The Best of the Back Country

Wyoming’s best trophy mule deer hunting. The last stand for three of four native cutthroat trout. World class elk and Shiras moose hunting. Unsurpassed mountain beauty. This is the tall country known collectively as the Wyoming and Salt River ranges in extreme western Wyoming. These ranges are the state’s premiere sporting grounds, encompassing hundreds of thousands of acres of public land stretching from the Hoback River Canyon on the north all the way south to the town of Kemmerer. This country includes not only the Wyoming Range, but the Salt River and Hoback country as well.  Here are the watersheds of three major drainages and, as a result, the headwater home of three of Wyoming’s four species of native cutthroat trout. This high country is the last, best stand of Bonneville, Colorado River and Snake River cutthroat trout in the West. This is truly Wyoming’s range, the place where the people of the Cowboy State hunt, fish, relax and play.

Big Game Heaven

Picture Courtesy of Wyoming Historical Archive ©

For years, this mountain country has been one of the most popular hunting areas for mule deer hunters in search of a trophy book buck, a heritage that stretches back into the 1800s. With its high timberline basins of scattered whitebark pine and lush green slopes, to its sage- and bitterbrush-covered foothill benches, this is mule deer heaven. It simply grows big bucks. Today, the backcountry enjoys a world-renowned and well-deserved reputation and has been featured in many outdoors and trophy hunting magazines. Each fall, sportsmen from around the world descend upon this range in search of that buck of a lifetime. Many are not disappointed.
 
“The mule deer herds of western Wyoming represent a world-class wildlife resource; the epicenter of which is the Wyoming Range,” says Hall Sawyer, a wildlife biologist with Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc.  “The unique combination of mid-elevation shrub and aspen

Picture Courtesy of Pinedale Online ©

communities, extensive high-elevation forb communities, rugged terrain, and relatively few roads make the Wyoming Range ideal for mule deer and the outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy them.”

The hunting doesn’t stop with mule deer either. The range harbors the largest Shiras moose population in the world. It also is home to a tremendous elk herd. Bighorn sheep are also making a significant comeback and it is hoped that there will be a huntable population of these regal big game animals in the near future.

What is today’s sportsman to do?

While the oil and gas development on Bureau of Land Management land in the foothills has irreparably damaged critical wildlife habitat, there are still large chunks of the range that are vital to at least keeping a small portion of what once was. This is U.S. Forest Service land between the

Picture Courtesy of Pinedale Online ©

high peaks and the low country where mule deer, elk and moose spend parts of spring, summer and fall. Here, big backcountry areas provide critical habitat and the key to this critical habitat is that it is largely without gravel roads. While winter range has been roaded, cut up and sliced apart, this intermediate roadless habitat remains largely untouched. What this means for a big buck summering in the high country is that even if his winter range has been bladed and abused, the summer and fall range can provide enough so that buck can enter the winter in as good a condition as possible. Were it not for undeveloped lands, that same buck might spend a summer on the move, running from one human disturbance to the next and entering the winter in poor condition. Backcountry helps that buck to stay in top shape. Big bucks are old bucks and old bucks don’t get that way without some rugged country that is largely free of man’s impacts.

Renowned trophy mule deer hunter, author and cinematographer Mike Eastman knows this all too well. In his book Hunting High Country Mule Deer, Eastman writes “Bucks seem to have a sixth sense that lets them know when their territory is being invaded by a human. A mature buck picks up on any unusual activity or noise, slipping off to his alternative living area in an instant.”

Keeping an area largely free of man’s impacts is crucial for growing big bucks. Eastman calls these areas “buffer zones.”
 
To grow big bucks, wildlife biology calls for growing more bucks and these ranges are no slouch in this regard. The number two and three mule deer hunting units in the state in terms of bucks per square mile are found in hunt areas 154 and 142, both of which are in the Wyoming-Salt River ranges. Both of these units contain large portions of pristine backcountry—where bucks can mature, grow, and achieve trophy status. It’s no surprise that Wyoming’s number one record book mule deer came from the Wyoming Range and each year, more trophies are killed in this range. But keeping this critical opportunity and passing it on to our children will depend upon keeping backcountry lands undeveloped and unroaded.

There is no doubt we sportsmen use our fair share of precious natural resources to fuel our pickup trucks and our four wheel drives, but there are places that should simply be off limits to development. Our wildlife heritage should not be sacrificed for our appetite for oil and gas. We think responsible energy development is appropriate; this kind of development is neither responsible nor appropriate.

There are places that should be saved for the hunting and fishing future of our children and off-limits to development. This mountain country is one of those places.