Wild Memories Photography Tours

The morning began rather cold and crisp but with a great surprise!  A new carcass on the Blacktail.

When I arrived there was only coyotes at the carcass and one black wolf out a distance.  The bear had split with the dawn.

I stayed to see what might happen and was very pleased when the sun hit the coyote and the carcass.  There were two coyotes, actually.  The one that was on the carcass first was an adult with a poodle tail.  More mange, which is just sad.  The second coyote would actually be an adult now, or one year old, and it really stressed about getting in the water to get to food, which was entertaining.

But the light was spectacular.

I then headed out for a drive and found this beautiful 7 x 7 bull elk at Phantom Lake.

In Soda Butte Valley the Lamars had left the carcass and were heading east, probably towards the den area but they had to wait on Dead Puppy for the crowds to disappear.  No pics, they were wolf dots.

The Junction Buttes were at Hell Roaring, all 11, possibly with a carcass.  And, Prospects were on the Blacktail.

Back to the Blacktail, armed with a good lunch, plenty of water, a pillow and a good book to listen to.  I ate, slept, listened to the book, watched the carcass and the people, and generally had a wonderful, relaxing afternoon.

Around 5:30 I decided to set up the camera and wait for a bear to come in.  He was late tonight but he did come tearing down the hill, stopping for a minute on the road.  And then made a mad dash through the snow towards the carcass.  The snow was up to his neck in some places and he had a hard time getting through there.  He got to the carcass and pulled it out some and we could see that there is a lot of food there.

A raven came in and One Ear slapped the water towards him to tell the pesky bird to stay away.  Cracked me up!

He ate some more and then suddenly turned and ran in the opposite direction, up the hill and into the shadows, bedding in snow and beneath a tree.