Yellowstone National Park 2017 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
05 through 10 June 2017
~ June 2017 ~
Monday - June 5th
I stayed near Silver Gate Montana this entire report. 46 degrees this morning warming up to a warm 75 degrees. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 5:25 a.m. we had five black and two gray wolves, the usual Junction Butte wolves, kill a bison calf and feed on it south of Hubbard Hill. At 5:40 a.m. I spotted a small grizzly digging in A-Z Meadow viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 7:30 a.m. I found a courting pair of grizzlies spotted north of Hubbard Hill, now bears to the north and wolves to the south. At 10:15 a.m. I spotted a small grizzly eating an elk calf north of Coyote Overlook. At 6:00 p.m. all five Prospect Peak wolf puppies and one gray adult were in and around the Sage Den in Slough Creek. At 7:20 p.m. I spotted a dark grizzly low and left in A-Z Meadow viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 7:50 p.m. we had a black bear in the large meadow behind the eastern end of Jasper Bench viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 8:25 p.m. my last bear spotting for the day was a small grizzly digging in K Meadow viewed from Footbridge Pullout.
Tuesday - June 6th
I had a vulture flying in Lamar Valley this morning. Several bighorn sheep lambs were visible from Calcite Springs. Large goslings at Rainy Lake today. Ruddy ducks patrolling Floating Island Lake today. Marmots near road at Lower Hellroaring and a moose at Warm Springs this evening. 36 degrees in the morning warming to a warm 80 degrees. This warm weather has all the streams and rivers at a very high level. At 6:00 a.m. I spotted a courting pair of grizzlies on the sky line north of Picnic Pullout. They were out again around 8:00 p.m. tonight. At 6:30 a.m. Rick B made a great spot of the grizzly with one yearling high north of Footbridge Pullout in a clearing I have never found grizzlies in that area before. At 7:00 a.m. Rick B found a nice sized grizzly with a large light Yellowstone Stripe in K-2 Meadow viewed from Footbridge Pullout. At 10:30 a.m. three adult gray wolves of the Prospect Peak wolf pack near the Sage Den in Slough Creek. At 6:00 p.m. two of the five wolf pups were in view near the Sage Den in Slough Creek - the pups are getting bigger and easier to see and are turning grayer than the brown/red earlier color. At 7:00 p.m. Rick B again found grizzlies, this time the grizzly sow and yearling that had been on Junction Butte a couple of days ago, he found them in A-Z Meadow viewed from Coyote Overlook.
Wednesday - June 7th
44 degrees this morning warming up to a hot 79 degrees. My first blue heron this year flying over Hayden Valley this evening. At 5:40 a.m. I spotted a small blond grizzly digging in the Bowl viewed from the Institute. At 5:45 a.m. we had five black and one gray wolf (907F was missing this morning, but seen later) of the Junction Butte pack were found in a small clearing north of the Institute. A cow elk was in the area and the wolves stayed around for a while, we assume one elk calf was caught this morning. At 5:50 a.m. the grizzly sow and yearling appeared low in the Bowl viewed from the Institute. Again wolves in sight to the north and grizzlies in view to the south at the same time. At 6:25 a.m. we watched a courting pair of grizzlies north of Picnic Area. At 6:30 a.m. Bob and Nell H found a small young grizzly twenty yards off the road at the Confluence. This grizzly did get to cross the road to the south, but re-crossed again to the north, and then re-crossed the road back to the south where he appeared to find a bison calf (not sure he found it or killed it). Anyway a bear jam for several hours this morning, before leaving going to the east, passing by tourists who walked out on the rolling hills south of Hitching Post Pullout. At 6:40 a.m. I spotted a large dark grizzly on the # 2 finger of Norris going south. At 7:05 a.m. we had a black bear south of the # 1 finger on Norris viewed from Footbridge Pullout. At 7:10 a.m. I found a large black bear in K-2 Meadow viewed from Footbridge Pullout. At 7:40 a.m. we had a fat cinnamon black bear high north of Footbridge Pullout. At 6:00 p.m. a gray Wapiti Lake yearling wolf wandering around east of Grizzly Overlook in Hayden Valley. At 6:35 p.m. we had two grizzlies way west behind the telephone lines in Alum Creek moving to the south (not sure of the relationship, the first was a large dark grizzly, the second a minute or so behind the first was smaller and light brown. At 8:20 p.m. Dave H found a nice sized brown faced grizzly to the south and east of Grizzly Overlook. At 8:50 p.m. my last sighting was a large cinnamon black bear near the horse corrals south of the Canyon Junction.
Thursday - June 8th
44 degrees this morning warming up to a warm 83 degrees. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. We had five vultures circling north of Coyote Overlook this morning. At 5:45 a.m. I spotted a courting pair of grizzlies in the Bowl viewed from the Institute. They went over out of sight, but soon returned for better viewing for another hour or so. At 6:10 a.m. Randi M found a grizzly digging in Penny Lane this morning viewed first from the Confluence, but later from Footbridge Pullout. At 6:10 a.m. we had a courting pair of grizzlies north of the Confluence going up and over the Ledge Trail to the north. At 6:25 a.m. five black and two gray wolves of the Junction Butte pack bedded south of Midpoint Pullout. I had glassed and missed them earlier, as they were bedded in the sagebrush but not far from the Lamar River. Good viewing for quite a while and then they moved slowly east and out of sight after an hour and a half. At 8:00 a.m. I found a cinnamon black bear in K-2 Meadow. At 9:00 a.m. we had a small light faced colorful grizzly in A-Z Meadow digging. Around 8:00 p.m. we found the same small grizzly digging on Ski Slope from Coyote Overlook. At 10:15 a.m. Emil M called with a new family of grizzly in the Soda Butte Valley. This sighting was on the 3rd finger of Norris on the high clearing a grizzly sow with one cub of the year (coy) was out for over an hour. At 10:40 a.m. we had watched a small black bear run below the grizzly family on # 3 finger on Norris moving fast to the east. At 4:00 p.m. we had the grizzly sow and yearling was back on Druid Peak for quite a while. At 5:50 p.m. we had a two year old cinnamon black bear causing a bear jam east of Yellowstone Picnic Area. At 6:25 p.m. one gray pup in the eastern trees above the Sage Den in Slough Creek. At 7:00 p.m. I spotted a large brown grizzly high in the Salad Bowl viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 8:00 p.m. the courting pair from this morning were out again this time in a large sagebrush clearing below Druid Peak north of Picnic Pullout. At 8:20 p.m. the small roadside grizzly from a day or two ago found an elk calf 150 yards off the road just south and east of the Confluence - another large bear jam to end today.
Friday - June 9th
46 degrees this morning only warming up to 60 degrees with a nice rain shower towards evening. A young golden eagle in a tree north and west of Hitching Post this morning. My first mountain goat kid seen north and east of Footbridge Pullout today. At 5:15 a.m. I spotted a small dark grizzly digging in A-Z Meadow this morning. At 5:25 a.m. we had five black and two gray wolves of the Junction Butte pack moving to the west first seen east of Amethyst Drainage. They eventually disappeared behind Jasper Bench. At 5:30 a.m. I found a new grizzly family, a grizzly sow with one coy in the first large meadow south of Ski Slope viewed from Coyote Overlook. This family was seen at 5:30 p.m. tonight on Ski Slope, they had moved a ways to the north. At 5:55 a.m. Randi M found a black bear with one coy in a small clearing under the Bowl viewed from the Institute. At 6:00 a.m. I spotted a grizzly sow and yearling on the west end of Druid Peak. At 6:30 a.m. the grizzly sow and one coy was again on #3 finger of Norris viewed from Footbridge Pullout and later from Soda Butte Middle Pullout. At 6:40 a.m. Dave H found a small grizzly with a large Yellowstone Stripe in K Meadow apparently hunting elk calves. At 7:30 a.m. we had a courting pair of grizzlies north of Picnic Area. I did have another THREE DOG DAY today. At 2:20 p.m. we had a courting pair of black bears, the boar with a green ear tag creating a bear jam on the northern end of Rainy Lake (the rangers held up traffic for fifteen minutes or so to allow them to cross to the west). At 4:40 p.m. we watched a black bear with two black yearlings east of Yellowstone Picnic Area. At 5:00 p.m. the grizzly sow with one yearling crossing the road south to north near Long Pullout in Little America. A reminder on grizzlies with yearlings - to my knowledge we only have two from Tower to Pebble Creek - one hangs near Druid Peak and north of the road, and the second anywhere from Junction Butte to the north to A-Z Meadow in Lamar Valley to the south.
Saturday - June 10th
I was leaving the park this morning and planned to glass Lamar Valley, Slough Creek, Antelope Creek, Hayden Valley and even east of Fishing Bridge on the way home. Margaret P and Jean S were also leaving this morning, so we traveled together glassing all the way. 42 degrees this morning with fresh snow on the mountain tops as well as on the ground on Dunraven Pass and Hayden Valley. It only warmed to under 60 degrees on my way out. I did stop at the blue heron rookery this morning near Cascade Picnic area south of Hayden Valley. At 5:05 a.m. I spotted a small dark grizzly in A-Z Meadow moving east viewed from Coyote Overlook. It was seen a little later in the Bowl from the Institute. At 5:10 a.m. I found a grizzly digging in the meadow above the snow strip above Ski Slope also from Coyote Overlook. At 6:05 a.m. we had a nice sized grizzly digging above the tree line north of Picnic Area. This grizzly was seen a little later on the sky line before it moved over the hill and out of sight. At 6:10 a.m. we had a small grizzly digging on the # 3 finger of Norris for a brief time. At 7:00 a.m. we watched a grizzly with one coy on the top of Ski Slope viewed from Coyote Overlook. The Yellowstone Forever bear class pulled in and got to watch the grizzly family for a while. At 7:05 a.m. Margaret P found a large grizzly with its nose down on the clearing above the snow on Ski Slope, but well down hill and to the west. At 7:40 a.m. three of the five Prospect Peak wolf pups in view right at the Sage Den in Slough Creek. At 8:00 a.m. the black bear sow with two black yearling cubs were at Rainy Lake. At 8:35 a.m. we had a tall grizzly at the large curve pullout near blister rust about three miles north of Dunraven Pass. A large grizzly that was good viewing in the fresh snow from last night. At 9:20 a.m. Bob L called me to stop at the first pullout south of Grizzly Overlook with a nice sized brown faced grizzly moving north just across the Yellowstone River. At 10:00 a.m. I watched the grizzly sow and two year old called Raspberry and Snow, they are still together, this was near Nine Mile and Lake Butte about nine miles east of Fishing Bridge. Friends from Layton, Utah had watched them for about one hour before I arrived. The sow briefly nursed the two and half year old cub then moved slowly east. The cub bawled loudly until the sow let the cub nurse for a longer period. Not much action as they moved little and bedded a lot when I was there.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Josh A, Lizzie C, Alan and Sue O, and Amy T. From California: Bob and Nell H. From Iowa: Jim and Joellyn B. From New York: Maureen B. From Colorado: Terri S and Steve and Robin M. From Oregon: Bruce and Kelly H. From Wyoming: Larry and Linda H. Bear Watchers: From Washington: Randi M. From Wyoming: Richard and Rita R, and Terri W. From Utah: Dave H, Marc H, Luke and Maleea. From Illinois: Mike G, Richard and Ursula B. From Missouri: Bob and Linda F. From Idaho: Sidney H, and Jon and Karen E. From Montana: Kevin and Tammy, and Sarah W and Family. From South Carolina: Jean S and Margaret P. From New York: Rick B. From New Mexico: Bob W. Others seen this report: From Colorado: Jim and Bobbie F. From Montana: Bonnie M, Evan S, Cliff B, Bob L, Dan and Cindy H, MacNeil L, Nathan V, Linda T and Leo L. From Massachusetts: Ed S. From Vermont: John K. From Arizona: David and Phyllis. And From Pennsylvania: Ray and Darlene R.
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