the Northern Rockies.

The West doesn't forgive shortcuts. But it rewards those who play it straight.

Stay sharp. Stay legal. And if you see a rack of ribs floating downstream, let it go.

— Western Vantage Team

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