Yellowstone Wolves: Day Three

The next morning, we decided to return to the Slough Creek Pack. Arriving we found a large crowd of people had already gathered in the parking lot and scopes of all sizes were lined up on the two dens. Setting up our scope we waited for the wolves to return from the hunt.

Constantly glassing the mountainside, I spotted a wolf running along the ridge. Telling the others that I had seen a wolf, I followed it down the steep slope toward the den. It met two other wolves coming from the left and then paused as it was surrounded by the pups.

The pups immediately demanded food and for a brief minute she paused before retreating to a place out of sight. It happened so fast that Renita never did see the pups. We continued to glass the den area but the wolves had decided that it was nap time and we never saw them again that day.

Another person told us that there were three wolves feeding near Pebble Creek and so we drove up the Lamar Valley toward the east entrance and the town of Silver Gate. As we parked in the lot we saw that there were some people standing and glassing from the bridge.

Renita went to join them and then turned to wave me over. You could see two black wolves, part of the Pebble Creek Pack, working their way downstream. They separated and then the one found a carcass partially submerged in the river. It pulled the remains onto the bank and then began to rip and tear meat from the bones.

It hadn’t feed very long before two coyotes arrived and they tried to drive the wolf from the food. The large black wolf grabbed the carcass and looking back at the coyotes carried the rib cage the while running away from the river.

Finding a safe spot, it fed and of course ravens showed up. The wolf paused several times from its meal to drive away the pesky birds. At last it had its fill and walking a bit further it laid down.  We continued to watch both wolves until they finally disappeared into the tree line.

The show was over for the day and so after viewing a herd of mountain goats we headed back to our campsite. On the drive back, Renita said she was disappointed at not seeing the pups and so we planned to return to Slough Creek for our last day in Yellowstone.

The drive of course involved the usual bear jam and a new jam where three Bighorn ewes were grazing in a tree covered slope alongside the road. Finally reaching camp we saw that our picnic table now showed its top in the snow drifts. Nothing like spring camping in Yellowstone! Clear skies