A series of videos posted by the Bureau of Land Management–Wyoming Facebook page shows the benefit of wildlife water guzzlers. Three BLM videos posted over a five-day period show a bull elk, a young black bear and a turkey vulture stopping to take a sip at the guzzler on Rattlesnake Mountain about 20 miles west of Cody, Wyoming.
According to the BLM, the federal agency’s Cody Field Office, Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation joined forces in 2019 to build the guzzler.
Lying on the eastern edge of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Rattlesnake Mountain provides year-round habitat for an abundance of wildlife including elk, moose, mule deer, whitetail deer, black bear, grizzly bear, blue grouse and turkey. Although the mountain receives 15″-19″ of precipitation each year, the lack of available surface water during the summer and fall makes it difficult for wildlife to utilize the high-quality habitat during the dry season.
Go here to watch a nice bull elk pause to take a drink.
(Photo credit: Bureau of Land Management – Wyoming)