Yellowstone National Park 2025 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
29 March through 01 April 2025
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
~ March 2025 ~
March 29th - Saturday
It was 40 degrees in Gardiner this morning but only 31 degrees at Hellroaring Pullout, warming up to 45 degrees out in the park. At 7:15 a.m. I was watching from the Upper Hellroaring Pullout. The Wolf Winter Study group pulled into the parking lot and told me I was watching in the wrong direction. The Rescue Creek Pack was only several hundred yards away. Great and close howling followed. The Winter Study Group quickly found a bison carcass that had no wolves on it. My count was four blacks and one gray (the other pack members probably just out of sight). The wolves were resting. One rolled over and over in the snow with its legs in the air. At 7:30 a.m. Jeremy S located a large dark grizzly about one third up the slopes of Hellroaring. The grizzly was moving slowly from west to east. A little later while looking at the grizzly the eleven members of the Junction Butte wolfpack appeared near the grizzly. The wolves were on a hunt and merely ran past the grizzly while the grizzly watched, even sitting down for a time before exiting into the Little Buffalo Drainage, not to be seen again. The eleven wolves chased bison then elk but were unsuccessful on their hunt. Later they disappeared to the north, not to be seen again today. Quite a good bit of action as they chased than regrouping chasing again. Some trees blocked some viewing, and everyone had to constantly move to find the wolves. At 5:50 p.m. the black bear sow was way back in the den and the two cubs were not in view. At 6:15 p.m. two young black wolves of the Rescue Creek pack were seen on the Blacktail Plateau. Kevin M had watched them this morning and tonight found them again. The wolves were chasing a cow bison that we think had an aborted calf.
March 30th - Sunday
33 degrees and snowing in Gardiner this morning but only 27 degrees at Hellroaring with very little visibility warming up to just 39 degrees out in the park. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. The highlight this morning was when the Wolf Winter Study Group spotted a Great Gray Owl a hundred yards from the parking lot in the top of a tree. Andrea B found a fox mousing just east of the Pullout. The low visibility lasted most of the morning. From Slough Creek I spotted four large bighorn rams feeding near the Slough Creek den area, Paul H had been seeing this group for a few days. I saw my first two sandhill cranes in Slough Creek this morning. Heading back towards Gardiner this afternoon I passed by a rock formation with a big yellow-bellied marmot sitting on top of the rocks, the earliest I have seen a marmot in the park. At 1:00 p.m. the first bison calf of the year was found in Little America near Straight-away Pullout. The cow soon took the new calf across the road to the south. At 2:15 p.m. the black bear was far back in the den seen from Petrified Tree Pullout. A bison fell into the Blacktail Ponds today and drowned. This happens quite a bit. The pond has a steep drop off, so the bison have a difficult time climbing out. This one did not.
March 31st - Monday
35 degrees in Gardiner this morning but only 27 degrees with little visibility at Hellroaring this morning warming up to only 39 degrees out in the park. The low visibility lasted most of the morning. I saw two trumpeter swans down Slough Creek today. Four more bison fell into the Blacktail Ponds today. I heard that the park was not going to remove them. If and when the grizzlies find the bison in the ponds, the viewing will be great. At 7:35 a.m. through 8:40 a.m. I watched a large grizzly move from just east of the Horizontal Forest in Slough Creek through the Diagonal Forest then above and beyond the old Slough Den. Most of the area is snow free, but some drifts are around the grizzly struggled to get through them. At 9:15 a.m. we watched a lone gray wolf on the slopes of Hellroaring. It was uncollared and no one was sure which pack it belonged to. From 1:45 p.m. until 3:10 p.m. I watched a medium sized colorful grizzly in the rock formation above Buffalo Ford from Curve Pullout in Little America. I think this is the now 4 1/2-year-old female that we watched multiple times last year in the same area. It was digging and getting something to eat. Then spent quite a bit of time lying on a rock watching a bunch of magpies fly overhead. It did find something to eat there, not sure what. At 4:20 p.m. we had a black bear moving near the "Fish Den" on Garnett Hill viewed from Elk Creek Pullout. Quite early for a black bear sighting.
~ April 2025 ~
April 1st - Tuesday
34 degrees in Gardiner but only 28 degrees at Hellroaring this morning warming up to 40 degrees out in the park. I had a fox and coyote, but no wolves for me today. I arrived at Hellroaring and was surprised that no one was already there. I got lucky and found a large dark grizzly on the slope of Hellroaring right away. It must have come out of the Little Buffalo drainage and was heading west across the large clearing. I watched it for thirty-five minutes. When the grizzly approached the Hellroaring Creek, it encountered a bison herd of about twenty bison. The bison approached the grizzly causing the grizzly to move away and then move higher on the slope to avoid the bison herd. At 7:45 a.m. I found a dark grizzly east of the rock formation above the Buffalo Ford viewed from Boulder Pullout. The grizzly was moving north and was only in view for ten to twelve minutes. Tonight, Charlie M found the medium sized colorful grizzly in the same rock formation as yesterday above the Buffalo Ford viewed from Boulder Pullout.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Jeremy S, Taylor R, Leo L, Wendy B, Becky C, Joe K, Krisztina G, Melba C, and Jeff B. From Kansas: Calvin and Lynette J. From Wales: Sian J. From Utah: Paul H, Charlie M and family. From Idaho: Warren B. From California: Glenda M. And from North Dakota: Sandy H. Bear Watchers: From Louisiana. Bruce P. From Idaho: Blake M. From Montana: Margaret L, Kathy M, and Jeff and Val B. From Wyoming: Kevin M and Sandi R. Others seen this report: From Montana: Andrea B, Scott B, Quinn H, Pete B, Bob L, Jim H, Nathan V, George B, Bob L, Cara M. and Micheal S.
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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