TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): 51 as I leave SG at 5:15

Late AM (9-noon) It’s 82 when I leave Slough at 10AM

Evening: 4:30-9PM I stay in to visit with Laurie and Dan tonight after our dinner.

CROWD: normal busy

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: Another good morning for Krisztina and me. We have two bears from Footbridge, a single boar on the Mid-Point carcass, and nearly the whole Junction family with the pups at the SRT rendezvous at Slough. We even get a late arrival by 1479F.

And our day ends with a farewell dinner for Krisztina and Corey in Cooke.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 16 wolves total, all Junctions

16 Junctions including 1385F, 1392M, 1479F, 1484M, 1489M, 1545M, 2 uncollared black adults and the uncollared yearling, the uncollared gray and all 6 pups, at Slough/SRT meadow in the AM from the small hill behind Dougs lot

COMMENT: The new usual rendezvous for Junction pups is the meadow below the SRT and the surrounding low hills.

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Grizzly: 3; a dark bear and a lighter bear on the Lamar Trail carcass in the early AM from Footbridge, plus a single boar on the mid-point carcass who remained after the other 4 bears left!

Bison: all over the place

Mule deer: in the high meadows on my way down from SG in the AM.

Bald Eagle: perched in the forked tree near the Junctions’ rendezvous

Geese: Lamar, Slough

Pronghorn: Lamar, Slough

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) K and I stop at Footbridge and join other early watchers, including Melba, Marissa and Deb. There are two bears on the carcass which I think are the same two as yesterday and last evening; one dark and the other lighter.

The dark one has just left and is walking slowly downslope through the sage. Melba says she and Rick saw a dark shape that looked a lot like a black wolf when they first got here.

There are not too many of us here, since so many people stop at the Mid-point carcass. It’s nice to enjoy the stillness and the good company.

The dark one continues towards confluence.

K and I pack up and head west, too.

We join watchers at Mid-Point. We have already missed four bears that were seen at dawn. One remains, and seems to relish having the carcass all to himself. There are also lots of geese in the neighborhood, honking like mad.

We head west again, stopping at LCW, intending to scan the Marge area. Before we set up we hear alarm barking by coyotes on Divide Ridge. That often means a wolf is nearby. But we never get a chance to scan for it since Ginny reports wolves in view from Daves.

We relocate to Dougs old lot and climb the low hill to the north.

We are delighted to find the whole Junction Pack at home, scattered about the meadow below the SRT and the two middle trees to the right of there.

I count 6 pups and 6 adults with two grays. Many are bedded, chewing on bits and pieces of something.

Several pups are engaged in play with favorite uncle the UCG.

Around 7:45 they start to howl, bringing even more adults into view from their hiding places. Three blacks appear just left of the SRT, bringing my adult count to 9.

We can now ID the adults and find we are missing one gray (1478F) and one black (1479F).

Those in the meadow begin a rally. The three blacks are just not that into the rally and remain on the ridge. Alas, after the rally, the majority of wolves move south, up the hill. The three blacks disappear over the side of the hill and the rest follow.

We are left with at least 5 pups and two adults for a while but then they, too, move out of sight to the south. We can see birds flitting about in the forked dead tree in that area. Sometimes this means wolves are still nearby.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) K and I move higher on our hill, and quite a bit north to try to see into the spot behind the forked tree.

Just as I am set up, the group of wolves re-emerges into the meadow. The pups play for a while then the majority follow the adults up and over the SRT hill and out of sight.

We are now down to two pups in view.

One explores to the right and the other to the left. Then the left pups climbs the SRT hill and disappears. The right pup curves around the two middle trees hill and disappears.

Well, I guess thats it. We are all out of wolves. We pack up and start back to our cars. When we are half way there, Rick calls from Daves to say an adult is coming in from the left.

We set up again and here’s comes 1479! She arrives in the SRT meadow from the south. Four happy pups rush down the hill to greet her, hoping for a feeding. She makes them work for it but eventually gives it up.

K and I remember the black Melba saw at Footbridge at dawn. And the alarm barking we heard at LCW. We put 2 and 2 together and figure it was 1479 both times. The timing of her arrival would fit perfectly.

After the feeding, 1479 leads the pups up the hill to the SRT. They disappear over the hill while she beds in view for a while.

She next takes one of her patented walkabouts around the meadow, sniffing here and there. She travels about halfway to Marge, then goes back up the hill and probably joins the pack behind the hill.

She seems to have reverted back to her old independent ways, when no grass grew under her feet. She remains a unique and interesting wolf.

Around 10AM, K and I head back to SG. I was supposed to go back to Bozeman today but I’ve decided to stay in order to attend a farewell dinner for Krisztina and Corey tonight at the Beartooth Café with Rick, Laurie & Dan.

TODAY I SAW: 3 grizzly bears, bison (and calves), mule deer, a bald eagle, geese, pronghorn, 16 wolves (1385F, 1392M, 1479F, 1484M, 1489M, 1545M, 2 uncollared black adults and the uncollared yearling, the uncollared gray and all 6 pups) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

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 hill’s 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)