Yellowstone National Park 2017 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
14 through 17 April 2017
~ April 2017 ~
Friday - April 14th
42 degrees in Gardiner but 35 degrees in Lamar Valley warming up to a high of 45 degrees. Stormy today and we had afternoon winds. At 9:45 a.m. we had three black and one collared gray wolf from Boulder Pullout this side of the river. Others saw a forth black wolf. These were the Mollies Pack. We lost them for about 20 minutes, then we saw a herd of 15 or so big rams running. The wolves reappeared chasing the rams, but the wolves never got close to the rams. At 12:45 p.m. I spotted a blond grizzly northeast of the Soda Butte Cone. We watched it for about an hour before it disappeared. After we left the grizzly visited the bison carcass 75 yards off the road near Soda Butte east and entertained the people for over one and a half hours. There was not a lot of meat left on the bison, but the grizzly had his arm down though the throat trying to get the last meat off the carcass. At 2:10 p.m. the small blond grizzly was on Amethyst Bench digging while he was there. This is the small blond grizzly we saw a lot last year on the bench. It is extremely wary of everything. A couple of bison moved within 100 yards and off it went to the tree line. It would sit on the edge of the tree line watching the bison, returning only after it was satisfied that the bison were far enough away. A couple from Texas, first time visitors told me about three grizzlies being seen on the rock formation east of Bob's Knob in Slough Creek (right above the old golden eagle nest). John G and I went down to investigate. Yes to three bears, no to three grizzlies. A dark brown black bear sow with two yearling cinnamon cubs were feeding all around that area. At 6:05 p.m. I found a dark grizzly very high on the slopes of Hellroaring viewed from the upper Hellroaring Pullout.
Saturday - April 15th
35 degrees in Gardiner but 28 degrees in Lamar Valley warming up to a windy 44 degrees. Today was not much on grizzlies, but a banner day for wolves. I was able to see three wolf packs. At 7:40 a.m. 926F and little T of the Lamar Canyon pack were feeding on the bison carcass in Soda Butte Valley. Apparently the grizzly had loosened some meat for them to feed on. At 10:00 a.m. 949M of the Lamar Canyon's was south of the bison carcass, attempting to cross the road to join the other three wolves in that pack. At 10:20 a.m. the small blond grizzly was back on Amethyst Bench south of the Institute. At 11:30 a.m. I made my way to Upper Hellroaring where the Junction Butte wolves were in sight. This pack had not been seen for about four weeks (they are the pack that denned with two females in Slough Creek last year). It is hoped that they will den again at Slough Creek. They had nine wolves. The pack consists of the grays: 969F, 907F and a yearling all original Junction Butte wolves, three black wolves formerly of the Prospect Peak pack, all males, 996M (lost his collar), 1047M and 1048M, plus three other blacks probably last year’s pups or yearlings (one probably a Junction Butte pup, the other two probably from Prospect Peak pack). At 12:30 p.m. as most of the people had left as the Junction Butte wolves were bedded with little movement, I found five wolves in the middle of the large Hellroaring clearing. It turned out to be the Mollies Wolf pack. We had three blacks and two grays today. They moved up and out of sight to the north. The Mollies pack is kind of doing what they did last year. Almost every time you see them they have a different number or colors of wolves (a couple days ago there were four blacks and one gray, today three blacks and two grays).
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Sunday - April 16th - Easter
34 degrees in Gardiner but 22 degrees in Lamar Valley warming up to a nice 55 degrees. I hiked up to Calcite Springs today with John G, Calvin and Lynette J. I had a vulture flying over Tower Junction today. At 6:30 a.m. John G found a good sized grizzly crossing the salad bowl (Divide Ridge) from west to east viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 12:00 noon we spotted the dark brown black bear sow with two cinnamon yearlings in the rocks east of Bob's Knob in the same place as yesterday. At 3:45 p.m. the small blond grizzly was on Amethyst Bench again, digging in a bare spot that had no grass at all. At 5:45 p.m. John G. made a great spot of a grizzly at the top of the Hellroaring clearing viewed from Upper Hellroaring (it was laying down but got up and moved through a snow bank for a good view). At 6:20 p.m. we stopped at the Nature Walk in Blacktail Plateau looking for the carcass that Calvin and Lynette J found that had a grizzly and eight wolves on it. We found the spot and had a bedded black wolf that was soon joined by two other black wolves.
Monday - April 17th
44 degrees in Gardiner but 37 degrees in Lamar Valley. It rained off and on today. At 5:25 a.m. I found a three car jam on the hill up from the High Bridge near Gardiner but before Undine Falls. John G had been there for ten minutes before I arrived. The jam was a cow bison with a new calf and a un-collared gray wolf. John tried to get around once but the bison hit his truck, so we all remained in line. The wolf was following the cow and calf. When the wolf got close the cow would charge it. The wolf would often bed in the road, then get up and walk between the cars in a slow pursuit of the bison cow and calf. After 30 minutes the bison cow and calf got to the large parking lot at Undine Falls and we got around them. People coming later did not see them, so the action moved out of sight. At 7:45 a.m. the Junction Butte wolves found a bison carcass north of Coyote Overlook. I saw five blacks and two grays, but the wolf people had all nine that were on the slopes of Hellroaring yesterday. At 8:50 a.m. Josh A called with a pair of grizzlies north of the east curve pullout east of Footbridge Pullout. It turned out to be a courting pair (really early for a courting pair). The boar was large and dark, the sow smaller and a lot of blond on her.
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People Seen
People seen this report: Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Laurie L, Josh A, Alan and Sue O, Amy T, and Ilona P. From the UK: Alan and Kirsty P. From California: Bob and Nell H. From Kansas: Calvin and Lynette J. Bear Watchers: From Montana: Doug M, Scott M, Shari and Kate, and Ralph N. From Washington: John G. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Idaho: Craig C. Others: From the Netherlands: Yort. From Montana: Dan H, Bob L, Ken and Marilyn, Evan S and Emil. From Idaho: Rick E. From Colorado: Jim and Bobbie F. From Oregon: Dale and Elva P. And really lastly: From Utah: Bob B.
Yellowstone National Park
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
