August 31, 2014

2 wolves and an elk.

Today was spent in one place – Coyote turnout in the Lamar Valley. I got there around 6:30 in the morning and left at 7:45 in the evening leaving only once for a bathroom break. The reason for staying there was that 2 wolves had driven an elk into the river and were trying to catch her:

The pictures aren't very good because it was well over a half mile to the action. Most of the time, the elk would stand in the river and the wolves would be lying in the grass a hundred yards away or so. The elk stayed in the water because that was the safest place for her. Chest deep water on an elk means the wolves have to swim to attack her and that doesn't work. Every hour or so, the wolves would go in trying to chase her to shallower water, but she would always escape. This would go on for a few minutes until the wolves were exhausted from all that swimming and would go back to lying down.

Other times, the elk would get out of the cold water and the wolves would chase her back in. Once she got so far from the river that the wolves almost caught her before she could get back to the safety of the river.

In between, it would rain on us and then the sun would come out and then it would rain again. In the morning Doug McLaughlin, the man I'm going to buy the scope from and who takes all the photos for the wolf charts was there with hi big furry dog, Jake. I talked to him about the winter gear I'll need for a January visit to Yellowstone.

All day long, people would stop and see what we were seeing, so I would tell them the story and let them see the wolves and elk through the scope. Sometimes they would get to see a chase and sometimes just a wolf standing or stretching. Some people stayed several hours and saw several chases. Lots of people got to see their first wolf today and were pretty happy about it.

Finally around 7:30, the wolves tried again and, after failing, turned for home. They left the valley with the elk standing in the middle of the river – still alive.

August 30, 2014

Today was mostly driving because the weather was mostly rain.

It started cloudy and I went out to Slough Creek and saw the Junction Butte wolf pups for a while. They were digging holes and chasing birds and acting like puppies, except they weigh about 40 pounds and are the size of full grown German shepherds.

Then, it started to rain and the forecast was for rain all day. So, instead of fishing, I went to Bozeman and bought a tripod for the scope I'm planning to buy in January. By the time I got back to camp, it was dark and, after eating dinner, I went to bed.

August 29, 2014

Wolves and bears and bighorns. Oh, my!

This was a long and busy day. It started around 6:30 and it's now 9:30 pm and I've eaten dinner while I write this up.

First, I didn't sleep well, waking constantly, so I planned sometime during the day to go out and get some sleeping pills in case it happened again.

But the first order of business was to see if any wolves were about. I stopped at Slough Creek and there were people up on Dave's Hill, so I got my scope and slogged up there. They were seeing a lot. Most of the Junction Butte pack were out and doing all kinds of wolf things. Just before I got there, they had attacked and killed a hapless coyote that had blundered into their area. Later, one of the pups was chasing a flock of starlings as they flew around the area. Others played with the coyote's tail, about the only thing left. All in all, I saw 8 wolves, but others counted 9. This was way too far to photograph – it was at the limits of my scope.

After that, I went over to Gardiner to update the blog and get the pills and some coke. Then, it was back to camp for lunch and some chores. Before I got there, there was a bighorn ewe and lamb right along the road across from the Calcite Springs overlook parking:

After a short nap – actually, I drifted off while reading – It was down to Roosevelt Lodge for a long hot shower.

Now what to do? It's about 2:30 and I don't want a nap that might mess up tonight's sleep, so I had to come up with something. When I left Slough Creek this morning, the wolves were starting to bed down, as they normally do in mid-morning. But, these were bedding down in a very visible place. Maybe, you could still see them.

So, back to Slough Creek. I climbed up Dave's Hill and started scanning with the scope. At first, I didn't see anything, but finally, under a tree, saw what looked like a black wolf lying in the short grass. But, it could be a log – it wasn't moving and the distance and heat waves coming off the ground made it difficult to focus. I waited a while and it still didn't move. Then, I decided to see if I could see it from a knob near the road. That way, I could easily periodically check to see if it really was a wolf or not. When I got down there, a woman names Genna was sitting in her truck waiting for some kind of wolf activity. I showed her what I was seeing and she wasn't sure if it was a wolf or not, either. But, as she was studying it, a nearby gray wolf we hadn't seen turned over. OK, we've got at least one wolf down there.

Since it was easy to check if the black thing moves, I decided to go to Cooke City to check email and see about the wolves near Soda Butte. Nothing was happening there, but when I got to Round Prairie, near Pebble Creek, I saw this:

The first black bear I've seen on this trip. It wasn't just moseying along, it was making a beeline for the road. It swam the creek:

Shook itself off:

And then crossed the road behind a very surprised couple who were just passing:

After checking the email, I went back to Slough Creek. The black thing was gone, so it was a wolf. I stood around for a while but nothing was happening, so I decided to go over to the Soda Butte area. That place promises to get me the best wolf pictures of any. It's fairly close to the road and the light is good in the late afternoon and evening. All I need are wolves. Genna had come back and she followed me over. We sat around for about 2 hours and nothing showed. Rick McIntyre came and his radio collar receiver indicated that neither of the adult wolves was in the area. Other wolf watcher luminaries came by, but no wolves ever materialized. OK, I'll try again tomorrow.

In the meantime, tomorrow I'm going to fish Lava Creek above Undine Falls. It's full of brookies and fairly easy to get into and out of.

August 28, 2014

Today was chores and driving. Lots of driving.

I needed to do laundry, so instead of going out to see wolves, I went straight to Canyon and did the clothes. I got back to camp around 10:00.

My legs were hurting from yesterday's climb in and out of Calcite Springs, I decided to go for a drive.

The day before had pointed out 2 things I could use. My fishing sunglasses are wrap-around types and fit fairly close. Because of the lack of air circulation, they fog up easily, making them useless after a hike. I needed to do something about that. The other was that one of my water filters that I use to make the river water drinkable had a notice that said to not use the filter if it had been frozen. Well, it spent all last winter in the back of the truck in the garage, to it definitely had been frozen. I needed to replace that.

I had gotten the filter at REI in Boulder, so, when I was getting gas, I asked the girl inside if Bozeman had one and she said yes. So, it was off to Bozeman – about a 2 ½ hour drive. They had the filter and an anti-fog spray that may help my sunglasses problem. After lunch, it was back on the road.

I came back through West Yellowstone and than across the park back to camp. All in all, nearly 300 miles of driving today.

One leg still hurts, so I'll hold off fishing for a couple of days and see if I can't get good photos of the Lamar Canyon wolves.

August 27, 2014

I finally got to really go fishing today.

First, I went back out to Soda Butte to see if anything was visible, but nothing showed. They had been seen earlier, but were all back in the trees when I arrived.

So, I went back to camp and made a lunch to take with me down into Calcite Springs. I hadn't been in there for 2 years, and the last time I was there, the fishing wasn't nearly as good as previous years. With the road construction, nobody was able to get in there last year, so I was hoping things had improved. One concern I had, though, was that I had seen somebody fishing in there with a guide. If the guides are taking people in there regularly, the fishing will probably degrade.

The hike down was mostly uneventful, except a big tree has fallen over the place where the trail goes over the edge of the canyon, blocking it. I had to find a new way down to the first part of the trail.

There was no worry about the fishing being bad. I landed 15 cutthroat in 2 hours and didn't even go down to the logjam. The largest was 18 inches, and 2 more were 14 inches. The rest were in the 10 to 12 inch range. Maybe it was because they haven't seen my ugly red humpy flies in 2 years, they were so enthusiastic. I'll go back in about a week.

After a rest and a shower, I went out to Soda Butte. It turned into a circus. There were around 20 cars at the same turnout as yesterday waiting for some activity. Then a woman came up and said she had seen a black wolf moving away from us down beyond Soda Butte. We sent her to tell Rick McIntyre, the wolf biologist, who was just a hundred feet away. Soon after that, Rick left heading that way. We stayed around for a while when Laurie Lyman, one of the people who help Rick, stopped by. She was talking with him on the radio and he was saying he was seeing the whole pack and telling her where to look. After a while, it became evident that there were too many ridges and trees blocking our view, so we all piled into our vehicles and headed down to where he was. Of course, by then the wolves had moved into a dense forest and we only got sporadic glimpses of them. Then, they were spotted further up towards where we had been waiting originally. So, we all hopped back into our cars and moved further up the valley. By now it was getting dark and I called it quits. I saw 3 pups for about 10 seconds.

August 26, 2014

Today I got to watch wolves for over 2 hours, sort of.

I got up around 7:00 am and drove out past Soda Butte on the northeast entrance road. There was a large group of cars parked in and around a turnout, so I joined them. They were seeing the Lamar Canyon pack. This is a newly formed pack of just 2 adults and 6 pups. The only problem was that there was dense fog lying just over the area we were looking into. You would see these ghostly wolf shapes moving about and then the fog would settle and you couldn't see anything. Finally, the fog lifted and we got about an hour of 40 lb “puppies” playing. In all, we saw 5 pups and the mother. Dad was out hunting somewhere.

I went back in the evening and was rewarded with a 2 second view of one of the pups moving between trees. This area seems close enough that I may be able to get photos, so I'll keep trying. They seem to be staying here for a while, according to the wolf biologists.

The rest of the day was camp chores – waste water disposal and filling the fresh water tank.

August 25, 2014

Well, the weather is finally getting better. I was able to fish a little this afternoon in Tower Creek, that runs beside the campground. I caught 8 small rainbow trout and had several more get away.

The morning was spent in a nearly futile search to see wildlife. Each place I went either nothing had been seen or they had just gone into the woods and weren't visible.

At Slough Creek, though, there was a close encounter with antelope. There were several in the area and, just as I was getting ready to leave, a male joined them. They all skirted the turnout and the male posed for me. He was about 50 feet away:

The original image is so sharp, you can see his eyelashes. At the point that photo was taken, he was looking to take the group across the road, but traffic was making him hesitant. So, he took them back around the turnout:

And crossed there.