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.

Tuesday, 2/18/20: A Wow Kind of Day

Today was the most prolific wolf watching we've ever had with sightings of four different groups of wolves!

Our day began on time as we made our way out of Cooke City in -8 degree F weather, sandwiched by two other wolf watcher vehicles. As they pulled off at Hitching Post pullout, we continued on to West Aspen pullout since the Junction Butte pack had been seen from there the afternoon before. We heard howling and scoped for a bit until someone spotted an unknown, uncollared gray male with another black wolf coming down the slope. We watched them until they disappeared into the Slough Creek ravine.

A wolf researcher, Maddie, was also there above the pullout listening for wolves with telemetry. She heard 1228 and 1229, pups of the Junction Butte pack, but didn't see them and couldn't find their signals again. She was not sure who these two wolves were. Her theories were that they could be the two chased out of the 8-Mile pack (a gray and a black), Junction yearlings, or the unknown gray that has been sighted lately who perhaps found a mate. The gray was confident with tail up, beautiful, and large.

Kathy (#22), a wolf watcher also there, and I chatted about being yearbook advisers (she was an adviser for 31 years at Los Gatos High School in California). We must have chatted for an hour! It was fun making that connection. We were warm and comfortable in the sunshine by then, a balmy 0 degrees F. A truck slowed as he passed and the driver asked about wolf tours. He was from National Geographic. I gave him some information as to who to talk to and he moved on to parts unknown.

We moved on to Slough Creek, where we heard radio chatter that five Junctions were visible from West Lamar pullout. It was full, so we chose to go back to Slough Creek and climb the Rocky Knob. We had to get high enough to see the carcass the Junctions had above Slough Creek, so we trekked up hill with snowshoes. It was exhausting as elevation is around 6,000 feet and the snow was deep. We were rewarded with three black wolves and two grays, one of them being 1228, a female pup John likes to call ADD for obvious reasons. I was excited to see her, as John saw her in September and has followed her on the wolf  reports. We also saw three coyotes and a fox. We spoke on radio for the first time, confirming our sighting with #77's sighting and showing two ladies from Oregon their first wolves.

We also pointed our cameras south, since radio chatter told us there were adult Junctions visible on Specimen Ridge skyline. We located them but they were very far away (3.3 miles), so we decided to head east to see if we could spot them above the Lamar Valley. On our way to Dorothy's pullout in the the Lamar, we saw a fox napping in a little ball on a hill right next to the road.

At Dorothy, we had a real treat--nine of the Junctions bedded on top of the ridge ("skyline"), including 1109 and 907 (two females who had pups last spring though 907's were killed by 969, the female we saw last April who actually died from a leg injury in September). I got to see 907 pin 1109, who is always getting picked on. John also saw the same assertive behavior, as well as a male mounting a black female, likely the new, young alpha.

After several hours there, sharing our scope view with many first-time wolf viewers and seeing an acquaintance from a previous trip, Jose, we heard of five unknown wolves spotted in the Lamar Valley across from the Institute. We could actually see them from Dorothy's but decided to try for a better view farther east. We had a great view of all five, three blacks and two grays, from Trash Can pullout. Several other viewers were so helpful, directing us so we could find one or the other in our scope. Retired wolf researcher Rick McIntyre stopped to question people on the sightings, and confirmed with us the sighting of the collared wolf at Slough. We again shared our view with newcomers, including the National Geographic guy. He spent his entire day photographing a fox, with which he was quite pleased. But when I offered him a view of the wolves through the scope, he was so excited to see his first wolf. "This is my first wolf! Wow, it's beautiful," he exclaimed. It's really cool showing someone their first wolf.

All five of the unknown wolves (there are actually three on the left but the second from the left is laying just in front of the other).

Unknown black wolf in the Lamar Valley, 1 mile away

Unkown gray wolf in the Lamar Valley

A black and two grays as they cross the valley, circled in blue

Rick McIntyre, who had long since moved on, asked on radio if anyone was still on the five in the Lamar, so we radioed back that they were still visible and moving west at a pretty good pace. He said he was heading our way and thanked us for the info, and we were pleased to be of help.

Since the five unknown wolves were heading west, we decided to as well, but Old Picnic pullout was full. Since it was already 5:30 and dusk was coming on, we chose to head home for the day. Along the way, we saw a moose at the confluence of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek who was quite close to the road. The day closed out at 16 degrees F.

It was great to get home and have homemade split pea soup and fresh-baked bread. The 12-hour day gave us five different sightings!