Here is the latest on the Yellowstone wolves. Please compare this to my report of 11-16 and 11-24-97. The information below was provided by the Yellowstone wolf team. The last tracking flight was on November 30. The way the information is presented and the interpretations are my own.
Number 37F is shot.
No. 37, but not no. 29, did return to Sage Creek near Dillon, Montana, and as a result she was recently shot by Animal Damage Control (recently misnamed "Wildlife Services"). She may have still been looking for her two lost pups. "Escape artist" number 29M, her mate, did not follow her and is at present safely in the middle of Yellowstone Park in the Hayden Valley. Hopefully his remaining pup and the two Sawtooth yearlings in the Nez Perce Creek enclosure will join him when they are released.Leopold Pack.
The last time I reported on the Leopold Pack, they had moved north onto Mt. Everts and off of the Blacktail Deer Plateau for the first time. Since then the pack has returned to the Blacktail Plateau, but it has also been moving west to Swan Lake Flat and back. Swan Lake Flat contains the Norris to Mammoth section of the Grand Loop road. It is closed in the winter (except snowmobiles on the road). Deb. Guernsey reported that she watched the pack at Swan Lake Flat the other day not too far from a skier.
Electric Peak from Swan Lake Flat. Late October 1997.© Ralph Maughan
Druid Peak Pack.
The Druid Peak Pack is, as has often been the case, very visible. They have been in their usual place -- the upper Lamar Valley, Soda Butte Creek, and southward in the upper Lamar Canyon to near the confluence of Cache Creek. They also briefly went up Cache Creek and over the crest of the Absaroka into the North Absaroka Wilderness south of Cooke City, Montana.Chief Joseph Pack.
Number 33F and 34M were located (no visual sighting) near Grizzly Lake in the west central part of Yellowstone. It appears that three of no. 34 and 17's pups are with them. The last visual on the pack was in late November when one black (no. 33F) and four gray wolves were sighted.Chief Joseph Pack, no. 2.
It does seem that her only surviving pup is no. 111. Both were most recently located in Tom Miner Basin about ten miles north of the northwest boundary of Yellowstone in the Gallatin mountain range.Rose Creek Pack.
The big Rose Creek Pack has been seen fairly often by Park visitors in recent weeks. It has ranged from Rose Creek on the east to Hellroaring Creek on the west, and north of the Park into the headwaters of Slough Creek. Besure and check out Kevin Sander's recent field reports of observations of the Rose Creek and Druid Peak Packs.Soda Butte Pack.
The Soda Butte Pack has continued to show more movement than they have in the past. They have followed the migrating elk southeast of Yellowstone Park into the headwaters of Snake River and even beyond across the upper Yellowstone into the Washakie Wilderness; then they have returned to Heart Lake in south central Yellowstone. They have ranged south of the Park and then back more than once.Thorofare Pack.
This pack was located as usual in the deep backcountry called the "Thorofare" near the SE corner of Yellowstone Park.Crystal Creek Pack.
They have been in their usual territory, the Pelican Valley of east central Yellowstone NP.Washakie Pack.
No information.