Great news for the Washakie Pack. These yearlings have finally left the Gordon Ranch and moved a great distance to the northwest. They are beneath Hawk's Rest Mountain in Yellowstone Meadows near the SE corner of Yellowstone NP. This is the most remote area from a road in the continental United States. It is part of what is called the "Thorofare Country." I learned this in an extended conversation with Dr. Doug Smith, head of the Yellowstone wolf team.
That's not all. The Thorofare Pack of yearlings is also in the area, but further downstream to the north on the Yellowstone River. The Soda Butte Pack is also in the Thorofare, but about five miles further north. These wolves are almost certainly aware of each other.
Since last winter when Soda Butte killed the alpha male of Thorofare and the alpha female perished in an avalanche, the Soda Butte Pack has been what Dr. Doug Smith calls "the superpower" pack in the area. Washakie and Thorofare are all yearlings. They are no longer a threat to Soda Butte. The previous level of hostility is not likely. In fact, it is probable that a dispersal, perhaps a complicated one, is about to take place.
The Soda Butte Pack has been isolated from other Yellowstone wolf packs. It has been a hard core pack subsisting near Heart Lake in the southern part of Yellowstone, even in the winter. The pack has no alpha male. He died an unlikely death for a wolf in late winter 1997. No. 13M, "old Blue," died of old age. Since then his now middle-aged mate no.14F has led the pack. The next eldest is her sole daughter from 1995, no. 24F, who is past the age of dispersal for most wolves. The Washakie or the Thorofare Pack may well appear an attractive option for her -- she would be the experienced, sexually mature female in either.
At the same time, Soda Butte lacks a male, other than no. 14's two-year old son from 1996 (no. 43M) and its yearling males. Here is an opportunity for a Thorofare or Washakie yearling male to make a move upward in wolf social status. Remember how in 1995, yearling 8M from the Crystal Creek Pack moved quickly from a runt to the alpha male of the Rose Creek pack.
A lot depends on what 24F does.
It is also possible that the third eldest female of Soda Butte, no. 44F, or no. 43M (both from 1996) may want to move. This would probably provoke further readjustments.
Things certainly look different from the other day when it was feared the Washakie yearlings were destined to hang around the Gordon ranch forever.
Email addresses
for members of Congress, other officials, and the media
Return To Maughan Wolf Report Page
Copyright © 1998 Ralph Maughan
Not to be reprinted, archived, redistributed, etc., without permission.
Ralph Maughan PO Box 8264, Pocatello, ID 83209