The radio-collaring of the Yellowstone Wolves is going smoothly. Six new collars have been put on the Rose Creek Pack, four on the Leopold Pack, and three on the Druid Peak Pack, including a new collar for no. 21M, the new alpha male of the pack. There was also a new collar for no. 2M, the alpha male of Leopold. The only failure was with the Chief Joseph Pack which ran into heavy timber and stayed and stayed.
Doug Smith, head of the Yellowstone Wolf Team told me that they had deliberately avoided no. 9F, the famous alpha female of Rose Creek who is now 7 or 8 years old. In fact she would have done well regardless. When the helicopter came, all of the pack but her and one pup ran. She and the pup ducked into heavy timber. Wolves like her live long in part because they are smart. Smith said her formerly black coat is turning gray with age, and she is beginning to look like no. 13, "Old Blue," the alpha male of the Soda Butte Pack who died last winter, uncharacteristically for a wolf, from old age.
The Yellowstone wolves are growing very big due to the great abundance of prey. Smith estimated that the biggest wolf in the Park is probably no. 35M, the alpha male of the remote Thorofare Pack. He added that slain no. 38M had probably been the biggest, except for no. 28M who was shot illegally last winter west of Bozeman. Number 28 weighed 130 pounds when introduced. His thawed carcass was 140 pounds.
Speaking of the shooting of no. 38, Smith said some folks had thought the big alpha male might make it. The meat-droppings to the gunshot-injured wolf were fairly successful despite the flight in a light plane in high wind over rough country. No. 38 had been able to pull himself up out of the bottom of Hoodoo Creek to near the ridgeline.
The wolf team deserves a lot of credit, in my opinion, for trying to save no. 38. Hoodoo Creek is one deep gorge and the jagged peaks of the wintertime Absaroka are absolutely unforgiving. I asked him quite a bit about trying to save no. 38 because I had received a lot of email about it.
Even the pups-of-the-year are large. One of the pups in the Druid Peak Pack collared this week weighed 105 pounds! Two of the Leopold Pack pups were collared. They weighed 86 and 92 pounds respectively. A yearling from Leopold weighed 120 pounds.
Here are a few specifics about individual wolves and packs. The opinions expressed are my own.
Thorofare Pack
This remote pack had moved out of the Thorofare into Eagle Creek in the Washakie Wilderness for a couple weeks, but now they are back in the Thorofare -- Mountain Creek to be specific. As I mentioned, no. 35M of the pack is one big guy. He started out as the wolf brought from B.C. who quickly lost his first mate to a Park hot spring or geyser.Soda Butte Pack
It looks like the pack may not find Jackson Hole after all this winter. They have retreated from the Moran/Pacific Creek area and gone northward back to Heart Lake, the area which has been their range since October 1996.Washakie Pack
The Washakie Pack has finally moved out of the DuNoir and has been in the Tappen Creek/Brent Creek/Little Horse Creek area. This is winter range. Land ownership is mixed BLM, private, and Shoshone National Forest. It is also serious grizzly bear country. I almost jumped a griz there last June on his daybed in Brent Creek. He woofed and growled, and I back off very slowly.The White Wolf
It seems that almost everyone loves no. 39F, the "white wolf." Doug says she is now almost pure white, the only white wolf in the Park. He estimates her weight at about 120 pounds. Many of you probably read Kevin Sander's description of how no. 21M had dispersed from Rose Creek and was travelling with no. 39F near Cooke City when he apparently saw greater opportunity with Druid Peak which had just lost its two adult males to wolf killers in Crandall Creek outside the Park. Had they not been shot, I speculate no. 39 would have mated with no. 21. Let's hope Fish and Wildlife Service finds these criminals and asks for the severe punishment they truly deserve.Crystal Creek Pack
This pack is out of the Park to the east in a tributary of the North Fork of the Shoshone in the North Absaroka Wilderness. As far as I know they are first pack to explore this area.Number 16
After her injury last summer, probably from a vehicle, she now appears to be fully recovered. Number 16 is one of the remaining original pups of no. 9 and 10 of the original Rose Creek Pack. She is now almost three years old.In my opinion, the Park wolves are probably the best fed wolves in the United States. They are also helping the grizzly bear by providing (not by intent) extra animal protein. So they are helping move the griz off the threatened species list too. In the face of this success, Judge Downe's decision seems like such a pathetic miscarriage of justice. As cynics sometimes say, "no good deed goes unpunished.." As I have always said, protecting our natural heritage is 90% politics. We know what needs to be done. The trouble is there are groups and people in power who want to do the wrong things.
Please sign the wolf petition and complain to your elected officials. If you get time, write a letter on hard copy. Many politicians still don't believe an opinion is real unless you kill a tree to write down your views.
Email addresses for members of Congress and other officials.
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