Yesterday Ed Bangs said he wouldn't be surprised if the Nez Perce Pack just suddenly showed up back in their home range, and today's flight by Doug Smith found the core of the pack near West Thumb by Yellowstone Lake.

Update 11-19-2001. Seventeen (17) Nez Perce pack members were observed at Old Faithful on 11-16.

One radio-collared pack member was located not too far away in the Pelican Valley.  This leaves 10 or 11 other Nez Perce members, including one radio collar, unaccounted. Because uncollared wolves are hard to find from the air in timbered country, they may be nearby, or maybe not.

Bangs speculated the pack had made a big half circle around the exterior boundary of Yellowstone and returned to their home range.

Meanwhile (on 11-15), all of the Druid Pack, has disappeared. Smith flew all the places the Druids have ever been known to visit and they were not detected.

It is possible that prey is getting a bit hard to catch, and the wolves are searching. This is hardest time of the year for wolves because their prey is well fed and fast and the wolves have big pups with a large appetite, but with no hunting skills.

11-19-2001. The Druids returned on 11-16 and a group of 17, a second group of 12 and various scattered pack members were observed in their home range.

Regarding these unusual movements, the USFWS wrote on 11-19 "Some speculate that the drought condition, i.e., no snow and possibly poor forage condition have affected elk movements and groupings, and prime ungulate condition this time of year, and large pack size may be making it tough for these bigger packs (Nez Perce +20 and Druid up to 37) to feed themselves and they are exploring the area more. Since their movements are not limited in some directions (such as toward Ashton, ID) by neighboring packs, it is easy for them to take forays to new areas with little risk of territorial conflict. If nothing else, wolves make our lives more interesting because we get to wildly speculate about these types of natural ecological and social events."