Yellowstone National Park 2025 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
06 through 09 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
~ April 2025 ~
April 6th - Sunday
32 degrees in Gardiner but only 19 degrees at Slough Creek this morning warming up to 59 degrees out in the park. Today and yesterday not a cloud in the sky. Both ospreys were on the nest in Lamar Canyon today, this is earlier than usual. The pronghorn antelope have moved up into the park as far at Hellroaring. The elk are moving up into the park with more elk seen every day. At 6:00 a.m. I was at Blacktail Ponds in the dark. A gray wolf crossed the large snow patch near the two remaining bison carcasses in the Ponds. Probably the one gray in the Rescue Creek Pack. From 10:30 a.m. through 1:15 p.m. I looked for the grizzly sow with one Cub Of the Year (coy) seen yesterday on finger # 2 on Norris. Paul H and I were watching from Footbridge. We found the grizzly bedded near a large pine tree glowing in the sun viewed from Footbridge Pullout. Both Paul and I were 99% sure that was really the grizzly but had to wait over an hour for the sow to move. Then another hour for her to move through some snow but still did not see the coy. Fortunately, Kevin M was in a better location at Soda Butte Midpoint and had both in view. We moved quickly to his location. They were only in view for ten or fifteen minutes before returning to bed again at the pine tree which could not be seen from Kevin's location. The sow did the nurse the coy for a couple of minutes, the sow laying on her back looking down towards the road. Before today, my earliest sighing of a cub of a year had been April 27th, this is way early. Others saw all eleven Junction Butte wolves on the slopes of Hellroaring today chasing bison and antelope; and also saw twelve of the thirteen Rescue Creek wolves on the Blacktail this morning.
April 7th - Monday
37 degrees in Gardiner but 20 degrees at Slough Creek this morning warming up to a very nice 55 degrees. The prong antelope have moved up all the way to Lamar Valley already, staying mostly on the north side of the road where there is much less snow. From 8:00 a.m. through 9:25 a.m. Paul H again found the grizzly sow with one coy of the year. Again, this morning they were bedded behind a tree on the # 2 finger on Norris, only the sow was seen. When the sun hit the spot where they were bedded, they began to move. The coy is very small this time of the year. It sometimes stumbles a little. The sow played with the coy often and I watched one nursing before I left. I returned to see that the sow had dug a big hole in a snowbank where she and the coy slept in. Paul H had a grizzly leave a bison carcass north of Soda Butte East Pullout at 6:17 a.m. I was still glassing at Slough Creek and did not get to see that grizzly. Coming back to Gardiner this afternoon I stopped at Nature Trail to glass. At 4:10 p.m. I found a group of five black rocks. While watching them when a few bison walked through the area, the black wolves walked away, the rocks ended up being wolves. I ended up with seven black wolves of the Rescue Creek Pack. I was sharing my scope with others, so more may have been present (the total for the pack now is thirteen with twelve blacks and one gray).
April 8th - Tuesday
45 degrees in Gardiner but 37 degrees out in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to 50 degrees with afternoon winds. Most of the morning and past noon was low visibility caused by snow showers which made viewing difficult. There has been a bison carcass, died naturally, north of the Soda Butte East Pullout. Yesterday Paul H had a grizzly on it leaving before daylight at 6:17 a.m. I left Gardiner at 4:30 a.m. to get there by 5:45 a.m. Paul was in the pullout, so we set up to scopes and the grizzly was feeding on the carcass. It was still pretty dark when the grizzly left the carcass at 6:17 a.m. The grizzly sow with one coy was again on the # 2 finger on Norris. We could see the sow bedded next to a tree in the clearing but could not see the coy. Around 1:50 p.m. the sow decided to move away from the tree, and we had great viewing until 3:05 p.m. when I left the area. A lot of playing between the sow and the coy. The coy is still very small.
April 9th - Wednesday
35 degrees in Gardiner but only 30 degrees at Slough Creek this morning warming up to 54 degrees with afternoon high winds. No grizzlies or wolves for me today. No bear watchers and all the wolf watchers came up empty today. The wolf people had howling north of North Butte Pullout on the Blacktail and also howling near the Basalt Cliff from Upper Hellroaring but no sightings. I had an American Dipper at the Confluence this morning. I had a pair of killdeers near Hitching Post this morning. The black bear sow had her head at the entrance to the den seen from Petrified Tree Pullout. I spent a lot of time on the Soda Butte Valley trying to locate the grizzly sow with one cub of the year without success. Really a slow day of sightings in Yellowstone.
People Seen
People see this report: Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Kristina G, Jeff B, Jeff A, and Jamie and Michele H. From Utah; Paul H and Julie A. From North Dakoka: Sandy H. From Connecticut: Geoff F his two kids and Tannille. From California: Glenda M. Bear Watchers: From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Wyoming: Kevin M. From Montana: Jack D. Others: From Montana: Bob L, Michael S, Alexander M, Jeff B, Hunter G, Scott B, Andrea B, Grant J, Ashea T, Byron F and Rhiana P.
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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