Yellowstone National Park 2016 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
16 through 19 April 2016
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~ April 2016 ~
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Saturday - April 16th
23 degrees and windy this morning warming up to 54 degrees. I hiked up to the Tower store today with Larry M. seeing only two herds of bighorn sheep. At 7:40 a.m. we had a dark grizzly in the Slough Creek bottoms that moved west thru the mixed conifer aspen forest then moved north over Junction Pass. At 8:00 a.m. six gray and two black wolves of the Junction Butte pack chased elk near the Horizontal Forest in Slough Creek. Seven minutes later the wolves surrounded five or six elk on a rock formation, but the elk stood their ground and the wolves moved away. At 3:45 p.m. Kevin and Tammy from Red Lodge called out that they had a mountain lion south of the Slough Creek restroom across the river. Carma J. went to them and figured out where it was and called me over. We had it for about four minutes walking across the bare meadow before it went up and over the hill. First mountain lion for me in a lot of years. At 6:15 p.m. I spotted a large grizzly digging in the mixed conifer aspen forest in Slough Creek. At 6:35 p.m. my last sighting for the day was a black bear with one black yearling cub behind Garnet Hill viewed from Upper Hellroaring.
Sunday - April 17th
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28 degrees in Gardiner this morning, but 18 degrees at Slough Creek warming to a windy 52 degrees. At 6:30 a.m. I spotted a collared gray wolf west of the Slough Creek den area. At 7:00 a.m. I found a grizzly on Amethyst Bench digging. This grizzly was out for about two hours and out again from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. At 10:00 p.m. a gray wolf returned to the den area and was met by two gray and one black wolf. At 2:50 p.m. the black bear sow and one black bear yearling cub was again on the hill behind Garnet Hill viewed from Hellroaring At 6:30 a.m. eight wolves of the Junction Butte Park wake up near the old Slough Creek den, seven of them move west on a hunt. When I left them they were still hunting about a mile west of the den area.
Monday - April 18th
40 degrees in Gardiner this morning, but 29 degrees in Lamar Valley warming up to a windy 53 degrees. At 6:35 a.m. I spotted a grizzly digging on Amethyst Bench. At 8:35 a.m. wolf 907F came out of the new dirt den site at Slough Creek goes over to the original den and peeks in then returns and reenters her den. At 8:40 a.m. wolf 969F came out of the original den and moves towards 907F's den then returns and reenters her den. At 12:45 p.m. I found a small grizzly on the #3 finger of Norris. My first grizzly in a upper clearing, all the others were in the river corridor or down in the flats. I had a THREE DOG DAY today.
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Tuesday - April 19th
41 degrees in Gardiner but 29 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to a nice 64 degrees. At 6:55 a.m. I found a grizzly high south and west of Coyote Overlook basically above the trees above the river corridor. At 7:10 a.m. we had a grizzly behind Jasper Bench low in Salad Bowl viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 7:40 a.m. a gray and a black wolf bedded in front of the Slough Creek den area. All the wolves seen today were Junction Butte Wolf Pack. At 10:30 a.m. four gray wolves and one black wolf were moving at the den area. Between 1:15 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. yesterdays small grizzly was on the fingers of Norris; it started on #4 finger and moved to #3 finger (did not take much time, so not much territory between these two fingers). At 6:15 p.m. a black and a gray wolf bedded near the den, wolf 696F makes a brief appearance on the porch of the den then goes back in. A gray wolf moved to the Lion Meadow and found a old bison skull and chewed on it for a while and a black wolf moved west along the creek and checked out two researchers then moved west out of sight. At 6:45 p.m. my last sighting for the day was a large black bear at Phantom Lake.
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Other News
The West Entrance road opened at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, April 15th, and every night since Mammoth Campground has filled. They are doing some type of research on the trout this summer. Tracking with telemetry I have seen them in the Lamar River and Slough Creek.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Josh A, Deby D, Melba C, and Peter M. From Idaho: Kim and Joyce C. Bear Watchers: From Montana: Mike and Kathy W, and Doug M. From Utah: Larry M. From Colorado: Ed A. From Idaho: Carma and Jennings S, and Blake M. and his daughter Heather. Others: From Montana: Bob L, Kevin and Tammy, Bob and Elizabeth N, Frank Y, Alan and Sue O, Cliff B, and MacNeil L. From Idaho: Craig C, John U, Ray T, and Ned and Theresa. From Wyoming: Ed, Bobbie and Jon T. From Louisiana: Bruce. And from Utah: Bob B.
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Buffalo Youngsters Playing - April 16th, 2016 - Lamar Valley
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Yellowstone National Park
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
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