TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:
Early AM (first light-9AM): 27 at 5:30AM. Clear now (moon), becoming partly cloudy during the day
Late AM (9-noon) mid 40s, cloudy; back to SG around 1:30
Evening: 4:30-9PM. Stayed in tonight due to prediction of snow
CROWD COMMENTS: normal for April
SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: Terrific long morning of wolf watching at Slough with the Junction Pack. Snow is predicted so we do not go out tonight.
WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 11 total wolves
11 Junctions 8B/3G (full pack) from Bobs at Slough
NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)
Bison: various, usual spots
Coyote: in the flats moving away from the wolves, from Dave’s
Sandhill crane: creek flats from Daves
Elk: between the Diagonal forest and yellow grass meadow, from Daves
Pronghorn: from LCW and Crystal in Little America.
Marmot:
EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) I stop at Lamar Canyon West with Laurie & Dan. We see 8 Junctions (6B/2G) bedded near the Southern Round Tree. Paul can see 10 from Daves (missing only a collared gray)
There is little movement for first half hour, then bison arrive and displace them. They head out in a line to the southwest.
Laurie & Dan and I move to Crystal and immediately hear howling to the north. I spot the wolves on the yellow hill above the river.
Wolves are close enough to see with naked eye. They want to cross but our presence prevents it from happening.
They are restless and eventually go back towards Marge. Laurie & Dan say our goodbyes as they need to fly back to San Diego.
At 8:45 I go return to Slough and climb Daves hill. Half-way up a visitor shows me her video of the moment the Junctions got back to the Southern Round Tree meadow.
The video shows them stumble upon a bedded (possibly injured) adult bison. They surround it and press an attack. The bison is saved only by the return of numerous bison, and the wolves continue past Marge.
LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) Around 9AM I set up with Paul, etc. on Daves. The Junctions are now spread out with several bedded in the flats north of the creek below Lion meadow. Individual wolves meander in various directions, a bit aimlessly and in no hurry at all.
As the minutes tick by, it becomes clear that they are slowly heading upslope back towards the traditional den area.
Most chose routes through very thick sage, making them exceedingly hard to follow! Around 10AM the third gray (most likely 1478F) arrives at the spring meadow, then goes up to the sage den, sticks her head inside then proceeds to the Eastern trees.
A dark black uncollared male disappears inside sage den, comes out quickly. He then moves behind the Flower hill.
Most of the other wolves make their way to that spot, some taking detours into the Diagonal forest or around the Crescent Rock.
Alpha female 1385 takes a long rest below the Crescent Rock while the others are slowly arriving from below. Then she goes to sage den but drops out of sight into the gully, then re-appears and goes behind the Flower Hill.
A little later, four blacks and a gray bed on the rocky hill at the top-left of Diagonal Forest. Another group of five or six wolves is found further east, in the rocks and scattered trees above the Horizontal Forest. This group (5B/1G) then sets off east with purpose, flushing a small group of bull elk and a short chase ensues.
The elk split into two groups of three, bunching on separate rocky knobs, taking defensive positions against the wolves. The wolves circle this way and that, trying to figure a way to get at the elk but it becomes a stalemate.
After about 10 minutes, the wolves recognize the odds are against them. They head back west, remaining quite high on the slope, crossing the deep drainage where we so often see grizzlies in May & June.
Around 11AM, they reach a point above and halfway between the east side of the den cliff and the top of the Diagonal forest.
There are still five wolves bedded in this spot. The gray stands, looking at the returning group of five.
Both groups howl then the upper five come dashing down the slope while the lower five rush upslope to intercept them. They meet in an exuberant rally. Suddenly we have all three grays and 11 wolves!
Aha!
The third gray had probably been resting with the other five just out of sight. There is body slamming, tail wagging, pinning and jousting by the whole pack. The uncollared gray (male) is his rambunctious self, jumping all over numerous other wolves. He is such a character!
Now the wolves move back to the crest of the rocky hill. I notice two cocoa/black wolves and a dark black dashing into the Diagonal forest as if chasing something (possibly a marmot)
The majority of the pack then disappears behind the Flower hill, leaving a few in view just beyond the crest. Those remaining few are still in high spirits, judging from the wagging tails and wolf bodies rising and falling. Soon they find hiding places and are all out of sight.
EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) We stay in tonight and miss a cool event (which I see later, via a video by Geoff)
WHAT I MISSED: A successful bison hunt by Junctions east of Crystal Rock this evening seen from Lamar Canyon West. The wolves harassed a small bison herd with a single yearling and got them to run downhill. In doing so, the bison crossed a snowpatch that held a hidden trap, a deep spot in which the yearling got stuck for just a step or two. The adults continued but as the bison was getting itself out, the wolves surrounded it and brought it down. A classic example of how luck plays a part in successful hunts.
TODAY I SAW: bison, coyote, sandhill cranes, elk, pronghorn, 11 Junction wolves
(full pack) or and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.
ALPHABETICAL LISTING 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)