Briefs

Pine Creek instream flow

The draft decisions for the applications to establish an instream flow on Pine Creek are on Wyoming State Engineer Pat Tyrrell's desk, he said Monday.

He's been "reading, re-reading and editing" the decisions, but the administrative record, including all the letters and transcripts, is extensive.

Tyrrell said he is trying to review all the information and make the decisions in a "disciplined and logical fashion."

There are two applications aimed at establishing an instream flow for Pine Creek, one is for direct flow rights in Pine Creek and the other is for storage rights in Fremont Lake.

Elk feeding

Scott Werbelow of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said Monday that elk feeding has begun in all area elk feedgrounds with the exception of Soda Lake. Feeding began at each of the feedgrounds during the last two weeks of November, he said.

The winter storm that set in around Halloween forced the state wildlife agency to begin feeding earlier than normal. No counts have been made because the elk haven't really settled in yet, Werbelow said, but as for elk numbers on the feedgrounds, there aren't any big surprises right now.

There haven't been any problems with predators on the feedgrounds yet, Werbelow said, although there were three wolves reported on the Black Butte feedground a few weeks ago.

Wolves

Several Sublette County residents had experiences in the last few weeks of watching some members of the Daniel wolf pack killing mule deer alongside the Ryegrass Road. Ten or 11 of these wolves have been seen killing deer by people driving down the roadway.