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Yellowstone National Park 2018 Trip Reports





Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin

22 through 25 April 2018 - Yellowstone National Park




Yellowstone Moose ~ © Copyright All Rights Reserved John William Uhler


~ April 2018 ~




Yellowstone Grizzly Bear by John William Uhler © Copyright All Rights Reserved

Sunday - April 22nd


32 degrees this morning in Gardiner warming up to a nice 64 degrees. I had a kingfisher and a vulture today in the park. At 6:00 a.m. we had two separate grizzlies near the bison carcass north of Boulder Pullout. By 9:00 a.m. they had moved to above the mixed conifer aspen forest viewed from Slough Creek. At 6:40 a.m. 1047M the alpha male of the Junction Butte pack visited 907F the beta female at the sage den in Slough Creek. 969F the alpha female is in the natal den and 907F and the uncollared black female are both in the sage den. At 8:20 a.m. small dot the alpha male of the Lamar Canyon wolf pack was seen north of Picnic Pullout heading north and west. At 9:00 a.m. another grizzly came to the bison carcass north of Boulder. After a few minutes of eating, this grizzly went fifty yards west to a small rock formation and bedded for the next seven hours, returning to the carcass around 4:00 p.m. I got a text message on my phone around 4:00 p.m. from someone I did not know saying Jack D was watching a grizzly sow with two yearlings on Thunderer where the MacNeil L grizzly with two coys was seen in 2013. I headed that way and found Jack G watching a lump of grizzlies behind some trees at over 8,800 feet on Thunderer from the first pullout in Round Prairie. The unknown text came from Christy Unit 81. Jack had been looking for goats near the old 2013 den site and saw a grizzly cross a clearing soon followed by two cubs of the year. Jack had been watching them for over 2 1/2 hours and stayed around to show me the spot. Jack then left to go back home in Bozeman. Larry M and Steve from Utah watched with me until near 7:00 p.m. when the cubs moved into sight. They wrestled and played for ten or so minutes. The sow then moved to join them and moved into a clearing with steep snow. The sow let both of the yearlings go ahead and she followed. I got the impression she stayed behind to catch the yearlings if they slipped. Jack's sighting had no den in view, but was only about 100 yards from MacNeil's 2013 den.


Yellowstone Grizzly Bear ~ © Copyright All Rights Reserved John William Uhler

Monday - April 23rd


38 degrees and raining in Gardiner but 33 degrees and snowing in Little America warming up to only 39 degrees. The snow made visibility a concern. We had about one hour in the morning and it did not clear up until after 3:00 p.m. About 5 inches of snow in Silver Gate this morning and anywhere from 2 to 4 inches in the park. It was warm enough that the roads were not bad. The snow bought in hundreds of robins and dark eyed "Oregon" juncos everywhere today. In the first minutes of day light we had four different grizzlies around the bison carcass north of Boulder Pullout. Later we found a fifth grizzly to the east, but at one time we had four different grizzlies in the scope. Two the grizzlies moved off to the west to wrestle and play for fifteen minutes or so. One was slightly larger than the other, but the play did not get rough. My guess is the beginning of courting activity. Then the visibility dropped and at 3:00 p.m. when it lifted none of the grizzlies were in view.


Tuesday - April 24th


29 degrees in Gardiner but only 19 degrees in Little America this morning warming up to a nice 50 degrees. I had two vultures at Phantom Lake this afternoon. At 5:55 a.m. a medium sized grizzly was on the bison carcass north of Boulder. Soon it moved east and we went to Aspen Pullout to scope from there. The medium grizzly showed up from the west and went into the mixed conifer aspen forest and bedded. At 6:40 a.m. we saw 969F and 907F and one black wolf of the Junction Butte pack from Aspen Pullout (those at Slough Creek viewed a total of five wolves this morning). At 7:15 a.m. Bonnie M called saying another grizzly had come to the now empty bison carcass north of Boulder Pullout. At 7:35 a.m. a larger brown grizzly came to the bison carcass from the west. At 7:45 a.m. with two grizzlies still around the bison carcass north of Boulder Pullout I went back to Aspen Pullout still seeing the bedded grizzly from earlier this morning. Then I found a fourth grizzly high above the mixed conifer aspen forest moving towards Junction Pass. We had thought the carcass was about though, but still had enough for four different grizzlies. At 1:00 p.m. someone had a grizzly on a bison carcass in Lamar Valley. A couple from Colorado had spotted the grizzly at 9:30 a.m. and watched it all day. The carcass was basically south of Fisherman's Pullout but could only be seen from about 600 yards east of Dorothy's Pullout. This was a very large grizzly. At 1:15 p.m. I found a small grizzly behind Jasper Bench but below the Salad Bowl Meadow in Lamar Valley. It foraged for a while but was out of sight in ten minutes. At 1:35 p.m. I found the grizzly sow and two year old cub south and west of Fisherman's Pullout high above the river corridor viewed from east of Dorothy's. We had not found this family for two days since they crossed the road north to south in Little America. At 5:15 p.m. the large black bear with the green ear tags was just off the road on the Tower side of the Yellowstone River Bridge.


Wednesday - April 25th

Yellowstone Wolf and Buffalo ~ © Copyright All Rights Reserved Gerry Hogston

24 degrees in Little America warming up to a nice 60 degrees. John G found a moose in Soda Butte Valley on the southeast side of the valley. At daylight the bison carcass north of Boulder was empty. But at 6:10 a.m. Karen E found a grizzly coming to the carcass from the west. Then another grizzly was noticed following the first grizzly. One was slightly larger than the other, so we guessed it was the two grizzlies that had wrestled and played together two days ago. About this time 1047M, the alpha male for the Junction Butte pack came to the carcass, now spread out a lot, and ate for a little while before leaving heading back to the den. We moved to Slough Creek and found 907F exiting and then returning to the sage den at Slough Creek. One other black wolf was also seen in the den area this morning. At 7:00 a.m. the large grizzly was still on the bison carcass south of Fisherman's but you still had to go to east of Dorothy's Pullout to see him. At 10:00 a.m. an unidentified black wolf was seen near the bison carcass south of Fisherman's Pullout. The large grizzly was still there, but left later and the wolf got to eat at the carcass. This wolf looked old to us, a lot of white hair around its face and almost white feet. It is guessed that this was a Mollies wolf. At 2:00 p.m. the grizzly sow with the two year old cub was spotted in the exact place they were yesterday, south and west of Fisherman's on the skyline above the river corridor.


People Seen


Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Barb M, Doug M, Melba C, Dan and Laurie L, Alan O, Ilona P, Rick M, and Bob and Elizabeth N. From Idaho: Craig C. From California: Bob and Nell H. From the Netherlands: Jort V. From Indiana: Jeff and Terri B. From Oregon: Larry and Char. From Utah: Julie A. From Colorado: Rick and Len H. From Florida: Rick K. From Wyoming: Larry and Linda H. Bear Watchers: From Louisiana: Bruce B. From Washington: John G and Randi M. From Wyoming: Richard and Rita R. From California: Cole W. From Montana: Shari and Kate, and Jack D. From Utah: Larry M and his friend Steve. From Idaho: Jon and Karen E. and John and Carlene U. and Jennings and Carma. Others seen this report: From Montana: Evan S, Steve B, Bonnie M, Linda C, Bob L, Cliff B, and Jim and Judy W. From Oregon: Dale and Elva P. From Idaho: Ray T. From Massachusetts: Ed S. From Utah: Bob B.




Lamar Valley ~ © Copyright All Rights Reserved John William Uhler



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Sightings and Trip Report are from the North and Northeast Area of Yellowstone

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Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park


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