Wolves Take Down Bison; Lamar Valley Open Oct. 15

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karenandbill
Posts: 208
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:55 am

Wolves Take Down Bison; Lamar Valley Open Oct. 15

Post by karenandbill »

Headed for Lamar bright and early today to be one of the first to check out the repairs after the flood and see what wildlife might be visible. Well, we didn't make it to Lamar until the afternoon. Just past the Specimen Ridge Trailhead and before Little America, there were some cars off the road and some scopes out. I asked what was being seen and was told there was a bull bison and yearling being surrounded by six wolves. We were able to see the confrontation through binoculars, but got out the scope for a closer view. The wolves were nipping at the yearling and the bull was doing his best to keep them off. The wolves were relentless and eventually got to the yearling and took it down. By this time the number of wolves had grown to at least a dozen with more (pups I assume) laying down watching. It was a bit sad to see, but it's nature's way of keeping a healthy ecosystem and the wolves have to eat as well.

These were Junction Butte wolves. According to some people watching, they have 15 adults left with 15 pups this year. They are apparently trying to make up for the losses they had last winter due to hunting. The adults still have their work cut out for themselves with so many pups. After getting full bellies they eventually left and headed back into the trees for a nice nap.

After a short hike we headed into Lamar. Most of the Valley looks the same except for some debris left behind by the flood. There are two spots with traffic signals on one way sections. They had to reconfigure hillsides in each of these locations. Saw a grizzly across the river near the confluence.



RikWriter
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:36 pm

Re: Wolves Take Down Bison; Lamar Valley Open Oct. 15

Post by RikWriter »

Wish I'd seen it. We went today though. Did see a grizzly in the Lamar. Also saw Raspberry and Jam at 9-mile.



karenandbill
Posts: 208
Joined: Thu Apr 30, 2020 10:55 am

Re: Wolves Take Down Bison; Lamar Valley Open Oct. 15

Post by karenandbill »

Glad you got to see the grizzlies. We will head out to see if we can find Raspberry and Jam once the weather clears.



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