The Chief Joseph Pack alpha pair (no. 33F and 34M) were located not in the northwest corner of the Park where they have been for the last six months, but at Gibbon Meadows, the beautiful meadow area near Norris Junction. It is possible the adults were just exploring and will return to their usual range. In fact today, August 21, the alpha pair was located back at the densite in the Northwest corner of the Park. Number 33F is the only member of the pack that is radio-collared. She was collared after a number of unsucessful tries last winter.  They also got 34 in a net, but he chewed his way out.  I saw the video of this.

The Nez Perce Pack has abandoned the Nez Perce Creek area near Lower Geyser Basin and was located near Bridge Bay on the north shore of Yellowstone Lake. Number 67F; the mother of the four known pups in the pack cannot be located, although it may be a case of a malfunctioning collar. The area the pack is frequenting is heavily timbered and a visual sighting has not been made, nor is it yet known how many pups no. 48F whelped.

Update: on Number 67.  This was issued the by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: "On 8/19 a black wolf reportedly had a calf cornered before a rancher drove her off near Red Rocks Lake Refuge. A flight was done next morning and female black wolf number #67 from the Nez Perce area was found north of Red Rocks Lake Refuge in Montana. She was surrounded by cattle and the pilot reported several birds in the area. Because she already had two strikes against her for killing livestock, she will be killed ASAP and the area checked for possible depredations."

Of course she one of the three remaining wolves from among the ten Sawtooth pups brought to Yellowstone in 1996 as orphan pups.  It looks like the Nez Perce Pack must have taken her pups when she abandoned them or was driven off. All but two are assumed dead.  They appear to be with the Nez Perce Pack.

The Leopold Pack was observed as usual on the Blacktail Deer Plateau, this time in Lava Creek.

The Washakie Pack has moved out of the upper Yellowstone River meadows near Hawks Rest Mountain (i.e., out of the upper Thorofare Country) onto well-named Big Game Ridge along the remote southern boundary of Yellowstone Park and the adjacent Teton Wilderness Area. The grand dispersal among Washakie, Thorofare, and the Soda Butte Pack I speculated about has not taken place. However, one of the four Washakie yearlings is not with the rest and Doug Smith is in the area investigating.

Meanwhile the Thorofare yearlings remain in the Thorofare and the Soda Butte Pack remains at the mouth of the Thorofare in the Yellowstone River Delta where it discharges into the SE arm of Yellowstone Lake.

The Crystal Creek Pack remains in the Pelican Valley, but the big news is that eight pups have now been counted, making the size of this pack 16 wolves! . . . to think that by the summer of 1996 this pack had been reduced to just its current alpha pair, no. 5F and 6M.

Good news for wolf watchers, The Druid Peak Pack has returned to the Lamar Valley.

The huge Rose Creek Pack remains on the expansive Buffalo Plateau, intact, but spread out. This area is along the northern backcountry boundary of Yellowstone Park.

The Sunlight Basin Pair is in the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone area, the sparsely populated vicinity east of the Park where three wolves have been illegally shot in the last year -- 31M, 38M, and 39F.

Lone female number 16 continues to raise her six pups north of the Park in the Absaroka/Beartooth wilderness near the headwaters of Cedar Creek.

No cause of death could be determined for no. 111F, the last known living of no. 16's, 1997 litter. She was found dead in Antelope Creek near the base of Mt. Washburn in early July. It was determined she was not hit by a vehicle.

A total of 42 pups were born in 1998, according to the wolf team, with a few more to be identified. Total population is estimated at 121 wolves.

---

Return To Maughan Wolf Report Page

Copyright © 1998 - 2003Ralph Maughan
Not to be reprinted, archived, redistributed, etc., without permission.

Ralph Maughan PO Box 8264, Pocatello, ID 83209