Friday - 29 October

I left work just after noon and was watching a grizzly sow and one cub of the year from Alum Creek by 3:15 p.m. They were quite a ways back, but in short grass so good viewing. I spent the last hour at Swan Lake Flats. No bears or wolves, but 46 swans on the lake. Quite a few of the swans were this years, not sure if they were Trumpeter's or not. I ran into Jack G. from Bozeman, who had watched 15 of the Blacktail wolf pack from Hellroaring earlier in the afternoon. I camped at Mammoth for the night, above freezing all night.

Saturday - 30 October

I headed out early around 5:30 a.m., since it's difficult to sleep that long. It's dark by 7:00 p.m. and there is not enough light to see until at least 7:30 a.m. I decided that Hellroaring Overlook might be the place this morning. About 6:50 a.m. I heard a lot of howling from Hellroaring, but it was west near Geode Creek. But by daylight the howling had moved back to in front of Hellroaring. Kira from the Wolf Project arrived just about daylight, Jack G was there earlier. The howling sounded high up, but Kira found them low this side of the Yellowstone River and Hellroaring Creek. It was the Blacktail Pack with 15 of 16 members in view until almost 10:00 a.m. There was a carcass of some sort and all the pups were there. Apparently the Silver Pack alpha female was seen (I missed her), and lots of howling and scent marking going on. Finally getting cold I headed for Lamar Valley in time to see all seven of the Lamar Canyon Pack (3 adults and 4 pups) heading east (viewed from just south of the old picnic area). Back at Hellroaring in the early afternoon, Lynette, Calvin's wife, found me a grizzly west in the bottoms from Hellroaring. It must be getting close to denning, I watched this nice sized grizzly for about one and half hours, and it moved 10-12 feet during that time. Someone had a fox on a rock across from Hellroaring, a great spot. So I finished the day with a THREE DOG DAY.

Sunday - 31 October

The weather was to change with a high of 39 degrees expected for Sunday, so I decided to cut this trip short. I got home a little after dark.

Other News

Lots of elk are down low now. The bulls are still bulging, why I'm not sure. It is getting colder now, about half of Swan Lake is covered with a light coat of ice. The East, South, and West entrances will close after next weekend, so maybe one more trip report for the year.