Above: Paul looks over a stash of antlers hidden in a small grove of trees high atop Specimen Ridge. The poaching of horns, heads, and antlers is a lucrative pastime for lawbreakers in Yellowstone. The ranger staff fights a never-ending battle to protect the resources of the Park. The profits have become so great that the poachers often use helicopters to swoop in and haul out their stashes. Helicopters are also used in the poaching of live animals. With trophy bighorn rams or elk bulls fetching thousands of dollars on the black market, many slob 'hunters' turn to gunning down their 'trophies' from the air, landing just long enough to chainsaw the heads off of the bodies before fleeing the Park. The Park Service, operating on a bare-bones budget, has a hard time competing with with the high tech toys of the poachers.

Below: A trophy rack, one of many that we spotted on this particular hike in early June, lies at the edge of a woodland in northern Yellowstone. A head like this one, if taken from a live animal, would be worth thousands of dollars to unscrupulous poachers.