Yellowstone Area Wolf Update
September 22, 2000
Here is the latest news on the wolves in the Yellowstone Park and the greater Yellowstone area. Information came from the Yellowstone Park wolf team, Mike Jimenez of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, "Bearman" Kevin Sanders, Jim Guliani, and some distillation from news articles and email I have received.
Druid Peak Pack- Last month I wrote that the number of pups was down from 21 to 15, but Kevin Sanders indicates that on 9-17, he and others helped count 20 pups--11 black and 9 gray. The pack also had 7adults, including a new uncollared gray wolf among them (believed to be former pack member 107M, who had dispersed). I have talked with about 5 people who have been to Yellowstone and seen from several to up to 20 pups. The pups are beginning to move more now rather than hanging around the readily observable confluence zone of Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar River.
The new "Gardiner" pack with 3 pups and led by no. 152F is still in Gardiner's Hole.
The Rose Creek Pack is in its normal territory, but spread out with all four radio-collared members of the pack located in different areas.
The Nez Perce Pack was last located at Trout Creek in the Hayden Valley. Wandering member 92M is still apart from the pack and may be dispersing.
The Chief Joseph Pack has moved back to its normal range and was last located at Fawn Lake in the Gallatin Range of the Park.
The Soda Butte Pack is still in its most usual territory--the Yellowstone River delta area (the remote inlet to Yellowstone Lake). Earlier this year the big news was that the pack unexpectedly had one pup, despite the natural morality of the long-time alpha female, no. 14F. The big news now is that the pack had 9 pups! Three of these were visually located on the last tracking flight.
As almost always, the Leopold Pack is on the Blacktail Deer Plateau.
Number 5F is still apart from her former pack, wandering alone, but apparently in good condition. The rest of the Crystal Pack is in the Pelican Valley and has observed in many interactions with grizzly bears this summer. Of course, the Pelican is "grizzly central."
Outside of the Park, the Sunlight Basin Pack is doing well and is in their normal range near the east boundary of Yellowstone near Sunlight Basin. There are 6 adults and 4 pups. The pack is lead by former Druid Peak female no. 41F and Rose Creek male no. 52M.
The new Absaroka Pack east of the Park fares well with its 3 adults and first litter of pups. It is still not known if famous no. 9F and her companion of the Beartooth Pack/pair has pups due to the dense timber of the area. I would say circumstantial evidence is that they have one pup or more (based on her travel and hunting patterns).
The Gros Ventre Pack with its second litter of pups continues to haunt its usual territory, the Gros Ventre drainage east of Jackson Hole.
The Teton Pack, led by 24F (daughter of the late 14F}, and her five yearlings, has developed the largest range of any pack in the Yellowstone area this year. They range from the northern end of Grand Teton National Park and southeastward through the Gros Ventre drainage into the upper Green River. I got email about a week ago from a fellow who had observed this pack of all black wolves on Signal Mountain in GTNP for about a half hour.
The Dunoir Area is back in the news again. Last winter USFWS determined that only one wolf was consistently in the area, and kill permit was issued to the two ranches in the area because of this wolf's depredations on dogs and a few livestock. The wolf was never shot. Now, finally, a radio-collared wolf (a disperser from the Chief Joseph Pack who wandered all over the Yellowstone ecosystem last winter and spring) has been trapped in the Dunoir and he has two companions. Here is the story of the USFWS report:
Cooperation between Wildlife Services, the Diamond G Ranch manager Jon Robinett and the Service has resulted in a wolf being re-radio-collared in the Dunoir Valley. Diamond G Ranch manager Robinett called to report that 3 wolves had been seen circling a calf that was dying from High Altitude sickness. Jon ran the wolves off and called the Service to see if that calf, which was going to be euthanized, could be used to trap and radio-collar a wolf. WS specialist Tracy Frye went into the area and set traps near the calf’s carcass after it was euthanized. Within 2 days wolf #114, a young gray male that dispersed out of Yellowstone was captured, collared by Tracy, and released on site. It has remained in the area and is believed to have joined with the other wolf or 2 that has been using the ranch for the past year or so. A big Congratulations! and Thank You! to Jon Robinett and the Diamond G Ranch for recognizing and making that opportunity available, and to USDA Wildlife Services for letting Tracy use his expertise to help in our non-depredation related wolf monitoring effort. WY Project Leader Mike Jimenez will run the trapline for the next few days to try and radio collar another wolf.
There is a news story today from Associated Press that reports sightings of possible wolves near Lander, Wyoming, which is about 60 miles southeast of the Dunoir. These are not confirmed and may be coyotes. I received a report of a wolf sighting which reportedly had a plaster cast of its tracks two years ago near Lander at Dickinson Park in the Wind River Range. Because of this and other reports of wolves near Lander, I didn't regard this story new news, but will if a sighting is confirmed.
Size of the Yellowstone area wolf population-
The "maximum" count of pups in the greater Yellowstone this year was 75, bringing the population briefly to perhaps 190 wolves; but, of course, some these pups are now dead, and the December count is the important one. Last year the maximum count was 170, but the December count only 115-120. The difference is important because it seems the more inflated count is the one that makes the headlines and circulates through the "grapevine."
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