TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): 36 degrees and cloudy at 4:45 in SG. Birdies are singing like mad

Late AM (9-noon) The day warms to the upper 40s by noon

Evening: 4:30-9PM. 4:30 a sleet-storm. The worst of it lets up around the Soda Cone, but passing squalls of hail and light rain continue. Around 7PM the sun bursts back out. Temp not recorded. I Leave Coyote for SG around 8:15.

Snow Level (roads/landscape): High peaks and roadside above RP.

Water/Ice Level (ponds and rivers): rivers swelling with melt

CROWD: Very busy on Slough Campground road, especially Bobs (up and down) and Gravel Pile lot.

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: A very busy day. There is morning viewing of six pups and two babysitters at the Slough den. Eight Junction adults are seen hunting in Lamar. 9 Mollies on their carcass in RP in the AM. In the late morning I see 1479F nursing pups at the sage den.

Evening viewing of several adults and pups at Slough den, plus uncollared gray on still-born bison calf carcass south of Slough. Two remaining Mollies in RP in the evening.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 18 total wolves from two packs

16 Junctions in two separate AM sightings.

8 wolves early from Slough CGR (7B/1G) including the uncollared black limper (front leg), the UCG plus all six pups.

8 adult Junctions (7B/1G) seen in the late morning from mid-point Lamar. They cross the big fan heading back west (including 1385F, 1392M, 1479F, 1484M, 1489M, 1545M, the non-limping uncollared black adult and the uncollared yearling. (Missing 1478F and those still at Slough).

1479 heads back early to feed the pups while the other adults remain in Lamar.

In the evening, I see 2 Junction adults at Slough with six pups: 1479F and uncollared limping black, while the UCG is seen to the south feeding on a stillborn carcass.

2 Mollies (both gray) in Round Prairie in the evening

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Black bear: 5 today! One in the bowl north east of Slough, from the Slough lot around 11:15. A second north of the road just east of Lamar Canyon; in the evening I see a third black bear running above the big bison wallow, chased by visitors. Around 7:30PM visitor Tammy helps me see a black bear sow with a cub from Coyote.

Grizzly: A pair of grizzlies on A-Z meadow above Jasper from Dorothys around 9:30AM

Bison: Numerous now in Lamar, both high and low, at Slough both north and south (Crystal).

Coyote: one crosses the lower slope of Daves around 10:30AM. Three harass the UCG Junction in the evening south of Slough

Sandhill crane: Slough

Eagle: Round Prairie near Mollies carcass

Elk: In Slough den area and both east and west of there. Also a few on high slopes in Lamar from Dorothys

Fox: 2. A young fox just east of the Entrance Gate late morning for a Three Dog Day then a second fox, an adult, roadside near Baronette.

Geese: Slough, Lamar

Moose: Mom and her two yearlings cause a temporary jam when they appear fairly close on the north side between Thunderer and Pebble. One more moose around 8:45PM walking through Soda Butte Creek.

Pronghorn: Slough, Lamar

Ground squirrel: from Dorothys to the immediate south. My first squirrel of the spring.

COMMENT: Around 11:30 near Picnic I get stuck in my first bona fide bison jam of the spring. It is mercifully brief.

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) I start at the eastern lot at Slough with Rick, Jakob, Carla Rae and Matt. Things are quiet at first. Around 5:45, Frank (with Paul on Daves Hill) spots a black moving past 890s tree. It is the uncollared limper.

The limpger encounters the uncollared gray. They wander a bit, then bed down. As is common at this time of year, several elk visit the area.

I joke that one of the elk is dared by the others to approach the uncollared gray. The elk accepts the challenge and boldly approaches the young wolf, then charges him. The UCG, in turn, displays some excellent moves, deftly avoiding the elk, turning on a dime. The other elk abandond the bold one and run off!

6:45AM. The pups come out again, attended by the UCG and the limping black. At the same time we get a radio call from Lamar that eight wolves are visible on Amethyst Bench.

Several people head that way but I choose to stay and enjoy the pups. During the next hour I see all six pour out of the den and follow the limping black down towards the gully. He beds and they climb all over him. He seems to love it.

The UCG moves the opposite way, followed by two other pups. When he beds, they climb on him, which he also seems to love.

A school group arrives to visit with Rick. We help him show them wolves and pups. Matts phone attachment really helps.

All too soon, the little pups clamber back up the hill and underground and the adults wander out of sight.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) Around 8:30 I head to Lamar. By this time the Junctions have travelled from Amethyst east to the old Druid rendezvous. They are now headed back west, crossing the big fan.

I scope from mid-point and see 8 Junctions (7B/1G) including the alphas, 1479F, 1489M, 1545M, the non-limping uncollared black adult and the uncollared yearling. The lone gray is 1484M. The only missing adult is 1478F, who the pack has likely been visiting at her den behind Jasper Bench)

I pick them up about halfway between the river and the tree line, moving at a good clip, passing numerous bison herds, making them bunch up. 1545M is carrying a chunk of something in his mouth for a very long way, stopping briefly a few times to rest his poor young jaws.

1385F leads them upslope just east of Amethyst Creek, crossing the creek and continuing upslope. I suspect they are headed to Jasper Bench, back to 1478F.

They spot a large bison herd with dozens of calves spread out above them on the next level. The wolves suddenly charge this herd in a very serious way. Wolves and bison run every which way.

The bison finally bunch in a long, thick line, while reinforcements start to arrive from several directions in defense of the calves.

One black wolf is hot on the heels of a single red dog. The calf looks like a goner but then other bison manage to get between the wolf and the calf. I notice, however, that when the calf is safely back amidst the herd, it no longer has a tail.

The Junctions give up and continue west upslope. I move to Dorothys, find them, lose them, then find them again at the bottom right corner of the A-Z meadow, just above Jasper Bench.

While this is going on, Frank radios from Daves Hill that 1479F is visible to the south near Crystal Rock.

I head back to Slough in anticipation of her return. She was one of the 8 wolves I saw from mid-point, but perhaps left the group before they charged the bison.

As I am hiking up Daves Hill, I hear she has already crossed the road and is heading north. Around 10:30 AM, Michael (Wolftracker) finds her in the rocks a bit west of the small Diagonal Forest. Good lord, she travelled fast!

We watch her arrive at the sage den and all six pups emerge to greet her. She stands near the den and nurses them. This is not the first time watchers have seen her nursing these pups, but it is the first time I have seen it.

Some people were questioning whether she was pregnant (I admit, she never looked pregnant to me while the other two females did.) But she is making milk now and doing her duty. Our princess has grown up!

She takes a walk downslope and the pups follow in a perfectly imperfect puppy line. She beds just above the gully ridge. The pups stop above her as if unsure if they want to go ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE (about 4 feet).

Eventually they chicken out and go back up. But just to prove they are not babies anymore, they travel higher above the den than I have seen them go, exploring the area tentatively.

1479 comes back up to them and nurses them a second time, then takes them back underground.

The two babysitter males show up. The limping black remains bedded upslope near the eastern trees while the OCG goes inside the sage den after the pups.

I leave Slough around 11:30.

At Round Prairie I see two Mollies (both gray) in the tree line, beyond their carcass. These are the only wolves left in view from this mornings sighting.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) I come back in at 4:30 tonight, amid a sleet-storm. I find no Mollies in Round Prairie and learn later from Paul that several of them were seen traveling back west towards Norris in the early afternoon.

At Slough I join Celia and a few others at Dougs lot, just in time to see 1479F emerge from the sage den. She heads to the gully. Two pups want to follow her but chicken out and go back underground.

The limping black beds near the 890 tree. Bill calls from Coyote that 6 Junction are high on A-Z slope, moving west.

Celia and I figure they might be coming here. We relocate to Slough roadside (south side). Celia checks a spot where she earlier saw a mom bison guarding a stillborn bison calf.

Sure enough, the UCG has found it. We watch him feed enthusiastically, gobbling and tugging, keeping half a dozen ravens at bay.

After about a half hour he suddenly stops and stares to the west. Something is coming. We think it could be other Junctions but no, it is coyotes. Three of them approach this young wolf.

We witness a brief altercation as the feisty canids surround the larger wolf. He eventually wins the stare-down and walks back to the nearly-consumed carcass.

He beds for a minute or two while the coyotes watch impatiently from a short distance away. They approach him again and he seems to admit he is full anyway.

The UCG moves slowly east, retaining his dignity. The coyotes follow. This surprises us, as they are bypassing the free food in favor of annoying the wolf. I suggest that it shows the depth of disdain coyotes have for their larger cousin.

The UCG passes a backdrop of bright green aspen, still trailed by the coyotes. Around 7PM the rain clouds finally disperse and the sun bursts out, bathing this beautiful area in even more beautiful light.

The uncollared gray is finally free of his coyote escort. We follow him as he continues south and slightly east. There is a game trail leading into the woods between the Southern and Northern Divide hills and wonder if he is aiming for it.

He is.

In a great coda to a lovely evening, the gray takes a look back to the north, where he had babysat the six pups this morning. Then he and his full belly turn and disappear into the dark of the woods.

SPECIAL NARRATIVE: What Happened To James In Hayden During a lull in the mornings viewing, Jakob relates a shocking tale about another visitor from England, a photographer named James, who has been watching wolves with us recently in Lamar and Slough.

While James was in Hayden Valley a few days ago, he had a nasty altercation with another visitor. James was chastising the visitor for his poor wildlife etiquette. In a rage-filled response, the visitor drove his car at James and hit him, breaking his leg in two places. Rangers arrived, and James was taken to a hospital. I find it a scary tale.

WHAT I MISSED: Celia starts her day at Round Prairie. Around 6, she is rewarded with a great Mollies sighting. She sees a total of 8; 2B/6G including 1090F, and 1411F, missing only the uncollared black female.

TODAY I SAW: 5 black bears (including 1 cub), 2 grizzly bears, bison (and calves), elk, 2 foxes, geese, 4 moose, pronghorn, ground squirrels, 18 wolves (including 10 adult Junctions – all except 1478F – and 6 puppies; plus 2 gray Mollies) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS I USE, 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)