A Yellowstone Glimpse – Day 4 – The Call of the Wild

Anyone who knows me knew I would start my day out where we had seen the Lamar Canyon Pack yesterday. Just as I was pulling in, a couple of wolf watcher friends were pulling out saying they had quickly scoped the area and hadn’t seen anything. I lingered in the area a bit hoping I would see something, but other than a couple of moose, nothing. I decided to make my way back to the west to see if anything was happening with any of the other wolf packs.

Not too far from where we saw the Lamars yesterday, two group guide vans were parked in a pullout with a couple of spotting scopes out. I pulled in behind them, and one of the guides came up to me and said they had the 3 Lamars in view – happy dance!

All 3 were bedded in plain view. After watching them for a while, someone spotted a carcass west of them just in the trees. They had probably been feeding on it overnight. They got up and slowly made their way through the deep snow back to the carcass. Several coyotes were in the area waiting their turn. Shortly after the Lamars got back to the carcass, something really scared them off – 926F bolted to the right, an Little T and Small Dot went left. We kept them in sight for a while, but eventually lost them in the trees.

They were eventually spotted again by someone at another pullout – 926F not with the other two. 926 crossed the road while Little T and Small Dot went the opposite way and back into the trees.

Then the symphony began. 926F bedded in plain sight high up on a hill and howled her heart out to her 2 pack mates. They would answer back. This went on for a couple of hours. It was incredible to hear so much howling for such a long time.

Eventually most people went home, but a few of us stayed figuring 926F might recross the road to join the others. She started down the hill and we lost her, but knew it best to let her cross the road with as little disturbance as possible. She popped up again on the other side of the road and slowly made her way back to Little T and Small Dot.

We stayed to watch the family reunion, and it was a beautiful sight to see – 926F and her daughter, Little T, have an incredibly strong bond.