USFWS wolf manager Mike Jimenez told me about this about 3 weeks ago. My apologies for the tardy story on the discovery of a large wolf pack, consisting mostly of pups, in the upper Green River Basin near Daniel up against and on the Wyoming Range.
First official indications of wolves in the area came in mid-August when about 15 sheep showed up dead in the South Fork of Horse Creek (Wyoming Range). Suspicion was wolves and in fact 2 were caught, but died of hyperthermia while being collared in the mid-summer heat. After the unfortunate loss of the 2 wolves, traps were pulled, although it was suspected from one to 3 more adults wolves were in the area. Wolf managers know sedating and "processing" wolves without injury or death is chancy in hot weather.
In early September a dead heifer may have been killed by wolves, and trapping yielded 4 pups, each about 60 pounds. More pups and adults were counted in the area, finally a grand total of 16 wolves were counted -- 10 gray and 6 black. Before the incident of mid-August the Daniel Pack must have had 18 members.
Because of the large number of pups, ten I believe, Jimenez thinks it is a double litter; but there have been reports of more than one wolf in the area before this year, so it could be a pack in its second year. Given all the Teton Pack wolves this dispersed last winter, perhaps some of those joined this pack.
The details are left to figure out.
Meanwhile the sheep will soon be out of the area and the cattle off the public lands soon.
I spent a week in the area the summer before last. The area is targeted for gas extraction, probably of the most destructive sort (sour gas and coal bed methane). I wanted to see it before it was ruined. It is most interesting country - full of elk, deer, and antelope in high elevation sagebrush steppe, merging with the not-very-steep east slope of the Wyoming Range. This sedimentary range is dwarfed by the Wind Rivers 40 miles across the basin to the east, but as you enter the aspen groves, leaving the sagebrush you are amazed to note you are at 7500 feet elevation (2286 meters).
I'm not sure if many livestock winter in the area on private land due to severe winter conditions. However, last winter a group of wolves, probably these, repeatedly chased the elk off the Horse Creek elk feedlot. Hopefully they will do this again, helping defeat Wyoming's dangerous (risk of disease) elk feeding policies by chasing the elk away this winter too.
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