Kathie Lynch on Yellowstone wolves: Cold April in Yellowstone

Kathie Lynch has written her latest Yellowstone wolf report.  It is always a cheer when Kathie writes about this place where wolves can live, wild and free. Wolf watching in April this year sounds very cold, but the wolves love it!

Ralph Maughan

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April 2011 wolf notes by © Kathie Lynch-

In Yellowstone, “spring” break in April is not necessarily synonymous with springtime! Days of granular corn snow flurries (or worse), biting wind and morning temperatures in the teens often ended with the drip, drip, drip of water melting off the edge of receding snow banks. Even though it seemed like winter would never end, the Wicked Witch of the West was doomed.

Of course, as soil and sage replaced the diminishing blanket of snow, the wolves became even harder to spot. Considering that only three packs (Blacktail Plateau, Lamar Canyon, and Agate Creek) are likely possibilities for watching in the Northern Range these days, I felt lucky to see a wolf most days–although my first day was a “one dog day,” and that “dog” was a coyote!

The Blacktail pack provided some excellent viewing for a couple of days as they fed on a bison carcass at Blacktail Lakes. The wolves had to share the treasure with a big, dark grizzly boar who had awakened to a mother lode of winter-killed carcasses. Thanks to the extremely severe winter, the bears will have plenty to eat for a while and won’t have to usurp the wolves’ kills, as they often do.

Yellowstone bears and wolves fight over carcasses

Their ancient struggle apparently has little effect on their populations-

That’s the conclusion of Dr. Doug Smith who heads the Park’s wolf program.

I think that might well be true overall, but Yellowstone Park is a small place when it comes to major predators.  With the wolf population in the Park as small as it now is, random fluctuations of predatory effects might, in my opinion, have an important effect on the wolves as far as the Park alone is concerned. . . RM

Bears butting in on Yellowstone wolf kills. Battle of carnivores ultimately has little effect on population. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.

Kathie Lynch on Yellowstone wolf mating season

Wolfish romance on the Northern Range of Yellowstone Park-

Kathie Lynch has a detailed report on amorous adventures of Yellowstone wolves observed during her recent trip to the Park.
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By Kathie Lynch. Copyright 2011

Yellowstone’s February wolf breeding season gave us have high hopes for the arrival of new pups this April.  Although only six ties (matings) were actually observed this year, they included the alphas of all three packs which are most often seen in the Northern Range (Lamar Canyon, Blacktail, and Agate)–a very good sign for wolf watching this spring and summer!

February weather ran the gamut from unusually warm, sunny afternoons of 45F temperatures and snow-free roads to biting winds and bitterly cold days when the thermometer never got above 7 degrees. Low visibility and ground blizzards sometimes made driving a white knuckle experience, with unplowed turnouts and deep, drifted snow across roads in the Lamar Valley and on the Blacktail

Despite the wintry weather and fewer than 100 wolves in Yellowstone, we still managed to see wolves, or at least one wolf, almost every day. The Lamar wolves proved to be the most reliable, although even they frequently disappeared from view for several days at a time, no doubt hunting or doing boundary checks throughout their large territory.

Northern Range Yellowstone elk count drops to record low in latest count

Latest  is 4,635 elk, count is down 24 percent from 6,070 last winter-
Wolf population was over 100, 5 years ago; now down to 37-*

Update. Leader of the Yellowstone wolf team, Dr. Doug Smith talks about the elk situation on Montana Public Radio News. Note that it is not the first story in the “evening news.”

News Release from the
Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Group 

Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, & Parks – Contact:  Karen Loveless
406-224-1162
National Park Service – Contact:  Doug Smith 307-344-2242
U.S. Forest Service – Contact: Dan Tyers 406-848-7375
U.S. Geological Survey – Contact:  Paul Cross 406-994-6908

January 12, 2011

Winter Count Shows Decline In Northern Elk Herd Population
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Wildlife biologists say increased predation, ongoing drought, and hunting
pressure all contributed to a decline in the northern Yellowstone elk
population from 1995 to 2010.

The annual aerial survey of the herd conducted during December 2010
resulted in a count of 4,635 elk, down 24 percent from the 6,070 reported
the previous year. There has been about a 70 percent drop in the size of
the northern elk herd from the 16,791 elk counted in 1995 and the start of
wolf restoration to Yellowstone National Park.

Latest Wyoming (federal) wolf update- Jan. 7, 2011

Federal wolf update is only official wolf news out there now-

Here is the latest update from Ed Bangs office, the only government folks in the West who seem to be regularly producing data now.  It says it’s for Wyoming, but it also gives Yellowstone Park news, Oregon news and other wolf news. There is a link to Montana FWP and they do have an Oct. 2010 update.  Interesting it shows the estimated wolf population in Montana for 2010 to be only 400 wolves, compared to the final 2009 count of 524 wolves. The number of 400 will probably go up a bit before the final report is issued, but preliminary data absolutely and flat out fails to show any explosion in wolf population even though the 2010 wolf hunt was canceled.

wyoming news-Jan7-2011. pdf file

Kathie Lynch updates on Yellowstone northern range wolves. Jan. 7, 2011

Kathie Lynch reveals fascinating new landscape of the wolves of northern Yellowstone-

Kathie Lynch is now perhaps the only person writing publicly the details of the Yellowstone Park wolves.  With more change than continuity in the last year, her most recent report takes us into the wolf world of the Blacktails, Lamars, Agates, Canyon, and even a bit of Mollies and the Quadrant packs.  Ralph Maughan

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© Yellowstone wolf update. Jan. 7, 2011.  By Kathie Lynch, Copyright

Winter holiday time in Yellowstone glowed with magnificent mauve, apricot and pink sunrises. Hoar frost glittered on bare trees and bushes like bright, twinkling stars, while bitterly cold temperatures of -22F and mountains of sparkling snow guaranteed a white Christmas.

While finding wolves was sometimes challenging, fox watching was incredible. In the past, the hardest part of achieving a “Three Dog Day” (seeing a wolf, coyote and fox) was finding a fox. This time, foxes were everywhere.

The star of the show was a rare dark phase red fox, which looked almost black and is sometimes called a cross fox. It delighted everyone in the Lamar Valley with its careful listening for voles under the snow and head-first dives.

With only three wolf packs (Blacktail, Lamar, and Agate) as likely wolf watching possibilities in the Northern Range, I felt lucky to see wolves almost every day of my two week stay. One day I saw no wolves and one day we could only find one–a sleeping one, at that! Another day, dawn to dusk effort on the part of devoted wolf watchers only produced two black ears behind a bush.

Feds, States and others file appeal on wolf ruling

Federal Government appeals the wolf ruling-

I missed this one but it is important. Everyone knew that the states and many other groups would appeal Judge Molloy’s ruling on wolves but no one was sure whether the Federal Government would appeal the ruling too. Now that question has been answered.

State and others file appeal on wolf ruling.
By Eve Byron – Helena Independent Record

Kathie Lynch: Late summer Yellowstone wolf viewing is sparse

Below Kathie Lynch has another fact filled report on Yellowstone wolf watching and summary of the packs’ seasonal activity.  Right now the Canyon Pack is the only one still being seen. The wolves will return with the elk in October.

Thanks for your report, Kathie.

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Late summer wolf report by Kathie Lynch (copyright © )

End of the summer wolf watching in Yellowstone always presents a challenge. When the elk head to greener pastures in the high country, the wolves follow. Often they don’t return until early snows bring the elk back down to lower elevations for the fall rut.

Our wolf watching luck in the Northern Range ran out on August 17 when the trusty Lamar Canyon pack of three adults and four pups could no longer be found at Slough Creek. After honoring us with their presence since denning there in April, they have moved up higher and out of view.

Just before they departed, the alpha “’06 Female,” beta male 754M, and the four gray pups casually followed a herd of 19 elk up the hill behind the diagonal and horizontal forests. The adults slowly shepherded the almost four-month-old pups along in what looked like a scent trailing lesson.

Kathie Lynch: Mid-summer 2010 Yellowstone wolf report

Kathie says mid-summer watching is better than she expected-

Here is Kathie Lynch’s latest wolf update.

Ralph Maughan

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Copyright © Kathie Lynch

Watchers must rise very early on the long summer days in Yellowstone to try to see wolves before they bed down in the shade to escape the heat of the day. Sometimes all of the action ends by 8-9 a.m. Watching generally picks up again in the evening, if an afternoon thunderstorm or the mosquitoes don’t chase you away. The up side is that the park is still quite green, and wildflowers abound–I counted 22 different kinds in the first half mile of a hike up Mt. Washburn!

Mid-days are best filled with hiking or watching other wildlife, like the badger and coyote who worked together to hunt Uinta ground squirrels (which, incidentally, had the badger and coyote surrounded!) or the pronghorn buck who galloped to the rescue, emphatically ending two coyotes’ tackle of a tiny pronghorn fawn.

Bear sightings at lower elevations have decreased, but the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year (COY) still delights visitors on Dunraven Pass almost daily, and the sow with three COY is still being seen a long way off in Hayden Valley.

The bison are preparing for their big August rut. Things got off to a rousing start recently with a never-before-seen parade of several hundred bison past the Northeast entrance station and along Highway 212 through Silver Gate and Cooke City, destination unknown. Apparently not finding greener pastures, they returned to the Park the next day, causing massive traffic jams.

Norm Bishop’s comments at Montana wolf meeting

There will be media stories, good comments, and ignorant angry comments, but here’s one from a person who knows-

Without commenting specifically on numbers or distribution of hunting quotas, I offer just these notes for your consideration.

Aldo Leopold; forester, wildlife ecologist, conservationist, father of game management in America, lived from 1887 to 1948.  In 1944, he reviewed Young and Goldman’s Wolves of North America, which chronicled the extirpation of wolves.  In his review, Leopold  asked, “Are we really better off without wolves in the wilder parts of our forests and ranges?”  He also asked, “Why, in the necessary process of extirpating wolves from the livestock ranges of Wyoming and Montana, were not some of the uninjured animals used to restock the Yellowstone?”  Thirty years later, in 1974, the planning began, and in 1995, twenty years later, wolves were restored to Yellowstone.

Leopold’s thinking about deer, wolves, and forests is epitomized by his essay, “Thinking Like a Mountain.”  In brief, he shot a wolf.  In later years he came to “suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain (and its plants) live in mortal fear of its deer.”  To deer, we could add elk.  In Yellowstone, the lack of wolves led to woody species like willow and aspen being suppressed by elk browsing.  With the return of wolves, willows are growing, once-rare birds are nesting in them, beavers are building dams from the willows, and the wolves are feeding a couple of dozen species of scavengers, including eagles and grizzly bears.

I’m far more concerned about disease than about predators on our large game.

Chronic wasting disease could wipe out our elk and deer.  Wolves test elk and deer, looking for vulnerable animals all day, 365 days a year.  You and I can’t do that.   N. Thompson Hobbs (2006) evaluated the potential for selective predation by wolves to reduce or eradicate chronic wasting disease (CWD) in populations of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park.  If it works, can we afford to throw away our only means of controlling CWD?

Kathie Lynch: Reconfigured Yellowstone Packs at denning time

Kathie Lynch provides us with another detailed update on the wolves of northern Yellowstone Park.
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Yellowstone field notes. April 10 -18, 2010. By © Kathie Lynch.

During my Spring Break in Yellowstone National Park (April 10-18, 2010), I managed to see at least one wolf every day, but it wasn’t as easy as it used to be.

There are really only 17 wolves that might typically be visible in the Northern Range (nine Blacktails, five “Silvers,” and three in 755M’s Group). Sometimes the three Canyons or some of the seven or eight Quadrants help out by dropping in to the Mammoth area for a visit.

The most exciting happening was the rediscovery of the Druid Peak pack two-year-old “Black Female” (formerly called the “Black Female Yearling”). She had not been seen since March 9. So, on April 17, we were delighted to find her taking turns with a grizzly scavenging on a carcass below Hellroaring.

Before that it had been almost a month since a Druid had been seen (571F on March 24). The other missing Druids and last confirmed sightings include: alpha 480M (February 9), 690F (March 10), “Dull Bar” (March 9, with the “Black Female”), “Black Bar” (end of January), and “Triangle Blaze” (January).

Day in the life of Doug Smith, Yellowstone wolf biologist

Feature on Yellowstone’s lead wolf biologist-

Dr. Smith has run the Park’s wolf program for about 14 of the 15 years since wolves were restored to the Park. He helped me learn much of what I know about wolves, especially in the early years.

Day in the life of Doug Smith, Yellowstone wolf biologist. By Michael Gibney. Bozeman Daily Chronicle Staff Writer

Winter Count Shows Yellowstone Northern Elk Herd Numbers Remain Stable

Stability not unexpected as wolf numbers fall and hunting permits just north of Park are reduced-

In January I heard there would be no elk count this year because the lack of snow made counting pretty much impossible. I’m glad the amount of snow increased because these numbers are important. Gaps in the data are harmful.

Wolves were introduced in 1995 shortly after the highest elk population ever recorded on the Northern Range in 1993-94 (19,045 elk).  Unfortunately, no elk count was made during the very severe winter of 1995-6 and the next year too.  When the count resumed, the elk  population was well down (13,400 in Nov. 1997).

I think the real (wolf x hunter x grizzly bear) effect on elk should date from when they resumed the count. Unfortunately, it is not known how many perished in the severe winter and the year just afterword. Interestingly, the elk count taken 3 months before the first wolves came back had already dropped from 19,045 to 16,791. This shows that 19,045 was a spike and should never be used as a starting point.

I think the restored wolf population did probably overshoot, but it has now died back naturally rather than through human interference.

My impression is that the present elk and wolf population on the Northern Range is pretty favorable, although these numbers can never be stable over any long period time. Nature has too many variables.  At any rate, the elk herd is strong and healthy.  The vegetation on the Northern Range is recovering. Pronghorn, beaver, and, I think bighorn, are increasing. These things were part of the goals of the wolf restoration in the Park. Of course, the Park is always changing. For example, like almost everywhere else, the pines are being killed of by the bark beetle. The Park’s near future will be a landscape even more open than today.

Here is the elk count news release from the Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Group

Tough winter for wolf darting in Yellowstone Park

Wolf numbers in Yellowstone are way down, but that doesn’t mean more of what are left wear collars-

Tough winter for wolf darting. By Brett French. Billings Gazette (reprinted in the Star-Tribune)

Kathie Lynch: Druid wolf pack likely to fade away

Only one Druid is known to remain-

Down to one wolf. I guess that means the end of the wolf pack. The Druid Peak wolf pack was formed in the release enclosure back in 1996.  Most of the wolves came from the same pack in British Columbia, but not all.  For example the big alpha male came from another pack.  The Druids immediately set about trying, and then finally succeeding to dominate the Lamar Valley. It was a good 14 years with hundreds of thousands of people seeing them.

Kathie has all the details.

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By © Kathie Lynch.  “And then there was one.”

And then there was one… From the Druid Peak pack’s beginning in 1996 and through its glory years as Yellowstone National Park’s most famous wolf pack (with an incredible 37 members in 2001), it has come to this: yearling black Druid 690F may be the sole survivor. Mange-ridden and alone, her situation is grim.

In the last few weeks, three others (691F, the “Thin Female,” and “White Line”) have been killed by other wolves, often as they scavenged on other packs’ kills.

Six other Druids are missing, including alpha 480M, “Dull Bar,” 571F, the “Female Yearling,” “Black Bar,” and “Triangle Blaze.” We can only hope that they are somehow surviving on their own, but they are ravaged by mange, and scavenging is a dangerous business.

Leaderless after the death of alpha female 569F last fall and the subsequent dispersal of alpha 480M, the once mighty Druid Peak pack may soon be just a memory.

She Runs With The Wolves

Todd Wilkinson profiles Laurie Lyman-

Those of you who know Kathie Lynch will probably know Laurie Lyman, and vice versa.  Lyman has amazing talent for spotting wolves and getting that data.

She Runs With The Wolves. A tale of devotion from Yellowstone National Park. By Todd Wilkinson.

Wolves back to Yellowstone and changes it made

After 15 years, a look at the effects-

This interesting article appeared in print maybe 5 days ago. I’m glad they put it online.

After 15 years. By Ben Pierce. Bozeman Chronicle OutThere Editor

Yellowstone Wolf Numbers Drop for Second Year

Park now has only 55% as many wolves as at the peak population-

I predicted this, and the same thing was happening to the wolf population of Idaho and Montana. Without any intervention they would have peaked and dropped. With the big campaign against them in Idaho and Montana, we will never know.  At any rate,  growth of the wolf population has now stopped in all three states.

Yellowstone Wolf Numbers Drop for Second Year. By Yellowstone National Park, via New West.

Official Wyoming wolf numbers for ’09 released

319 wolves in Wyoming, but as in ’08 only six breeding pairs in Yellowstone Park-

I think it’s clear that Wyoming’s anti-wolf legislature had hoped that the requirement of ten breeding wolf pairs in the state could be met by Yellowstone Park alone, but yesterday’s USFWS release of the 2009 wolf figures for the state show that to be a pipe dream.

The official estimate is 319 wolves in the state, including just 96 in Yellowstone. Several years ago there were over 170 wolves in Yellowstone. As the Yellowstone population has been shrinking the Wyoming wolf population outside the Park is growing. There are now 223 wolves outside the Park with 21 breeding pairs.

If we look at wolf packs (groups of wolves + groups of wolves with a breeding pair) there were 30 packs outside Yellowstone and 14 inside the Park. The average Wyoming pack size is about 7 wolves. The Park size is also about 7 wolves.

At the end of 2008 there were 178 wolves outside Yellowstone in Wyoming and 124 wolves inside Yellowstone for a total of 302. As in 2009, in 2008 there were only 6 breeding pairs in Yellowstone.

Because of the much greater observational accuracy of packs inside Yellowstone Park, I would judge the number of official breeding pairs there (six) to be more accurate than those outside the Park (officially 21).

If you look at the Wyoming wolf pack map, you will see that the NW corner of the state is pretty well saturated with wolves. Any significant future wolf population growth will depend on reduced  mortality in the numerous and usually transient small packs south of Jackson Hole which are continually disrupted by WS livestock control actions.

Some Yellowstone wolf news-

I’ve been in the Park the last several days, the first time in well over a year.  I didn’t expect to see wolves because their number is down and until Jan. 19 I hadn’t visited Lamar Valley.  Yesterday I did show up in the Lamar just after mid-day. Using my “expert wolf spotting skills,” I quickly found an unusual mid-day collection of vehicles and people with spotting scopes. It had to be a major wolf appearance. It was!

Rick McIntyre filled me in, while his scope showed me a view similar to the famous acceptance of wolf 21M by the all female Druid Pack, way back in the day, although the actual interactions were not a new acceptance ritual.

The wolves were visible under some cottonwood about a half mile away — four Druid females, who had been without an alpha male in the pack, were facing a big black. healthy-looking  male wolf.  He actually had first appeared with the pack on December 2. Then on January 17, an equally glossy black fellow joined him. They are probably brothers.  His apparent brother was bedded in the snow 50 yards away. The Druid females themselves were not the prettiest wolves because they suffer from mange. McIntyre told me it appeared to be mostly on their tails, but in fact had also infested some of their rears and bellies. Nevertheless, they are hanging on.  The origin of the two fine black wolves is not known, but the one I saw with the females seems to have become the new alpha. The Druid alpha female is thought to be a wolf informally called “white line.”

Wyoming wolf numbers increase and offset the decline in Yellowstone Park

YNP Park wolves are down another 6 % this year, but there was a 12% increase outside the Park in ’09-

Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. By Cory Hatch.

There are 4 full-time packs in Jackson Hole and one part-time pack.

The year’s population results appear to be a small increase in wolves in Wyoming. Everyone should recognize that those 20% increase years in any of the 3 states are gone. There will probably be about 375 305 wolves as the official figure for Wyoming at the end of this year.

It’s good to see a recognition that well established packs are less of a threat to livestock than new packs.  One should note that this is some evidence that hunting wolves at random may be counterproductive in terms of livestock losses. Of course, livestock losses to wolves are so small in the big scheme of things it probably doesn’t matter.

National media discover the decline of wolves in Yellowstone

Although it is old news here, it is good to see these facts being widely disseminated-

Wolves decline in Yellowstone. By Janice Lloyd.  USA Today

As predicted, the remaining elk in the Park are tough critters that can beat up on the wolves.

Kathie Lynch. Yellowstone Wolf Update. Thanksgiving 2009

A detailed northern range wolf update-

At a time when the wolf population in Yellowstone is declining and interest from the news media down, Kathie Lynch has put together a most detailed report on the activities of the Park’s northern range wolves.

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Thanksgiving 2009 wolf update. By © Kathie Lynch

Thanksgiving in Yellowstone included being thankful that I was able to see wolves on three out of four days. With the deaths of many wolves and poor pup survival, population numbers are down, and packs are more difficult to find and observe.

The visit did yield several unexpected surprises, however. Mollie’s pack wolf 586M journeyed from the south to pay a visit to Lamar Valley. We were so surprised to discover this gorgeous, dark gray wolf one morning north of the Druid’s traditional rendezvous site.

He was absolutely beautiful, with an excellent hair coat and no sign whatsoever of the terrible mange that he and the rest of the Mollie’s had endured last winter and spring. The sight of 586M looking so magnificent offered hope that the wolves, at least those with strong immune systems, can overcome the scourge of mange.

First Idaho wolf hunt zone closes as quota is reached

Quota of five wolves has been filled for the Upper Snake wolf hunting area-

This is in Eastern Idaho, in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. The wolves killed may or may not have wolves that usually inhabit Yellowstone Park.

Here is the Idaho wolf quota area map.

Nov. 3. E. Idaho wolf zone closed as hunters reach limit. Associated Press

Shooting of collared wolves impacts research

Game managers may make changes in hunting season for next year-

Wow! The stories about the shooting of the Park wolves who happened to be just north of the Park keep coming. This is another one.

This one today is by Brett French in the Billings Gazette.

Actually we don’t know that this hasn’t happened in Idaho too.  Idaho’s “Upper Snake” wolf hunting zone wraps around the SW corner of Yellowstone Park and almost touches Grand Teton NP where the wolf population seems to have been expanding a bit lately.

Idaho doesn’t report where the wolf kills took place  except by zone. Last week I called Idaho’s wolf manager for additional info, but he never returned my message. You have to wonder.

Yellowstone Park wolves to decline for second year in a row

27 % decline in 2008 will be followed by another decline in ’09-

At the end of 2007 there were 171 wolves that lived primarily inside Yellowstone Park, but very high pup mortality due to disease (distemper) along with the natural attrition of adult and sub-adult wolves caused a 27% decline (124 wolves). Disease had hit the pups two other years since wolves beginning in 1995 were restored to Yellowstone. In each case, pups and the population rebounded the next year. Not so in 2009.

Once again pup mortality is very high. The Druid Pack lost all 8 of its pups, for example. There is one important pup mortality difference from 2008. This year the poor pup survival does not appear to be due to a distemper outbreak or other obvious disease.

Mortality of adult wolves is increasing from the mange infestation that seeped into the Park. Mollies Pack was the first pack known to have become infested, although Park border packs in Montana in eastward in Wyoming have suffered from the debilitating mite for years now. Doug Smith, Park wolf team leader, told me that Mollies still has mange, but is showing some improvment. Perhaps the most infested pack is the famous Druids. On the northern range, the Mt. Everts Pack also struggles with mange, but the Blacktail Pack, Agate Pack, and Quadrant Packs are mange free. It is expected that at the end of the year there will probably be 6 “breeding pairs” of wolves in the Park (the same as 2008).

For the first time there are more Park packs living south of famous Northern Range. Packs inhabit all corners of the Park, although the Bechler Pack in Park’s  southwest corner lost its only radio collar when its big white founding male finally died this summer. He originally migrated from the Northern Range all the way down. He was born to the once famous Rose Creek Pack, which was slowly driven northward out of the Park by other packs to eventually disappear as a discrete entity.

The decline of Park wolves has management implications for Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Wolf managers in the states are generally quick to say,”Oh, studies show you can manage for 30% wolf mortality a year” (note that unlike with other animals, the word “manage” when used by state wolf managers always means to kill). Even some non-affiliated biologists say 30% wolf mortality a year and a stable population go together.

Data from Yellowstone Park shows this generalization has one big exception, and it would be wise to expect that more will happen on other places.

In other news, wolves have been visible inside Grand Teton National Park, with the Antelope Pack being particularly out in the open where visitors can watch them.

Debate arises whether Montana wolf hunt wiped out Park’s Cottonwood Pack

Four pack members were killed. Which pack or packs did the other 5 wolves come from?

Defenders of Wildlife is disputing with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. It does appear that at least some pups from the Cottonwood Pack are left. Maybe some adults survive too.

Strictly speaking the Cottonwood Pack has pretty much always been a Park transboundary Pack, a backcountry pack to be sure, but it is often north of the Park. However, I do think Park wolves, like Park bears, have learned to move north during the the elk hunt to clean up the remains of the hunt. This makes them vulnerable to being killed in the Montana wolf hunt.

There has been a lot of misinformed talk about a hunt on Park wolves, but, of course, there is no legal hunting of anything inside Yellowstone Park.  However, could what are normally Park wolves be effectively hunted the rest of the wolf season or in the future if Park wolves, being smart like bears, move north when the elk hunt begins.

Story. Wolf pack adults killed by hunters, group says. Billings Gazette. By Brett French.

Montana resumes big-game wolf hunt on Sunday

Rest of state opens up as well as Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness which had an emergency closure-

The quota is 75, of which12 have already been killed.

Montana resumes big-game wolf hunt on Sunday. By the Associated Press.

Although only 3 more wolves can be taken in the Wilderness area just north of the YNP boundary, if wolves do come northward out of the Park to eat the remains of the elk kills in the Wilderness area (likely I think), having this area in the wolf hunt has the clear effect of legally killing what are normally Park wolves.

Here is the Montana wolf hunt map.

Montana wolf-hunt quota could change after 9 shot near Yellowstone

The remaining quota might be adjusted or other changes made-

Montana wolf-hunt quota could change after 9 shot near Yellowstone. By Matthew Brown. AP

Wildlife advocates irked by wolf tally next to Yellowstone

More reaction on the “unexpectedly” large number of wolf hunt kills next to Yellowstone Park-

Wildlife advocates irked by wolf tally. By Daniel Person. Bozeman Chronicle.

Kathie Lynch on the Yellowstone Park wolves shot in Montana wolf hunt

Details revealed how Park wolf pack was eliminated in Montana wolf hunt-

The more you think about it, it is amazing how stupid it was for Montana to begin their wolf hunt right next to Yellowstone Park in the very place most of the wolves live.

Kathie Lynch has a lot of detail I was not familiar with. Park wolf watchers may not be pleased that they shot wolf 527F and eliminated a Park pack — the Cottonwood Pack.

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Yellowstone National Park’s Cottonwood wolf pack is gone. By Kathie Lynch. Copyright

Yellowstone National Park’s Cottonwood wolf pack is gone. The graying-black seven-year-old alpha female (527F), the jet black four-year-old beta female (716F) and at least two others (adults or pups?) were all recently reported killed outside of the Park boundary in the Montana wolf hunt. For all who study, advocate for and have worked tirelessly to restore grey wolves to their keystone species role in nature, the loss is profound.

The death of wolves like 527F and 716F is a great loss, not only for the Cottonwood pack, but also for science. Researchers have spent countless hours, days, weeks and years recording observations of their behavior, habits and genealogy. The value of such long-term data is immense.

Because they are so highly visible, the Yellowstone wolves have contributed mightily to our understanding of the species. Peering through the window of a spotting scope or binoculars, we have come to better understand the daunting challenges of living life in the wild and the importance of preserving wilderness. Over the years, thousands of park visitors have had a chance to share in the challenges of life in the wild for 527F and 716F.

Here are the stories of these two true champions at heart…

Cottonwood alpha female 527F was born into the Druid Peak pack in 2002, the offspring of legendary alphas 21M and 42F. Independent and full of initiative, she left the Druids as a yearling and joined their archenemy, the Slough Creek pack. With the Sloughs, she endured the distemper epidemic in 2005 and the siege by the Unknown pack in 2006.

In the fall of 2007, 527F moved on yet again and founded the Cottonwood pack. Resourceful and secretive, she made a home for her new pack high on the Hellroaring slopes.

During the summer of 2009, 527F led her pack back to her old territory near Slough Creek. Park visitors gathered eagerly every morning in Little America for the chance to watch 527F’s family of seven adults tend their four pups, one of which even had a white tip on its tail, just like its mother!

Five twenty-seven was a survivor. She stayed out of the way, and she stayed out of trouble…until the day in early October when she stepped outside of the Park boundary and a wolf hunter’s gunshot killed her.

Just a few days earlier, Cottonwood beta female 716F had met the same fate. From the very start, 716F–known for years as simply “The Dark Female”–epitomized the essence of what it means to survive in the wild.

Born to the Slough Creek pack in 2005, 716F was one of only three Slough pups to survive that year’s distemper epidemic. As a yearling in 2006, she heroically helped in the futile struggle to save the pack’s pups during the siege by the Unknowns.

In 2007, she was the only one of the seven Slough females who did not get pregnant. She and the young gray Slough alpha male (a recent immigrant from the Agate Creek pack) stayed “busier than bird dogs” hunting and providing for the six new mothers and their pups. I so vividly remember seeing her sleek black body jetting back and forth between Jasper Bench and Slough Creek, bringing food to the growing family.

The Slough alpha female, 380F, never appreciated 716F’s efforts and persecuted her mercilessly, eventually driving her out of the pack. We lost track of her for a while, so it was a wonderful surprise to rediscover her last February. As we watched the capture (collaring) procedure from Hellroaring overlook, it slowly dawned on us that the sleek black body jetting around below us was indeed “The Dark Female” (soon to become 716F)!

It was great to see that she had a last found a home and had risen to the status of beta female. With her enthusiasm and great spirit, she would have made a worthy alpha, if 527F had preceded her in death–and if she had had the chance.

But, it was not to be. The lives of both of these extraordinary wolves, who had each contributed so much to research and our knowledge of the species, were snuffed out. They had stayed out of trouble; they did not prey on livestock. Their only mistake was in stepping over the Park’s invisible boundary line.

What can we learn from their mistake–a mistake that cost them their lives? Nothing will bring back 527F, 716F, the two other Cottonwoods and the many other wolves who have been shot. The fact that wolves have been so easily hunted and killed during the legal hunt is testimony to the fact that wolves need increased and continuing protection. So that their deaths will not be in vain, we, as wolf advocates, must ask what we can do to further protect the species we have worked so hard to bring back from the brink.

We are at the crossroads. Wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains are currently delisted. Wolf hunting is a reality in Montana and Idaho. Wolf advocates need to find new ways to protect and preserve the species. Unless we do, the years of effort and research that went into reestablishing this keystone species will have all been in vain as we continue to watch wolf after wolf die.

Researcher: Yellowstone wolves distinct

With influence by humans not a factor, packs have older, experienced hunters-

The wolves of Yellowstone Park are different than other wolves (even though they all originated some generations ago from Alberta or British Columbia). The reason is lack of human-caused mortality.

Doug Smith of Yellowstone Park spoke of this Thursday (story in Billings Gazette) to a capacity crowd at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Hey, that’s in Cody, WY!

Kathie Lynch: Summertime 2009 Yellowstone wolf news.

Wolf watching is slow in this summer’s extra green Yellowstone-

While watching has been slow lately in the reconfigured Yellowstone wolf packs, Kathie Lynch has quite a bit of news. Ralph Maughan

– – – – – –

July and August wolf notes for YNP. By © Kathie Lynch
Copyrighted material. Not to be reprinted or reposted without explicit permission

Summer wolf watching in Yellowstone ran the gamut from the great expectations of June and early July to the challenges of late July and early August. Despite eternal vigilance by devoted watchers, the Druid Peak pack somehow managed to spirit their pups away from their traditional den forest to their summer rendezvous without anyone seeing them go. With the Druids’ departure from Lamar Valley, wolf watching took a turn for the worse as many days found us searching high and low just to find a wolf.

What had been a grand spectacle last year when the Druids moved their pups across Soda Butte Creek, this year quietly turned into a non-event. Because the pups stayed mostly hidden in the trees of the traditional den forest and seldom came into view, we never even obtained a solid count. However, the Druids are believed to have had at least nine pups, including five blacks and four grays. Even the Wolf Project’s monitoring flights have not been able to confirm the Druid pup count.

Montana FWP study finds multiple factors in wolf-elk relations

Multiyear Montana study shows the relationships between elk and wolves are not simple-

FWP study finds multiple factors in wolf-elk relations. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian

Nowhere are data adequate to ‘scientifically’ assign cause(s) for any declines that may occur,” author-biologists Kenneth Hamlin and Julie Cunningham wrote in their conclusion.”

However, this conclusion certainly does not mean that wolves do not affect elk in many ways, as do wolves and bear together, and each other as well.

The effect of wolves also varies in different parts of Montana despite there being similar densities of wolves, e.g., NW Montana versus SW Montana and Yellowstone.

This is an important study and you can read the 95 page report and/or save as a pdf file.

On collecting wolf scat in Yellowstone

Wolf poop is gold for a variety of studies of wolves-

Yellowstone study collects, examines wolf scat for clues. By Brett French. Billings Gazette.

This time tested activity was partly replaced by radio collar-based research, but with the development of sophisticated DNA and hormone analysis, it now has new importance.

Latest federal wolf update, July 20-24, 2009

Officials news for Wyoming and other areas, excluding Idaho and Montana-

The USFWS in Helena continues to put out the wolf news for all of Wyoming and other Western States, except Idaho and Montana where wolves are delisted, and the Mexican wolf recovery area. This means wolf news in Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Utah, etc. is covered.

Here is the latest, and there is good news from Oregon, Washington and Yellowstone Park. Ralph Maughan

– – – – –

WYOMING WOLF PROGRAM

WEEKLY REPORT

To:                   Regional Director, Region 6, Denver, Colorado

From:               USFWS Wyoming Wolf Recovery Project Leader, Jackson, WY

Subject:           Status of Gray Wolf Management in Wyoming and the NRM

Date:                July 20 through July 24, 2009

Web Address – USFWS reports (past weekly and annual reports) can be viewed at http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov . Weekly reports for Montana and Idaho are produced by those States and can be viewed on the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Idaho Department of Fish and Game websites. All weekly and annual reports are government property and can be used for any purpose.  Please distribute as you see fit.

Annual Reports

The Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery 2008 Annual Report is available at: http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov .

Delisting Litigation Status

On June 2, a lawsuit was filed in Federal District Court in Missoula (9th Circuit) by a coalition of 13 environmental and animals rights groups. Another separate lawsuit challenging the USFWS delisting criteria was filed shortly after in the 9th Circuit by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.  While the two groups have their own attorneys, both those cases have now been consolidated in the Missoula District Court under Judge Molloy.  Their complaint alleges the NRM wolf population is not recovered and that the delisting violates the federal Endangered Species Act for many legal reasons, including delisting can not occur without an adequate Wyoming regulatory framework in place, which is not currently the case.  A request for a preliminary injunction has not been filed at this time.  In addition, the State of Wyoming, Park County, and the Wyoming Wolf Coalition filed lawsuits in the 10th Circuit District Court (Cheyenne, Wyoming) challenging USFWS’s rejection of Wyoming’s regulatory framework and the Wyoming state wolf management plan.  Those three cases have been consolidated in the Wyoming court.

Monitoring

USFWS trapping efforts ended east of Dubois, WY due to potential conflicts with summer recreation activities on back-country roads where trapping was attempted. Two bobcats were trapped and released onsite. One large male wolf pup was caught and fitted with a padded radio collar. Trapping efforts may resume later this summer, before big game hunting season.

W.S. and USFWS crew trapped 2 wolves in the Sweetwater Pack, south of Lander, WY. One male wolf was fitted with a VHF collar. A female wolf, that had previously been radio collared in YNP, was released on site.

Summer monitoring of Yellowstone wolves is focusing on reproduction and summer predation at this time. Pup production appears typical of non-disease years, with no evidence of significant pup or adult mortality patterns as in previous disease years. Wolves are beginning to move to higher elevations typical of summer patterns that mirror ungulate movements to higher elevations presumably following greenwave patterns. Spring and summer precipitation and temperature patterns are producing some of the greenist landscapes this far into the Yellowstone’s summer as has been seen in well over a decade. Bull and cow/calf elk groups are appear abundant at higher elevations in many wolf pack territories, and field observations indicate robust calf production and survival so far.

Study of falling elk population looks at food

Study of falling elk population looks at food

Wolf predation may not be as much a factor as was once believed

BRETT FRENCH Of The Gazette Staff

Too many missed meals may be the larger cause of the decline of elk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem – not wolf predation or the elk’s fear of being eaten by wolves, according to a newly published study.

Kathie Lynch: Yellowstone Park wolf news

About 40 wolves are on the Park’s northern range-

Yellowstone wolf news. June 2009.

Copyright by Kathie Lynch

The beautiful green hills of Lamar Valley brim with bison, and their cute little orange calves greet early summer wolf watchers in Yellowstone. However, the drop from 171 wolves in Yellowstone Park in December 2007, to only 124 as of December 2008, means that it is now much harder to find a wolf to watch.

By my calculations (and these are definitely not official counts), there are only about 41 wolves in the Northern Range. That number includes only adults, as follows: Druid Peak pack (14), Blacktail pack (7), Cottonwood pack (6), Everts Pack (6), Agate Creek pack (4), 471F’s Group (3) and miscellaneous–“Big Black” (1). The Quadrant Pack (4) may also still be in the area, but I have not heard of any sightings. The Slough Creek, Leopold and Oxbow packs essentially no longer exist, although a few individuals may still be around. Other packs in Yellowstone’s interior include the Canyon pack (4), Mollie’s, Gibbon, Bechler, and Yellowstone Delta.

Yellowstone workers to kill problem wolf

This would be the first incidence of a wolf being “removed” inside of Yellowstone.

From last weeks wolf report:

A young wolf dispersing probably from the Gibbon Meadows pack chased people on bicycles and a motorcycle on several occasions.  It is unclear how many times as it appears the wolf has been illegally fed and this and other incidences of habituation have gone unreported.  This wolf is considered a human safety threat and active measures to remove it have been ongoing since May 7 without success.  There is no plan at the moment to suspend activities to find and kill this animal because it is considered a threat to human safety.  Again, visitors are advised to not approach wolves or any other wildlife in YNP as it is unsafe and leads to habituated wildlife which ultimately will have to be removed.

Yellowstone workers to kill problem wolf
Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Update: Park officials kill nuisance wolf
Billings Gazette

Wyoming, including Yellowstone wolf news

The federal report this week is A LOT more interesting than usual (e.g., YNP wolf chases bicycles, motorcycles, etc.)-

This is the wolf weekly news put out by USFWS because Wyoming can’t manage wolves.

Be sure to read the “monitoring” and “control” sections.

– – – – – – – –
Update: There is essentially no new news here, not contained in the report below; but it has made it into the traditional media.

Yellowstone workers to kill problem wolf. By The Associated Press

Ralph Maughan

– – – – – – – – –

WYOMING WOLF PROGRAM

WEEKLY REPORT

• To:                   Regional Director, Region 6, Denver, Colorado
• From:               USFWS Wyoming Wolf Recovery Project Leader, Jackson, WY
• Subject:           Status of Gray Wolf Management in Wyoming and the NRM
• WYOMING WOLF WEEKLY- May 11 through May 15, 2009

Web Address – USFWS reports (past weekly and annual reports) can be viewed at http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov . Weekly reports for Montana and Idaho are produced by those States and can be viewed on the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Idaho Department of Fish and Game websites. All weekly and annual reports are government property and can be used for any purpose.  Please distribute as you see fit.

Annual Reports

The Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery 2008 Annual Report is available at: http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov .

The Canyon Pack dens at Mammoth Hot Springs

For all practical purposes the pack has denned at Park Headquarters-

The Canyon Pack, which includes some remnants of the old Hayden Pack, is denned just a quarter mile east of the Mammoth town site. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a chase on the Mammoth lawns.

Wolf pack moves to park’s headquarters. Den near Mammoth posted off-limits to protect pups. By Brett French. Billings Gazette.

Yellowstone Northern Range wolf update. April 2009

Kathie Lynch’s latest trip to Yellowstone found early spring wolf denning triumph mixed with tragedy-

Yellowstone Wolf News. April 4-12, 2009. By © Kathie Lynch.

“Spring” in Yellowstone means a few days of warm weather, followed by a return to snowy winter and then springtime again. As the snow melts, it gets harder and harder to find the gray wolves against the sage, dirt and rock backdrop, but, thankfully, the blacks still stand out.

My nine day spring break (April 4-12, 2009) started without a wolf sighting on the first day–unless the canid that materialized down the road in front of my car, just east of the high bridge near Mammoth, really was the light gray former Agate 471F and not a coyote!

Considering that 471F, her alpha male (Montana 147M), and her younger sister (the “’06 Agate Female”) had often been sighted in the area, maybe I didn’t get shut out after all!

In fact, the very next day, there they were right next to the road near an elk carcass, which was almost under the bridge at the Lava Creek picnic area. Unfortunately, it was so close to the road, the rangers had to move it away, so the wolves didn’t even get to eat their fill.

Answers to some wolf questions

Doug Breakwell posted a comment that was interesting, but also to a thread I’d rather keep clear, so I answer his questions below. Ralph Maughan
– – – – – –
Doug Breakwell wrote:
April 11, 2009 at 4:45 AM

This is a great site to keep updated on whats happening to wolves
especially if you do not live in the U.S. Today I have some questions that I hope your readers can help with.
1)what happened to wolf R29m? I know he’s deceased but how did he meet his end? The last information I can find on him states that he became the alpha male of the Gros Venture pack.
2) Who was and currently is the biggest wolf in Yellowstone and how big were/are they?
3) As the reports state that they Yellowstone wolves are getting bigger , what is the possibility of an extreme sized wolf similar to the 70 mile river wolf of 175lbs or the Poltavski wolf of 189lbs?
4) The wolf report of 1997 has a 52.3kg pup recorded in it, anyone know who this pup is and what happened to him?

Doug,

Here are some answers:

1. The famous escape artists wolf R29M was displaced or left the the Gros Ventre Pack, but was (maybe) last seen in the general area in 2002.  On my old web site I have tables showing what happened to all to the reintroduced wolves. It also gives their weight at capture in Canada. The links are below.

• Fate of the 1995 Yellowstone wolves (table). Final revision Jan. 9, 2003. All the 1995 wolves are now dead.
• Fate of the 1996 Yellowstone wolves (table). Final revision March 4, 2004. All of the 1996 wolves are now dead.
• Fate of the 1995 Idaho wolves (table). Last Revised Dec. 2005. Some of these wolves were still alive when I last updated the page
• Fate of the 1996 Idaho wolves (table). Last Revised Dec. 2005.

2. I’m not sure which is the biggest wolf in Yellowstone Park right now because I haven’t acquired their 2009 capture data, but the biggest one caught in the past was R6M, who weighed 141 pounds. He was killed by an elk in 1998.
3. Yellowstone wolves are not getting bigger. They seem to be getting smaller, probably because they not as well fed as the early wolves. The possibility of the 175 or 189 pound wolf is very low, although not impossible. After all, there are humans that are 8 feet tall. Extremely large individuals are usually not very healthy. Their large size alone means they will probably soon become afflicted with arthritis.

4.  I can’t find my 1997 wolf capture report. I can’t answer the question unless you have the pup’s collar number.

Update From Ken Cole 4/11/09: Here is a graph showing the weights of all wolves from Yellowstone that I have information for as well as the original Idaho re-introduced wolves.  I’ve added a trendline to the graph which shows a slight decrease in weight over time.  However, when only wolves described as adults are included there appears to be a slight increase in weight as shown in the lower graph.

Wolf lawsuits grow

Wyoming groups sue, challenging delisting plan for leaving Wyoming out.

Wyoming Stock Growers Association, Wyoming Wool Growers Association, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife Wyoming, Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, and the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association and others have asked to join the lawsuit asking that Wyoming be included in the wolf delisting plan.

Wyoming’s wolf management plan has been rejected because it does not provide enough protection to wolves that leave the “trophy hunting area”.

Last year, when wolves were delisted for a short period, a number of wolves were hunted down on snowmobiles and shot. Also the famous Druid wolf 253M that went to Utah and later settled near one of the elk feedgrounds was shot and left.

Wolf lawsuits grow
Casper Star Tribune

Why We Need Wolves In Our Parks

. . . and about “the Ripple Effect.”

Why We Need Wolves In Our Parks. Todd Palmer and Rob Pringle. The Huffington Post.

Distemper devastates Yellowstone wolves

Wolf population has dropped by 27% in Yellowstone.

Distemper devastates Yellowstone wolves.
Powell Tribune

Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery 2008 Interagency Annual Report

All 3 states and the FWS reports available.

Wolves in Central Idaho © Ken Cole

The annual reports of all three of the recovery states have been released. There is a wealth of information in these reports about various packs.

The minimum estimate of wolves in the three states is 1645, a 9% increase over last year.

In Idaho there are 846 wolves, a 16% increase.
In Montana there are 497 wolves, an 18% increase.
In Wyoming there are 302 wolves, a 16% decrease.

You can view the reports here:
Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery 2008 Interagency Annual Report

Salazar’s Wolf Decision Upsets Administration Allies

Salazar’s failure to consult POTUS gives new Administration a headache (as it should)-

Salazar’s Wolf Decision Upsets Administration Allies
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post

It appears that Salazar wasn’t interested in consulting anyone but the Bush Administration personnel and some other agency folks for the “good science” they have already “produced”.
He only consulted governors with less than favorable attitudes on predators, wolves in particular. He had no intention of hearing anything other than what he wanted to hear to make this decision.

Fortunately, not everyone in our halls of governing agree with him. Perhaps due to the fact that they are not ranchers.  He didn’t seem to think that his boss needed to be consulted either, even directly following commitments by Obama himself to uphold the ESA and scientific integrity in speeches within 48 hours of announcing this “Friday night” ruling.

Perhaps the same comments on commitment to scientific integrity made by Obama on stem cell research should be applied to the ESA and wolves.

Wolf mating season on the greatly reconfigured Yellowstone northern range

The Druids are the only northern range pack still intact. New packs and groups abound-

Due to the complexity of the changes on the northern range, I know it took Kathie several weeks to write this. Ralph Maughan

– – – – – – – – – –

Yellowstone wolf report. Feb. 15-22, 2009. By © Kathie Lynch.

A week in Yellowstone, Feb. 15-22, 2009, during the height of the wolf breeding season, provided plenty of action and lots of surprises.

The Druid Peak pack actually was not the main attraction, as they were way up the Lamar River and out of sight most of the time.

However, the Druid’s many dispersers have contributed to the formation and gene pool of quite a few other packs or groups, including: the newly named Blacktail Pack (started by former Druid beta 302M and five Druid male yearlings-grandchildren of the great Druid alpha 21M); 694F’s Group (which includes the two Druid two-year-old females 694F/”High Sides” and “Dull Bar”-both also 21M’s grandchildren); the newly named Cottonwood Group (started by 527F, who was born to 21M and 42F, but dispersed to the Slough Creek pack and then dispersed to form her own pack in 2007); and even the Agate Creek pack (whose long-time alpha female, 472F, was also the offspring of 21M and 42F). The blood of 21M still runs strong.

Montana FWP study finds mixed impacts of wolves on ungulate populations

Finally, a real study, and released to the public-

Not surprisingly (to me anyway) the effect of wolves on elk populations varies by area and presence of other predators such as grizzly bears. In addition hunters affect elk more than wolves. When considering wolves and ungulates alone, I take this report to be generally quite positive for the effects of wolves on ungulates.

Here is the news release, but there is the much larger report available to for those interested. Here is the 90+ page full report. Ralph Maughan

Added. Notice how the MSM immediately gives the results of this an immediate spin by means of the headline. Wolves tied to elk decline in parts of state. By EVE BYRON – Independent Record

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – FEBRUARY 6, 2008
Contact Ron Aasheim, 406-444-4038; Justin Gude, 406-444-3767; or visit FWP’s Web site
at fwp.mt.gov

Study Finds Mixed Wolf Impacts On Elk Populations-
Not all elk populations respond in the same manner when faced with sharing the landscape with wolves, a new report by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks suggests.

Researchers who spent the past seven years measuring the populations and behavior of elk in Montana found that elk numbers in some areas of southwestern Montana have dropped rapidly due mostly to the loss of elk calves targeted by wolves and grizzly bears that inhabit the same area. The same study, led by FWP and Montana State University, also suggests that in some areas of western Montana elk numbers have increased while hunter-harvests of elk have decreased, with little apparent influence by local wolf packs on elk numbers.

“One-size-fits-all explanations of wolf-elk interactions across large landscapes do not seem to exist,” said Justin Gude, FWP’s chief of wildlife research in Helena.
The 95-page report contains two sections. The first section summarizes research efforts in the Greater Yellowstone Area and southwestern Montana, with a primary focus on wolf-elk interactions. The second section summarizes FWP data collection and monitoring efforts from the entire range of wolves in Montana.

Wyoming House committee recommends a new state wolf bill

Little change from the past-

By Matt Joyce. Associated Press writer

House Bill 32 would emphasize protecting livestock and wild ungulates from wolves and would continue to classify wolves as predators in most of the state. The bill also authorizes the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to work in cooperation with Idaho and Montana to move wolves as necessary to assure genetic interchange among the states’ wolf populations.

Wyoming House committee had five Bills offered this week and only one, with little change and a seemingly obstinate set of intentions to derail any progress or offer any acceptance of the federal role in this ongoing saga was agreed upon.  Read More…

Wolf numbers decline in Yellowstone in ’08

Park wolf population declines by 27%-

This is no surprise because everyone who followed the Park wolves this year knew that with the high wolf pup mortality from some disease the population would decline.

I am skeptical that the Park wolf population will ever regain the high points reached twice in the last 5 years because of the decline in the elk numbers. It is possible that the restoration of the wolves resulting in a bit of an overshoot, and this might be true of the restored wolf population in Idaho as well. This is one reason why a big wolf hunt is premature.

Next year the wolf pup population could well recover as it has in the past, but the strife between the wolf packs will probably continue. That will keep wolf numbers down. It is also possible that this disease in not part of the natural regime. It might continue to reduce the wolf population until very low numbers are reached.

Bob Moen, who wrote the article below, uses 2007 data for the total number of wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. However, it’s the 2008 figures, not yet available that will be interesting. Like the Park population we know that the overall wolf population did not grow by 20% as it has for a number of years. We don’t know that it grew at all, especially given what many see as excessive “wolf control” by Wildlife Services in Idaho and Montana.

Wolf numbers decline in Yellowstone in ’08. By Bob Moen. AP; and here is a similar story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. By Cory Hatch.

Update. NPR story on the decline (audio). http://www.mtpr.net/program_info/2009-01-13-132

Norm Bishop on wolves and the northern range elk population-

Bishop, below responded to Montana State Sen. Joe Balyeat who has proposed legislation cut off relations between Montana and the federal government on wolves.
– – – – – –
Sen. Joe Balyeat [Bozeman Chronicle Dec. 30] proposes legislation to sever Montana’s ties with federal agencies on wolf management. He fears that allowing the wolf population to keep growing will doom the northern Yellowstone elk population, and elk throughout the state (where elk populations are 14% over goal).

Montana wolves increased to 394 in 2007, but the mid-year 2008 estimate is down 9%, to 360. Northern Yellowstone’s wolf population is down 21% 35% from 81 in 2007 to 64 53 in 2008. As the density of wolves increased in past years, interpack killing joined disease as a limiting factor.

Sen. Balyeat’s rationale for his bill appears to be based on a one-time count he made of the ratio of calves to cows of the northern Yellowstone elk herd. From dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles on the effects of restored gray wolves on their prey in Yellowstone, we can pick two to enlighten us on these complex issues.

Vucetich et.al. (2005. Influence of harvest, climate, and wolf predation on Yellowstone elk 1961-2004. OIKOS 111:259-270) studied the contribution of wolf predation in a decline of elk from 17,000 to 8,000. They built and assessed models based on elk-related data prior to wolf reintroduction (1961-1995), and used them to predict how the elk population might have fared from 1995 to 2004 had wolves not been restored. Climate and hunter harvest explained most of the elk decline. From 1995 to 2004 wolves killed mostly elk that would have died from other causes.

Wright et al. (2006. Selection of Northern Yellowstone Elk by Gray Wolves and Hunters JWM 70(4):1070-1078), documented that hunting exerted a greater total reproductive impact on the herd than wolf predation. The article’s authors were university, federal, and state wildlife biologists working cooperatively. No legislation is needed to improve on that.

Norman A. Bishop
Bozeman, MT

Note: Bishop was a leader and supporter of wolf restoration interpretation in Yellowstone.
He has received numerous awards for his Park Service work with wolves. Among other
organizations, he is a director of the Wolf Recovery Foundation.

Kathie Lynch: end of the year Yellowstone Park wolf notes-

Wolf watching good in cold and snowy Yellowstone-

Once again Kathie Lynch has favored us with her detailed observations of the wolves on Yellowstone’s northern range. The redistribution of the much reduced wolf population continues, with the Druids providing a note of stability.

Famous wolf 302M seems to now, finally, lead a pack, although mating season is upon us and often causes even more wolf pack restructuring.

Here are three previous links to put Lynch’s report in context:

• Yellowstone wolf report. Enormous change in pack compositions. Nov. 28, 2008. By Ralph Maughan
• Kathie Lynch: Northern Range wolf upate. The Druids are doing well . . . the rest, not. Nov. 16, 2008. By Kathie Lynch.
• Yellowstone Park sees major loss of wolf pups, adults this year.  Oct. 21, 2008. By Ralph Maughan

– – – – –

Yellowstone wolf notes

by © Kathie Lynch

The holidays in Yellowstone–a winter wonderland of endless snow, howling winds, temperatures barely above and sometimes below zero degrees F, icy roads, very occasional sunshine (one day in two weeks!)–and wonderful surprises, including a Christmas grizzly and wolves whenever or wherever you could find them. Luckily, the Druid Peak pack, 302M’s Group, the Canyon Group, 471F’s Group, 470F’s Group (the “Everts Pack”), and even the elusive former Slough 527F all contributed to make it a true Wonderland for wolf watchers!

Conservationists Request Feds Replace Photo of Mexican Wolf

‘Poster Wolf’ Was One of 18 Rare Mexican Wolves Killed Through Capture; Altogether, More Than 2,900 Gray Wolves Killed-

Conservation groups are fed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continuing to use the photo of a particular Mexican wolf as their “poster wolf,” after they trapped and accidentally killed her back in 2005.

They are also angry that government wolf management is becoming more and more lethal even though the wolf population has stopped growing in size and is showing signs of collapse inside Yellowstone Park.  Ralph Maughan

News Release-

SILVER CITY, N.M.­ Sixteen conservation and animal welfare organizations today asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to replace the photograph of the “poster wolf” of the Mexican gray wolf program – prominently displayed on the federal agency’s website, http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/, and in a oversized blowup poster at the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters – because the wolf was trapped and inadvertently killed in 2005. (Click here to read letter to the Fish and Wildlife Service).

“Brunhilda,” alpha female of the Francisco Pack of Mexican gray wolves. Photo by George Andrejko.

The wolf was one of at least 2,911 gray wolves killed as a result of Fish and Wildlife Service actions since 1996, most in the northern Rocky Mountains and upper Midwest, but also including 29 highly imperiled Mexican gray wolves in the Southwest (see attached charts).

Wolves draw fans to Yellowstone in winter

Wolf watching generates winter tourism-

Wolves draw fans to Yellowstone in the winter. AP

Yellowstone wolf report. Enormous change in pack compositions

Are the Sloughs gone? Plus five new wolf groups-

As wolf mortality has increased there has been a general redistribution of wolves in the Northern Range. All the packs are affected, even the Druids.

The Slough Creek Pack may no longer be intact. Two more dead members of the pack have been found and the only male in the pack, who wears the only functioning radio collar has been seen traveling alone.

As Kathie Lynch reported in her last wolf update, five members of the Druids (all males) left that pack. Since then they have found 5 females of other packs (perhaps all Agate). Leaders for the time being seem to be the famous old lover boy, Druid 302M and either a 2 year old Agate female or another Agate female nicknamed “halftail” because she lost half of her tail when run over by a van last year. This new group is being called the 302/642 group (named after the wolves with radio collars). They are one of 3 groups of wolves that are part of this year’s winter study.

The Agate Pack has no more functioning radio collars, so their status is not known.

Wyoming wolf report – Nov. 10, through Nov. 21, 2008

Latest report says mange too is now hitting the Yellowstone Park Wolves-

Ed Bangs just sent out the Wyoming wolf report. It is below. I cut off the redundant “blah, blah” about delisting, etc. that is at the outset of every report.

The key is news is that mange it now hitting Yellowstone Park wolves. Other news is that research indicates the decline in moose in NW Wyoming is not due to bears or wolves, but mostly to the nutritional condition of female moose probably due to declining habitat.

Here is the actual news-

Control
Nothing to report at this time.

Research
Yellowstone Park began its annual winter study on November 15. Research objectives include: 1) documenting kill rates of wolves; 2) determining prey selection; and 3) estimating annual wolf population numbers. Park biologists suspect that the number of wolves in YNP in 2008 has decreased due to adult wolf mortality from conflicts between packs, increased pup mortality, and mange. Mange has been documented in >8 wolves from four different packs (Oxbow Creek, Mollies, Leopold, and one unnamed group of 4 wolves).

Wyoming Wolf Weekly- Oct 27 to Nov 8, 2008

Report says 16-17 “packs” in WY outside Yellowstone-

Here is the latest official Wyoming wolf news sent out by Ed Bangs.

The number of wolves “controlled” this year is down a lot, but total WY mortality down just slightly from 2007. The report says 16 -17 “packs” have been observed over the year with an average litter size of 4 wolves.

Of course, at year’s end, we will see how many are still around with 2 or more surviving pups and the same breeding pair of wolves in the pack. Ralph Maughan

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WYOMING WOLF WEEKLY- October 27 through November 7, 2008.

To:        Regional Director, Region 6, Denver, Colorado
From:         USFWS Wyoming Wolf Recovery Project Leader, Jackson, WY
Subject:    Status of Gray Wolf Management in Wyoming and the NRM

Web Address – USFWS reports (past weekly and annual reports) and Wyoming weekly reports can be viewed at http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov  .  Weekly reports for Montana and Idaho are produced by those States and can be viewed on the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Idaho Department of Fish and Game websites.  Information concerning wolf management in Wyoming from 3/28/08 through 7/18/08 can be found on the Wyoming Game and Fish (WGFD) web site at  http://gf.state.wy.us.  Beginning 9/15/08, the USFWS will publish weekly wolf reports for Wyoming.  All weekly and annual reports are government property and can be used for any purpose.  Please distribute as you see fit.

Yellowstone wolf decline thought to be disease-related

Given a situation like this in the most problematic state — Wyoming — what does this say about delisting?

This article covers some of the same ground as my ealier report on the current situation with the Yellowstone Park wolves. In fact we don’t even know that the decline is limited to the Park boundaries. I doubt that it is.

What a great time to try delisting! Typical Bush-Kempthorne inattention to reality.

Wolf decline thought to be disease-related. By Brett French. Billings Gazette.

Yellowstone Park sees major loss of wolf pups, adults this year

Yellowstone wolf population is hit hard this year. Reasons not certain-

Back in 2005 after years of major population growth tapering off to stability, the Yellowstone wolf population suddenly crashed when all but 20% of that year’s wolf pups died. While the cause was not determined for sure, most think it was due to canine distemper.

The next two years, however, saw a rebuilding of the wolf population with high wolf pup survival rates. 2008 began with what appeared would be more growth with reports of very high pup counts, e.g., 24 pups in the Leopold Pack.

The first signs of trouble came, however, from the Slough Creek Pack which had a number of pregnant female wolves, but only one pup was seen. As the summer wore on, many packs seemed to have lost all of their pups and most at least some. Currently only the Gibbon Pack has a large number of pups left — ten — and it is the largest wolf pack inside the Park with 25 or more members. Despite its size it is not commonly seen. Its territory is not close to the Park roads.

Wyoming wolf weekly. October 13 – 17, 2008

Wyoming wolf news report, Oct 13-17, 2008-

I received a second Wyoming wolf weekly in the course of two days. Here is the very latest news as reported by Ed Bangs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Note that the beginning of the report is a duplicate of the last report, but further down it does have some new news.

Ralph Maughan

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WYOMING WOLF PROGRAM
WEEKLY REPORT

To: Regional Director, Region 6, Denver, Colorado
From: USFWS Wyoming Wolf Recovery Project Leader, Jackson, WY
Subject: Status of Gray Wolf Management in Wyoming and the NRM

WYOMING WOLF WEEKLY- October 13 through October 17, 2008

Web Address – USFWS reports (past weekly and annual reports) and Wyoming weekly reports can be viewed at http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov . Weekly reports for Montana and Idaho are produced by those States and can be viewed on the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Idaho Department of Fish and Game websites. Information concerning wolf management in Wyoming from 3/28/08 through 7/18/08 can be found on the Wyoming Game and Fish (WGFD) web site at http://gf.state.wy.us . Beginning 9/15/08, the USFWS will publish weekly wolf reports for Wyoming. All weekly and annual reports are government property and can be used for any purpose. Please distribute as you see fit.

Wyoming wolf weekly. Oct. 6 – Oct. 10, 2008

Wyoming wolf news report, Oct 6-10, 2008-

Ed Bangs has produced another Wyoming wolf update today. Here it is.

Ralph Maughan
– – – – – – – – –
WYOMING WOLF PROGRAM
WEEKLY REPORT

To: Regional Director, Region 6, Denver, Colorado
From: USFWS Wyoming Wolf Recovery Project Leader, Jackson, WY
Subject: Status of Gray Wolf Management in Wyoming and the NRM

WYOMING WOLF WEEKLY- October 6 through October 10, 2008

Web Address – USFWS reports (past weekly and annual reports) and Wyoming weekly reports can be viewed at http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov . Weekly reports for Montana and Idaho are produced by those States and can be viewed on the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and Idaho Department of Fish and Game websites. Information concerning wolf management in Wyoming from 3/28/08 through 7/18/08 can be found on the Wyoming Game and Fish (WGFD) web site at http://gf.state.wy.us . Beginning 9/15/08, the USFWS will publish weekly wolf reports for Wyoming. All weekly and annual reports are government property and can be used for any purpose. Please distribute as you see fit.

A complete table of Yellowstone wolves 1995-2008

The other day Ken Cole sent me a remarkable piece of work of his. He had taken the data I have put up since 1995 and added some additional data and made a file showing every wolf that was radio-collared in the Yellowstone Park from 1995-2008.

It was a very large Excel file, which I have converted to a pdf. My conversion isn’t perfect, but I think you can read it and use it fairly well by enlarging it to 100%

Note that the table also includes the data for the first 2 years of Idaho wolves (those wolves brought from Alberta and British Columbia and released in central Idaho).

YNP-wolf-collaring-table

When I get the time, I might try to clean up the defects in my conversion.

Thanks, Ken. This is good stuff.

Wolf packs attack the toughest prey in Yellowstone

Wolf packs attack the toughest prey in Yellowstone. By Brett French. Billings Gazette Staff.
“It’s not easy being a bison-eating wolf in Yellowstone National Park.”

Mollies Pack has become a rugged bison-killing wolf pack. They are a pack ideal for this with their big brawny male wolves. It’s no accident. With elk, big males in a pack are superfluous as long as their is one big guy, but not so with bison. So the big males born to Mollies tend to stay with the pack and others sees to join it.

To some degree the Cougar Creek and Gibbon Meadows Pack have become bison killers too.

Silver Gate man spends days recording wolf movements

Silver Gate man spends days recording wolf movements. By Brett French. Billings Gazette.

This story is about a great man almost every wolf watcher in Yellowstone Park soon meets, Ranger Rick McIntyre.

Kathie Lynch: Yellowstone wolf report. July 11-Aug. 20, 2008

Below is Kathie Lynch’s detailed wolf report for the end of the summer. It sounds like the return of the Druids must have been one of the most amazing wildlife sights wolf watchers in Yellowstone have ever witnessed.

Yellowstone wolf report. July 11-Aug. 20. By © Kathie Lynch

Summer in Yellowstone meant hot, windy days, smoky skies, and early rising for wolf watchers, as the best viewing often occurred from 5-9 a.m. After the Druid Peak pack’s move to their rendezvous on July 8-10, we wondered if we would have any wolves to watch, but the Slough Creek pack saved the day.

The Sloughs put on an especially great show for about a week in early August as they fed on not one, but two, bison carcasses in Little America. The first bull died after getting gored in the side by another bull during the rut. He fell less than 200 yards north of the road and in plain view from the Pond pullout. For over a week, thrilled visitors thronged to the area to watch wolves and bears alternate feeding on the carcass, illuminated by the early morning light of the full moon.

Druid pups cause great excitement crossing Soda Butte Creek

This is another great report by Kathie Lynch.

Unfortunately, it looks like wolf watching in the Park might now be pretty slow until autumn.

Ralph Maughan

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Yellowstone wolf field notes, July 8 -10. By © Kathie Lynch

The Druid Peak pack finally moved their pups to their rendezvous site! The action happened over three evenings, July 8-10, to the delight of the overflow crowd of watchers in the Footbridge turnout, at the south end of the Soda Butte Valley.

With all of the confusion of pups running helter skelter and struggling to swim Soda Butte Creek, we are still unsure as to exactly how many Druid pups there are. While the highest count by the Wolf Project plane was 14, watchers think there are perhaps as many as18 pups, or maybe even more. With 16 adults, and, hopefully, good pup survival, the Druids are definitely back!

Results of 2008 Yellowstone wolf radio collaring

Every year I have published the detailed results of the annual radio collaring of Yellowstone wolves — wolf number, color, weight, pack, the status of the wolf (such as alpha male).

I was slow to do it this year. Those of you who prompted me to get to it . . . thank you!

Here is a pdf file I converted from a spreadsheet.

Wolf radio collaring data for Yellowstone Park, 2008

There don’t seem to be any of those legendary 200 pound “Canadian” monsters of anti-wolf legend. Most of the wolves are 90-100 pounds (note: a kilogram – 2.2 pounds).

Two wolves were 55 kilograms (about 120 pounds). One of these was amazing Yellowstone Delta wolf 126F, the alpha female and one of the oldest wolves in the Park.

The Hayden Pack’s famous “black pup” had grown to 110 pounds by the time he was captured and weighed.

Kathie Lynch: Druid Pups and interesting Hayden/Canyon news

Kathie Lynch is spending the summer in Yellowstone. This is her first report of the summer. The Druid pups have finally been seen, and there are at least nine.

Ralph Maughan

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YNP WOLF Notes, June 16-July 5, 2008
By © Kathie Lynch

Yellowstone’s late spring rain and snow finally gave way to sunny summer skies in mid June. While the glowing green hills sparkled with a spectacular patchwork of wildflowers, raging rivers and muddy creeks spilled over their banks. An unbelievably beautiful carpet of yellow dandelions, studded with peacefully grazing bison, spread across the Lamar Valley floor. Wildlife watchers reveled in the renewal of life as they waited eagerly for news and glimpses of wolf pups.

Leopold Pack has 18 – 24 pups!

Pup counts are coming in from Yellowstone Park, but slowly because of the long cold wet season.

I thought perhaps 2008 might be another pup crash year because the Slough Creek Pack had a number of apparently pregnant females yet has only one surviving pup. Moreover no pups have been seen yet with the Druids.

On the other hand pups have been seen with Oxbow and Agate. The Leopolds might have as many as 24 pups! These pups clearly are from multiple litters because they are of differing sizes. No more than 18 pups have been seen at once, but photographic studies of the Leopold Pack show as many as 24 different pups.

All of the other packs seem to have denned, but pups have not been seen yet due to the long spell of bad weather which will probably rejuvenate the Park after a decade of drought.

There are no new packs, but two possible ones, both Leopold split-offs — the “469 group,” seen most recently in Swan Lake Flats and the “470F group,” which has no radio collars.

Mollies Pack has occupied the former territory of the Hayden Pack and are seen a lot further south in Hayden Valley as well as the Pelican.

The Hayden Pack is near Hebgen Lake, outside the Park. The wolf that was recently shot by Montana FWP near West Yellowstone after numerous close approaches to people and buildings had the coloration of a Hayden Pack wolf (light), but was not with the pack. It might have been an odd lone wolf from who knows where, but suspicion is that it was a dispersed Hadyen. I understand a tissue sample was taken to determine the matter.

Yellowstone Road Crews Struggle with Late Season Snow Storms

News release from Yellowstone Park. Yellowstone Road Crews Struggle with Late Season Snow Storms.

Doug Smith told me today that he had never seen so much water in the Park’s backcountry. The Yellowstone Delta’s den site, which is in the River delta, is basically a swim-to den, and would be flooded with any more rise of the Yellowstone River.

Kathie Lynch: Numerous pregnant Slough females, but just one pup

Kathie Lynch just wrote another of her popular reports on Yellowstone wolves. Very few pups have been seen so far. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there, but in the case of the Slough Creek Pack, they aren’t there.

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Copyright © by Kathie Lynch. May 30, 2008

Every living thing awakened to the glory of springtime in Yellowstone over Memorial Day weekend. From the green, green grass and aspens just starting to sprout new leaves to a playful little wolf pup and the charm of frisky, newborn bison calves, spring has definitely sprung!

The Slough Creek pack provided the main entertainment as they happily tended what appears to be their only pup. Although a second pup had previously been seen, it has not appeared recently and may not have survived. The whole scenario is mysterious because three Slough females (alpha 380F, beta 526F, and “Hook”) had all appeared to have been pregnant and lactating. We will probably never know what happened to the rest of the pups, if there ever were more.

Haydens leave Yellowstone . . . more Park wolf news.

Because people know their story and have seen them so often, the fate of the Hayden wolf pack is of general interest to those who follow the Yellowstone Park wolves. It looks like their future, however, will not be in the Park, perhaps due to too much competition from other wolves. They were last located near Virginia City, Montana — miles to the northwest of the Park.

All of the Park packs are believed to have denned, although the two most remote packs, the Delta Pack and the Bechler Pack have not been located. At the end of 2007, to the surprise of everyone, the Delta Pack turned out to be the largest in the Park. It could be that they are to the south of the Park in the Teton Wilderness where low elevation air flights are not legal.

So far visual sightings of pups have been made of two packs — Oxbow and Slough Creek.

Two Druid wolves that had lost most of the fear of people where shot with rubber bullets this week. They had passed within a couple feet of people and were lingering around the road at the base of Druid Peak. They were not hurt, but now cross the road with dispatch.

It’s my view that cracker shells and rubber bullets are the best way to educate wolves, although the later are a good deal more difficult to use (the ranger was a good shot).

This is the second time over the years that Druid wolves have needed this kind of education. The cracker-shelling back about four? years ago permanently stopped those wolves from lingering along the road.

Don’t Help….Yellowstone geotourism map

National Geographic Society’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, in partnership with several conservation and tourism organizations (click here to see full list ), most notably Wyoming Travel and Tourism have launched a giant “geotourism” program for the Greater Yellowstone Region (click here for the main page of the project website). The effort is intended to “celebrate and help sustain the world-class natural and cultural heritage” of the Greater Yellowstone region (click here for the press release).

The project’s centerpiece is, “a community based process will create a National Geographic ‘Geotourism MapGuide’ for the region centered on Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and including communities and private and public lands in the three partner states.” In sum, National Geographic and their partners intend to give Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho an economic shot in the arm, in the form of well-heeled tourists, many from Europe, visiting the Greater Yellowstone region. Clearly, these three states couldn’t be more deserving, right?

Wolf advocates barrage Wyoming gov’s office

Wolf advocates barrage Wyoming gov’s office. By Chris Merrill. Casper Star Tribune.

Wolf’s death stirs fears for species’ fate. Utahns mourn loss of 253M; advocates heat up criticism of delisting

Wolf’s death stirs fears for species’ fate. Utahns mourn loss of 253M; advocates heat up criticism of delisting. By Patty Henetz. The Salt Lake Tribune.

This is Patty Henetz’s second artice on 253.

I see she contacted a number of folks who post here.

YNP wolf packs are large and old versus other wolf packs

The great thing about Yellowstone Park wolf packs is that they are never “controlled.” The largest source of wolf mortality is other wolves. Yellowstone wolves don’t rely much on smaller prey like deer, and so we find large and complex wolf packs that show behavior not seen elsewhere.

This article in the JH News and Guide is about these big YNP wolf packs. YNP wolf packs large, old versus other wolves. By Cory Hatch.
Regarding USFWS biologist Mike Jimenez’s comments that “smaller packs do just fine anyway,” it depends on what you are interested in.

We want to be able to study wolves in a natural setting, and Yellowstone Park may not be representative of how wolves behave naturally in other places. Yellowstone, for example, is not really very productive elk country. The large visible elk herds are the result of little human interference, just as are the large wolf packs.

– – – – –

I should add there there are some large and complex wolf packs in central Idaho. They are not systematically observed, with one exception.

2007 wolf report for the Northern Rockies is finally published

“Buffaloed” posted this information in an earlier thread, but so everyone interested can find it, here it the link to the 2007 Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery 2007 Interagency Annual Report.

I suppose this will be the last federal report one unless delisting is set aside. Each state might produce one each year in the future (at least I think it likely and it is certainly desirable).

We must howl to Congress to keep the green fire glowing

Opinion in the Seattle Times. By Brenda Peterson.

Major guest opinions like this are very helpful reminding Americans and others why the wolves were restored and what is at stake with state management.

Kathie Lynch reports on the wolf dating scene in Yellowstone Park

Here is another of Kathie’s Yellowstone wolf reports. For me these are a great antidote for all the bad news outside the Park.

The wolves’ season of romance (excuse me, “mating season”) is much more complex and extravagant than biologists used to think.

Ralph Maughan

__________________

YNP WOLF Field Notes, Feb. 16-24, 2008
By © Kathie Lynch

Two hundred and twenty six wolves in nine days—that’s an average of 25 wolves per day! From February 16-24, 2008, Yellowstone treated wolf watchers to a veritable bonanza of wolves—I saw an incredible 44 on my best day! Nowhere else in the world offers such a fantastic opportunity to share the lives of wolves in the wild.

The breeding season in February draws wolves from near and far. It always amazes me how they just seem to appear and then disappear. Interloping males materialize to try to lure females out of their packs, and females try to sneak away to rendezvous for a day or two. New groups may form for a few days and then just dissolve away.

Some great Druid photos

http://www.yellowstone.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17534

Some Yellowstone Park wolf news

Although I expect Kathie Lynch may soon have a detailed report, I got information about a few items today.

The Bechler Pack of SW Yellowstone (the only pack down there) was finally seen. It had eleven members and was several miles south of the Park near the Idaho/Wyoming border. While they will go back to the Park, this points out a serious problem with Wyoming wolf management, the Bechlers, a Yellowstone Park wolf pack could be shot during a Wyoming trophy hunt season when they leave the Park as many Park packs sometimes do.

There has been a pretty wild mating season, with a lot of cross pack mating. In a first, an alpha male (of the Leopold’s 534M) was seen mating with the beta female of the rival Agate Pack (471F). He had already mated with his “mate,” the Leopold alpha female.

302M has left the Druids, at least temporarily, and is probably doing his favorite thing, searching for love.

Genetic research by Dan Stahler, and others,* has shown that the Park wolves have gone to great lengths (although I doubt they are thinking of genetic diversity as they check each other out) to avoid inbreeding.

The Haydens might have found a new home range. It is the territory left abandoned as the new Swan Lake Pack disintegrated — from Mammoth, north to Norris Geyser Basin. Two of the five Hayden’s got radio collars — the new adult male of the pack, who will be 639M and the well known black pup, who is now 638M. Dan Stahler finds the black pup very ineresting in that his is likely the son of the pack’s former beta or subordinate female and a black interloper. If he came from the alpha pair, he should be gray or light gray like the other 2 surviving pups.

Recently a Druid pup, among other Druids was radio collared. While still somewhat under the effect of the drug, two gray wolves, unseen by the darters and collarers, came down, and one tried to attack the pup. The pup is apparently not hurt and is seen looking perfectly fit now among the rest of the Druids.

___________

* The genealogy and genetic viability of  reintroduced Yellowstone Gray Wolves.  Molecular Ecology (2007).  Bridgett M. Vonholdt, Daniel R . Stahler, Douglas W. Smith, Dent A. Earl, John P. Pollinger, and Robert K. Wayne

A Winter’s Tale (about wolf watching and Druid wolf 302M)

There haven’t been as many stories in the MSM the last few years about the Yellowstone wolves. Instead the stories have been about how the states are going to get “management flexibility” so they can stop using a variety of methods of management and just kill them.

Today, however, the Jackson Hole Star Tribune has a great story about the Druids and especially famous wolf 302M. The tables have turned on him after 5-6 years from when he was the interloper to now when he chases and attacks the young males who come courting Druid females.

A Winter’s Tale.  By Wes Smalling. Jackson Hole Star Tribune.

Yellowstone Park wolves. Mange is showing up (and more news)

Here is the latest update on the wolves of Yellowstone Park. As usual there is a lot of news, especially interesting to those who follow the Park wolves closely.

Perhaps most important, however, is that the non-native parasitic mange infestation has finally spread from either Wyoming, or more likely Montana into the Park.

The first mangy wolf was discovered last year, a member of Mollies Pack who was old and soon died.

The closest source of mange outside the Park has always been from Gardiner, MT north, especially the Paradise Valley where many packs have battled mange. Just last week two mangy wolves in the area were put down. Of this, Ed Bangs wrote in his weekly wolf update report,

On the 24th, MFWP responded to a call of a sick wolf hanging out near a livestock feedlot in Paradise Valley, MT. The wolf was bedded in a stackyard and was extremely mangy. It was euthanized and found to be a disperser from Yellowstone Park’s Leopold pack.

On the 25th, MFWP set up over a mile of fladry around a calving pasture in the 8-Mile pack’s territory in Paradise valley. The wolves have been frequenting this area and the producer had started calving. Cracker shells were also issued and the producer will randomly fire these off during his night checks. The producer has also reported seeing a mangy collared wolf sleeping in his haystacks. The collar does not seem to be working.

On the 30th MFWP/MT WS euthanized a mangy wolf seeking refuge in a hay barn in Paradise Valley, MT. The collar was not working but the serial number indicated it was once a member of the Swan Lake pack (205M).

Uphill to the south inside the Park, several mangy wolves have been hanging out in the Mammoth area. In fact, mange is suspected as a possible reason why the new wolf pack that formed last winter in the Swan Lake flat/Gardiner’s Hole area fizzled.

Mangy wolves are susceptible to dying from the cold, which is why they are often found seeking shelter in barns. It is thought, but not proven, that very cold weather and, thus altitude, will limit the spread of mange deep into the Park.

A starving mangy wolf a few miles west of Tower Junction. Photo Jan. 2008. Copyright and courtesy Matt and Sarah Lewis. Apparently the wolf looked much worse from the rear.

The first phase of the winter study and wolf radio collaring is over. There are some surprising results.

Haydens near Mammoth

I haven’t gathered any news about Yellowstone Park wolves lately due to pressing controversies, but Kathie Lynch told me that the surviving Haydens were seen about a month ago near the high bridge east of Mammoth — “1 gray adult, 2 gray pups, and everybody’s favorite black pup.”

I’ll try to get some news soon.

Wyoming state wolf rules go to public

State wolf rules go to public. By CHRIS MERRILL. Casper Star-Tribune environment reporter.

Of course Wyoming’s wolf plan is terrible and will result in the elimination of most packs except those inside Yellowstone Park. This would only happen under the Bush Administration.

They will be shooting wolves because the wolves will come to their disease-spreading elk feedgrounds and chase the elk. The result will be packs that spend most of their time inside Grand Teton and maybe even Yellowstone being wiped out so that Wyoming can keep pitching hay to their semi-domesticated elk.

Irony is the wolves are probably the only thing in Wyoming actively severing to deter the spread of chronic wasting disease between ungulates.

The plan also has an incredibly high subsidy to livestock producers who lose livestock to wolves — payment of many times the value of the dead calf, lamb, foal, etc. This creates an incentive for the livestock producer to turn in falsified reports. This has already happened with their extra generous grizzly bear livestock compensation subsidy. This is a twist that even Idaho’s bad plan does not take.

Are wolves or climate change bringing back the willows [in Yellowstone]?

This is from Rocky Barker’s blog today. Idaho Statesman.

I’ve been aware for some time that not everyone believes the now readily apparant (and predicted) spurt of growth of willows, aspen, and cottonwood on the Northern Range of Yellowstone is not a wolf upon elk effect.

I think it could be both wolves and a warming climate, not just one or the other. However, research on willow growth changes outside the Park needs to be done. It needs to be done in areas without wolves and finally in areas with wolves that are not inside Yellowstone Park or directly adjacent.

Drought is wolves’ ally in hunt for park elk.

Drought is wolves’ ally in hunt for park elk. Lack of precipitation is a big factor in Yellowstone’s declining wapiti numbers. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.

“The range [condition] in Yellowstone going into this winter is the worst I’ve ever seen,” Smith said.

Kathie Lynch reports on the Druids and Sloughs as mating season nears

Kathie Lynch has another of her great northern range wolf reports. This one focuses on the fast approaching mating season, a time of year when new bonds are temporarily, and sometimes permanently formed, and as it has been discovered in recent genetic research on the Yellowstone wolves, there is much outbreeding from many packs (and no inbreeding). Ralph Maughan

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YNP WOLF Notes, December 22-29, 2007. By Kathie Lynch. Copyright.

The 16 wolves of the Druid Peak pack put on a great show over the holidays. The cast of characters includes the alpha pair (480M and 569F), plus everyone’s favorite beta male (302M). There are six yearling females (three grays: 571F, “High Sides,” and “Low Sides”—nicknamed for the depth of the dark saddle markings on their backs, and three blacks: “Bright Bar,” “Dull Bar,” and “Vertical Line”—nicknamed for their white chest markings). There are also four gray and three black pups.

Even though it is still a month before the breeding season, there is already a lot of jockeying for dominance position in the packs and interest in checking out the opposite sex. With six female yearlings who will be ready to breed for the first time in February, the Druids are already attracting a lot of attention.

Federal Officials Embrace Wyoming Wolf Killing Plan

There have been a number of stories on this. Here is the view of Earth Justice, who might possibly represent any litigants of the killing plan.

Many Wyoming politicians have long tried to confine nature to Yellowstone Park, and they are succeeding, and the rest of the wide open spaces are being industrialized for oil, gas, and coal.

Federal Officials Embrace Wyoming Wolf Killing Plan. Earth Justice. Press Release.

Haydens probably down to three wolves

Tom Mazzarisi, ranger at Madison in YNP told me that things have not gone well for the 5 remaining Haydens who had been hanging out in the Madison River since being attacked and driven from the Canyon area by the larger Mollies Pack.

He told me something I didn’t know — last winter they spent much of their time in the Madison River area. So it is only natural that the one remaining Hayden adult led the 4 remaining pups to the Madison after being attacked by the Mollies.

The Madison isn’t safe country, however. Some believed they would be attacked by the nearby Cougar Creek Pack, but instead it appears they were attacked by the much larger Gibbon Pack which recently moved up through the area and back into the Gibbon Meadows area. Now it looks like the Haydens are down to three — the adult female, a gray pup and the black pup (who has become pretty large and an effective hunter).

They were last spotted near Old Faithful and moving south toward Craig Pass .

More on the Idaho wolf that went to Yellowstone

It turns out to be true, but the identification of the particular wolf was wrong. Ed Bangs just sent this info out. The boldface is mine:

“Correction- The frequency for the collared Idaho wolf in Yellowstone NP thought to be B195 is actually coming from Idaho wolf B271M. The two wolves had frequencies close to one another and B271 was mistaken for B195. Turns out B195 has a bob-tail and this one doesn’t so the mistake was eventually discovered by Niemeyer [former FWS and now IDFG]. B271 is currently with a dispersing female from Slough Creek Pack on the northern range of YNP- possibly the beginning of a new pack. B271’s story is amazing. B271’s father is highly likely R241M (who dispersed to ID from YNP; heli-darted 10/13/01 near Dome Mtn.). His mother is likely B189F (origin unknown). B271 was trapped in rubber-jawed McBride #7 by IDFG near the Steel Mt. pack den site (Lost Man Ck.; Boise NF) on 5/3/06. He was estimated as ~ 1 yr. old at that time; so if born in 2005 he belonged to a litter of 4-7 pups. He was aerially located 10 times prior to disappearing from ID following the 12/19/06 flight. His ear tags are both 413. Wow- the son returns to his father’s homeland.”

See earlier story I wrote on this. A First. Idaho Wolf goes to Yellowstone Park, joins Sloughs. Nov. 16. 2007

Dr. Jon Way reports on he and his students’ trip to Yellowstone wolf country

Jon Way just got back from Yellowstone, and he has a report on some of the same events covered by Kathie Lynch. He also has photos.

It is at his web page: Update November 28, 2007: Yellowstone trip with more pictures added Nov. 29!

Yellowstone wolf notes. Kathie Lynch Nov. 21-25

Kathie Lynch has written another great update on her wolf observations on the Yellowstone Park Northern Range. Ralph Maughan

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Yellowstone wolf notes. Nov. 21-25. Copyright Kathie Lynch.

Five days in Yellowstone, November 21-25, 2007, brought unbelievably frigid temperatures and many, many wolves. Frost was definitely on the Thanksgiving pumpkin in Lamar Valley, with a dawn temperature of minus 20 F! I don’t think it got above zero at all on Thanksgiving Day, but, by 4 p.m., it had warmed all the way up to minus one!

My first day in the park started off with unexpected excitement in Little America as at least seven Agate Creek wolves, with tails flying high, barreled full blast south toward the road at the Lamar Bridge in pursuit of three members of the (unofficially named) “Silver” pack. The silver alpha female and the other two adults, one black and one gray, made it safely across the road to the south, and the Agates returned to the north.

A lone black howler, probably a “Silver” pack pup, cried its heart out nearby, but we didn’t see the “Silver” pack adults again, and the pup also disappeared. This small pack of six seems to have carved out a tenuous home in the Little America area, somehow sandwiched between the Agates, Oxbows, Sloughs and Druids.

Day number two was my first of two three-pack days, with the Druids, Sloughs, and Agates all making appearances. The Druids had to be admired from afar as they stood silhouetted in the early morning sunlight atop snowy Amethyst Peak, high above the Lamar Valley.

The Agates and Sloughs were destined to be the stars that day. Not too far south of the road from the Slough Creek parking lot/outhouse lay what appeared to be a small bison carcass, cause of death unknown. Ten coyotes were gathered around, happily enjoying a Thanksgiving feast. Nearby, a grizzly roamed the Crystal Creek drainage, perhaps having had one last snack before finding a nice warm den for the winter.

Earlier in the day, we had seen 13 Agates (nine grays, three blacks, and the black-turning-silver alpha 472F) bedded in the sage and then howling south of the road in Little America. We lost sight of them, but eventually picked them up again to the east of the Crystal Creek drainage, south of Slough Creek. All of a sudden, they broke into a run and arrived at the possible bison carcass, sending those wily coyotes scattering in all directions.

The Agates fed on the carcass for about an hour, finishing up with a nice rally and group howl. As they headed back to the west, a mighty chorus of howls rose up from behind the ridge near Dave’s Hill. We swung our scopes around to see the absolutely unforgettable sight of 16 Sloughs cresting the ridge. The 13 blacks looked like an advancing army as they rushed forward, fanned out in a united front to stand at attention and issue their challenge to the retreating Agates. Across the road, the outnumbered Agates made a silent getaway into the trees and disappeared to the west without answering the Sloughs.

The next morning found the Sloughs on a bull elk carcass near the Slough Creek campground/trailhead. The carcass was at the edge of the trees, and it was really hard to see the wolves clearly, but there seemed to 13 or so, including the pack’s three grays (the three-year-old female “Sharp Right” and two pups).

The Slough pack technically numbers 18 right now, but there are a couple of variables. The four-year-old Slough, 527F, sometimes travels alone and is often not with the Sloughs. However, she is still very much a part of the pack and was with them when they challenged the Agates on Nov. 22. She may, however, be getting ready to disperse, as she has recently been seen in the company of the mysterious “Idaho Wolf,” who may or may not be Idaho B195M. Although his collar frequency matches, the gray in Yellowstone does not have a bobbed tail, while Idaho B195M supposedly does. Regardless, it would be nice if 527F could hook up with this beautiful collared gray (who was previously so content with the Sloughs until he left the pack when the new alpha male took over in September).

Note: about this, check out this more recent story. He is an Idaho wolf, but not wolf B195M. . . . Ralph Maughan

The other variable is that one Slough black pup has not been seen recently. It may have been another victim of the Druids’ attack on Nov. 17, when they killed the uncollared two-year-old Slough female, “Slant.” A sleek, dark black wolf, “Slant” had endured so much in her way too short life. She was one of only three Slough survivors of the disease epidemic that killed most of the pups in 2005. A year later, she endured the siege by the Unknowns, trapped inside the den hole for days. Slant quite likely was a mother this year, so hopefully her indomitable spirit will live on in another shiny black pup.

My fourth day was another three pack day with the Sloughs close by and still at Slough Creek on their elk carcass, 16 Druids sky high and way, way, way far away up on the Cache/Calfee ridge, and 17 Oxbows way, way, way far away on a carcass up the Hellroaring slope. I think my total viewing distance for the Druids and Oxbows was about seven miles!

The last day brought a chance to see “The Jasper Male,” an uncollared black who frequents Lamar. He was alone and looking for morsels on an old carcass in Lamar. Sometimes he is in the company of a small, lovely gray female. They seem to have found a way to survive in the Jasper Bench area, but they will need to be especially wary now that the Druids are back in Lamar.

The big treat on my last day was a close up view of all 16 Druids! They started off the morning in the Rose Creek area, north of the road near the Buffalo Ranch, and proceeded west into the heart of Slough territory. Eventually, they got so far to the north and west that we had to go to Long Pullout in Little America and look back to the northeast to see them.

After finding the Sloughs not at home (they were up Slough Creek to the north) and chasing a couple of elk, the Druids stayed on the north side of the road and returned to Lamar. I never expected them to cross the road in plain view, but that’s just what they did, right between the Fisherman’s and Coyote turnouts!

They were funny in their different approaches to crossing the road. Some ran down the hill at full speed and crossed like a shot; a black and a gray actually stood posed on opposite sides of the road like crossing guards; two others never did have the nerve to cross. Those two, a black pup and a gray yearling (who maybe got stuck baby-sitting the reluctant pup) stayed on the north side of the road and continued east. Eventually they safely joined the rest of their family in what I’m sure was a joyful reunion.

As we reunite with our own families over the holidays and take time to count our blessings, we surely must reflect on and be thankful for the gifts of inspiration and renewal of spirit that Yellowstone and the wolves have given to us!

P.S. I don’t have any news about the Haydens. With the roads to the interior closed to cars for the winter, we will have to wait until the roads open to snow coaches and snowmobiles in late December before park visitors have a chance of seeing them. It is still not known if the four grays and one black who have been seen (since the Mollies killed 540F and 541M on Oct. 30) are all pups or if one gray may be an adult. I can only hope for quick development of the amazing instinctive hunting behavior I saw as the pups playfully stalked ravens last July across from the Otter Creek picnic area. Winter in the interior is a battle to survive anyway, and the Haydens will have to contend with other nearby packs, including the Mollies and Cougar Creek. However, if a small group like the “Silver” pack can make it surrounded by rival packs, perhaps the Haydens can too. We can only hope.

Hayden Pack found near 7-mile Bridge!

The Haydens have largely survived are have been found nowhere near their old territory, where yesterday 15 !! Mollies were hanging out.

The remnants of the pack were near Sevenmile Bridge on the Madison River about 10 miles east of West Yellowstone. There were 5 Haydens spotted, the only clearly identified one was the black pup. There is probably one adult Hayden with them. So it seems the Mollies probably nailed one more adult Hayden and one pup, although perhaps they just dispersed elsewhere alone.

The Haydens are not home free, however. They are not far from the Cougar Creek Pack which holds down the territory north of Madison River between about Sevenmile Bridge and West Yellowstone.

Even more interesting, several Bechler wolves have moved way north of their territory in Bechler Meadows in the SW corner of the Park. They are probably dispersers from this rarely seen wolf pack, and one or more of them could hook up with the adult-poor Haydens.

This information came from Dan Stahler of the Yellowstone Park wolf team.

Druids retake Lamar from Sloughs. More Yellowstone Park wolf news from Kathie Lynch

YNP WOLF Field Notes, Nov. 10-12, 2007. Copyright Kathie Lynch.

“Quite a day!” is the only way to describe Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007—the day the Druid Peak pack took back Lamar Valley! Almost four years after the reign of the Druids started to unravel with the deaths of the great alphas 21M and 42F, the Druids are finally back home!

Early that morning, the entire pack of 16 Druids (eight blacks and eight grays) visited an old bull elk carcass near their former rendezvous site at the eastern end of Lamar. At the same time, the Slough Creek pack was on a new bull elk carcass across from the Buffalo Ranch, about a mile west of the Druids.

The Druids headed in the direction of the Sloughs, although they didn’t seem to be aware of the Sloughs’ presence at first. But then, the Druids’ tails went up, and with alphas 480M and 569F in the lead, the Druids went into full attack mode. Fifteen Druids (one gray had stayed to the east) descended upon the 18 Sloughs (16 blacks and two grays). The Sloughs scattered and ran for their lives, some to the southwest toward the river, some to the east, and some north toward the road.

Wolf story from Specimen Ridge

Most good wolf sightings are from the road in the Lamar Valley area. Wolves hear hikers and move out of sight, but not always. Trent Morrell sent me this most interesting account of a recent hike on Specimen Ridge in Yellowstone Park.

In early October, me and two of my friends traveled from Portland, Oregon to explore the Lamar Valley for three days of day hikes.

The first day, Friday 10/12/07, we chose to hike the Specimen Ridge Trail. We had hiked it the summer of 2006 and were looking forward to doing it in the fall.

As we climbed up the first mile, we saw over 100 elk hanging on the ridge line with many big bulls still bugling. Amped up, we continued to the top of the ridge glassing the elk frequently and listening to the never-ending bugles. Once on the ridge line, we followed the trail along the top admiring the huge elk antlers that had been shed. We saw more and more elk.

About three miles in from the trail head we rounded a corner to a flat point. Here we had a herd of about twenty elk about 40 yards at 12 o’clock, about fifty bison 250 yards below us in a meadow at 2 o’clock, about 20 bison 60 yards below us at 9 o’clock and next to them a herd of about twenty elk. In the area between the elk herd at 12 o’clock and the bison and elk herd at 9 o’clock was a thicket of trees. We had not even been there a minute when out of the thicket shot a wolf up a small hill and into the herd of elk at 12 o’clock. Then shot another wolf and another up into the elk. It was hard to tell, but at least six wolves came out of the thicket.

We watched in disbelief as two of the wolves separated a young cow elk from the herd and chased it down a hill to the bison at 2 o’clock. The young elk ran into the herd of bison. It ran back and forth from each side of the bison herd as the two wolves tried to get to it. The bison would not allow the wolves to get to the elk, but eventually the elk ran out of the herd of bison.

Haydens outrun Mollies! For now anyway.

This latest information again comes courtesy of Kim Kaiser who has been in contact with Leo Keeler who has been in the area. This is the email he got today. Thank you, Kim!

This will be about it for the year, because they will be closing the roads, so I hope they make it.

Keeler wrote:

This morning I found the Hayden pack near the road junction at Canyon. After seeing the old Beta, ­ now alpha ­ female and the 5 pups, I noticed the Molly pack coming out of the draw to the east ­ at full speed. The wolves of the Molly pack are significantly bigger than the Haydens, but the Haydens are much faster and they outran the Mollies.

The Molly pack remained in the area for about 20 minutes, checking for the scent markings of the Hayden’s. With the Molly wolves so focused on finding and catching the Hayden’s, the common belief is the only way the remaining Hayden’s can survive is to leave the area. When they leave, it will complete the takeover of their territory by the Molly pack.

I am saddened by the loss of viewing/photographing opportunities provided by the Haydens (likely the best in Yellowstone) and the take over of their territory by the Molly pack (the least seen group of wolves in Yellowstone). But as we all know, photographing opportunities change and in this case we can all be glad it is a natural change.

Unless something significant happens in the next two days, this will be my last post on the changing of territories by these wolves.

_________

Note: Keeler has a photo of the Mollies on the chase. However, to see it you have to register with NatureScapes.net

Three wolf packs in elk migration corridor probably set conditions for the Mollies/Hayden conflict

Earlier story: Mollies Pack kills Hayden alpha pair

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Dan Stahler of the Yellowstone Park wolf team told me today that Hayden, Mollies and Gibbon packs have all been in Hayden Valley the last weeks because it is a major elk migration corridor from summer range to the south to the northern range. The packs are well aware of this and show up every October.

He said about a week ago Bob Landis saw the Mollies chasing the Haydens. Mollies and Gibbon have also been howling back and forth a lot.

No one is known to have seen the actual attack.

The bleeding alpha female was spotted first. She retreated to the trees in a spot she knew was comfortable. Stahler spotted her body the next day from the air with ravens on it.

Wondering about the Hayden alpha male, he soon spotted him dead in Cascade Meadow. This is where the Haydens, at least probably the Haydens, had killed an elk. At the time a grizzly was on the carcass and now he has buried it. Also at the time Mollies Pack was only a mile away.

Reports are today Mollies is chasing the remaining Haydens and could finish them off.

Stahler did say, however, that if the Haydens survive the next while it is possible a Mollies wolf or two could come and join with the Haydens. He said there is pack aggressive behavior that often disappears when several weeks pass and the pack is more spread out. One or more wolves might then return and engage in quite different behaviors, such as join the pack.

Currently there are 8 Mollies being seen, although earlier this summer 9 adults were counted and 6 Mollies pups. Perhaps some dispersed or are simply not with the eight.

It is not hopeless for the Haydens if they are not killed today or the next several days.