Thursday, February 11, 2016
2 more days of chasing wolves. No real
pictures as they were far away. I did get some others, though:
The weather is threatening for
Saturday, so I'm going home on Friday.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Tuesday, Feb 9, 2016
A slow day today. I didn't sleep well,
so I didn't get out until 11:00 am. The first place I stopped, at
the self-guided nature trail near Blacktail Creek trailhead, was the
furthest I got. There were 9 or 10 wolves way out – 2 or 3 miles
away. People were coming all afternoon and we were letting them look
through the scope.
On the way back to town, I saw these
deer:
Monday, February 8, 2016
Just another day in Yellowstone. A
fox, a coyote and 13 wolves – a 3 dog day.
The fox was midday when I spotted 3 of
the Junction Butte pack way up high near Specimen Ridge. The fox was
running away from them as fast as it could go.
The coyote was a bit earlier. 2 wolves
had been spotted above the road near the Lamar Ranger Station. There
aren't a lot of parking places there, so I wasn't able to get in
until after most of the crowd had left. Way up high was a wolf and
below him was a coyote standing on a rock:
Later, we had 12 of the Junctions way
up high on Specimen ridge.
I was going to go photograph a frozen
waterfall, but got sidetracked by some bighorn sheep.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Another good wolf day. The weather is
clearing and is supposed to warm through the rest of the week, so
that is promising. Today, it was cold in the morning – around 15F.
Before sunrise, I got to the area of
yesterday's kill and folks were already up on the hill watching.
They had all 13 members of the Junctions in sight at one time or
another. I managed to get some video and pictures:
Later in the morning, took some scenic
photos:
And, later, I was back watching wolves
when a coyote came walking right past us:
It ignored us and was just trying to
get to the road.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
It was a good wolf morning.
It didn't start out that way. It was
very windy today. Not very cold, it made it to just above freezing,
but windy all day.
The first hour or so of the morning saw
nothing, but around 8:00 am, we started to see wolves moving through
the trees south of the Lamar River west of the bridge. 3 of them
moved out of the trees into the open and immediately began chasing a
cow elk. The elk was running as hard as she could and the wolves
were not really catching up. Then, the elk stumbled and the wolves
made up some ground. The chase continued with the elk stumbling
every 10 seconds or so and the wolves making up ground each time.
After about ¾ a mile, the lead wolf, a young female in the Junction
Butte pack, caught the elk. Just as she did so, they went behind
some rocks and we didn't see much else. Once we saw the elk's head
popped up, but she was quickly dragged back down.
The next half hour was spent trying to
find a vantage point where we could see what was happening. We tried
climbing the hill behind us, but it wasn't high enough. We finally
drove way up the valley and found a spot, but it was about 3 miles
away. We could see the wolves feeding on the carcass and others
coming and going. Later, we found a closer vantage point, but all
the wolf activity had ended by then.
Later, I was parked near where I had
watched the chase and got this picture of the some of the wolves
coming down to feed:
Friday, February 5, 2016
Friday, Feb. 5, 2016
Some wolf adventures this morning. I
got out a bit late and drove almost all the way through the park
looking for the wolf people before I found them just past Soda Butte.
They weren't seeing anything at the moment, but had a story about
the Mollies and the Lamar Canyon packs.
The Mollies are one of the strongest
packs in the park. They generally live south of the Lamar Valley in
Pelican Valley, just north of the Lake. In winter, the elk leave
Pelican Valley, leaving the Mollies with nothing but bison to eat.
Thus, they have learned how to hunt bison; the only wolves in the
park to do so. They do this by getting the bison trapped in deep
snow so its kicks are ineffective and are then able to overwhelm it.
No other packs in the area are known to do this. To add to their
strength, they have 17 healthy members this year, making them the
largest pack in the park. They also tend to be larger than other
wolves in the park. Not for nothing are they known as the bullies
when they enter another pack's territory.
Apparently, this year, the snows aren't
as deep in Pelican Valley, so they have moved north for food,
invading the Lamar Canyon pack's territory. To add to their
troubles, the Lamars all have mange. It causes them to lose their
fur, which, because of the loss of insulation, weakens them. This
morning, in a territorial battle, the Mollies killed one of the pups
born to the Lamars this past spring. Normally, at this time, the
pup should have weighed around 80 lbs. The wolf project people got
the pup after it was all over and did a health exam. She weighed 39
lbs. All because of the mange. The rest of the pack looks just as
weak.
This all happened before I got there,
so I heard about it 2nd hand. Later, as we were watching one of the
Lamars feed on an elk carcass on the east side of the valley, we
heard howling all up and down the Soda Butte valley. Soon after, we
saw 6 of the Mollies moving through the hills on the west side of the
valley. 3 of them approached a big bull elk, but, after some
consideration, decided not to attack.
The rest of the day was spent driving
around waiting for something to happen. I saw bighorn sheep:
And several coyotes:
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