Yellowstone National Park 2017 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
10 through 13 April 2017
~ April 2017 ~
Monday - April 10th
26 degrees in Gardiner but 18 degrees in Lamar Valley and it was clear today warming up to 43 degrees. At 6:25 a.m. I spotted a large grizzly on the carcass at Round Prairie. At 7:40 a.m. we had 821F(looking quite pregnant), 964M, and two un-collared gray wolves of the Prospect Peak pack in the Slough Creek bottoms. They bedded for a long time then moved east out of sight. At 8:00 a.m. I found a gray wolf moving east and quickly out of sight below the Yellow Grass Meadow in Slough Creek (maybe a Mollie, or the Junction Butte pup, or another member of the Prospect Peak Pack). At 11:45 a.m. Bruce P found all four of the Lamar Canyon wolves north of Trashcan Pullout. They too bedded and remained in sight for a long time. At 3:00 p.m. I found a large black bear on the north side of the road between upper Hellroaring and Geode Creek. Most of the hair on its face was missing, apparently a bear can get the mange just like canines. At 3:15 p.m. the sow black bear on the north end of Garnett Hill was grazing near the den (no cubs of the year seen today). I found a fox and therefore had my THREE DOG DAY.
Tuesday - April 11th
33 degrees in Gardiner but 27 degrees in Lamar Valley warming up to 53 degrees with afternoon winds. At 7:20 a.m. I spotted a different more brown grizzly on the carcass at Round Prairie. Just before I arrived the original grizzly was in the area, about the same size as the new grizzly, but the original grizzly moved off letting the brown grizzly have the carcass. At 7:50 a.m. Jim and Bobbie F found all four of the Lamar Canyon wolves arriving at the carcass south of the eastern curve east of Footbridge Pullout. Three moved off quickly, but 926F stayed for an addition twenty minutes. Both 926F and Little T the two females in the pack look pregnant. At 8:40 a.m. a nice sized grizzly in a green grass area east of the Horizontal Forest in Slough Creek. At 12:15 p.m. thru out the remainder of the day the grizzly sow with one yearling were first at the Peregrine Hills and by evening moved west and still north of the road at Aspen Pullout. She often got within 100 yards of the road making all the photographers happy. At 5:00 p.m. Dave and Elva P found a black bear below the old Fish Den on Garnett Hill. Maybe we have two black bear families on Garnett Hill this spring.
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Wednesday - April 12th
42 degrees in Gardiner but 36 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to 56 degrees. We had three moose in Round Prairie this morning. We had two vultures near Garnett Hill today. And the ospreys are rebuilding their nest in Lamar Canyon. At 6:50 a.m. I spotted a grizzly on the carcass at Round Prairie. It was not the brown grizzly from yesterday and did not look like the original grizzly, but may have been. I arrived late the last two mornings because I thought the carcass was pretty much gone. But both mornings I got reports that a grizzly was back on that carcass. At 7:45 a.m. I heard that Bob L had a grizzly in the Yellow Grass Meadow in Slough Creek. It was still there when I arrived staying out for 30 minutes or so. At 7:55 am. John G. found a small grizzly high in the bowl from Slough Creek Restroom. It found something to eat chasing off a coyote, but left after a few minutes so was not something large. We only had three grizzlies today all spotted before 8:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m. the black bear sow was out on Garnett Hill without the two cubs of the year. At 11:40 a.m. a large bear jam at the Yellowstone River Bridge where one of the two brown cubs from last year was below the bridge on the northeast side. At 3:25 p.m. an un-collared black wolf appeared north of Coyote Overlook howling and looking south across the road. It howled and moved east past the Institute then crossed to the southeast of Hubbard Hill, howling most of the way. About 4:15 p.m. I found a few black wolves in the old Druid rendezvous site viewed from the Institute. We moved to the hill above the confluence and found six black and two gray Mollies wolves across the river checking out a few bison herds, one had a fresh calf. After 45 minutes of viewing they moved south into the treeline and out of sight. A lone black wolf was seen crossing the road and the river moved west and out of sight. Not sure which pack it belonged too.
Thursday - April 13th
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44 degrees in Gardiner but 29 degrees in Lamar Valley warming to a beautiful 70 degrees today. The angry female dusty grouse was once again in the road east of confluence patrolling her area. At 7:10 a.m. I noticed a few elk bunched up in Secret Passage viewed from Coyote Overlook. After watching for 15 minutes or so, four gray wolves of the Prospect Peak wolf pack crossed the road north to south heading up and eventually over the west end of Jasper Bench. They reappeared briefly from the Slough Creek restroom on the Divide Ridge. Wolf 821F and three other gray wolves were walking away from us most of the time so identifying others was difficult for the wolf people. At 11:00 a.m. Jort from the Netherlands called with a blond grizzly north and slightly east of the confluence. Apparently Jort caught him wanting to cross the road. The grizzly bedded in sight and slept and then looked down at all the cars. I left after thirty minutes but Melba C stayed and watched it move off to the west. At 11:40 a.m. I found a dark grizzly in a large snow patch north of Coyote Overlook. It was in view for fifteen minutes or so before moving over the hill to the north. At 12:40 p.m. a couple from Louisiana told me about watching a grizzly sow with two large cubs in the rocks east of Bob's Knob in Slough Creek. John G and I staked it out and were joined by the couple. With their directions we quickly located a brown black bear sow with two cinnamon cubs. Even though the bears turned out not to be grizzlies it was nice to watch them for a while. At 5:50 p.m. my last sighting of the day was a black bear on a small or old carcass on the east end of Garnett Hill. Our friend Jack G. was up for a day and believes that three families of black bears may be on Garnett Hill this spring.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Josh A, and Alan and Sue O. From the UK: Alan and Kirsty P. Bear Watchers: From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Washington: John G. From Idaho: Craig C. And from Montana: Jack G. Others: From Montana: Bob L, Carl S, Evan S, Cliff B, Ken T, Linda T, MacNeil L, and Emile. From the Netherlands: Yort. From Oregon: Dale and Elva P. and lastly from Utah: Bob B.
Yellowstone National Park
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
