Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

and killed.
The second pack is Crystal Bench. This is from the Crystal Bench pen which is above Crystal
Creek, opposite Slough Creek, the pen of which we could see a bit of chain link fence in the
binoculars from the Slough Creek turnout.
This pack was once six wolves, now is down to three. One, 8M, left and is with the Rose Creek
pack, see above. One, 2M, left and has paired with 7F from the Rose Creek pack to form the
Blacktail pack. One 3M, attacked sheep outside the park and was killed.
The third pack is the Blacktail Pack. This is only two wolves, as noted above 7F from the Rose
Creek Pack having paired with 2M from the Crystal Bench Pack.
The fourth pack is the Soda Butte Pack. They were acclimated in a pen at Soda Butte, now
removed. This has proved a wide ranging pack and they have really moved out of the park to the
north. There is one pup in this pack of which the sex is unknown. One 12M left the pack and
traveled south, and was found shot down toward Dubois.
There are 19 free ranging wolves now in the park.
New captures in January brought an additional 17 wolves, now in the acclimation pens, of which
there are now four. (1) Rose Creek, above the Lamar Ranch facility. Rose Creek is the one that
runs through the ranch; it fans out with several branches as it nears the valley floor. (2) Crystal
Bench. (3) Blacktail, a new pen in 1996. (4) Nez Perce, way down toward Old Faithful, a new pen
in 1996. These packs have Canadian names, temporarily. These new wolves are under guard
around the clock. There have been threats to shoot them.
So there are 36 wolves in the park.
The last two wolf pups in Yellowstone were trapped in 1926. Four were seen passing through in
1934. Yellowstone has been missing wolves for most of this century.
Evening lecture by Mark R. Johnson, D.V.M., the veterinarian in charge of veterinary aspects of the
project. Has a keen interest in the ethics of wildlife handling.
Sat., March 2. Up at out at 6.45 to see what we could find. Drove down to Slough Creek turnout,
and looked south over the Crystal Bench territory, but nothing. Then we heard them howl, to the
north. We walked in the snow about a quarter mile to a knoll, and, with binoculars, saw one at
considerable distance; it was going downhill, and soon we saw two more at a carcass. Eventually
we found seven here, difficult to make out unless moving, but then we knew where they were and
could watch them. When they left the carcass for a time, a couple coyotes came into feed on the
carcass, and were promptly chased off by the wolves. Wolves have now killed 10 coyotes in the
park, so far as is known.
An adult bald eagle flew in to the carcass, and stayed perched on a tree nearby for quite a while.
More briefly, there was a golden eagle there.
A light plane flew over with the radio trackers. They locate the four packs each day that the plane
can fly. The signal is just a beep, a different frequency for each wolf, but it is arranged to switch
to a different kind of beep if the wolf is dead.
After an hour and a half or so, the wolves moved up the hill, memorably in a line breaking a new