Wild Memories Photography Tours

Day 2 of camping

Eight wolves and it is only 3 p.m.! Maybe I’ll see even more.

After a long nights sleep I was up and out before dawn, looking to see what the world had to offer.

Fog hung in many areas, adding an extra flavor to the morning. A bison bull stepped off of Round Prairie and into my path. I had to smile because everything was normal.

A crowd had gathered to watch the Picnic bison carcass but there were no takers. At the Fisherman’s bison carcass a grizzly sow and two cubs were feasting. I believe this is Running Woman, the sow that had 3 cubs last fall at the bison carcass near the Confluence. She obviously lost a cub and doesn’t seem to care much for one of her offspring. Perhaps he was just in time out.

Rick had signals for 755 and 911 so they were in the area. Apparently, 911 pulled a dead bison calf from the river the night before. Lamar is giving and giving.

I went on to Slough and was meandering when folks when speeding by so I decided to follow. Laurie stopped to tell me that the pups were being seen on the Blacktail. Yay! I drove to the S Curve and took a peek in a scope and saw three cubs – 2 gray and one black, with an adult standing above them. They were a long ways off and I was satisfied just to have seen them and so went on to the 6 Mile drive on the Blacktail Plateau. The landscape was gorgeous with distant snow covered mountains that were partially covered with clouds. The wildflowers are going mad and there are so many different kinds. I stopped to photograph a couple of bison bulls and ended up spending about an hour with them before moving on to shoot some flowers. I probably spent about 2 hours on the plateau.

No Rosie and kids, though I did see the other black bear sow with two cubs – they are hanging out at Twin pullouts, just east of Hell Roaring. And, I saw the blackbirds picking on the Sandhill crane again. This time it was 3 against one. Some great stills and video.

On to Little America and was heading down Slough Creek to write when I heard that 890 was being seen down the road. Went looking but couldn’t see him so decided to photograph more flowers. I lost my glasses out there and when I returned to the car heard that 890 and 870 were being seen (alphas of the Junction Buttes) and so took the camera back out to find the glasses, just in case.

The wind whipped up and then the rain began to fall and so I headed back to the car and drove down to the watchers in hopes of getting a peek. I did get to see 870, briefly. So, up to five wolves for the day.

The rain was coming down too hard and we heard that wolves were on the Picnic bison carcass so headed that way. That was when I finally got to see Spitfire again. She was headed to the carcass and nearly got there, when she realized that there were other wolves in the area. She was not happy and not going close. She turned tail and ran. But kept stopping and looking back. Since I had not seen her for months, I followed her progress as she made her way towards the den area. She had us running back and forth because she couldn’t decide which direction to go. We lost her and had given up when we realized that we could see 911 and the black female heading up to the big fan above the Picnic bison carcass. So, there are wolves six, seven and eight. Apparently there was also a yearling at the carcass but I did not see that one. And, there were 2 or 3 adults seen with the pups.

Good thing there are suddenly so many wolves because the wolf watchers are out in force! Don’t think that there has been a day like this one in a very long time.

Spitfire disappeared and then was spotted again as she made her way towards Soda Butte Valley. I watched and waited – hoped she was going to cross the bridge but she did not. And then I went and parked and wrote while I waited. Finally, she reappeared and made her way across the creek and the road and on up the hill. She was a ways off but I was just happy to see the girl.

Will be heading back out tonight, to see what more comes along to the bison carcass.

Stay turned! I would say that this camping trip is off to a great start.