The Teton Pack did finally den.

Update 5-17. Governor howls

5-3-2005

After thinking they might not den this year, today Mike Jimenez of USFWS confirmed that the Teton Pack did finally den on April 27 or 28. After following things, it looks to me that they are usually one of the last wolf packs in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem to den.

They denned at their usual location inside Grand Teton National Park. The alpha female 228F is in the den. Several of the pack have radio collars including the wolf that got the number 500M, a 2 year old male whom Jimenez recently captured and fitted with the GPS collar so that summer predation habits of the wolves can more easily be determined.

Presently the pack has 12 members at most. Two of the 12 are tending to wander as though they might disperse.

The pack still has the same alpha male that I ran into back in 2001. Then he was a big black wolf with a white patch. Jimenez say he still is, but not so black. They have never been able to radio him because he is very wary of helicopters and knows what to do as soon as he hears them. Doug Smith indicates in his recent book "Decade of the Wolf^{"[see note]}, that most wolves become much harder to dart from a plane the second time around. They learn fast, although alpha males tend to be a bit easier because they hesitate a bit as though they want to defend their territory. This Teton Pack alpha male must have learned even quicker.

Former Druid Wolf 253M ["Limpy"], the wolf who once went to Utah, and his two companions are still in the vicinity of the the National Elk Refuge in a place where there no roads and few people.  They have been localized for quite a while -- months -- so does this mean a den or just that they hang out where there is lots of food?

Jimenez speculated that Jackson Hole in this area may look a lot like the Lamar Valley to 253M. There is lots of wide open space, but also stringers of small streams, willows and cottonwoods, and lots of elk.  I have been out to this general location and I agree. It is far from the bustle of Jackson, the Jackson Hole Highway and the tourist traffic. It is not known if the 2 wolves with 253 are male or female, but Jimenez said they are visibly smaller than 253M, and so this is somewhat indicative of females.

In other Wyoming, non-Yellowstone Park wolf news, the latest Green River Pack, consisting of a Teton Pack disperser and two other wolves has denned.  Wolf packs have repeated formed in this area, only to be shot when the livestock move in.

There is a wolf pair far to the south of here, and they have probably denned. I head many reports where they were -- South Pass or near Farson, Wyoming, but the location is now clear to me, it is near the Prospect Mountains, an outlier of the great Wind River Range.

There were reports there are lots of domestic sheep in the area. This is not true, but it will soon be true. Presently there are just a few elk and lots of pronghorn.

I didn't ask Jimenez who the sheep owners were because USFWS doesn't release names, but newspaper accounts have indicated that Jim Magagna is one. Here is a bio on Magagna from Outside Magazine -- "Earth Shakers: The Counter-Enviro Power List: Jim Magagna: Executive Vice President, Wyoming Stock Growers Association." By Florence Williams. So things could get "fun" in a hurry.

This is the story that named the sheep growers who will be in the area: Wolves den on lambing ground.
By Cat Urbigkit. Star-Tribune correspondent. Jackson Hole Star Review.

Update 5-17-05. It didn't take long. "[Wyoming] Governor: Remove wolves from lambing ground." By Cat Urbigkit. Casper Star-Tribune correspondent. "Bangs said he doesn't believe that wolves on a lambing ground is unique, citing numerous other examples in Montana and Idaho, all of which involved instances of wolves preying on sheep and the eventual removal of some of the wolves." Bangs is right, but he is also wrong. These may not be special wolves, but they are special ranchers.

Jimenez also said the Carter Mountain Pack, west of Meeteetse has denned, and probably the Sunlight Basin Pack and the Washakie Pack as well. They are east and southeast of Yellowstone Park. There are no collars on the remote Beartooth Pack to the NE of the Park.

Jimenez did collar a wolf in the Gooseberry Creek area. He has been numbered 501M. This is the general area of last year's Owl Creek Pack, where was gunned down mostly by the government after repeatedly  killing livestock in the Wood River area south of Meeteetse, WY. 501M has been reportedly seen in the company of other wolves, although they don't seem to have settled yet into a specific area, although reports are sketchy.

So this is interesting stuff, although the truly important stuff about Wyoming is that it is rapidly becoming a sea of gas wells as far as the eye can see. The damage done to livestock by wolves in all of Wyoming is probably not worth as much as a hours worth of natural gas from one of the tens of thousands of wells. Funny how Wyoming politicians focus on wolves rather than the industrialization of state's open space. Actually it's not funny, and it is a deliberate tactic.

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^[note] Dr. Douglas Smith and outdoor writer Gary Ferguson have published a new book "Decade of the Wolf." It is a very informative write-up of Smith's field notes, so that each one tells a story. All wolf enthusiasts for the Yellowstone area will want to snap up this good book. Feguson is such an excellent writer that I almost always read his books in one sitting.

  Copyright © 2005 Ralph Maughan