TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): 28 at SG at 5:30AM. Frost on the car.

Afternoon: Clear now. I leave Hellroaring for BZN at 3:30. Mid-50s

Snow Level (roads/landscape): Almost none left except high peaks, and roadside from Thunderer to Cooke

Water/Ice Level (ponds and rivers): melted, rising

CROWD: normal for April

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: Initially no Junction wolves seen at Slough. Later they are found hunting at Hellroaring. They get an elk unseen by watchers. The carcass is found in the early afternoon.

Meanwhile, also in the late morning, 1385F and a dark-faced black are seen at natal den.

Around 10:30 I go back to Bozeman, to prep for my Ancient Isles National Geographic cruise to Scotland and Ireland with my family.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 10 total wolves (all Junctions)

10 Junctions (7B/3G) from Hellroaring and Slough. 6B/3G at HR (including 1478F as one of the three grays). Later, 2 Blacks at the Slough den (1385F and a dark faced black)

COMMENT: Both 1385F and 1478F were seen today and both still look pregnant.

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Bison: various, usual spots

Coyote: specifics not recorded

Elk: various from Slough and Hellroaring

Moose: 2 at Floating Island Lake from my car while driving to Hellroaring around 7:30AM

Pronghorn: various, usual spots

Bighorn sheep: on the rocky slope west of the den cliff seen from Slough roadside.

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) I start at Slough roadside but see no wolves. With me are two couples I met last night at Aspen when I showed them the grizzly. Both couples followed my advice and got up early to see wolves, as I suggested so I feel really bad that I have none to show them!

At 7:30 someone radios that there are wolves at Hellroaring. I go there, followed by both couples. Yay! We see wolves. The Junctions are hunting on the high open slope. They are far away and we are looking into the sun so it is a very hard look at first.

4 blacks approach and surround an adult bison. They lunge at it and the bison kicks back. The bison eventually makes it back to the safety of the herd.

The wolves give up and move upslope and to the left, where others are bedded. They begin to wander here and there. As the sun rises, it becomes easier to see and my count eventually becomes 9 with 6 blacks and all 3 grays. 1478F still looks pregnant.

1385F is not with this group.

Around 8:30 I head back to Slough, prompted by some happy news. First, that Frank is here again, reporting from Daves hill with Paul. Second, that he saw 1385F go into the natal den, after being out for about an hour.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) Upon my return to Slough, luck is with me, and I see 1385F emerge from the natal den a second time. She gets a drink from the spring meadow, then beds near the 890 tree for a short time. She still looks pregnant, but the signs are good that she is getting close to having her pups.

She pays a brief visit to the sage den, then returns to the natal den at 10AM.

Now I go back east back to SG.

AFTERNOON HIGHLIGHTS (noon till 4PM) After packing and cleaning, I return to Slough around 2:30. I scope roadside and see a dark-faced black (not 1385F) at the natal den. This wolf goes inside. It might be the uncollared yearling or one of the uncollared black adults.

I continue west and find Krisztina, Marrisa and Kelly at Lower Hellroaring. I join them and learn that the Junctions eventually made a kill (an elk) on which they are now feeding. The carcass is out of sight in a narrow drainage west of Little Buffalo Creek. I can only see the backs of several wolves while they feed.

Three blacks and a gray are feeding. Krisztina says several pack members already set off back east, hopefully to feed 1385.

I leave at 3:30 for Bozeman with wolves still in view.

TODAY I SAW: bison (and calves), coyotes, elk, 2 moose, bighorn sheep, 9 Junction Butte wolves (6B/3G) in two places, including 1385F, a dark faced black, all three grays and four more blacks and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe

ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ABBREVIATIONS:

DF: Diagonal Forest (a feature east of the Slough den)

DPH: Dead Puppy Hill, the partly treed hill below the crest of Mt. Norris immediately south of Footbridge pullout. Named by coyote researchers before the 1995 wolf reintroduction. The hill has been a popular area with local wolf packs since wolves were reintroduced. It has held several coyote dens over the years, but to my knowledge, this year is the first time a wolf pack has denned on it. The Mollies chose an area on the western slope above the new growth forest, and produced at least two pups, one black and one gray, which were seen infrequently during June.

HF: Horizontal Forest (another feather east of the Slough den

HR: Hellroaring (large overlook pullout on the Blacktail)

LCW: Lamar Canyon West (pullout on the western side of Lamar Canyon) that overlooks a lot of, but not all of, the area wolves use at Slough.

MST: Marge Simpson Tree (distinctive tree in Slough Flats) In 2024, the Junctions used the meadows below and left of Marge as their August-October rendezvous.

OGR: "The OGR" Old Gardiner Road (current name for the new road hastily constructed after the 2022 flood on top of the former gravel road between Mammoth and Gardiner)

RP: Round Prairie (big meadow south of Pebble Creek campground)

SB: Soda Butte (or SBV Soda Butte Valley) where Soda Butte Creek flows between Round Prairie and its Confluence with the Lamar River)

SG: Silver Gate (small town just outside the northeast Park entrance)

SRT: Southern Round Tree (distinctive tree south of the Marge Simpson Tree)

UCG: Un-collared gray (Junction 2 yr-old bouncy male). Born to the Rescue Creek Pack, he joined the Junction Pack sometime in February 2025.

YGM: Yellow Grass Meadow (a feature east of and upslope of the Horizontal forest at Slough)DF – Diagonal Forest (a feature east of the Slough den)