April Yellowstone Trip: Days 3, 4 and 5

DAY 3

Tuesday, April 9: We stopped at Round Prairie to see if what I thought was a wolf on top of the slope really was in the better light. As I mentioned before, it wasn't but we discovered tracks leading up the slope. We scoped for a bit before deciding to move on to Slough Creek for a grizzly but none showed.

We drove all the way to Nature Trail to the west side of the park and took a nap in the car, warm from the sunshine. We woke to hear a person say "I've got a black wolf." We both snapped up and got out of the car, only to hear the person then say, "Nope, it's just a rock." He then introduced himself as Gabriel. The young man and his accompanying father were from Virginia, and it was their third time in the park, each visit about two years apart.

We stopped at several places to spot along the way back to Cooke City, including Curve pullout where there had a been a grizzly sighted on a carcass several times but didn't see anything exciting. After dinner, we went out again, trying our luck but didn't see any spotters or spot anything ourselves. We usually spent and hour or so each evening scoping at Round Prairie but we decided to skip it that night. When we read the day's report on Yellowstone Reports, we found that Gabriel and his dad saw the Lamar Canyon pack at Round Prairie. Of all the luck!

DAY 4

Wednesday, April 10: We drove to Nature Trail and as we arrived at the parking lot, we saw a young woman, Lizzy, get out of her vehicle with an antennae. She pointed it to the south and picked up the signal of one and then a second of the Eight-Mile pack. We also heard wolves howling behind us to the north. John talked to her about 1118F, and she reported that she is still around and has returned to her pack's area (the Mollies). I asked her about helping 1118F but she explained that they have a policy of not interfering unless a wolf is near the road and can't walk. She had to leave for a meeting, but we stayed to look for them.

John anticipated that the pack might try to cross the road west of Nature Trail to join up with the other two wolves, so we went to the next pull out on the hillside curves. I scoped the area to the south, and John scoped to the north and found them immediately. He was stunned to see two gray wolves staring right at them, and their head and shoulders filled the scope without it being zoomed in. I took a quick look, and as they were on the move up the hill toward Nature Trail, we climbed back in the car and found them at the northern edge of the nearest slope visible from the parking lot. They eventually disappeared over the hill, but we stayed to listen as they gave two long howls. John recorded it with the microphone and muff, but it didn't work (we later found out our particular cameras have an issue with the mic jack). The weather had taken a turn for the worse, and it was blowing and snowing hard, making visibility poor. I was so cold that I was shivering uncontrollably, but there was no way I was missing the wolves!

Once again, we went west and dropped into the valley at Blacktail Ponds for a better look. We found them, along with Gabriel and his dad, Daniel, on the hillside in the direction of Nature Trail, circling a small herd of bison. They seemed to have a snack from a carcass nearby, noticeable because of some ravens collecting on it, and then moved off out of sight.

Video of the Eight-Mile wolf pack
The camera shake is from the wind!

We eventually went home for dinner and then went back out to have a look for the Eight-Miles again at Blacktail Ponds and Nature Trail but didn't find any wolves. We also stopped at Slough Creek but didn't see anything. Meanwhile, Bill spotted a grizzly at Blacktail ponds shortly after we left. It's all about timing and luck, that's for sure. It also helps to be able to anticipate where the pack will go next based on previous sightings, which John has plotted on Google Earth. Besides that, having radio contact with the wolf watchers would also help so we could be notified of what is going on. We will seek permission to transmit on the wolf watcher frequency and also get a scanner for our next visit.

DAY 5

Thursday, April 11: We started at Round Prairie hoping to see the Lamar Canyon pack. We stayed there for about half an hour, met Bruce (Gabriel and Daniel's friend), and chatted briefly with Rick McIntyre who asked if we were on radio so we could let him know if we found them. We decided to follow Rick, who we noted had a tripod mount for his scope that attached over his window. It looked convenient for a quick scan instead of having to haul everything out of the car for a quick look.

Rick has found a comfortable way to scope! He went east to get a better view of the den opening.

 Rick stopped at Slough Creek, where there were already a few cars, one being Jeremy with some clients and another being Melba. Out on Bob's Knob, we heard the solitary howl of the pregnant 969F several times and had to quiet the others down. It was clear where she was howling from but no one spotted her. The others moved on, and then a new couple showed up. They showed me where the natal den and sage den are, and after about 20 minutes of scoping, they left, saying they would be "the sacrifice" (which means that once they leave the wolves will show). They didn't get but 30 yards away when I spotted 969F making her way up the steep rocky slope to the right of the natal den. We called the couple back and we all enjoyed watching her until she disappeared behind a slope above the den sight. Knowing Rick would ask me a lot of detailed questions about her, I studied her markings and how she moved. I noticed her feet and snout were very dark and it dawned on me that she had been digging, most likely in the den! Back at the parking lot, John shared the news with Bob and Nell, as well as Reve and Susan (who would be writing the Yellowstone report that night).

Wolf 969 F composite image: John stitched together many images of her as she made her way up from the trees (light dot above the bushes on the lower left), up the rocks to the snowline, to the right on the snow, then to the left and up. If click on the picture, you can enlarge it and zoom in; you'll see John has numbered all her locations.

We decided to head for the Mammoth Visitor Center to see if we could buy a wolf identification chart. They were out but the 2019 chart will be coming out soon and we can order it online. Ironically, I ran into a former colleague there who now lives in Bozeman but used to work at the high school where I teach!

Back in the park, we stopped at Round Prairie where Melba had sighted three of the Lamars. Rick  was also there. We kept our scope on them until 8:15 pm, waiting for them to move, (Melba gave up around 7:00) until it was too dark to see. Cold and hungry, we went back to Cooke City for a late dinner.

We were excited to see that we were mentioned on the wolf report late that night.