It’s another chilly morning, under a clear sky.

Rick and I start in the gravel lot where we see 1478F bedded near the Eastern trees. A bit later she takes a walk up to the natal den and peeks in. She continues to the top of the den cliff and then

It’s quiet for a bit and we move to the Little Hill, joining friends Mark & Carol, Maureen and Rick and a few others. From this slightly higher elevation, we see more wolves in the gully, including 1479F, the alpha male, dark gray male, and all three puppies.

907F emerges from the den and comes down to greet the others. The adult wolves nuzzle with the pups for a bit, then the three little ones head back underground for their morning nap.

907 sets off with purpose to the northeast, followed by her mate and 1479F. Dark Gray belatedly trails after them. The four wolves begin a slow hunt for elk, passing through the diagonal forest, the zig zag willows and eventually moving into the yellow-grass meadow. 1479 leads most of the way, with Dark Gray behind her.

Several bull elk in velvet notice them and trot away. Eventually they join other bulls and bunch up, taking a defensive position on the rocky knob at the farthest eastern point of the meadow. The two young wolves approach the elk but the alpha pair passes them by. I suspect they can tell these elk are healthy.

The four of them begin to head down a steep, partially forested hill towards Slough Creek. Pretty soon we lose them.

A few minutes later, Kathie L suddenly calls to us “look at the den!”

I swing my scope there and see three black adult wolves in the meadow between the western and eastern trees. Where did they come from?

Two are collared while the third is a very dark uncollared black.

Note: these three are Junction wolves. At the time, their arrival was so unexpected, we first were concerned that they were from another pack. But we know now they are all Junctions.

One of them has a GPS collar, so it's likely 1477F. The other collar has a non-GPS collare. She also has a tightly tucked tail. Frank and I suspect this is 1385F, whom 907 frequently pins.

The two collared wolves (females) make quickly for the sage den while the larger, dark uncollared black remains a bit separate from them, exploring the periphery of the area.

The three pups come out of the sage den and 1385 starts walking to the west. The three pups follow her eagerly. 1477 is nearby. I think to myself, the pups are further west than I’ve seen them go before.

Just then, the dark black comes down quickly to join the group. Then a strange thing happens. He picks up the nearest black pup and starts to carry it further west.

Wait, what?

The pup is wiggling and the uncollared black puts it down to get a better grip. He carries it a bit further and puts it down again. Alas, to our dismay, when the pup is put down the second time we don’t see it move.

The uncollared black carries the pup west into the rocks above Aspen pass which is definitely further than any of these pups have been. The wolf stops behind a single conifer in the rocks. It looks to me like he has put the pup down again.

We are all confused and actually kind of shocked. I think this wolf is a young male and males do not usually pick up pups. There is a way to do it that usually only mother wolves seem to understand.

I look back at the sage den and see 1477F standing there. I see the gray pup heading back underground. Kathie says she saw the other black pup go inside, too.

1477 moves up behind the eastern trees and beds down.

What happened to the pup? Is it dead? Injured? We’re all upset and trying to make sense of what just happened.

A little while later, the uncollared male and 1385F head back north, above the den cliff and across the meadow, disappearing into the same line of partially burnt trees where 1478 had travelled earlier.

We talk among ourselves, still upset and confused. Some people ascribe malicious intent to the young male, but I don’t. Those same people believe the three black wolves were not Junctions, but from a different pack. That doesn’t make sense to me.

I also didn’t see any aggression on the part of the male. Rick says he thinks it’s a young wolf, and that he was just trying to play with it and simply didn’t have the skill to pick it up safely.

After about 15 minutes, 907 is spotted coming back from the east. Of course, we all hope she will do something about the poor pup. I hope that it is just scared and that 907 will find it and nurse it back to health.

When she arrives, 1477 comes down from the eastern trees to greet her very submissively. 907 quickly goes to the den and the two remaining pups emerge to greet her. She nuzzles them, and they are glad to see her.

I notice no sign of anxiety or stress from 907. If those wolves were strangers, she would be sniffing their scent and reacting differently. However, she does not seem to notice she is one pup short. As Rick has said many times, wolves can’t count.

Now 1478F arrives, coming down from the den cliff area. She hurries to greet 907 and both pups. 1477 intercepts 1478 and greets her submissively.

Then the rest of the hunting party returns and they all greet happily.

Dark gray goes to the den and sits with the two pups. He can’t count, either.

Around 10:30 I head back east. My journey is slowed down by two bison jams and a black bear jam.

Instead of taking my usual break in Silver Gate, though, I continue east to join a celebration of the late bear-man Richard, who passed away two years ago. His widow, Rita, is continuing the long tradition of holding a picnic lunch on his birthday, June 1.

I am honored to be included.

The company is great and the food outstanding. Thank you, Rita, and all your helpers!

Around 4:30 I head back to the valley, accompanied by Maureen and Rick. We are still unsettled by the day’s events.

A bull moose grazes in Round Prairie, and the Norris bear out again with her with two coys. She is to the north again, higher on the hill than she was yesterday, in deep sage.

At Slough I find things to be calm and normal.

Although the sun is in our eyes, we manage to see 907 bedded near the den with the two pups. She nurses them a while, then moves up to the eastern trees where she joins several other adults bedded there, the alpha male, 1478 and 1479.

The pups start to follow 907 upslope but 1479 comes down and leads them to the edge of the gully. She sits with them a while as they play and explore. Then the little ones go up to the den on their own. 1479 dutifully follows and beds to the side of the den opening.

As much as we want a resolution to what happened to the black pup, we accept that we may never know. My own opinion is that the poor thing is most likely dead.

The lighting becomes difficult, so we head back into Lamar.

I find out later that after we left, other visitors did witness a resolution to the drama. Sometime around 8:30, 907 was seen walking to the west, ending up in the very spot behind the single conifer where the black male stopped.

She finds the body of the little thing and picks it up. She carries it a little way down the hill, but then stops. She seems to understand that it is dead. She leaves it there among the rocks and returns to the den area.

A while later, the same visitors see her lead her two remaining pups towards the eastern trees and behind the “flower hill” into the hidden meadow behind.

Note: the “flower hill” is just east of the eastern trees. It was named a number of years ago when it was covered with bright yellow flowers and that years litter of pups used it as a playground. So far, this year, the yellow flowers have not yet bloomed.

Maureen and Rick and I stop to check out a tip we received earlier. There is another active coyote den south of Footbridge on Dead Puppy Hill.

We see an adult coyote and four little rascals. I find it especially comforting to see bouncy, happy canid pups after today’s events.

They are quite small, likely born more recently than the Junction pups, but they are balls of energy. One prances about, carrying a large piece of hide in its tiny mouth, so proud of itself. The little guy doesn’t seem to know what else to do with this prize other than show off!

Two pups wrestle and tumble together while the smallest one keeps out of the way. Another pup tries to jump but can only manage to rise about a half inch off the ground. So funny.

The adult is VERY vigilant the whole time.

It’s a beautiful evening with temps in the upper 60’s.

On our way back to Silver Gate we have a fox sighting in ice box canyon, then a second one just past Soda Butte picnic. And we have the usual mule deer in the upper meadows.

RIP, little black pup.

Today I saw: 3 grizzly bears (including 2 cubs), bison (and calves), coyotes (including 4 pups), mule deer, elk, 3 foxes, 1 moose, pronghorn, 11 Junction wolves (including 907, alpha male, 1385F, 1477F, 1478F, 1479F, brown gray and the clumsy dark black male plus all three pups, then just the two) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.