YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

Had my first full day in the park in quite some time and it felt like an emotional homecoming.  A little exciting and little bit of wondering how it would be after I had such a great time taking wildlife photos in the Tetons.

My first stop was just outside of Mammoth where a bull had several cows that he was trying to keep in line.  He had Touchdown with his gigantic harem on one side of him and another bull with what looked like a few more cows on the other side.  His location was perfect for bull elk in landscape shots because in the right position I could see all of the way out Gardiner.

But the bull was so busy hollering and trying to keep his girls in line that he was constantly moving.  With my short lens I tried to move with him but the sage is tall in that area and so it was difficult.  And, of course, the bull kept moving out way and so we had to keep backing up.  Which is where we got into problems.  The bull went behind a hill so myself and another photographer skirted around the hill just to find that the bull had come up instead of going down, making us too close.  But, before we could react a ranger came along and accused us of chasing the bull and making it move.  Which was not true at all.  The ranger pulled up and got out with his ticket book and asked some other guys if they knew the rules about approaching animals.  This stunned me because we approach them all of the time but are careful not to disturb them.  And, people with point and shoots walk up and stick those camera in the face of the animals.  I quietly walked away, not really knowing what to think and the encounter really made me worry for the future of wildlife photography in the park.  Photographers are getting a bad name and I know that some do not behave well but the problem is the tourists with cell phones because most of us try very hard to behave ourselves.

Anyway, onward, a little less excited to be in the park then when the journey began.  Or, a little worried that our days of photographing wildlife are coming to an end.  Something weird is going on and I don’t know what that is.

I did not see the wolves but know that they had 10 of the Junctions – Drab was missing.  And that they had signals on 911 and 925 but did not see either.  Maybe the Lamars are coming home again.  I am beginning to wonder if they will decide to call some place else home and stay away from people.  The important thing is the stay inside of the park.  With the Wyoming hunt called off I feel better for them but there is still Montana.

I found this bison bull in beautiful light with the cottonwood tree nearby and so I waited for him to step in front of the yellow leaves, which he did but then he snarled at me.  That was when I noticed that though he is quite beautiful, he has a tumor on his hip.

I then went looking for Rosie and her three cubs.  Yep, they are all together but I have not seen them yet.  And, I found some big horn ewes and lambs surrounded by people with point and shoots.

No Rosie and so I went over Dunraven and go to see the 4 year sow in Hayden before heading back over the pass for an appointment in Lamar.  And then I saw a sow and cub.  Three grizzlies for the day, all very far off but still nice to see.  I think that the sow and cub was Mini Mom but can’t be sure.

Then off to Lamar where I did a photo shoot that was a lot of fun.  All of my yucky feelings had disappeared and we had a blast, despite the cold and the wind.  Yep, Winter is trying to arrive and they predict a bad one.

Exhausted, I headed towards home and found a bunch more point and shoots pointed into a ditch near Petrified Tree where a lot of moose and black bears like to hang out.  But this time it was four mule deer bucks.  This guy was still in velvet but he was a beauty.

I then headed home, noting that the herd of elk were nearly in the same place as when I left them this morning.

So, off to another day in the park.