Was, Some Gave All: Chuck Ward Cabin. Big Horns, Public Lands, and some recollections.
Some Gave All: Chuck Ward Cabin, Big Horns.: I'd seen this cabin before, but I'd never walked up on it. It's a Wyoming Game and Fish cabin, from the days when the wardens s...
The reason to post this is probably obvious, and not. The obvious part is that it fits in with the blog's theme.
Chuck Ward Cabin, Big Horns.
I'd seen this cabin before, but I'd never walked up on it. It's a Wyoming Game and Fish cabin, from the days when the wardens stayed in remote areas during some parts of the year, with a dedication to long time Warden Chuck Ward.
Ward was probably best known during his life time for giving the KTWO Game & Fish report, which occurred periodically, probably weekly.
The less obvious one is the bit of a recollection, vicarious though it be, of Mr. Ward.
This cabin is located on a tributary of the Middle Fork of the Powder River. It's always been a popular spot for fisherman. A neighbor of mine, whom I dearly miss, held it as his favorite fishing spot, and its a favorite of mine as well. Oddly enough, it's one that I didn't fish until I was in my adulthood, probably my 30s.
That's an interesting recollection as well, as I'm a pretty wide ranging fellow. I'll travel a long ways in a day to hunt or fish, but my range now is much larger than it was back in my teens and twenties. I started driving in my teens, of course, and at that time I'd range, by myself, or with my cohorts, far to the west to the neighboring county, and somewhat to the east to the neighboring one. Going north, into the Big Horns, was something I didn't do all that much, although I did a little. For that matter, I can recall going into the foothills of the Southern Big Horns with my father. We must have been hunting.
Going deep into the Southern Big Horns, however, is something I didn't really do very much until I came back from law school, but I very much did then. Odd thing to recall, however, is that my father had routinely done that with a a friend and uncle of his before I was born, and a little afterwards. Since that time, I've expanded into what was his range, reaching some of it only within the last couple of years, but I've also greatly expanded on it and was starting to do so when he died, which is now something like 30 years ago.
On Ward, my father did not hold him in high regard.
The reason is connected to this location. My father went fishing with my Godfather, a good friend of his throughout his life, and on the way out, they were stopped by Ward. Ward thought they'd taken more than their limit of fish. He must have been watching them from a distance or something. Ward was wrong, but he demanded to search the truck, and did. He completely unloaded it.
When he was done, he found that in fact they had not taken over their limit. He then said something like, "well, I guess you can load it back up".
My Godfather made Ward load it back up.
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I called outback law enforcement this past week.
I actually emailed the BLM law enforcement branch, for the first time ever. I knew they had Rangers, but I've had no occasion to call them and indeed I've never spoken to one before.
The reason was that some months ago, August I think, I went out to a place that I often to to in order to hunt and fish. It's a parcel of BLM land. I'm often the only guy who hunts or fishes there, although there are some others who do occasionally.
On that occasion, and I can't quite recall which I was doing, as I started to walk in I discovered a large camping ten was pitched in a cottonwood stand, to my enormous surprise. I've never seen anyone camped there before, but it's not illegal. It was the opening weekend of antelope bow season and my assumption was that it must be a bow hunter. Given that, I backed out and left that spot.
Not all that long after that, but still at least a couple of weeks, I was back out and saw that the tent was still there, and a guy sitting in a camp chair in his camp. It's not my antelope area so I assumed that antelope season must still be on. Again, I left.
Some weeks after that I went back dove and duck hunting. Given that, I approached the spot from a different direction entirely. I did see doves land in some cottonwoods in the cottonwood grove and almost took a shot, but it didn't quite work out, so I walked towards the grove. I was clean up on it when I suddenly walked right up on the camp. It was very well camouflaged. At that point, a man was out, and as I was carrying a firearm, I rapidly changed directions, but he saw me and called to me. I apologized for walking up on the camp but he started to close the ground to talk to me.
My dog is an American Retriever and he's still a puppy, but a giant puppy. He's friendly with everyone. . . but not on this occasion. He rapidly closed the ground from where he had been to where this fellow was and it was not friendly at all. I was afraid my do would attack him.
One thing I've learned over the years, and it will sound odd, is to trust the instinct of friendly dogs and cats. The first mixed breed of this general type I had loved everyone save for a couple of people, and they proved to be very sketchy. This one had never reacted negatively to anyone before, but it now was, and it clearly regarded the man as a danger and seemingly as one who had to be taken out. Most of the time he's a giant goofy fellow, but at this moment he was a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and I was his charge.
I called him back with some difficulty.
Just as I did that, the man said "I like dogs" and started to rapidly close the ground with my now withdrawing dog. That caused the dog to explode with self defense. I got him called off, but I had to resort to a my collar to do it.
This from the same big goofy dog that only a month or two prior had closed the ground with a young man and his children near this spot as he wanted to be petted.
I briefly spoke to the man, apologizing for the dog. He didn't seem to be quite right. I also apologized for walking up on his camp, noting that I knew it had been there but that I assumed he'd be gone. He denied that he'd been camping there.
Over the weekend I want back out for doves and chukars. I was very careful this time about the camp, and yes, it was still there.
Now, my assumption, and I'll be frank, is that the camper is homeless, although the tent was a large one and he had an electric bicycle. But at this point he's living on the public domain and driving off the wildlife. I emailed the BLM.
Yesterday they went out. They called me from the camp. They were there at the time, but the camper wasn't (my wife later noted that the camper probably had a job in town, which is probably correct). They asked if I had a photograph of the camp, which I didn't, as they were trying to place the date he showed up there. I related what I knew. They told me they tagged the tent with a warning that it needed to be gone in fourteen days, the longest you can camp on the public domain.
They also asked me if there had been a lot of trash located there. I honestly told them that I hadn't noticed it, but then, I wasn't really in a position to. They told me the spot was trashed up.
What I didn't note, and perhaps I should have, is that when you cross a fence to enter into this area there are now piles of toilet paper from somebody shitting on the public domain. Okay, I know that nature calls, but this was just dirty. Most professional campers, if you will, dedicated hikers, stockmen, etc., just don't shit near a road an leave the toilet paper all over.
Anyhow, a Ranger called me back late in the day. He'd been back out and had engaged the campers, it turned out there was more than one, in conversation. They told him they were pulling out today.
My guess is that they'll just move to a new location on the public domain.
This isn't something I noticed much until just recently. Last year there was a camper on a BLM spot near the river for weeks, clearly camping out of his SUV. And I saw a Game Warden confront a guy living in his car some distance downstream from there.
I'm not sure what to make of all of this. Homelessness is a horrible tragedy in our country and I'll tolerate a lot of urban and even urban/wilderness interface camping. This is, I'm sure, what that was. The Rangers referred to it as a "vagrant camp", which I'm sure is a term they didn't just start using yesterday. But this also has an aspect of the Tragedy of the Commons to it. At least the guy in an established BLM campsite I noted above was in a developed campsite. These guys were trashing the public land. There's not a bird to be seen in there now.
