Yellowstone National Park 2024 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
02 through 05 April 2024
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 2024 ~
April 2nd - Tueday
30 degrees this morning in Gardiner but only 20 degrees at Slough Creek warming up to a beautiful 56 degrees with little wind and lots of sun. I had a THREE DOG DAY today (wolf, coyote, and fox). At 9:30 a.m. Charlie M's son saw wolves above the north side of the road near Wrecker Pullout surrounding two different small herds of elk. They were the Rescue Creek pack. They were unsuccessful with elk so went over to hill and tried their luck with a few small herds of bison. We moved to Rick's Pullout and watched for over half an hour. Today we had fourteen wolves, four grays and ten blacks, the entire pack. Lots of trying to separate the bison but they were unsuccessful. The wolves really look in good shape this time of year and still have their winter fur.
April 3rd - Wednesday
40 degrees in Gardiner but only 27 degrees at Slough Creek this morning warming up to 60 degrees with lots of sun and little wind. At 7:40 a.m. I found a black wolf on a snowbank on Junction Pass (south of the mixed confer aspen forest) in Slough Creek. It was moving slowly downhill and was in sight for about twenty minutes. Evan S was one of the first to arrive to view the wolf and found a large dark grizzly bear in the same area. It had his head down and moved slowly zig zagging towards the west. It was in view for over thirty minutes. The wolf and bear came close to each other, but both moved away in different directions. At 9:25 a.m. I found a medium sized grizzly approaching Junction Pass slowly running as if it was having fun. Only in view for five minutes before going over the pass and out of sight.
April 4th - Thursday
46 degrees in Gardiner but only 32 degrees at Blacktail this morning warming up to a warm 63 degrees with a little afternoon wind. There is a hawk in the nest south of Lamar Canyon East Pullout in the rock formation. I assume it is the red-tailed hawk that nested there last year. I had my first Sandhill Crane nest today, then had number two with six colts so it must be spring. In fact, a lot of hawks have showed up the last three nice and warm days. All the action for today came early from Curve Pullout in Little America. I stopped at Boulder Pullout at 6:15 a.m. and heard a lone wolf howl to the north near Junction Butte. Then a small group howl from south of Curve Pullout. I moved to Curve Pullout just as Kevin M arrived. He had seen a black and a gray wolf as he pulled into the pullout to the south. We soon identified two black and one gray wolf to the south. Howling to the north revealed a black wolf with a lot of white hair on it and a gray wolf together less than two hundred yards from the road. The black wolf would stay in that spot and continue to howl for twenty minutes or so. Soon after we picked up a second black wolf moving to the east. So, we had three wolves to the south and three wolves to the north. I think that some of the wolves got across the road before the traffic got busy and that was the reason for the howling, trying to encourage the wolves on the other side to join them. Later others saw a gray collared and a black collared wolf but I guess that we had a total of six. These were probably either the Junction Butte wolf pack or the Mollies wolf pack.
April 5th - Friday
46 degrees this morning in Gardiner but 32 degrees near Slough Creek warming up to 64 degrees with afternoon winds. I had a Dusty Grouse on the road this morning, and I missed running over it. I also saw a golden eagle flying near Picnic Pullout in Lamar Valley. I hiked down the Slough Creek Campground Road this afternoon to check the golden eagle nest in the rock formation viewed from the gravel pullout. No eagle in the nest. A slow day for me with no grizzlies or wolves.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Melba C, Helena E, and Ilona P. From Utah: Charlie M. From Canada: Jeff A. From Utah: Chris B and two of his sons. And From South Carolina: Chuck and Wynelle M. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Wyoming: Kevin M. And from Montana: Chuck W and Debbie H. Others seen this report: From Montana: Evan S, Cliff B, Dan, Cindy, and Kelly H, Nate U, Bob L, Mike S, Grant J, Ashea T, Pete B, and Shauna B. From Washington: Aaron M.
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
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