Thursday, May 22, 2025 My last day here, this year. I spent most of the day helping others see the wolves. There must have been 50 people look through my scopes today. With Pam and Ken and Deb and John's help we must have helped 200 people see wolves today. Between that and explaining the wolf world, it was a very busy day. It's been a good trip. I head for home tomorrow and expect to arrive on Saturday
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Tuesday, May 20, 2025 Chilly and rain off and on. Not much new the last 2 days, I pretty much go out to Slough Creek and wait. Most of the time it's several hours between something happening. Today, there were reports of a group of wolves in the next valley heading this way. One was spotted in this valley and we followed it back to the den. The pups came out and followed her around for 15 minutes or so and they all went back in. That was pretty much it for the morning. The afternoon was the same. An adult would mosey down to the den and the pups would come out and follow the adult around like a parade.
Sunday, May 18, 2025 Chilly and rainy off and on today The wolves moved their pups to the other den last night, about 100 yards from the original. Nobody knows why. I've seen them do this before, several years ago. It has the advantage of improving our view. The adults seem to hang around this den more than the other one. At one point, many of the wolves were bedded down above the den when a bison took offense. It walked up and then charged the group, scattering them. I got some video after things started to calm down: It was a short day. I needed to get a shower in town and deal with water in the trailer. I needed to get more fresh water and dispose of some of the waste water. On the way back to camp, there was a moos at Floating Island Lake. I got really good moose butt video. Lots of traffic noise because I was right on the road and at the end, a big motorhome blocked my view:
Wednesday, May 14, 2025 Still cold and wet I was in the park for just the morning as my replacement inverter is supposed to be delivered today and I need a few items from Livingston to do the temporary install. I did manage to get a video of 6 pups, though. Up to that point, the highest count anybody had was 5, so I got documentation of 6. It's a bit shaky at the start and not as sharp as I would like, but I was at 120 power on the scope and we had a bit of a breeze, I'm hoping youtube can fix some of that:
Monday, May 12, 2025 Last warm day. I decided to stay later as they were regularly seeing pups around 6:00 pm. I did and saw 3 pups. But, the light was so bad, I couldn't take any pictures. I did get video of adults at the den in the morning, along with a false pup alert. And a coyote feeding on something.
Friday, May ,2025 Still hot A strange day. I saw a bunch of wildlife, but still ended up driving all the way to Bozeman. First, the inverter in the camper died yesterday. That converts 12V DC to 110V AC. It's mostly a convenience, but I need it to run the microwave. I have a few foods that need to be cooked in the microwave, so that is a problem. After searching the internet and visiting a place in Livingston, I found one on Amazon. They will deliver to the hardware store in Gardiner, but it won't be till Wednesday. I could get one in Livingston today, but it wouldn't be what I really want, and it cost twice as much. That was the dilemma. I decided on the Amazon one and just do without for a week. Before that, there were 2 black bears at Floating Island Lake. This bear was just laying there: When this bear came along. The first bear stood up and the second one stopped, looked around and then mosied off in anot...
Thursday, May 8, 2025 Warm. They opened the Slough Creek road today, so we can get better views of the den. Unfortunately, not much happened there today. Several days ago, someone showed me a snake nest along the trail beyond the Lamar River stock trailhead. This afternoon, I ran into Melba Coleman, the lady I buy all my scope equipment from and took her and a friend to see it. Here is just 1 bundle of snakes we saw in the nest: On the way back to camp, there was a coyote on the road. The second of those I've seen this trip.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 It's getting warmer. Today was move camp day, so I only stayed in the park for the morning. I did get to see a big scrum of the Junction Butte pack before things settled down for the day. It was so far away – they hadn't yet opened the Slough Creek road, I didn't get any pictures.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 Cooler. Not much today. After the snows of yesterday, it was quite cool. I wanted to stay in the truck and use my window mount to hold the scope. Alas, I left it home. After some thinking, I decided to buy another one. I called a camera store in Bozeman and they had several used ones for not much money. So, I spent most of the day driving up there buying the mount and driving back to camp.
Saturday, May 3, 2025 Still Hot! It's still unseasonably warm here. It's supposed to cool off in a couple of days, though. Not much happening today. The bear from yesterday was still on the carcass, but the wolves were not. Apparently, they decided to try for easier pickings. The bear did leave the carcass for a few minutes to get water. I got video of him returning to dinner.
Friday, May 2, 2025 HOT! I got here yesterday. It was cool, but today got hot for this time of year – 70F. Lots of driving around, there was a large black bear feeding on a carcass in Little America. Most of the Junction Butte wolf pack were loitering about. At one point, several got up and approached the bear: There were 4 grizzlies out in the Lamar Valley, but too far away for pics. The word is the Junction Butte pack is back at the Slough Creek den. The alpha female has been spending lots of time in the den. The rest of the pack has been bringing her food. It is thought that her pups were born around April 26, so sometime between May 10 and 15 they should be emerging from the den.