Yellowstone National Park 2017 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
18 through 21 April 2017
~ April 2017 ~
Tuesday - April 18th
44 degrees in Gardiner but 37 degrees in Lamar Valley warming up to 47 degrees. Morning snow with low visibility and spotty afternoon rain was the weather for today. I had three separate sightings of vultures today. Usually a rare sight in Yellowstone, lately with the shorter winters more and more are being seen. At 6:30 a.m. just before the visibility dropped to the valley floor I found the Junction Butte wolves on Amethyst Bench. All nine wolves were present this morning, six black and three gray. After a while they moved west on Jasper Bench which was in the low clouds and snow and not in view. They eventually were seen south of Fisherman's Pullout. They bedded for a while and then moved further west. Two blacks crossed the road to the north but were not seen crossing. Later they were seen on the southern Divide Ridge from Slough Creek. At 7:15 a.m. I found what I thought was a grizzly digging south and east of the Soda Butte Cone. I waited for other bear watchers to arrive and after a lot of looking and a little improvement of the visibility we agreed it was a grizzly. At 11:45 a.m. the small blond grizzly was again on Amethyst Bench. This grizzly is not a morning grizzly. We often don't see it until late morning or early afternoon. At 2:00 p.m. John G and I walked out to Bob's Knob where Calvin and Lynette J had two gray wolves bedded and in sight. They were 964M and an un-collared gray of the Prospect Peak wolf pack. At 4:45 p.m. I found my first grizzly on the Fingers of Norris. It was a dark grizzly digging on the # 3 finger of Norris. At 5:15 p.m. Josh A called with a blond grizzly back near the old bison carcass in Soda Butte Valley where it was again chewing on the skull of the bison carcass. At 5:30 p.m. we pulled into Picnic Pullout where others pointed out a small all silver/blond grizzly trying to get to a bison cows afterbirth. This was the most beautiful colored grizzly I have seen in Yellowstone, it reminded me of some of the grizzlies in Glacier National Park. The grizzly would approach the afterbirth but three cows (one of which was the mother) kept charging the grizzly. We left after watching the grizzly take three different trails into the afterbirth. I am not sure if the grizzly ever got there.
Wednesday - April 19th
45 degrees in Gardiner but 37 degrees in Lamar Valley warming up to about 50 degrees today. At 6:25 a.m. we had a grizzly grazing in the old Druid rendezvous area first spotted from the Institute but much better viewing from Picnic Pullout. At 6:45 a.m. the same grizzly as yesterday digging south and east of the Soda Butte Cone. At 8:00 a.m. four black and two gray Junction Butte wolves were spotted hunting south of Fisherman's Pullout. They had separated a cow bison from the herd but after a little while they moved on. At 8:30 a.m. an un-collared gray of the Prospect Peak pack was digging the sagebrush den of the Junction Butte last years den. Before I arrived a collared grizzly moved thru a little too close to the den and got a bite on the rear for his trouble. I did see the collared grizzly later above the Diagonal Forest in Slough Creek moving north and east into some heavy timber. At 10:15 a.m. we had a small grizzly on the old bison carcass in Round Prairie. We had no action of this carcass for a couple of days, but this morning a small grizzly found it. When I arrived the grizzly had 926F of the Lamar Canyon wolf pack bedded watching the grizzly on the carcass. Soon Little T and Small Dot joined the scene and they ran off the grizzly. At 11:25 a.m. the blond grizzly was grazing 130 yards off the road on the north side of Soda Butte Valley, quite near the old bison carcass. At times the grizzly laid down and ate as much grass as it could reach before standing up and grazing upright. At 12:05 p.m. I found two sub adult grizzlies on the Square Meadow south of the Institute from Picnic Pullout. The grizzlies moved west so we moved to the Institute and then to Dorothy's Knoll to observe them. Later in the afternoon they came out on Amethyst Bench for a while. At 2:30 p.m. I found the grizzly sow with one yearling (formerly on Junction Butte for about two weeks) south and west of Fisherman's Pullout viewed from Coyote Overlook. They dug and grazed for a while then the sow chased the yearling all around for about four full minutes. The chase was all out with the sow finally chasing the yearling for a little close combat wrestling. It's nice to see a sow with only one cub play with it once and a while. Today was the first time in about six days that we had located this pair. They had not been seen since she was digging south of Aspen Pullout and crossed the road to the south near dark.
Thursday - April 20th
38 degrees in Gardiner and 26 degrees in Lamar Valley in the morning warming up to 55 degrees with afternoon winds. At 6:45 a.m. 964M of the Prospect Peak pack was south of Fisherman's Pullout. He was escorted thru the area by six coyotes. At 6:50 a.m. we had a grizzly in the old Druid rendezvous area. I did have a THREE DOG DAY today. At 10:00 a.m. on my way to an oil change in Gardiner I had five black and two gray 8 Mile wolves south of the Nature Walk on the Blacktail. At 2:00 p.m. the grizzly sow with one yearling was visible from Coyote Overlook high south of Lamar Canyon east. At 3:50 p.m. John G found a black bear in the tree line south and west of Footbridge Pullout. At 6:00 p.m. I spotted a black bear south of Boulder Pond in the tree line viewed from Long Pullout. On the way home at 6:45 p.m. we located two 8 Mile wolves bedded and viewed from the Nature Trail on the Blacktail.
Friday - April 21st
38 degrees in Gardiner but 32 degrees and snowing in Lamar Valley. Everything was white except the roads were only wet. The snow and low visibility lasted to 12:30 p.m. It warmed up to 55 degrees but with the wind it was cold. The fresh snow brought out huge flocks of robins all over the valley today. At 6:35 a.m. five black and two gray wolves were spotted north of Coyote Overlook bedded (I only saw one of the grays). They moved over the hill and into the snow cloud and out of sight. At 3:00 p.m. Don G called with two wolves crossing the road at Fisherman's Pullout from north to south. Then he updated me saying the two wolves both black and one with a collar crossed back from south to north chasing a cow bison. I arrived just after they disappeared. Yort had a good idea and climbed the rock formation north of Lamar Canyon East. He called saying he had a grizzly in view. Then he called saying he had all seven wolves again five black and two grays in sight. I hate the hike up that rock formation but with a chance at seeing my first grizzly of the day I hiked up with John G and Randi M. With excellent directions from Yort, John G quickly found the grizzly and all seven wolves on a small carcass of unknown nature. Good viewing as the wolves negotiated with the grizzly for the carcass, with the grizzly keeping it. After ten minutes or so the wolves bedded and let the grizzly have the carcass. I left with only seeing the grizzly once in a while in the sagebrush, and the wolves had been out of sight for fifteen minutes. At 5:30 p.m. Larry M showed me a black bear in the tree line south and east of the Institute. At 5:50 p.m. I found a nice sized grizzly digging south and east of the Soda Butte Cone viewed from Footbridge Pullout. At 6:15 p.m. Josh A called with a black un-collared wolf on the old bison carcass in Round Prairie. Yort showed me a fox near the confluence tonight so I got my THREE DOG DAY. At 7:10 p.m. my last sighting of the day was a black bear near the road and carcass at Geode Creek.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Alan O, Laurie L, Doug M, Melba C, and Josh A. From Kansas: Calvin and Lynette J. From Idaho: Craig C. From New York: Wendy B. From the UK: Alan and Kirsty Peak. From California: Bob and Nell H. From Colorado: Don G and daughter Vicky. From Netherlands: Yort. Bear Watchers: From Washington: John G and Randi M. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Montana: Ralph N, Shari, and Joe and Jeanne L. From Ohio: Jim and Twyla E. From Idaho: Jon and Karen E. From Utah: Larry M. From Colorado: Ed A. Others: From Montana: Evan S, Emil, Cliff B, Bonnie, Nathan V, Tonya M, Ken T, and Dan and Kelly H. From Oregon: Dale and Elva P. And really last From Utah: Bob B.
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