YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

About 70 miles from the East entrance to Yellowstone National Park is another sort of paradise in the Badlands of Wyoming where approximately 100 wild mustangs roam on BLM, Bureau of Land Management, land.  BLM land is public land that is essentially owned by everyone but where cattle ranchers often graze their cattle for a small fee.  A very small fee.

Unfortunately, wild horses are almost as controversial as other wild animals, such as bears and wolves, because they eat.  They eat the same grass that cattle eat and so ranchers want the wild horses gone from our public lands and they want to prevent us from enjoying the magnificent beauty of these wild animals.

In recent times, wild horses have been rounded up, using helicopters and other methods, and taken off of the public lands because of complaints by cattle ranchers.  When the horses are rounded up, families/bands are torn apart.

The horses at McCullough Peaks are safe for now and supposedly not in any danger of removal for many years to come.  Most of the mares have been given birth control to prevent them from getting pregnant for about five years.  All mares are given an opportunity to have one foal before being given the birth control.  This does not affect the breeding process, only the final outcome, which helps to keep the herd size to the optimal numbers so that rounding them up is not necessary.

Enjoy these beautiful and wild creatures while you can!

McCullough Peaks has many entrances to choose from but the main one is about 18 miles from Cody, WY at about mile marker 72, Whistle Creek Road, which is a well-maintained gravel road.  From this road you can reach most areas where the wild horses might be but many of the roads are single-track dirt roads with challengers, such as high center and mud if wet.  Don’t proceed on these roads if it has been raining or is about to rain and 4-wheel drive is recommended always.  As you drive Whistle Creek road, stop at high spots and use binoculars to locate the horses.  The refuge and the area where the wild horses hang out proceeds to the east and there are other entrances along Highway 16 but many have challenging creek crossings that are better at different times during the year.

Do not approach or feed the wild horses.  Regulations state that you must remain 300′ or 100 yards from the horses.  Foals are usually born in April, May and June but births can happen much later in the year.  Only one pregnant mare was spotted this year but there may be others.

A few images from the Peaks.

My special boy – Lansa, a stud cold born July 29, 2013