Brief Update on Wyoming wolves
Feb. 11, 2005
I talked with Mike Jimenez about the Wyoming wolves outside YNP. There is some news. Maybe the biggest news is that controversy over wolves chasing elk off the feedgrounds in Sublette County has subsided a bit. The winter has been mild and many elk just come and go from the feedgrounds regardless of wolves. If the wolves spook them off, those elk interested in the feedground come back in a day or so.
Most of the controversy has been over the Daniel Pack. USFWS still hasn't officially replied to Wyoming Game and Fish's demand that the pack be moved. If the Daniel Pack is moved, I think a great place would be right next to the Colorado border, although that's certainly a bit hopeful.
Jimenez, who manages wolves in Wyoming for the USFWS due to the lack of an acceptable Wyoming plan, said the Carter Mountain Pack, west of Meeteetse, is thriving. Folks may recall this started out as a pair over a year ago. After whelping 5 pups, the male (275M) was shot by the government for killing livestock. The female (359F), however, successfully raised all of her pups, and they stayed out of livestock. Now a couple of adult wolves have joined her pack, making it likely she will have more pups in April.
The Owl Creek Pack is entirely gone due to government control and one local person shooting perhaps the last member (he had a permit to shoot). New wolves, however, are already moving into this natural niche for wolves. A collared disperser from the Sunlight Basin pack is being tracked in the area. There are additional wolves.
The Teton Pack followed its normal winter pattern, feeding on elk between Elk Ranch Reservoir and the Gros Ventre River, using Ditch Creek and adjacent areas as a migration corridor. Jimenez said all the south-facing slopes are snow free and full of elk.
This morning Jimenez retrieved a Washakie Pack wolf that had been caught in a no. 2 coyote trap. The black yearling female was in good condition and got radio collared (see a note below).
The Bechler Pack, which is a Yellowstone Park pack, but one that is hard to fly for due to its remoteness from Park Headquarters, was recently located by Jimenez. 3-4 wolves were located at Bechler Falls. Perhaps there have been dispersals because recently because this is a low number for the pack, and wolves were seen about 20 miles to NW on the Buffalo River in Idaho.
253M and his companion remain on the National Elk Refuge where living is easy. Jimenez said the pair hardly spooks the elk at all. A few Teton Pack wolves have also shown up from time to time on the Refuge, and also to the north on Antelope Flats in GTNP.
The Absaroka Pack is doing fine and the Sunlight Basin Pack has survived despite the continued presence of mange. The remote Beartooth Pack has had its last radio collar die.
Note. In Montana wolves in coyote traps haven't fared so well. About two weeks ago a wolf on in Idaho-Montana border from the Black Canyon Pack died in a snare set for coyotes. Today Ed Bangs reported "On the 9th a coyote trapper north of Helena, MT accidentally caught a wolf [from the Halfway Pack] that escaped with the trap on its foot."
"We will continue to locate the pack to see if the trapped wolf might be one of them and if possible remove the trap- if it hasn’t already come off on its own. We recommend that anyone who is trapping coyotes in wolf range be sure to: Not make coyote sets around known wolf-killed ungulates or in areas of recent high wolf track activity; Use equipment that is unlikely to hold a wolf such as standard #3 soft-catch, leghold traps smaller than #3, or breakaway neck-snares; Anchor neck snares to solid objects to increase the likelihood that the breakaway mechanism works properly; Use stout trap-drags with a little extra chain- even with staked traps- so a wolf will be less likely to pull the stakes loose and then escape with the trap; and Be sure trap stakes are long enough, or use crossed double stakes, particularly if using shorter chains on traps."
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Copyright © 2005 Ralph Maughan