Yellowstone National Park 2019 Trip Reports

Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin

08 through 11 May 2019 - Yellowstone National Park

~ May 2019 ~

Wednesday - May 8th

44 degrees in Gardiner and 37 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to 50 degrees. The Chief Joseph Road is now open to Cody, Wyoming. I had a snow shoe hare on the road this morning that was still quite white with only a little brown showing. It may be quite visible to any coyotes in the area. At 5:50 a.m. I spotted a bear behind the west end of Jasper Bench on the bottom of Salad Bowl viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 5:55 a.m. we viewed the large grizzly on the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. At 6:20 a.m. Bruce P found a large grizzly moving east, viewed from south of Picnic Pullout. At 6:30 a.m. I found a black wolf at the Confluence at about one hundred yards. At 6:40 a.m. we had a black wolf southwest of the Soda Butte Cone testing a bison herd with fresh calves. We found the wolf again at 8:45 a.m. high above the river corridor howling and viewed from Soda Butte Middle. At 7:20 a.m. Ken and Chris found a grizzly on Norris viewed from Trashcan Pullout, when I arrived it bedded so was not much of a viewing. At 7:40 a.m. Rick and Len H found the Slough Creek grizzly sow with two yearlings in the Slough Bowl right north of the main road. At 7:55 a.m. Dean D found a dark grizzly digging in the Bowl viewed from Midpoint Pullout. At 9:00 a.m. Rick H found the small light sub adult grizzly on the # 1 Finger on Norris. At 9:50 a.m. we watched 1197F of the Lamar Canyon run into a lone bison calf. It took her about twenty five minutes to dispatch the calf. At 10:50 a.m. John G found the sub adult grizzly near the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. By 4:00 p.m. it finally got to the carcass, but at 5:00 p.m. the wolves returned and after a lot of chasing by the wolves and the bear, the grizzly retained the carcass. At 12:35 p.m. Rick and Len H showed me a sleeping grizzly under a tree from the Soda Butte Picnic area. It only moved when a loud vehicle passed by. At 1:20 p.m. I found a large cinnamon black bear on the # 1 Finger on Norris. The small light grizzly was still in the clearing digging but the two bears passed without noticing each other. The large cinnamon black bear was much larger than the small grizzly. At 3:15 p.m. a collared black wolf moving east in the clearing in Crystal behind the Crystal Rock. At 4:10 p.m. a black bear on the A-Z Meadow viewed from Midpoint Pullout. At 5:00 p.m. the grizzly sow with the two year old cub was running south in the skyline clearing just east of Penny Lane clearing. At 5:45 p.m. we had a cinnamon black bear northeast of Lamar Canyon West Pullout. At 6:00 p.m. we found the grizzly sow with one yearling in the Middle Ridge in Crystal Drainage viewed from the Crystal Pullout. At 6:30 p.m. we had our first courting pair of grizzlies high on the slope of Hellroaring viewed from Upper Hellroaring Pullout. At 6:35 p.m. we had a small grizzly digging in a small clearing above the large meadow at Hellroaring. At 7:20 p.m. my last sighting for the day was a black bear just off the road at Geode Creek Curve.

Thursday - May 9th

It was 36 degrees in Gardiner and 27 degrees in Lamar this morning warming up to 55 degrees. At 5:35 a.m. we had a grizzly leaving the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout going south. At 5:35 a.m. I spotted the large grizzly on the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout, it stayed until 10:45 a.m. At 5:50 a.m. we found the sub adult grizzly nearing the carcass but saw the large grizzly still there but it retreated and the sub adult went to the carcass. At 5:55 a.m. we found 1197F bedded near the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. At 6:05 a.m. we found a black Junction Butte wolf bedded near the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. Later the Junction Butte wolf moved on and 1048M of the Junction Butte pack arrived and ran off 1197F of the Lamar Canyon Pack. At 6:40 a.m. we found three Junction Butte wolves south and east of Footbridge traveling east. Then they began to run really fast and we noticed they were chasing Small Dot of the Lamar Canyon Pack. Small Dot headed for the creek and then the road with one of the Junction Butte following as they crossed the road to the north and out of sight. The two other black wolves continued to the west and eventually arrived at the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. Later in the day Small Dot was spotted in the Soda Butte Valley and was limping on a front foot as well as the right rear foot. At 7:00 a.m. I thought I would go west to see if the two wolves in the chase could be found. However, one of the Junction Butte yearlings was in the middle of the road with a bison and her calf with two or three cars stopped close for pictures. They soon broke up and everyone proceeded away from the road. At 7:00 a.m. we found the grizzly Don P and Paul S had seen earlier from Hitching Post. It was out of sight for a while but John G found it moving to the south near the new growth forest south and west of Footbridge Pullout. At 7:30 a.m. the Slough Creek grizzly sow and two yearlings were in the Slough Bowl fairly close to the road. At 10:20 a.m. a black bear with one yearling cub was seen south of Soda Butte East Pullout viewed from Footbridge Pullout. At 12:40 p.m. Richard and Rita R found the grizzly sow with one yearling on the Middle Ridge viewed from Crystal Pullout in Little America.

Friday - May 10th

It was a nippy 35 degrees in Gardiner and 22 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to 56 degrees. My first killdeers were seen this morning at the Confluence. At 5:25 a.m. I spotted the large grizzly was on the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. At 5:50 a.m. we found four of the Junction Butte wolves bedded near the carcass including 1109F. With seven wolves seen in Slough Creek this morning that meant all eleven of the pack were seen today. At 6:50 a.m. I found a small light grizzly digging in a clearing just under the skyline south of the Institute viewed from Midpoint Pullout. At 7:05 a.m. I spotted a black bear in the tree line south of YES Pullout. At 7:35 a.m. we had the sub adult grizzly in the area of the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. At 9:10 a.m. I viewed two gray wolves and one black wolf near the Slough Creek den. At 10:15 a.m. John G found a grizzly digging a large hole in a clearing under Druid Peak from Trashcan Pullout. Evan S believes that it was after ground squirrels who at higher elevations were probably seen sitting in their underground dens. At 10:40 a.m. Chris H found the small light sub adult on Penny Lane. At 11:25 a.m. Chris H found a large grizzly on Amethyst Bench moving near the tree line to the east. At 12:10 p.m. I saw a gray wolf northeast of Footbridge trying a herd of bison with calves. The wolf people think this is a stranger to the area. At 2:15 p.m. Randi M found a grizzly moving south in the Lamar River Corridor viewed from Footbridge Pullout. At 2:50 p.m. we found our first cubs of the year (coys) in the northern range, a sow with two coys high under the snow cornice almost skyline south and west of Footbridge Pullout. At 4:50 p.m. John G found the grizzly sow with one yearling on the Middle Ridge viewed from Crystal Pullout. At 6:40 p.m. we had a grizzly digging in a small clearing above the large meadow from Upper Hellroaring Pullout.

Saturday - May 11th

It was 37 degrees in Gardiner and 32 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to a nice 64 degrees. At 6:20 a.m. I spotted a large dark grizzly near Amethyst Bench. At 6:35 a.m. the grizzly sow with two yearlings were in the Slough Bowl with great viewing. At 7:15 a.m. one gray yearling and one black yearling of the Junction Butte pack were spotted near the Slough Creek den. At 8:30 a.m. we had a large grizzly digging in the K Meadow viewed from the Confluence. At 9:30 a.m. the grizzly sow with two coys put on a show under the snow cornices to the south and west of Footbridge Pullout. At 10:10 a.m. we had a large brown grizzly south of Footbridge Pullout moving slowly to the east at tree line. At 10:40 a.m. we watched a large cinnamon black bear southeast of Footbridge Pullout grazing. At 1:15 p.m. Terry B called that the sub adult grizzly was back on the carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. When it left it had fun chasing the bison in the area until they stopped running and faced it. His bluff was called. At 1:25 p.m. John G found a new family of grizzlies on the Ski Slope Clearing viewed from Coyote Overlook. A grizzly sow with two coys moving slowly east and out of sight. At 2:35 p.m. we had the gray unidentified wolf from yesterday north of Dorothy's Pullout viewed from Coyote Overlook.

People Seen

Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Lizzie C, Bob and Elizabeth N, Doug M, Melba C, and Amy T. From Mississippi: Chuck and Wynelle M. From California: Bob and Nell H and Bill and Karen M. From Wyoming: Larry and Linda H. From Oklahoma: Robert and Pam W. From Washington: David and Stephanie O. From Missouri: Frank H. From Utah: Pam and Denny D, and Jerry and Julia C. From Texas: Carl L and Carol S. From Idaho: Craig C. From Arizona: Reve and Susan. From Vermont: Don P. From Colorado: Karol B. From Oregon: Richard and Linda Y. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Washington: John G, Randi M, Steve L, and Hank L. From Utah: Ean and Jeri D, Mark H, Dave H, Larry M and Steve. From Colorado: Ed A, and Rick and Len H. From Indiana: Jeff and Terry B. From Montana: Shari and Kate, Joe and Jeanne L and Doug M. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Wyoming: Richard and Rita R. From Ohio: Jim and Twyla E. From Wisconsin: Chicago Bob and Margaret P, and Don L. From Oklahoma: Paul S. From Florida/Georgia: Ken and Chris. Others seen this report: From Montana: Bob L, Chris H, Dan and Cindy H, MacNeil L, Carl and Elizabeth S, Cliff B, Evan S, and George B. From Colorado: Jim and Bobbie F. From Iowa: Jim B. From Oregon: Dale and Elva P, From Wyoming: Paul B. From Florida: Rick K. From Utah: Bob B.

Yellowstone National Park

Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park