Yellowstone National Park 2023 Trip Reports

Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin

14 through 17 April 2023
Yellowstone National Park

Beautiful Mountain Lion ~ Lamar Valley ~ April 10th, 2023 ~ Photo by Linda Rudge Carney © All Rights Reserved

Mountain Lion ~ also known as the Cougar, Puma, Panther, or Catamount ~ Puma concolor

~ April 2023 ~

Friday - April 14th

Friday April 14th. 25 degrees in Gardiner but only 14 degrees at Blacktail Ponds this morning warming up to 32 degrees out in the park. I viewed three bull moose (already lost their antlers) in the willows at Blacktail Deer restroom. At 5:40 a.m. the collared grizzly bear was back on the carcass in the Blacktail Ponds. The usual pattern is that he beds away from the carcass then before daylight comes and eats at the carcass. After a while or sometimes because of excess noise he leaves the carcass walking north and uphill where it beds sometimes in sight of the parking lot and sometimes out of sight from the parking lot. At 5:00 p.m. when I passed by the grizzly was in view bedded on the hill from the parking lot. At 9:00 a.m. the Shrimp Lake wolfpack were bedded north of Picnic Pullout in Lamar Valley. Pretty far west for this pack who usually stay in the Soda Butte Valley and further east of there. All four were present this morning: 1228F the alpha female, the gray male, the black female pup from last year now a yearling and the gray male pup from last year now a yearling. Great viewing for about fifteen minutes before they moved up and out of sight. The bigger Junction Butte wolfpack (currently 24 or 25 strong) consider all the Lamar Valley as theirs and recently move through the area and hunt throughout the valley.

Saturday - April 15th

23 degrees in Gardiner but only 13 degrees at Blacktail Ponds this morning warming up to 43 degrees out in the park. The male osprey was back on a snowy nest in Lamar Canyon this morning. I viewed my first kestrel this morning near the old Buffalo Ranch. At 5:35 a.m. the grizzly was already on the carcass at the Blacktail Ponds. I proceeded on to the east. Before 8:00 a.m. Margaret L found three wolves on the basalt cliff viewed from Lower Hellroaring Pullout. A very good spot by Margaret. The wolf watchers immediately headed that way since nothing was seen in the Lamar Valley and the Little America areas. I delayed going that way until 9:00 a.m. By then the best viewing was from Upper Hellroaring with most of the wolves bedded on the west end of the basalt cliff. Joe K, a regular wolf watcher, had identified eighteen (eleven grays and seven blacks) wolves by the time I arrived. My big count was only thirteen. They soon moved to the east with some crossing the large meadow while most returned to the basalt cliff or east of there near the Hellroaring Creek. The three that moved further east included two females that are probably about to find a den. Joe K said that the three that crossed the big meadow going east returned later to the basalt cliff. I stopped back at Upper Hellroaring around 5:30 p.m. and Joe K was up to a minimum of twenty of the twenty-four or twenty-five pack members. I only stayed for about one hour with little action as most remained bedded.

Sunday - April 16th

31 degrees in Gardiner but only 19 degrees at Blacktail Ponds this morning warming up to a nice no wind day with a high of 53 degrees. I had six sandhill cranes together near the Lamar River Bridge and four more cranes together on Junction Lake this morning. I stopped by the black bear den at Petrified Tree Pullout but only saw the paw and fur of the sow. Others had been seeing one and others both of the cubs just either in the den opening or outside the den opening. I still have only seen the sow. At 5:39 a.m. the grizzly was once again (day 7) at the bison carcass in the Blacktail Ponds. Each day the parking area is more crowded. This morning I passed by at 5:30 a.m. and the parking lot was already full. The carcass still has some meat on it, so if the grizzly does not finish it tonight or the wolves do not find it tonight, we may get a day eight of viewing.

Monday - April 17th

A very slow day for animals in the park for me. No wolves were spotted by me or anyone else I talked to. 43 degrees in Gardiner but only 29 degrees at Blacktail Ponds this morning warming up to a nice 57 degrees but with afternoon clouds and wind. I stopped by the black bear den at the Petrified Tree Pullout tonight and was rewarded with seeing the sow and one of the cubs of the year (there are two but only one so far for me). Later, on my way back to Gardiner I stopped at Blacktail Deer restroom area and viewed two of the four bull moose who had lost their anthers. At 5:33 p.m. I stopped at the Blacktail Ponds and found a parking spot. The grizzly was on the carcass at first but then moved twenty feet away and stood there for a while. He finally bedded I moved on to the east.

People Seen

Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Taylor R, Joe K, and Ilona P. From Missouri: Frank H. From California: Glenda M and Rick, Bill W, and Jim and Amber. From Arizona: Steve J. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Montana: Margaret L, Jeff B and Kathy M, Doug M, David B, and Jack G. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Wyoming: Kevin M. Others seen this report: Dan and Cindy H, Bob L, Mike S, Chris H, Dimitar N, Pete B, Sandy K and Duffy P, Audra C, and her mother Lish, Cliff B, and Nate U. And from the Netherlands: Jort V.

Beautiful Mountain Lion ~ Lamar Valley ~ April 10th, 2023 ~ Photo by Linda Rudge Carney © All Rights Reserved

Mountain Lion ~ also known as the Cougar, Puma, Panther, or Catamount ~ Puma concolor

Yellowstone National Park

Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park