Page 24 of Capture the Moment
The midday sun beat down on Coop as he rambled through a meadow that led up to the Gros Ventre River, tracking a set of gray wolf prints. Helped by circling vultures, Coop spotted the remains of an elk calf that had been taken down during the night. He was pretty sure the wolf to whom these prints belonged was responsible for the carnage.
Coop had to admire the survival skills of wolves. They used to roam the area freely, but ranchers put an end to that. When they were reintroduced to nearby Yellowstone Park in 1995, a pack wandered down to Grand Teton and denned there, producing a litter of pups, the first in the park in over seventy years. Now, they were permanent residents in the neighborhood. At last count, over six packs were in the park. Over forty-three wolves and counting.
Coop was tracking this wolf to find its rendezvous site, which was closer to the river than he originally thought. He considered recommending an enclosure around the site to minimize humandisturbance to the wolves. After abandoning their dens, wolves tended to stay in one area for pup-raising activities. In the fall, mothers and pups would start to travel through the territories, moving as a pack.
The steady rush of the Gros Ventre River provided a serene backdrop, and Coop reveled in the solitude, relishing the sounds of nature. Such moments had gone missing for him this summer. When awake, Frankie was a perpetual noise machine—tapping his hands like drums to the blaring music in his earbuds or ranting about the world’s troubles. When asleep, his snoring rivaled that of a buzz saw.
As Coop neared the river, he spotted a couple of human footprints on the bank, as if they walked in the river and stepped onto the bank, then back into the river. He turned in a circle, wondering if these individuals might have been following the wolf’s tracks, like he was. And if so, why.
His thoughts went immediately to the poacher threat that Tim had told him about. There was a thriving black market for wolf pups. He studied the footprints again. One was large. He guessed it must be at least a male’s size 13 or 14. Bigger than his size 12, that was for sure. The other footprint was small. A female? Maybe a child? Both boots had thick tread. He took pictures of the footprints and thought he’d check at HQ to see if there’d been any chatter about wolf poaching. He heard someone call out and looked up. Two fly fishermen stood in the river, casting their lines. Wearing waders. Thick treads on the soles. He peered through his binoculars. A man and a woman. Coop sighed and deleted the footprints from his phone.
Tim’s poacher talk was getting to him. Turning him into the park’s meter maid. Suspicious about everybody.
Seeing the fishermen’s waders reminded Coop of yesterday’s encounter with that cute photographer. Kate Cunningham. He chuckled to himself, thinking of how she tried to hold on to herdignity after a dunk in the river. His smile faded as he remembered the mocking she’d received from the other shutterbugs. When he got back to his room last evening, he chewed Frankie out for telling the others that Kate worked as a zoo photographer.
He wondered if, after that humiliating moment, Kate might’ve packed up and gone home. She wasn’t at Pilgrim Creek this morning. He knew because he had looked for her amongst the other photographers. She wasn’t there, but neither was 399. The bear still hadn’t been sighted. Even Coop was starting to worry that the old sow didn’t make it through the long winter.
Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. He turned to see Tim Rivers strolling toward him, a wide grin plastered on his face. He liked Tim, liked him a lot, but he knew that grin meant trouble.
“Coop! Just the man I wanted to see,” Tim said, clapping Coop on the back with a force that nearly sent him stumbling. “Got a minute?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Nope. I’ve got some fantastic news for you,” Tim said, rubbing his hands together as if about to unveil a grand surprise.
“Why do I doubt that?” He cast a longing glance back at the wolf tracks.
“You, my friend, are going to be our star attraction at tonight’s evening ranger talk.”
Coop’s eyes narrowed. “I hope you’re kidding.”
“I’m not,” Tim said, a touch too cheerfully. “The ranger who was supposed to give the talk is down and out with a nasty stomach virus. Sally wants you to step in.”
He felt sympathy for the poor ranger, but much more for himself. “Tim, I’m here to manage the bears and protect the park. Not to entertain tourists.”
“Part of a ranger’s job is to educate visitors. That’s why Stephen Mather relieved the army from the task of protecting theparks when he became the first director for the national parks. Second task was to implement rangers. Greet and educate, that was his mantra.”
Coop sighed. Stephen Mather, Tim’s hero. John Muir, a close second. He quoted them endlessly. “You’re talking to the wrong ranger.”
“Coop, you’re a teacher. You talk to people all the time.”
Tim seemed oblivious to Coop’s dismay. “And that’s exactly why I’m here—to escape that.” He let out a sigh. “You know how much I prefer the company of grizzlies to people.”
“Well, here’s your chance to enlighten the public about your favorite topic. Sally said you can choose to talk about anything you want. Tell the visitors everything you know about bears. That’s all you have to do. Give a bear talk.”
Tim wasn’t backing down.
A voice piped up from behind them. “Did I hear there’s going to be a talk about bears?”
Coop whirled around to seethatphotographer, Kate, standing about two feet away from him, an intrigued expression on her face. Man, she reallywaspretty. So far, he’d only seen her at dawn or at dusk. This was the first time in broad daylight. He felt his heart rate quicken a bit.
“Perfect timing,” Tim said, gesturing toward Coop. “Ranger Cooper is going to give the first evening ranger talk for the season about bears. Tonight.”
Kate’s eyes lit up. “That sounds interesting.”
“It will be. I’d be hard pressed to find anyone at the park who is more knowledgeable about bears than this man.” Tim looked at Coop. “So I’ll tell Sally that you’re on board and the topic is bears, right?”
Coop hesitated, glancing at Kate, before giving Tim a nod. “Yeah, yeah. Sure.”
