Many of us dream of being a cowboy. We dream of riding the range. Sleeping out under the star-studded sky and taking ahold of the reigns. Can we count on the West to satisfy those dreams if we ever get out there to visit or even to live?

I've lived in Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and California, though I've traveled extensively through all states west of the Mississippi, save for North Dakota.When I talk of the Wild West I am referring chiefly to those states that lie along the Rocky Mountains: Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

Cowboy hats and cowboy boots are still a widely accepted style in public places throughout the Wild West. You can hear Country music nearly anywhere you wander and certainly you still find plenty of horses, cattle, deer and antelope. The bison has been sustained in small, often privately owned, herds, but prairie dog towns are still the thrill along the roads of the West.

Wilderness areas throughout the West help keep it wild. The Bureau of Land Management manages over 7 million acres, The FIsh and Wildlife Service manages over 20 million acres of land and water, The Forest Service over 35 million acres, and The National Park Service over 43 million acres of wilderness area. There are a total of 107.5 million acres of wilderness area in the United States. This info is thanks to The Wilderness Net . So we see from the map that the West has been restored to a wilder state than it was perhaps in 1964, when wilderness areas were first set aside. However, civilization has grown rapidly, including population and ease of transportation, making remote areas more eaily accessible to many more people. Perhaps the wilderness areas of the Wild West have remained about as wild as they were in 1964.

I remember reading about 6 months ago a news article about a mom and some bears. It was in the West. The bears were getting so bold after a law was passed protecting them, that they were coming into the woman's back yard. She was afraid they would carry off her little child one day. Then again the tables can be turned on you if your dog attacks and injures a bear. Legends may abound about wild animal attacks, but they are not unwarranted, since there are many inexperienced and even quite a few stupid people willing to misunderstand what the word WILD means in Wildlife or in Wilderness or in the Wild West!