Shooting in Encampment claims one life

ENCAMPMENT- An Encampment man is dead and another local man is in jail following a shooting that occurred Wednesday evening in a rural area of Carbon County.

Carbon County Sheriff Jerry Colson said Jason Voss, 23, was shot in the head and killed about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday. The incident happened about 14 miles west of Wyoming Highway 130 on Spring Creek Road.

The victim, and the shooting suspect, who has been identified as a 21-year-old Encampment man, along with another man, had gone to the area to shoot their guns, a sheriff's department release said.

The suspect is being held in the Carbon County jail pending filing of criminal charges. Colson said the name of the alleged shooter could not be released until such time as charges are filed. He would not discuss any of the details surrounding the shooting incident itself.

Investigating the shooting were Sheriff's Deputies Louis Braun and Jerry Rakoczy and Carbon County Coroner Paul Zamora. An autopsy of the victim was expected to be conducted in Loveland, Colo.

Yellowstone wolves' diet returns to normal

BILLINGS, Mont. -- Wolves in Yellowstone National Park have returned to killing older bull elk for food, after an early winter preference for young elk.

Doug Smith, the park's lead wolf biologist, said the wolves' out-of-the-ordinary emphasis on elk calves in November and December was followed by a more typical diet of large male elk last month.

"This is right in line with what they do in March," Smith said.

Late last year, a survey by park biologists showed about 75 percent of the wolf kills were calves, 15 percent were bulls and about 10 percent were females. There was some speculation that the early mild conditions made it harder for wolves to get adult elk, so they turned to the weaker calves.

But in March, about half of the kills were bulls, roughly 25 percent were calves and 25 percent were adult females, Smith said.

The surveys are conducted every December and March to get an idea of what wolves are eating and how the population is faring.

Arsonists strike in Jackson

JACKSON -- Arsonists struck early and often Thursday morning, causing firefighters and police to battle three separate car fires that destroyed all three vehicles and a portion of a home, according to Jackson Hole Fire/EMS Chief Rusty Palmer.

Palmer said firefighters answered their first call around 3 a.m. behind Jackson Whole Grocer, where they found a Range Rover ablaze. While still suppressing the first fire at 4:19 a.m., emergency responders were drawn to a second call of an older model SUV in flames that had also ignited a portion of a rental unit behind Sidewinders Tavern.

At 6:01 a.m., the chief said, police and fire crews responded to a third vehicle, a Dodge Ram truck, burning by Jackson Hole Brake & Alignment - near where the first fire had started. As of late Friday, no injuries or arrests were reported in connection with any of the suspicious fires and officials said they were investigating each as arson.