Wolf at Sunrise Friday, August 21

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karenandbill
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:55 am

Wolf at Sunrise Friday, August 21

Post by karenandbill »

Karen and I had just been to Michigan to visit family, and we drove back the northern route taking the Beartooth Hwy and cutting through Yellowstone to get back to Island Park. Didn't see much except the usual bison, but did see a large group of people milling around near Little America (west of Slough Cr entrance). We stopped briefly and saw there was a fresh bison carcass north of the road probably about 100 yards out. Nothing was on it so we kept going. I asked Karen as we were driving, "So, you want to head back to check out the carcass early in the morning?

"How early?"

"Up at 3, out by 3:30."

"After driving 2000 miles in two days, you want to get up at 3 AM and drive another 100 miles each way just to see if something shows up on the carcass?"

"Yup. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"UGHHHHH! You know I'll come, but it better be worth it!"

We arrived in the dark and were able to get a good parking space. Karen reminded me that the sun was rising later now and we could have slept in longer. There was smoke and haze and some clouds so we did not get much of an early glow in the sky. Finally, it got light enough to make out 3 coyotes, with two of them running and playing to the right of the carcass. I also saw a dark form just left of the carcass and couldn't decide if it was a wolf lying down or a rock. Came to the conclusion it was a rock as it was not moving at all. Waited for a while with no activity and ate our instant oatmeal breakfast. Karen needed a restroom break so we decided to drive down to Slough Creek and check for wolves down there. It was still fairly dark, but I decided to have one last look at the carcass with binocs. To my surprise there was a black wolf on it and the "rock" was no longer there. So we watched for a bit but still too dark for decent pics, so we headed towards Slough Creek.

As we rounded the first curve, Karen said, "Look, up on the hill." At first glance I thought it was an elk because of the relative size, but then realized it was a large wolf just standing there silhouetted against the sky.

ImageAugust2020 040 by William Reinke, on Flickr

As we watched, the sun peeked through the haze and Karen was able to get this shot. There are no filters or other modifications to this photo other than a slight zoom in.

ImageAugust2020 042 by William Reinke, on Flickr

It stood on the hill for some time surveying the situation and deciding whether or not to cross the road. Finally it turned back and went over the hill.

We headed to Slough Creek and there were people out, but we could tell by their body language that they weren't seeing much if anything. So we headed back to the carcass. The wolf had opened up the spine area and we had a very detailed look through the scope of breakfast. It was light enough to get a distant (for us) photo with the wolf looking northwest as a second wolf was on its way in.

ImageAugust2020 065 by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageAugust2020 073 by William Reinke, on Flickr

ImageAugust2020 074 by William Reinke, on Flickr

The two then started tugging on the back side of the carcass which made it difficult to see and get a decent photo. So we decided to call it a day and head back. Even Karen had to admit that it was worth getting up early for. But she did point out that we could have slept at least an hour longer and still seen everything. :roll:



RikWriter
Posts: 488
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: Wolf at Sunrise Friday, August 21

Post by RikWriter »

Awesome! Love the shot with the sun!



Dorothy
Posts: 201
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2017 7:45 pm

Re: Wolf at Sunrise Friday, August 21

Post by Dorothy »

Cooooollll! Loved the wolf on the hill, and the shot with the sun, too, is just amazing.

So glad you decided to take that long drive after an even longer drive, AND thanks so much for sharing it!



Mike W.
Posts: 62
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:11 pm
Location: Far, far north edge of SF Bay Area

Re: Wolf at Sunrise Friday, August 21

Post by Mike W. »

RikWriter wrote:
Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:53 pm
Awesome! Love the shot with the sun!
That is a good shot. No a great one. But for me, not worth getting up at 3AM for...



RikWriter
Posts: 488
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: Wolf at Sunrise Friday, August 21

Post by RikWriter »

Mike W. wrote:
Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:56 pm
RikWriter wrote:
Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:53 pm
Awesome! Love the shot with the sun!
That is a good shot. No a great one. But for me, not worth getting up at 3AM for...
That...seems a little rude to post in the thread of someone else's trip report with someone else's photos they were kind enough to share.



Mike W.
Posts: 62
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2017 2:11 pm
Location: Far, far north edge of SF Bay Area

Re: Wolf at Sunrise Friday, August 21

Post by Mike W. »

RikWriter wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:13 am
Mike W. wrote:
Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:56 pm
RikWriter wrote:
Sat Aug 22, 2020 8:53 pm
Awesome! Love the shot with the sun!
That is a good shot. No, a great one. But for me, not worth getting up at 3AM for...
That...seems a little rude to post in the thread of someone else's trip report with someone else's photos they were kind enough to share.
The comma I missed and just inserted above might make a difference. "That is a good shot. No, a great one." But the 3AM part is just a statement about me, I would have a better chance of staying up 'til 3AM than getting up at. I just don't do 3AM.



RikWriter
Posts: 488
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: Wolf at Sunrise Friday, August 21

Post by RikWriter »

Mike W. wrote:
Mon Oct 05, 2020 11:31 pm
RikWriter wrote:
Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:13 am
Mike W. wrote:
Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:56 pm


That is a good shot. No, a great one. But for me, not worth getting up at 3AM for...
That...seems a little rude to post in the thread of someone else's trip report with someone else's photos they were kind enough to share.
The comma I missed and just inserted above might make a difference. "That is a good shot. No, a great one." But the 3AM part is just a statement about me, I would have a better chance of staying up 'til 3AM than getting up at. I just don't do 3AM.

Ah, okay, very sorry. I misread what you had said.



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