McCullough Peaks Wild Horses

The panel's herd of about a hundred is now managed as a range of 70 to 140 horses, the level set in the BLM's 2015 Cody plan, and held there largely with a dart rifle. Since 2011 volunteers from Friends of a Legacy, a group formed in 2005, have darted mares on the open range with the fertility vaccine PZP, which the group pays for; these horses are approachable enough for it. The herd still outgrows its range, and a bait-trap gather planned from late 2023 to bring it back to 140 drew threats against BLM staff.

What the plaque says

McCullough Peaks Wild Horses No larger than a dog, the eohippus, or dawn horse, first appeared approximately 55 million years ago. It had four toes on its front legs and three on its hind legs. Eohippus remains have been found in Wyoming's Wind River Basin. Over time, the eohippus evolved into Equus--the horse as we know it. The horse became extinct in America about 8,000 years ago. In the fifteenth century, Spanish explorers and missionaries reintroduced it to the Americas. Legend has it today's wild horses are the seed stock of horses that escaped from early Spanish expeditions, but only after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt did large numbers of wild horses appear on the grasslands of the plains. Wild horses in the McCullough Peaks vicinity are part of the Wyoming Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Herd Management Area. This fifteen mile (109,814 acre) public rangeland is located roughly 12 miles east of Cody, Wyoming. The BLM strives to maintain a herd of approximately 100 animals. McCullough Peaks wild horses represent many coat and color patterns and are known for their variety. The animals are moderate to large in size and usually in superb physical condition. Typical coat colors include brown, black, chestnut, sorrel, white, buckskin, palomino, gray, blue, red and strawberry roans. Patterns such as piebald and skewbald are common. The BLM National Wild Horse and Burro Program provides for adoption of wild horses and burros removed from public lands. Legal transfer of the animals takes place after the BLM determines they have been properly cared for during the initial adoption year. The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burros Act provides for the animals' protection, control and management. Subsequent laws, including the 1978 Public Rangelands Improvement Act, define responsibilities for monitoring and balancing rangeland values, including wild horses.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Heart Mountain Interpretive Center — 25 mi
  The incarcerated cleared and watered the land; when the camp closed it went to veterans to homestead, and the barracks sold for a dollar each.

More markers nearby

• Shortcut to the Goldfields — steps away
• Sheep Mountain — 18 mi
• Sidon Canal — 22 mi