Wednesday, 2/19/20: A Day with the Mystery Group

We managed to embark before 6:30 in the dark, -10 degrees F. We followed a snowplow into the park. Our first stop was Midway pullout, which is half way along the Lamar Valley. We wanted to see if we could view the mystery pack of five from yesterday.

At first, it was just Kathy, Rick McIntyre, and us, but soon Jeremy from YNP's Wolf Project arrived and began directing the parking to fit as many as possible in the pullout. When things settled down a little, we were able to get Rick to sign his book, "The Rise of Wolf 8," for us.

The five primarily young wolves had a fairly fresh kill of a bull elk and were feeding when we arrived. We couldn't see the carcass from Midway, but we could see the wolves as they finished eating and bedded down nearby. One brought a little meaty snack with it that it shared with its packmates. Shortly after, they zigzagged up the steep slope to bed down for hours half way up Amethyst Mountain.

The gray to the right of the log snacks on some elk meat. (Click on any photo to enlarge)

Two black wolves (circled) switchback their way up the slope.

Their nap location proved to be just over a hill so we could only see one gray wolf. Around 10:30, we drove to the next pullout, Y.E.S., where we hoped to see more. We couldn't but we had a closer view and we could see the carcass, so we decided to stay there. Around 11:00, I walked about a half mile to the Buffalo Ranch, nicknamed "the barn," to see if they could see more of the wolves. There, I encountered Kathy again. She let me look through her scope and I was able to see a second wolf. However, they were farther from the wolves, so we decided we should stay put at Y.E.S.

The blue cloth on the scope is for wiping the viewfinder, which constantly ices over from our breath. The radio is clipped to my arm pocket.

John takes a nap in the warm car, which was at least 70 degrees without any heat but sunshine!

And stay put we did. We watched while as many as five coyotes fed on the carcass, and as soon as they left, a bald eagle swooped in, only to be usurped by a golden eagle. Meanwhile, the wolves rose, heading farther up the mountain one by one. They eventually came to rest on a sunny slope where they napped until around 3:30.

Four of the five rise from their long, sunny nap a mile and a half away. The ever wary bison watches from the right.

Cropped so you can see the five wolves--a black on the far left; a gray, a black, and a gray to the right; the final black above the three.

The zoomed out version of the same photo. They are circled and in the center of the image. (Again, click to zoom)

Rested and well fueled, they were playful and ran along following the older black male, who was slightly lighter gray (likely due to age) and had a pale blaze on his chest and light muzzle. One of the blacks was a male pup with a bright blaze on his chest. One of the grays I think was a female because she urinated by squatting, but low ranking males will also do that.

The green line runs next to the black wolf's path. The black wolf is at the top; the other four are at the bottom of the green line.

Nearby, an unsuspecting coyote was walking west. The wolves saw him and gave chase. John saw the scuffle and they disappeared behind a hill. The coyote did not reappear, so we assume they killed him. Wolves and coyotes are competitors, as are other wolf packs, not friends.

Four of the five on the ridge line, framed by the late sun after chasing down the coyote.

After a brief rest along a ridge line, silhouetted by the sun, the black male led the way directly down the slope. We watched as they plummeted down, eventually disappearing in the forest. We trained our scope on the carcass a mile away, hoping they would feed before it got too dark to see. At about 6:00, they surprised us by coming to the carcass from west near the cottonwood line near the Lamar River. They ran to the carcass and began tugging off pieces of meat. With the sun gone, it was now 0 degrees, and I was too cold. I watched them for a few minutes, tried running up and down the road to warm up, but finally succumbed to the cold. I sat in the running car while John scoped and took photos and video for another half hour.

The black leading wolf rushes in for an evening meal.

John scopes in 0 degree F.

In all, we spent 12 and a half hours with the mystery pack. We'll go back to Y.E.S. pullout tomorrow to watch them again.