CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Hunting and fishing remain popular activities among Wyoming residents and visitors, according to licensing numbers tracked by the state.

In the period between 2008 and 2016, participation in both hunting and fishing among Wyoming residents has either grown or stayed level. At last count, 18 percent of the state’s inhabitants purchased a fishing license, and 13.5 percent bought a hunting license.

“If you look at resident fishing licenses in 2008, it was 97,000,” Wyoming Game and Fish Department spokesman Renny MacKay told the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/2vY93cA). “It’s 104,000 now. It’s kind of been a slow increase.”

Hunting tag sales have been relatively level. But that’s likely because the overall number of licenses available has fallen off, partly because of declines in mule deer populations, MacKay said.

MacKay chalked up the overall positive hunting and fishing trends to the state’s rural nature. Wyoming, he said, has double, if not more, the participation rates of more urban states.

“The fact is that we’re a rural state, and we’re still very associated with our outdoor resources,” he said. “I don’t think you have to look further than that.”

After significant national participation declines in the 20th century, many state fish and wildlife agencies around the country have made concerted efforts to attract new hunters and anglers.

Wyoming Game and Fish has a staff position focused on boosting participation. Programming focused on recruitment entails camps, workshops, Facebook Live events and a three-day annual event for women interested in the outdoors.

The effort to get women into the field is one that’s working well, MacKay said.

“If you look at participation numbers,” he said, “you’re seeing an increase in women being involved in hunting and fishing.”

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Hunting and fishing remain popular activities among Wyoming residents and visitors, according to licensing numbers tracked by the state.

In the period between 2008 and 2016, participation in both hunting and fishing among Wyoming residents has either grown or stayed level. At last count, 18 percent of the state’s inhabitants purchased a fishing license, and 13.5 percent bought a hunting license.

“If you look at resident fishing licenses in 2008, it was 97,000,” Wyoming Game and Fish Department spokesman Renny MacKay told the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/2vY93cA). “It’s 104,000 now. It’s kind of been a slow increase.”

Hunting tag sales have been relatively level. But that’s likely because the overall number of licenses available has fallen off, partly because of declines in mule deer populations, MacKay said.

MacKay chalked up the overall positive hunting and fishing trends to the state’s rural nature. Wyoming, he said, has double, if not more, the participation rates of more urban states.

“The fact is that we’re a rural state, and we’re still very associated with our outdoor resources,” he said. “I don’t think you have to look further than that.”

After significant national participation declines in the 20th century, many state fish and wildlife agencies around the country have made concerted efforts to attract new hunters and anglers.

Wyoming Game and Fish has a staff position focused on boosting participation. Programming focused on recruitment entails camps, workshops, Facebook Live events and a three-day annual event for women interested in the outdoors.

The effort to get women into the field is one that’s working well, MacKay said.

“If you look at participation numbers,” he said, “you’re seeing an increase in women being involved in hunting and fishing.”

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Hunting and fishing remain popular activities among Wyoming residents and visitors, according to licensing numbers tracked by the state.

In the period between 2008 and 2016, participation in both hunting and fishing among Wyoming residents has either grown or stayed level. At last count, 18 percent of the state’s inhabitants purchased a fishing license, and 13.5 percent bought a hunting license.

“If you look at resident fishing licenses in 2008, it was 97,000,” Wyoming Game and Fish Department spokesman Renny MacKay told the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/2vY93cA). “It’s 104,000 now. It’s kind of been a slow increase.”

Hunting tag sales have been relatively level. But that’s likely because the overall number of licenses available has fallen off, partly because of declines in mule deer populations, MacKay said.

MacKay chalked up the overall positive hunting and fishing trends to the state’s rural nature. Wyoming, he said, has double, if not more, the participation rates of more urban states.

“The fact is that we’re a rural state, and we’re still very associated with our outdoor resources,” he said. “I don’t think you have to look further than that.”

After significant national participation declines in the 20th century, many state fish and wildlife agencies around the country have made concerted efforts to attract new hunters and anglers.

Wyoming Game and Fish has a staff position focused on boosting participation. Programming focused on recruitment entails camps, workshops, Facebook Live events and a three-day annual event for women interested in the outdoors.

The effort to get women into the field is one that’s working well, MacKay said.

“If you look at participation numbers,” he said, “you’re seeing an increase in women being involved in hunting and fishing.”

SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) — A stand of lakeside cedar trees that Idaho residents rallied around to preserve has sold for about $900,000 during an Idaho Department of Lands timber sale.

Coeur d’Alene-based IFG Timber bought the 52-acre property on Lake Pend Oreille’s shoreline, The Bonner County Daily Bee reported on Thursday.

The state Department of Fish & Game manages the land. It decided to log the parcel because about 40 acres was inaccessible to the public.

In opposition, residents formed a group called Friends of Sunnyside Cedars to voice their concerns. The group argued the sale would create a loss of habitat, endanger the remaining trees and increase fire danger and sedimentation.

State officials, however, said the sale will improve habitat for white-tailed deer, reduce fuel loading and improve conditions for ponderosa pine regeneration.

The group and state worked together to find alternatives for the land, such as developing an easement or a new point of public access. But the two parties were unable to identify funds to pay for the alternate ideas, according to the Department of Fish & Game.

“It’s not going to be clearcut,” said Jeanne Bradley, a forestry resource supervisor with the state Department of Lands.

On average, 33 larger trees per acre will be left standing, although there are up to 45 trees per acre remaining in some spots, said Nick Capobianco, a Department of Lands resource specialist.

The money raised from the timber sale will be used to pay for the Department of Fish & Game’s wildlife habitat improvement projects. It will also be specifically used to repair a road that was damaged by a beaver dam breach on Rapid Lightning Creek.

WALLACE, Idaho (AP) — A southwestern Idaho man whose fringe run for Idaho governor resulted in a Republican primary debate that drew national attention has been rescued near a wildfire in northern Idaho, but his wife has been found dead.

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office tells the Idaho Statesman that it’s investigating following the rescue of 79-year-old Walt Bayes of Emmett on Tuesday.

Authorities say they later found the body of 74-year-old Virginia Bayes in a remote area. Officials say her cause of death isn’t known. Walt Bayes refused medical attention.

Bayes, notable for his bushy white beard and far right views, along with another fringe candidate named Harley Brown stole the show from Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and then-state Sen. Russ Fulcher in a 2014 primary debate viewed as over the top even by Gem State standards.

MOOSE, Wyoming (AP) — Grand Teton National Park rangers have rescued two men who got lost and became stranded while descending Mount Moran in northwest Wyoming.

The National Park Service says 58-year-old Ron Sloot of Colfax, Washington, and 35-year-old Geoff Mitchell of Spartanburg, South Carolina, called for help about 2 a.m. Tuesday.

The two had summited the 12,605-foot Mount Moran at about 4:30 p.m. Monday but took a wrong turn on their way down.

A helicopter had to be used to get the men down safely at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Separately, rangers on Monday also helped another man who had slipped and fell on a snow field in Garnet Canyon. The man had minor injuries.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming (AP) — More than half way through the calendar year, Yellowstone National Park has seen about 5 percent fewer visitors so far this year.

The National Park Service on Wednesday said just more than 962,400 people visited the park in July, down 3.4 percent from July 2016’s 995,910 visits. Still, last month was the third busiest July in Yellowstone’s history.

So far this year, more than 2.31 million people have visited Yellowstone. That is down 4.6 percent from the same seven months in 2016, when a record 2.4 million visits were recorded.

Yellowstone officials are expecting a busy August because of the solar eclipse. People in Yellowstone will see only a partial solar eclipse on Aug. 21, but the total solar eclipse will pass directly over neighboring Grand Teton National Park.

BILLINGS, Montana (AP) — An eastern Montana rancher has pleaded guilty after his efforts to poison coyotes killed a bald eagle.

The Billings Gazette reports 66-year-old Dale Duwayne Buerkle of Plevna pleaded guilty Tuesday to the unlawful taking of a bald eagle during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Billings.

Prosecutors say Buerkle injected the pesticide carbofuran into calf carcasses to poison coyotes; however, a bald eagle and a hawk also apparently ate from the carcasses and were poisoned in March and April of 2016. A state game warden also found three dead coyotes.

Court records say toxicology tests on all the carcasses were positive for carbofuran.

A plea agreement recommends a probationary sentence and that two charges, including unlawful use of a registered pesticide, be dismissed when Buerkle is sentenced on Nov. 16.

SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) — An 11-year-old Idaho boy drowned while trying to save his older brother in an Idaho river, officials say.

The boys were swimming in the Pend Oreille River with their mother on Tuesday when the 17-year-old began to struggle and panic, the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies say the mother jumped in to help her eldest son but was going under herself because of his struggles. The younger boy tried to rescue his brother after their mother went back to shore to call for help, they said.

Other people in the area heard the mother’s cries for help, and they were able to find the 17-year-old, bring him to shore and begin CPR.

While the resuscitation efforts on the teen were underway, members of the Bonner County Dive Team found the 11-year-old’s body in six to seven feet of water. Life-saving efforts were immediately started, but the youth wasn’t breathing and died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.

The older brother was hospitalized in critical condition.

Officials say both boys were inexperienced swimmers. They started out wearing life vests, but they took them off believing the water was shallow. The sheriff’s office says the boys were unaware of the current in the river.

Rescuing a drowning person can be dangerous, particularly for people who aren’t trained in water rescues, because active drowning victims instinctively push down on anything around them in an attempt to get air, experts say. That can cause would-be rescuers to drown.

Some organizations including the Red Cross and the U.S. Army suggest that people stay out of the water when they see a swimmer in distress, and instead try to reach them with a hand, stick or other object from dry land. If that doesn’t work, a rope, life-jacket or a floatation device may be thrown to the person if possible and the rescuer can call for help.

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Information from: KBOI-TV, http://www.kboi2.com

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — A Montana attorney fought through headwinds, high waves and exhaustion to become the first person to swim the length of the West’s largest freshwater lake and back, a 56-mile feat that took 40 hours.

Emily von Jentzen, 34, set off at dawn Saturday from Somers on the northern shore of Flathead Lake, a 200-square mile body of water in northwestern Montana.

The attorney from nearby Kalispell was accompanied by a support crew in a boat that gave her food and kept other vessels away, but otherwise didn’t assist her.

Strong headwinds began to rise in the middle of the first day, slowing her down and putting her hours behind her schedule. She told the Daily Inter Lake that she cried in frustration, and that her exhaustion led to strange and negative thoughts.

“I am going so slow, and everyone’s going to laugh at me,” she said she recalled saying to the support crew at one point.

She made up her mind to at least make it to the halfway point, the town of Polson on the south shore. There, John Cole, a 35-year-old pediatrician, was waiting to swim with her on the return trip.

Cole’s positive attitude when she arrived encouraged her to start the long swim back in the dark, she said.

On Sunday, huge swells began to form, battering the swimmers and making the water so choppy that their support crew became sick and had to be replaced.

“To have those big waves when we were both exhausted was really challenging,” she said. “I don’t think we could have done it without each other.”

A crowd of 50 people greeted the two swimmers when they arrived in Somers at 10 p.m. Sunday, about 10 hours behind their projected finish.

Von Jentzen and Cole had trained together for 10 months for the swim. They spent four hours a day in a pool during the cold winter, then donned wetsuits to train in the lake when the weather began to warm.

Von Jentzen was the first woman to swim the length of Flathead Lake in 2010, and the first person to swim the 55-mile Lake Chelan in Washington state in 2011, according to the Flathead Beacon.

In 2013, she swam 30 Montana lakes in 60 days.

The Flathead Lake double-crossing raised money for a 5-year-old boy with a congenital heart defect and a 4-year-old girl with cancer. Von Jentzen has raised about $50,000 for six different children through charity swims and her nonprofit organization, Enduring Waves.

By accompanying Von Jentzen on the return trip, Cole became the sixth person to swim the length of Flathead Lake.