Yellowstone wolf update mid-February 1997.

Here is the latest news I've gathered about the Park wolves (mostly courtesy Yellowstone Park, Kevin Sanders, and Meredith Taylor, with my interpretations added).

The latest tracking flight found two packs inside Yellowstone National Park in places easily observable to visitors. Not surprisingly these were the Rose Creek and Druid Peak Packs.

The Rose Creek Pack was at Rose Creek in the Lamar Valley, and it has since been generally observed in the same vicinity. The Druid Peak Pack has been in Soda Butte Creek and the upper part of the Lamar Valley. Kevin saw the pack on Feb. 22 while he was at Soda Butte, and he has been confirmed right -- the silver wolf, no. 39F has rejoined the pack, at least for now, after her travels to the Crazy Mountains far to the north.

The other packs were mostly in remote locations:

The Soda Butte Pack was located at Factory Hill adjacent to Heart Lake, near where the pack has been all winter. This is a remote geyser basin -- hence the name -- "Factory Hill."

The Leopold Pack was as usual on the Blacktail Deer Plateau, but on Prospect Peak, a high point on the Plateau, far from the north entrance road.

The seemingly rejuvenated Chief Joseph Pack has split up again. No. 33F was again located by herself, near the Madison River inside the Park. No. 34M seems to have paired with no. 16F, a yearling from the Rose Creek Pack. They were located in Gardiner's Hole south of Mammoth Hot Springs. No. 17F was located returning to the Lamar Valley -- probably back to the Rose Creek Pack. No. 31M remains with the Druid Peak Pack. It seems to have become a pack member.

The remaining two wolves in the Crystal Creek Pack had moved northward slightly from their previous location in the Pelican Valley. They were located near White Lake on the Mirror Plateau. This is a very remote location.

Pair no. 35M and 30F has moved northward from their long-time location in the Thorofare. They were located at Beaver Dam Creek near where the Yellowstone River runs into Yellowstone Lake's Southeast Arm. This is an extremely remote location.

Meredith Taylor informs me that pair no. 15M and 26F remain near the East Fork of the Wind River near the edge of the Washakie Wilderness about 25 miles southeast of Yellowstone Park. The uncollared black wolf from ?? is still in the area too. The tracking flights did not look for these wolves because of their far southern location. Every routine tracking flight costs about $400.

Movement of the wolves from Rose Creek pen to the Nez Perce enclosure:

This was a big operation, but accomplished sucessfully. All ten pups, originally from the Sawtooth Pack, and the two adult wolves -- 29M and 37F -- were weighed and placed in the Nez Perce pen (from which Idaho wolves B7 and B11 had just been removed). The mother of 29 and 37, no. 27F, was taken from the Pelican Valley enclosure, and put in the Nez Perce pen first (she had been separated from her offspring since shortly after their release last March). Apparently there was no difficulty, and no. 27 will probably still be the dominant wolf. She was the largest -- 105 pounds. Her British Columbia-borne offspring (29 and 37 weighed just under 100 pounds). The pups from the Sawtooth Pack weighed from 70 to 85 pounds. Park biologist Doug Smith hypothesized that this large group -- 13 wolves -- will split into two packs upon release.

More on slain wolf no. 28M

There are no new developments on the killer of wolf 28M. Kevin Sanders contacted the fellow who did the necropsy of no. 28 and found the true weight of the wolf. It had first been reported at 150 pounds. When thawed, the dead wolf weighed 140 pounds -- still a real giant.

I visited the Gray Cliff fishing site today (where no. 28 was found shot and frozen in the Madison River). There is a gravel road paralleling the River. It would be easy for the killer(s) to turn off the nearby highway, drive down the road at night and throw the wolf in the river. In other words, it is very hard to say where the wolf was shot.