TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): 42 when I leave SG

Late AM (9-noon) It is already 70 in Mammoth when I leave at 10AM!

Evening: 4:30-9PM: 84 in Bozeman at 5PM, 82 in Gardiner.

CROWDS: Still busy but maybe less than over Memorial Day weekend. It is unusually busy in the early AM this year; cars stream past SG from Cooke at 4:30! And now, following slo-goes back to Silver Gate in the evening has become normal.

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: A big day for 1479, deciding to move her remaining pup(s) to the new den location with 1385. Later in the morning I have a nice sighting of 4 Mollies in Lamar.

I go to Bozeman again today finding it very hot! This evening I see no wolves but I do manage to see a grizzly family on the way back to Silver Gate.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 7 wolves total (from two packs)

3 Junctions (including 1479F, 1545M and 1 black pup) at Slough in the AM

4 Mollies (all gray, 2 collared) in Lamar later in the AM

COMMENT: I am happy that 1479 decided to bring her pup(s) to 1385’s den. Although it means the end of regular viewing for us from Slough, I know it is good for her, good for the pups and good for the pack.

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Black bear: a single at Phantom Lake. I have him all to myself just before 9AM

Grizzly: 3 bears. The mixed family of grizzlies (sow, yearling and two-year old) is visible in the SB creek corridor to the south as I head back to SG in the evening.

Bison: Various, usual places

Mule deer: 6 or 7 mulies south of the road, just east of Lava Creek around 9AM

Elk: A few east of the Slough den area and grazing the lawns in Mammoth

Fox: the local fox near Baronette

Pronghorn: Lamar, Blacktail, Mammoth

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) This morning I drive straight to Slough and set up in the eastern lot with Matt and Carla Rae. Rick joins us a few minutes later. Frank, Paul and Celia are up on Dave’s as usual.

At 5:30 1479 comes out of the sage den with a live black pup in her mouth.

She sets off past Western Trees and the Parrot Rock. I tell Rick she’s on the exact route 1385 took three days ago.

We lose her on the rocky slope, just where we lost 1385 on Monday night.

We compare notes, agreeing the pup was black but smaller than the six we watched all last week. I say it also seemed bigger than the lifeless pups we saw being carried in the days before 1385 made the move.

20 minutes later, 1479 appears again, trotting briskly east past Parrot Rock. She has nothing in her mouth now. She goes straight to the den and inside. A minute or so later she comes back out and stands on the den porch, looking all around the immediate area.

She heads down to the gully. We are all surprised to see a black adult pop his head up. Hello 1545M! He was obviously bedded here unseen the whole time.

She makes a brief connection with him then sets off again to the west, taking the exact same route.

Someone in Lamar radios that wolves are visible south of Trash Can moving west. Many people leave Slough to go there but I stay to see what might happen next with 1479.

I cant help but wonder if she moved more pups than the one we saw. Why did she wait to move it? Will she abandon this den and join the others? The way she was moving made me think she was checking to see if she forgot any, and decided none were left.

1545 gets up from the gully and goes inside the den. He comes back out carrying an antler. He then re-beds to the right of the den in a spot that hides him completely.

I stay another half hour, but with no more activity, I head to Lamar.

I am making another zip trip to Bozeman today, so I want to see as many wolves as I can before I have to leave.

From Hubbard Hill, watchers have four gray Mollies in view. They are in the big fan, looking completely comfortable, like they own the place, roaming here and there, sniffing. I’m told they chased a coyote a bit earlier.

These four wolves wander about separately, each doing his own thing. Two of them come to the river’s edge but then turn back and join the other two.

The farthest they go is the western end of the big fan, then they head back east. One of them finds a long, dark skinny thing, perhaps an elk leg? He carries it quite a while before putting it down. This draws the attention of one of his buddies, who sits down and chews on it a bit.

They start to trend back east, getting closer and closer to each other until they are now traveling as a group. When they get to the double foothill, they seem a bit more focused on hunting.

They test a herd just east of the double foothill and nearly get a calf. They switch their focus and nearly get a yearling. But the herd is alert and defensive and the yearling escape.

They move through the rendezvous, continuing east until they reach the line of Cottonwoods lining the old river bank. Here they drop down and go out of sight for me.

I consider moving to Exclosure, since I would probably find them from there, but decide to head to Bozeman early instead. In Mammoth I pay a visit to Becky in the Dining room where she is having breakfast with Steve and Robin. I am eager to tell them the news about 1479 moving her pup.

I set off for Bozeman, getting repeatedly stuck behind slo-goes.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) It is HOT in Bozeman, 84!!!! I head back to the Park at 4:45 with the A/C on.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) As I approach Gardiner around 6PM, I have car tailgating me. I have just slowed down to 35 when a huge cow elk walks right in front of me. I stop in time but just barely. The tailgater stops in time, too. Guess what? He finally stops tailgating me!!!!!!

I reach Slough at 7:15, shocked to see NO cars! I call over the radio but get no response. The lack of pups at Slough is showing.

I continue into Lamar and see Maureen and Rick up on Geriatric. Maureen says they had one Mollie but it’s now out of sight, so I don’t join them.

Past Pebble, I get stuck in a long line of cars behind a slow-goer. I am eager to get back but I convince myself to relax, since there is no safe way to pass anyone between here and Warm Creek.

And in doing so, I get a look at the various snow-melt run-off streams coming down from the heights to feed the Soda Butte creek.

TODAY I SAW: a black bear, three grizzlies (including 2 cubs), bison (and calves), mule deer, a fox, pronghorn, 7 wolves from two packs (3 Junctions: 1479F, 1545M plus 1 black pup) plus 4 gray Mollies (2 collared) 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 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)