Today was our last day in the park, and since we knew it would take too long to pack up the car to get an early start, we slept in until 6:30. We got out the door by 8:45 and the park seemed empty. We didn't see a single wolf watcher all the way to Nature Trail. That told us something was up on the western side of the park. The radio has limited range due to the terrain, so we weren't able to pick up any chatter.
We were relieved to see Nature Trail empty of people and bison because we needed to snowshoe out to get our trail cam. It is fine to put a trail cam out, but we didn't want people to know of our location so that our camera is not disturbed. Snowshoeing was much easier today, as the snow was more frozen and we hardly sunk into the snow. Plus, we had our original path to follow.
We were anxious to see if our camera would still be there, still attached to the pole, and still upright. We weren't really sure what to expect. As I approached, I could see first that the pole was indeed upright, and then a little closer, that the camera was still attached. At first, I thought the only tracks I saw were ours and the elk tracks that were already there, but to my surprise, there were wolf tracks all around the camera! The prints were large and there were at least five sets. We were both so excited. We would have to wait until evening to see whether the camera's batteries lasted long enough to photograph the wolves in subzero temperatures.
Upon returning to the car, we began our descent to the Blacktail area and picked up radio chatter between Kathy and another watcher. There was a wolf howling by the Blacktail Ponds pullout; it was 1154F, a loner yearling from the 8-Mile. There also seemed to be a gray wolf with her. We stopped at the pullout just east of the ponds and I used the binoculars to look to the northern slopes while John set up the scope. It took a few minutes because we had everything packed away for the drive home. With the binoculars, I didn't find either the black or the gray, but I did find the entire Wapiti pack 17 members strong on the top of the slope rallying en mass. It was amazing to see so many wolves together! John got the scope set up just in time to see the last three make their way over the ridge.
We headed down to the Ponds pullout and found a crowd of wolf watchers, tourists, Rick McIntyre, and three wolf researchers (Jeremy, Maddie, and a young woman we didn't know). Jose and Adrienne were also there, and they got some shots. We learned that the 8-Mile pack had also been seen south of the ponds earlier, too. What a morning! No wonder the east side of the park was dead.
We stayed a while to socialize, and we exchanged email addresses with Kathy. She said we had been helpful this week and that we were mentioned in last night's wolf report. It was gratifying and a huge compliment! What a great closing to our five days in the park.
John and I had plenty to talk about as we began our drive homeward. I cautioned John multiple times not to get his hopes up for anything good on the trail cam. I didn't want him to be disappointed. It was -20 F several nights in a row, and though the camera batteries were rated for -40 F, you never know how long they'll last.
We made it as far as Missoula with such a late start, and after dinner we popped the trail cam card into the computer. To our great happiness, we got pictures of wolves at night! We got a wary coyote the first evening at dusk, 6:09 PM. Then there was nothing until Wednesday night (morning technically) at 1:22 AM. Because of the darkness, we can't tell whether we captured the 8-Mile pack or the Wapiti pack. We are just excited that John's idea of where to put the camera that would be in the path of the wolves was correct. John reads the wolf reports daily and plots them on Google Earth. Noting their tendencies, he had three locations for placement. And yeah for the batteries! They were still going as we retrieved the camera.
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| The trail cam captures John's approach. If you click on the photo to zoom, you can see wolf prints in the foreground. |
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| A gray wolf approaches the camera's location, followed by a black wolf. |
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| The black wolf is collared. He looks a little anxious, and another approaches to the left rear. |
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| One young black wolf came right up to the camera. It looks like he may have a collar. |
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| A few minutes later, two blacks and a gray approach. |
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| The same wolves, seconds later. |
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| The coyote looks pretty nervous about the camera, with his tail tucked and his head down. Just the scent of humans around the camera must be enough to make him cautious, |
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| The trail cam captures two happy snowshoers! |
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