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Summary of Yellowstone Park radio collaring for winter 2006.

March 24, 2006, update March 26

Here at last are the results of the Yellowstone Park wolf radio collaring for the past winter.  These data, especially the collar numbers and wolf colors are very useful for your future reference to stories and wolf watching.

The Cougar Creek alpha male is probably 303M. The Gibbon Meadows alpha pair have been numbered as 537F and 538M. The Hayden Valley alpha pair are 540F (the nearly white wolf) and 541M. The new Druid alpha female is 529F. Looking through the collaring data from years past (links are below), I notice that recollared wolf 353F was first collared as a member of the Geode Pack. She is now the alpha female of the new Hellroaring Pack (generally a Leopold split off). Recall that the Leopolds killed off and disrupted the Geode Pack. Then the Leopold split offs moved into the old Geode territory on Hellroaring Slopes. However, apparently some of the Geode members still rule!
The Hellroaring alpha male is 287M, a former Leopold.

Seven! GPS collars were deployed, including one for old Mollie's alpha male 193M about whom so many stories have been written in the past.

The Gibbon Meadows, Cougar Creek, and Hayden Valley alpha males were the three biggest wolves captured. 126 pounds was the largest, hardly those 150 to 180 pound wolves you hear anti-wolf activists talk about.

Thanks to the Yellowstone Park wolf team for providing these data.

Here is the data from a year ago. 2005 radio collaring.
2004 radio collaring.
2003 radio collaring.
2002 radio collaring
2001 radio collaring

Wolves collared in the late winter of 2006

  Date of Capture Pack Wolf # Sex Pelt Color Age Class Social Status Recollared? Comments Weight(lbs)
1 01/19 AGATE CREEK 113M MALE GRAY OLD ADULT ALPHA YES    
2 02/07 MOLLIE'S 193M MALE BLACK OLD ADULT   ALPHA YES gps argos collar  
3 01/25 HELLROARING 287M MALE BLACK ADULT ALPHA YES 115
4 01/26 COUGAR CREEK 303M MALE BLACK ADULT POSSIBLE ALPHA YES   126
5 01/25 HELLROARING 353F FEMALE BLACK ADULT POSSIBLE ALPHA YES    
6 01/19 SLOUGH CREEK 380Fb FEMALE BLACK ADULT ALPHA YES 97
7 02/07 MOLLIE'S 486F FEMALE GRAY ADULT ALPHA YES 90
8 01/19 AGATE CREEK 524F FEMALE GRAY PUP SUBORDINATE NO 66
9 01/19 AGATE CREEK 525F FEMALE BLACK YEARLING UNKNOWN NO gps collar 70
10 01/19 SLOUGH CREEK 526F FEMALE BLACK YEARLING UNKNOWN NO 88
11 01/19 SLOUGH CREEK 527F FEMALE BLACK ADULT UNKNOWN NO gps collar 99
12 01/25 HELLROARING 528M MALE GRAY ADULT SUBORDINATE NO gps collar 93
13 01/19 DRUID PEAK 529F FEMALE BLACK YEARLING ALPHA NO 85
14 01/25 LEOPOLD 534M MALE GRAY ADULT ALPHA NO 110
15 01/25 LEOPOLD 535M MALE BLACK ADULT POSSIBLE BETA NO gps collar 101
16 01/25 LEOPOLD 536F FEMALE GRAY ADULT SUBORDINATE NO 88
17 01/25 GIBBON MEADOWS 537F FEMALE GRAY ADULT ALPHA NO   93
18 01/25 GIBBON MEADOWS 538M MALE GRAY ADULT ALPHA NO   121
19 01/25 GIBBON MEADOWS 539F FEMALE GRAY PUP SUBORDINATE NO   82
20 01/26 HAYDEN VALLEY 540F FEMALE GRAY/WHITE ADULT ALPHA NO 84
21 01/26 HAYDEN VALLEY 541M MALE GRAY ADULT ALPHA NO 119
22 02/08 YELLOWSTONE DELTA 542F FEMALE GRAY ADULT UNKNOWN NO gps argos collar 106
23 02/08 BECHLER 543M MALE BLACK PUP SUBORDINATE NO gps argos collar 112
24 02/08 BECHLER 544M MALE BLACK PUP SUBORDINATE NO 110
25 02/08 BECHLER 545F FEMALE BLACK PUP SUBORDINATE NO 97
26 02/08 COUGAR CREEK II 546M MALE GRAY YEARLING SUBORDINATE NO

 

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  Copyright © 2006 Ralph Maughan
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Ralph Maughan PO Box 8264, Pocatello, ID 83209
Wolf Recovery Foundation; PO Box 444, Pocatello, ID  83204