Yellowstone National Park 2018 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
08 through 11 May 2018 - Yellowstone National Park
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~ May 2018 ~
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Tuesday - May 8th
46 degrees in Gardiner but 36 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to 69 degrees. At 5:55 a.m. Dean D found a small colorful grizzly digging northeast of Coyote Overlook. At 6:05 a.m. I found a black wolf (probably Small Dot of the Lamar Canyon pack) on Norris passing the Cache Creek trail coming north viewed at long range from Coyote Overlook. At 7:00 a.m. John G found a small grizzly on the top of K Meadow from Footbridge. This grizzly stood up a lot but then went back to eating. At 7:40 a.m. Paul S found a dark grizzly on the clearing behind the east end of Jasper Bench. He found it from Coyote Overlook, but showed the grizzly to us from Midpoint. At 9:00 a.m. 1047M, 907F and a black wolf were close to the Slough Creek Den. At 10:00 a.m. John G found the grizzly sow with one 2 1/2 year old cub south of the Peregrine Pullout in Little America. At 11:30 a.m. there was a black bear sighted on Tower Hill.
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Wednesday - May 9th
47 degrees in Gardiner but only 36 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to 72 degrees. I viewed a fox near Undine Falls this morning on the way into the park. The park is starting to haul the heavy snow removal equipment thru Lamar Valley to work on the Chief Joseph and then the Beartooth Highway. At 6:30 a.m. Dean D found a grizzly sow with one cub of the year (coy) high in the bowl viewed from the Institute. Then at 6:35 a.m. a larger grizzly was spotted on the clearing this side of the sow and coy. Soon both the sow and coy and the larger grizzly noticed each other. The sow with one coy ran very fast up the bowl and then on the snow a long ways to the south at top speed with the small coy keeping up pretty well. The larger grizzly finally cut the scent trail of the sow and coy but followed the trail the wrong way - the way the sow and coy came into the meadow. At 6:55 a.m. Randi M found a second sow with one coy coming out of the bottom of the bowl. This sow and coy moved up the bowl and quickly over into A-Z Meadow. At 8:00 a.m. Bruce P found the grizzly with two yearlings on the # 2 finger on Norris. The sun had come up above Norris but the viewing from Soda Butte East Pullout was good. (Yesterday Dean D found a second sow with two yearlings on Thunderer viewed from Pebble Creek/tonight Bruce watched one set on Thunderer then twenty minutes later the second group on the # 2 finger on Norris - two sows with two yearlings each in the area (I have still only seen one family). At 9:00 a.m. there was howling south and east of Footbridge Pullout and then howling north east of Footbridge from the den area. Both sounded like lone wolves. We thought the southeast howler was in deep trees and was probably Small Dot, the male who is afraid of the roads. Soon someone found 926F who had already crossed both the road and the Soda Butte Creek heading to the southeast howler. Others waited for an hour, and 926F returned to the den area crossing first the Soda Butte Creek and then the road going back north. At 10:00 a.m. John G found the grizzly sow with two year old cub south and west of Fisherman's Pullout.
Thursday - May 10th
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49 degrees in Gardiner but 39 degrees in Lamar this morning warming up to 69 degrees. I viewed a couple of vultures flying in Lamar Valley this morning. At 6:10 a.m. Randi M found the grizzly sow with one coy high on the east side of A-Z Meadow viewed from the Institute. This family was in view most of the day from either Coyote or Dorothy's Pullout and still in view after 6:00 p.m. when I passed there on my way back to Gardiner. At 6:50 a.m. there was a large tall grizzly digging for ground squirrels on the bottom of K Meadow viewed from Footbridge Pullout. He was shoveling dirt everywhere, sometimes digging thru the snow (at 5:30 p.m. I found him again in the same place on K Meadow still digging away). At 7:30 a.m. a fat cinnamon black bear was seen grazing north of the Soda Butte East Pullout. At 7:35 a.m. Paul S found a black bear on the top of the # 1 finger on Norris viewed from Soda Butte East Pullout. At 8:15 a.m. the grizzly sow with two yearlings were digging on the # 2 finger on Norris. At 9:15 a.m. John G found the grizzly sow with one two year old cub south of Fisherman's. Today this family moved east under the trees on the north side of the west end of Jasper Bench. The sow nursed the 2 1/2 year cub for about five minutes before disappearing in the trees on the north side of Jasper Bench. This family was again in view at 6:30 p.m. when I passed by on my way back to Gardiner. At 10:15 a.m. the uncollared black male of the Junction Butte wolf pack was north of Coyote Overlook trying to take a bison calf from its mother. The mother held it off and finally moved towards the road and out of danger. A half an hour later the wolf crossed the clearing north and east of Coyote going east. At 3:15 p.m. I arrived to a crowd at the Institute. The black wolf was bedded on the skyline north and east of the Institute providing a good view. At 4:25 p.m. we had a small grizzly digging near the tree line in the large clearing behind the eastern end of Jasper Bench. It was still in view at 6:15 p.m. At 6:45 p.m. I looked at the Junction Butte den in Slough Creek. The uncollared female and 969F (still not putting any weight on her front left leg) and one black pup. Others have seen two black pups so far.
Friday - May 11th
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47 degrees in Gardiner and 41 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to only 50 degrees with cloud cover all day. I had a bull moose in Round Prairie across from Pebble Creek Campground this morning (people coming in from Silver Gate and Cooke City have been seeing four to nine moose every morning, some at Warm Springs, some at Lower Barronette, some at Soda Butte Picnic area and then at Round Prairie). The wolf people had a good morning seeing nine or ten pups (3 gray and six or seven black puppies). At 6:05 a.m. the grizzly sow with one two year old cub was south of Fisherman's. Later in the morning they moved west and crossed the road south to north near Long Pullout in Little America. I passed thru the area just before 2:00 p.m. and they were now on the northeast side of Junction Butte. At 6:30 a.m. a medium sized colorful grizzly was north of the Institute. At 6:35 a.m. a large dark grizzly was seen approaching the medium sized grizzly. A lot of running and looking at each other, the early signs of courting. At 8:00 a.m. Rick H found the grizzly sow with one coy back on A-Z Meadow. At 8:10 a.m. Small Dot was found chewing on bones in the tree line on Amethyst Bench. Later a small carcass was found south and west of Hubbard Hill (others saw Little T of the Lamar Canyon's come to the carcass then return heading back to the den area). At 9:15 a.m. John B found a large dark grizzly near the tree line across the Lamar River viewed from Footbridge Pullout moving south. At 9:15 a.m. John B also found the grizzly sow with two yearlings digging on # 2 finger on Norris from Footbridge Pullout. At 10:30 a.m. a black bear was spotted on the # 3 finger on Norris. This afternoon both Jort V and John G viewed a grizzly sow with one probably a yearling south of Boulder Pullout - another bear family I hope to view tomorrow. Lots of black bears in the Tower Area this year. The road opened this morning from Tower Junction to Tower Store. Bears being seen: A black bear with three black cubs of the year, a black bear with one black cub of the year, a large black male, a small black two year old, a collared cinnamon black bear, and the black sow with one cinnamon yearling cub (some of the above every day).
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People Seen
People seen this report: Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Lizzie C, Doug M, Josh A, Chuck and Debbie, and Bob and Elizabeth N. From California: Bob and Nell H, and Cole W. From Idaho: Craig C. From Utah: Pam and Denny D. From Indiana: Jeff and Terri B. From the Netherlands: Jort V. From Iowa: Jim and Joellyn B. From Wyoming: Larry and Linda H. From Texas: Carol S and Carl L. From Colorado: Rick and Len H, and Ric and Kathy T. Bear Watchers: From Washington: John G, Randi M, and John B. From Utah: Dean and Geri D. From Wisconsin: Don L. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Oklahoma: Paul S. From Illinois: Wayne K. From Ohio: Jim and Twyla E. From Montana: Shari. and From Idaho: Emmett and Vicky and Blake M. Others seen this report: From Montana: Carl S, Evan S, Linda C, Kevin and Tammy, Dan H, MacNeil L, and Cliff Brown. From Utah: Josh S. From Wyoming: Gene B. From California: Lee and Christy H. From Australia: Leanne T. From Idaho: Don and Jane S. And lastly from Utah: Bob B.
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