Years ago, when I still lived in Colorado, I was goose hunting with my father and brother at a leased blind in front of a mostly well frozen pond. 

We put a decoy spread of standing geese out onto the well frozen part of the lake, and soon after shooting light began the geese started coming in. Despite still being relatively new to waterfowl hunting, the three of us were having a good season and we had a great day, shooting geese out of the sky that landed with a thud on the ice. 

Then I stretched the limits of my shotgun’s range and clipped one that fell, wounded, way out on the ice near a patch of open water. The goose honked miserably and I too felt miserable, so I quickly walked out of the blind, setting aside the need to stay covered and wait for more birds. I wanted to put the bird out of its misery, so I walked farther on the ice than I should have, finished off the goose with another shot and then, lying on my stomach with my father and brother ready to pull me from the freezing water, retrieved the goose carcass with a hooked decoy pole. 

Another time, my brother actually went into freezing water to retrieve ducks that had been shot, and one year later outside Douglas we chased birds half a mile or more down the banks of the fast-flowing North Platte to recover as many downed birds as we could. 

I love to hunt, but I want to do it right. I can’t stand wounding an animal I can’t kill quickly and humanely, and I can’t stand to waste an animal I have harvested. 

Still, I see the need for predator hunting and have even gone out (unsuccessfully) to hunt coyotes a couple of times myself, and once shot a skunk raiding our chicken coop. When a predator or nuisance animal is causing problems or is in an area that is problematic, I fully support taking them out. 

However, what was allegedly done to a wolf in Sublette County is beyond the pale. According to reporting from WyoFile and others, a man who was legally allowed to kill a wolf in a predator zone allegedly hit the wolf with his snowmobile — which is legal — and then — the following is not legal — allegedly captured the wolf, tightly taped its snout shut, and showed it off at a house and bar. Only then did he kill the wolf, something he should have done right after wounding it. 

We are to be stewards of the animals, the Bible says, and throughout the ages that has included harvesting them for food, domesticating them for use, and killing them for personal or livestock defense, or even trapping them for pelts. I believe these are all still warranted, within reason and depending on a population stable enough to handle it. But there’s no excuse for intentionally torturing a wounded animal and I hope hunters and trappers in particular call out this alleged action as being far beyond what is considered acceptable in this state.