Outdoors Reporter

Mark Heinz

Mark Heinz covers the outdoors and wildlife for Cowboy State Daily.

He previously worked or freelanced for numerous newspapers and magazines across Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, covering all manner of news and feature stories. He has a strong background in topics related to wildlife, hunting, and wildlands conservation. He's written extensively since the 1990s about the controversies surrounding wolves, grizzly bears and mustangs.

He also enjoys people-centric stories with quirky edge of humor and has written several such pieces for Cowboy State Daily.

Mark lives in Laramie with his wife, Kendy, and the youngest of their five children.

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Latest from Mark Heinz

This pelican was shot at 9-mile Lake west of Laramie. Huge flocks of the fish-gulping birds were ruining the angling there. A special permit is required to shoot pelicans, which are a federally-protected migratory bird species.

Gun Club Gets OK To Shoot Pelicans Eating All The Prized Trout In Wyoming Lake

Hungry pelicans had nearly picked clean 9-Mile Lake in southern Wyoming of its prized trout, so the gun club that owns the lake got permission to shoot some of them to bring the fishing back.

Mark HeinzJune 28, 2024

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has put out a call to declare guns a public health crisis in America.

Wyoming Bristles At Surgeon General’s Claim Guns A Public Health Crisis

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared this week that gun violence is a public health crisis and called for an assault weapons ban. Wyoming gun owners bristled at the notion and said he doesn’t know what he’s talking about it.

Mark HeinzJune 28, 2024

A doe mule deer keeps watch over her nearby fawn in Laramie’s Greenhill Cemetery on Thursday. The doe hasn’t been aggressive toward people, but cemetery staff are warning people to keep their dogs clear, because the doe hates them being near her fawn, and will go after dogs.

Laramie Cemetery Warns Public About Aggressive Deer That Attacks Dogs

Warning signs at Greenhill Cemetery in Laramie are putting visitors and their canine companions on notice: There’s an aggressive deer hanging around and she is attacking people’s dogs.

Mark HeinzJune 27, 2024

Campbell, Park Counties Are Finalists For $10M Shooting Complex

Campbell County and Park County beat out seven other communities vying for a multi-million-dollar state shooting complex, it was announced Tuesday. Now one of them must beat the other.

Mark HeinzJune 27, 2024

People from Wyoming and several other states gathered in Washington, D.C., early Wednesday for the “A Cry For The Wild” rally for wolves.

Wyoming-Organized DC Rally Demands Ban On Running Down Wolves With Snowmobiles

While some in Wyoming defend running wolves and other predators down with snowmobiles, aka "wolf whacking," a group of Wyoming wildlife advocates rallied in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday demanding it be banned.

Mark HeinzJune 26, 2024

Soda Lake is just northeast of Pinedale and used to be one of Wyoming’s trout fishing hot spots. But lately, most of the fish died — either because of low water or algae — and almost nobody bothers going there anymore.

Once Legendary For Trout, Locals Say Pinedale’s Soda Lake Not Worth Fishing Now

Soda Lake, just northeast of Pinedale, used to be one of Wyoming’s most prized trout fishing spots. Then nearly all the fish died, and it’s not exactly clear why.

Mark HeinzJune 25, 2024

Members of the Wyoming Legislature's Joint Treatment of Predators Working Group State Sen. Fred Baldwin, right, and Wyoming Stock Growers Association Vice President Jim Magagna discuss the problem caused by the capture and torture of a wild wolf by a Daniel, Wyoming, man.

Running Predators Down With Snowmobiles Could Stay Legal In Wyoming

Despite outrage over a wolf being run down with a snowmobile in the infamous Daniel wolf torture incident, banning that practice in Wyoming doesn’t seem imminent. Some members of a legislative working group on Tuesday argued it should remain legal.

Mark HeinzJune 25, 2024

Black bears are good tree climbers, and have been known to follow people up trees on occassion.

Black Bear Defending Cubs Chases Sheridan County Man Up Tree, Attacks Him

A black bear defending her cubs chased a Sheridan County man up a tree and attacked him Saturday, leaving him with undisclosed injuries. The bear had two young cubs-of-the-year with her and attacked the man in the North Fork of West Pass Creek.

Mark HeinzJune 24, 2024

Grizzly 399 and her cub Spirit caused some “bear jams” on the roads in Grand Teton National Park earlier this summer.

Grizzly 399’s Huge Cub Could Avoid Trouble That Got 2022 Cub Killed

Of Grizzly 399’s 18 known cubs, 10 have died. Her latest cub, Spirit, has a better chance to survive, one wildlife photographer said, because 399 isn't taking him around settled areas.

Mark HeinzJune 24, 2024

One of five wolves reintroduced to northern Colorado in December 2023.

Colorado Has A New Wolf Pup, Nobody Knows Yet If There’s A Whole Litter

Roughly six months after being reintroduced to Colorado, wolves have produced at least one confirmed pup. Although it is highly likely the pup is part of a larger litter, Colorado officials won't confirm any more.

Mark HeinzJune 23, 2024

Bam-Bam was a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ram that lived in the Sinks Canyon area near Lander. After he died of natural causes in 2013, he was immortalized in this full-body taxidermy mount, on display at the Sinks Canyon State Park visitors center.

Bam-Bam The Wyoming Bighorn Loved People, Peanut Butter And Ramming Cars

He’s been gone for more than a decade, but Wyomingites still fondly remember Bam-Bam, the peanut butter-loving, flower-devouring, car-ramming Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep ram that ruled Sinks Canyon in the late 2000s.

Mark HeinzJune 23, 2024

A bear and a pair of cubs have to navigate photographers and tourists while crossing a bridge in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone Bears Can’t ‘Scratch Hind Ends’ Without Getting On Camera

Social media feeds are flooded with photos of Yellowstone bears, but it doesn’t mean there are more bears. It just means the park is packed with tourists, and the bears “can’t hardly scratch his hind end” without getting on camera.

Mark HeinzJune 23, 2024

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Avid angler and part-time Wyoming resident Tommy Martinez found these orange shotgun targets, commonly called clay pigeons, littering the Buffalo Fork River near a campground on Thursday.

Sportsman Outraged Over Littering Grand Teton River With Shotgun Targets

An angler on the Buffalo Fork River near Grand Teton National Park on Thursday was outraged to find someone had used the area for shotgun target practice, and left dozens of bright orange clay pigeons in the river. Plus, he said they were a terrible shot.

Mark HeinzJune 21, 2024

Diesel the donkey ran away from his home five years ago and turned up again this spring when a hunter captured this video of him living with a herd of elk in California. Despite numerous online rumors, Diesel isn't from Wyoming and was never in the Cowboy State.

Donkey Named Diesel Living With California Elk Herd Was Never In Wyoming

It’s true that a donkey that’s gone viral named Diesel ran away from home to live with a wild elk herd in California. What’s not true despite numerous social media reports is that Diesel’s from Wyoming.

Mark HeinzJune 21, 2024

This image from video shows a large grizzly bear chasing a bull moose through a campground just north of the Wyoming-Montana border.

Moose Lucky Grizzly Chasing Him Near Wyoming State Line Wasn't Really Trying

A former Yellowstone bear biologist who caught video of a grizzly chasing a moose near the Wyoming state line said the moose was lucky the bear opted for a vegetarian option. Grizzlies usually, but not always, have an advantage over moose in a one-on-one fight.

Mark HeinzJune 20, 2024

Northeast Wyoming resident Owen Miller is an avid hunter and hunting guide. He bagged this huge bull on an over-the-counter elk tag in Colorado in 2020. However, Colorado is discontinuing some elk tags for non-residents.

Colorado Eliminates Over-The-Counter Archery Elk Tags For Non-Residents

Trying to lessen the numbers of hunters that flood Colorado every fall, the state has discontinued over-the-counter archery elk tags for non-residents. Colorado was known as the best last option for elk hunters who failed to draw elk tags anywhere else.

Mark HeinzJune 19, 2024

This pickup getting stuck in a remote part of Carbon County during this past fall’s elk hunting season set off a chain of events that led to a Rawlins man getting nailed for poaching.

Wyoming Elk Poacher Nailed After Truck Gets Stuck And He Brags On Social Media

A Rawlins man might have thought he would get away with poaching a bull elk, until his truck got stuck. Then he posted photos of the elk and bragged about it on social media.

Mark HeinzJune 18, 2024

Don Gittleson prepares to tend to a cow that was attacked by a wolf this past winter on this ranch in North Park, Colorado, near the Wyoming state line.

Family Says Its Ranch Near Wyoming State Line A ‘Grocery Store’ For Wolves

Many of the 24 cattle killed by wolves in Colorado since December have been on the Gittleson ranch just a few miles from the Wyoming state line. Since reintroduction of wolves in Colorado, the ranch has become a “grocery store” for them.

Mark HeinzJune 18, 2024

Park County Search And Rescue personnel were assisted by civilian kayakers on Sunday, rescuing a West Texas man who was trapped in this eddy and cave on the Shoshone River after the raft his was riding in with two others flipped. He found refuge in this little cave to the right.

Texas Man Rescued After Trying Most Dangerous Rapid In River On "Walmart Raft"

A Texas man was rescued on Sunday after getting stranded on the Shoshone River. An expert kayaker from Cody, who rescued the man, said the Texan tried to "run the biggest rapid on the river during the highest water in a Walmart raft."

Mark HeinzJune 17, 2024

Southeast Wyoming Fishing Off To Slow Start But Will Change Soon

To put it bluntly, the fishing “sucks right now,” in southeast Wyoming, says Josh McPeak, a fishing guide with Four Seasons Anglers in Laramie. But the turnaround, he says, could come as early as this week.

Mark HeinzJune 16, 2024

A group of coyote-wolf hybrids, commonly called coywolves, at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake Minnesota.

There Are Plenty Of Coyotes And Wolves In Wyoming, So Why No Coywolves?

in the eastern United States, coyotes people encounter are likely to be coywolves, or coyote-wolf crossbreeds. But in Wyoming, wolves and coyotes tend to avoid each other and coywolves have not been documented.

Mark HeinzJune 16, 2024

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