Yellowstone National Park 2024 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
18 through 21 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 18th - Thursday
28 degrees in Gardiner but a cool 14 degrees at Boulder Pullout in Little America this morning warming up to 39 degrees out in the park. Lots of rosy finches today next to the roads. The stop lights are up at Yellowstone River Bridge causing up to thirty-minute delays. Same as last year from the Tower Side of the bridge to past the Yellowstone Picnic Area. A pilot car escorts the traffic through then turns around and escorts the cars the other way. Looks like only on weekdays and sometimes not all of the day. At 8:30 a.m. I was at Boulder Pullout and had a group of elk bunched together and looking to the north. Soon I found a gray and black wolf in the area. They tested a small herd of bison then moved through Buffalo Ford and out of sight going east. I assume Junction Butte wolves since the rest of the pack was supposed to be at Hellroaring. At 9:20 a.m. I went to Phantom Lake to see the grizzly sow with two yearlings. They were bedded up the hill, not much to look at. I passed by before 6:00 p.m. and they were out and feeding. They look pretty good for this time of year. At 3:55 p.m. I spotted a grizzly digging above Fisherman's Pullout in Lamar Valley watching from Long Pullout in Little America, which is a long way to look. At 5:00 p.m. I found a small colorful grizzly low on the slopes of Hellroaring viewed from Upper Hellroaring Pullout. In and out of sight for 45 minutes. Quite a bit of slow moving and some digging. At 6:00 p.m. as I pulled into the Phantom Lake western pullout, a large black bear was five feet off the road and five feet from the pullout grazing on grasses. Did not seem to be concerned with all the people in the pullout.
April 19th - Friday
25 degrees in Gardiner but 18 degrees at Boulder Pullout warming up to 43 degrees. At 6:30 a.m. I looked down into the old Druid Rendezvous' area from Coyote Overlook and found five black and four gray wolves who were later identified as the Mollies Wolfpack. They soon moved into the trees and were seen off and on all day long. The wolf watchers had a count of ten or eleven. The pack is supposed to only have ten, so I asked a Wolf Project person what the story was. He counted eleven also and explained that since some of the Mollies are old Junction Butte wolves, the younger wolves can go and come without being chased away. One of the younger Junction Butte wolves had simply moved over to the Mollies. At 9:00 a.m. Rick M found wolves near the Slough Creek den. I was close by and spotted 907F (Rick identified), the alpha male and a gray wolf bedded near the den. At 11:00 a.m. Kevin M had an uncollared gray wolf cross moving north to south between Dorothy's Pullout and Old Road Pullout. I arrived to see the wolf bedded on this side of the Lamar River. It was in view for hours. While I watched it slowly moved to the east and found something to roll in for about ten minutes. Not sure what it was rolling in, but the wolf seemed to enjoy it. A Naturalist World had a program tonight. Jeremy S, from the Wolf Project, spoke on the Yellowstone Wolves. Great presentation and lots of information about the wolves and how they are studied in the park. Excellent.
April 20th - Saturday
26 degrees this morning in Gardiner but only 19 degrees at Boulder this morning warming up to a nice 49 degrees out in the park. The wolf watchers had two wolves at the Slough den this morning, 907F and the alpha male who later moved off to the west. I did not see them. Later in the morning the wolf watchers had wolves hunting a fresh bison calf in Lamar Valley. I arrived when the hunt was still in progress north of Coyote Overlook. Five black wolves and four gray wolves were really trying to get the one fresh bison calf in the herd of about twenty bison. Two wolves got a bite in before being chased away. I moved on searching for the elusive grizzly bear but returned early this afternoon. Surprisingly, the wolves were from the Rescue Creek Pack. Way out of their territory, I have never seen them east of the Yellowstone River, although I heard once this winter they crossed and chased the Junction Butte wolves on the slopes of Hellroaring. Apparently, the bison calf was still alive and with the herd. Sorry to say the bison calf got accidently kicked by the cow and eventually died. At 2:30 p.m. the cinnamon black bear sow with one cinnamon yearling cub were just west of the Yellowstone Picnic Area. Not sure what was going on as the sow was on the ground and the yearling was up a large tree. I spent a lot of time near Phantom Lake this morning looking for the grizzly sow and two yearlings. They were not there in daylight but were seen later. I did not see them for the hour and half I was there. Fortunately, I returned to the area about 3:00 p.m. and they were in view up under a rock face near the top of the hill. Really good watching for a while.
April 21 - Sunday
36 degrees in Gardiner but 25 degrees at Boulder Pullout this morning warming to a wonderful 62 degrees with late winds. I had two vultures flying around again today. Years ago, vultures were a rare sighting in Yellowstone, but increasingly are being seen now. At 6:15 a.m. Frank H had three wolves near the Slough Creek den of the Junction Butte wolfpack. Today 907F (the alpha female), the black alpha male with his white face and last's years only pup a black that looks brown. It is now a yearling and collared this winter as 1479F. This means that the female has not entered the den to deliver pups. I headed to Lamar after glassing for grizzlies. Then was surprised as I heard Frank H had a grizzly sow with two, two-year-old cubs down by the mixed conifer forest in Slough Creek. I had glassed there several times before heading to Lamar. I watched for a while then went back to Lamar. Then I heard Frank H had a grizzly boar chasing/following the grizzly family. I did not get back in time to see that and the boar. But later the sow with two, two-year-olds showed up in Lion Meadow, quite a bit closer than the mixed conifer aspen forest. At noon I watched a large black bear with two cinnamon yearling cubs on the south side of Lamar Canyon. At 1:30 p.m. we had a black bear above the tree line south of Midpoint Pullout. At 3:20 p.m. I spotted a small black bear near the Specimen Ridge trail that starts near Long Pullout. At 4:20 p.m. my first black bear cub of the year with the black sow near Phantom Lake.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Carolyn G, Kriztina G, Melba C, Joe K, Jeremy S, Taylor R, and Ilona P. From Utah: Paul H, Charie M, and Chris B. From Missouri: Frank H. From South Dakota: Sam and Ginny G. From California: Glenda and boyfriend Rick. From Washington: David and Stephanie O. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Wyoming: Kevin M. From Utah: Larry M. From Montana: Doug M, Shari S, Les and Cole W, David B, Chuck W, and Debbie H. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Idaho: Jon and Karen E. Others seen this report: From Montana: Dan and Cindy H, Jack R, Jim H, Michael S, Nathan V, Nate U, Mike S, Linda K, Andrea B, Pete B, Scott B, Cliff B, Bob L, and Grant J. From Florida: Mark L, and Ric and Vicky From British Columbia: Eric and Debbie. From the Netherlands: Jort V. and From Idaho: Willie and Shelley D.
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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