Update on Greater Yellowstone wolves in Montana, outside of Yellowstone Park
I haven't done an update on the Montana wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem but outside of Yellowstone Park for a while, although some basic info is contained in the rather large report I did entitled "Brief, but complete update on wolf packs in the Northern Rockies" in August.
The packs or pairs in Montana's part of the GYE include the following:
1. Casey Lake, a split from the Sheep Mountain Pack. It's a new pack in the mountains just north and northeast of Gardiner, MT.
2. Sheep Mountain Pack, a long standing pack, the next pack to the north of Casey Lake (southern end of Paradise Valley and nearby mountains).
3. Mill Creek Pack in the middle part of the Paradise Valley, and up Mill Creek and surrounding drainages in the Absaroka Range of Montana.
4. Lone Bear Pack near the north end of Paradise Valley on Canyon Mountain and the northern end of the Gallatin Range.
5. Chief Joseph Pack, an original Yellowstone Park pack dating from 1996 (one of the reintroductions). The pack spends part of its time in Yellowstone and part roaming the Gallatin Range north of the Park and nearby drainages such as the Taylor Fork of the Gallatin. This summer, in particular, they have favored the Taylor Fork, which is west of the very NW corner of the Park.
6. Mission Creek Pack at the very north of the Absaroka Range, east of Livingston. It isn't clear when Mission Creek first formed. There were rumors for several years before a pack was found.
7. Freezeout Pack, the largest of the packs at present, in the Gravelly and Snowcrest ranges, which are well to the west of Yellowstone.
8. Red Rock pair or pack, status unclear, near the Red Rocks Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Elk Lake, Wade Lake, Cliff Lake, and maybe the West Fork of the Gallatin. If it still exists, this is a new pack.
9. The Bear Creek Pack in the Madison Range is a new pack and inhabits the same territory as the extinct Sentinel Pack which was killed off by government control and mange.
10. Moccasin Lake Pack which is a new pack the East Boulder River area between Livingston and Red Lodge.
11. Phantom Pack, which is a new pack west of, but closer to Red Lodge than the Moccasin Lake Pack.
12. Red Lodge, a black and a gray wolf were discovered a month ago on Mount Maurice. They killed a cow calf. Wildlife Services tried to collar them, but no success.
Mount Maurice is famous in wolf history because back in 1995 famous wolf 9F had her litter of 7 wolves on Mount Maurice at the same time as her mate 10M was illegally killed by Chad McKittrick near the northeast side of the mountain. She and her 7 pups were found and sent back to Yellowstone and formed the Rose Creek Pack, which was the dominant Yellowstone Park pack until the Druids finally expanded. Her genes are in many of the ecosystem's wolves today. Joe Fontaine, who actually found the pups after 9F had moved them, still roams Montana <g>News-
The Moccasin Lake, Lone Bear and Phantom Packs are in a lot of trouble due to livestock depredations.
Lone Bear has repeatedly killed sheep this year and last year on several sheep pastures. Current efforts are to collar a pack member, but if that is not successful efforts will be to kill 2 or 3 members of the pack leaving with it with just 2 or 3 members. So far, according to news reports, Defenders of Wildlife have compensated two brothers about $10,000 for wolf-inflicted sheep losses. In past the pack has also had some mange problems, although their health status this year is not yet known.
Phantom Lake appears slated for extermination because of repeated attacks on livestock, but it has been very difficult to collar them. Collaring is necessary before effective action is taken because there might a new wolf pair or group that is doing the killing rather than the Phantom Pack itself. Maybe "Phantom" is a good name.
The Moccasin Lake Pack has repeated killed livestock too, and the landowner has a shoot-on-sight permit.
The now small Sheep Mountain Pack had 3 members removed this earlier year, including the alpha female 334F (formerly thought to been the alpha male). She was the main pack member initiating cow calf predation.
The Mill Creek Pack has killed some sheep too as it has in years past. The pack has been quite small (after control in years past), but this year the potential for growth is large with 3-4 adults and 7 pups. The sheep grower has a shoot-on-sight-permit.
The new Casey Lake Pack has not been in trouble with livestock. It was founded when a dispersing Druid male 219M got together with a Sheep Mountain female. They had 5 pups, but one dead pup was picked up today. It had been dead for several weeks, and its body scavenged -- just a skull and legs remained, but significantly it had been infested with mange.
The Chief Joseph Pack had done no more than chase a few cattle (common stuff over the years), but it is the first Yellowstone Park pack known to have mange (actually it's a semi-Park pack).
There has been no confirmed depredations of livestock from the Mission Creek Pack, although perhaps a reported chase.
It is not clear if the Red Rocks pack or pair had pups, or even if it still exists. Earlier I reported that the wolf range riders had kept this pack away from livestock, but now it might have been the Freezeout Pack or yet other wolves.
A sheep herder in the Gravelly Range on a remote Forest Service allotment (5 miles from a road) had his sheep band tested by wolves on August 29th, but the herder and dogs drove the wolves off. The next night the wolves came back and killed his border collie. His guard dog was badly wounded and disappeared. Wildlife Services went to the location, and confirmed the wolf attack and a dead herding dog. No sheep were killed either night. Joe Fontaine expressed an opinion that the attack might have been more of a canine versus canine fight than anything about sheep. Perhaps the sheep were moved to the pack's rendezvous site. Wildlife Services tried to trip some wolves, but the Freezeouts moved far away.
Val Asher of TESF reported to me that her general impression is that livestock depredations in the total GYE Montana area about typical this year, but there might well be an increase in mange. Fontaine said he thought it would take a cold and long winter to reduce the mange problem in the wolves. Cold winters reduce the mange mite activity and freeze the wolves with mange.
There are newspaper reports in Montana of what I'll call some "yellin' guys" who have lost some livestock, but how much they yell and the actual number lost to wolf predation on their livestock seems to be only weakly related, in my opinion. My personal view is I favor those who ask for a shoot-on-site-permit more than those who shoot off their mouths to politicians.
This information came from conversations with Val Asher, and Joe Fontaine, newspaper reports, and news released officially by the USFWS. Other than those opinions directed attributed, the opinions above are mine (such as those about the yellin' guys).
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