January 2025 - 20

Ken Mills, large carnivore biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, fastens a radio collar to wolf 1244M, a member of the Dell Creek pack near Bondurant in January 2020. The wolf
eventually became the founding breeding male of the Gypsum Mountain Pack north of Pinedale. (Photo by Mark Gocke/WGFD)
I
n the heart of Wyoming's rugged wilderness, Ken Mills
sets out on a typical day for a Wyoming Game and Fish
Department wolf management specialist. Armed with
bear spray and a firearm on his hip, he starts his trek in the
Bridger-Teton National Forest to a well-studied wolf den site.
For a wolf biologist, every day is an
adventure, never alike and likely full of the
unexpected challenges of fieldwork in the
backcountry. But since being hired as the
department's wolf management specialist in
2008, days like this have been part of Mills'
everyday life. With each step of today's adventure,
he gets closer to a wild, Wyoming wilderness
the wolves call home. Along the way to
the den site, we stop to listen to an anecdote
about the residents of this valley and their
social structures.
" Wolves are unusually social and interact
in fascinating ways. This is what makes them
so interesting to study and follow, " Mills said.
20 | January 2025
The Klondike Hill pack consisted of a
breeding male and female, an uncollared
subadult and pups. Wolf 1152F, the breeding
female, was killed by a lightning strike, and
the breeding male was killed by the newly
formed Water Dog Lakes pack that took over
the territory in October 2023.
" Through our observations of the Water
Dog Lakes pack, we believe they adopted
the remaining Klondike Hill members and
took over their former territory, " Mills said.
The level of detail Mills knows about the
wolf packs he monitors is impressive. GPS
collars track an animal's movements and offer
insight into what a wolf does throughout its
life, how it survives and the quality of habitat
within its territory.
" The nice thing about monitoring wolf
populations is they are territorial and social,
so they live in a group and live in a specific
area. If you place a collar on one wolf in a
pack, you can track that pack's territory, count
how many wolves are with it and count how

January 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2025

January 2025 - 1
January 2025 - 2
January 2025 - 3
January 2025 - 4
January 2025 - 5
January 2025 - 6
January 2025 - 7
January 2025 - 8
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2025
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/wyoming-wildlife-may-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2023
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2023
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-iak-special-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/dec-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2021
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/January2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/December2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/September2020
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