We got a late start today. Traveling always makes us tired, even if it is 4 hour snow coach ride from Old Faithful. It was about 9:30 when we got on the road. The first order of business was to find Doug Dance out in the Lamar. He picked up our scopes and long lens from John’s for us on Friday when he returned. That was a great favor since we were so tired last night.

It was very warm when we left, feeling more like a spring day than mid-winter. We forgot to check the temperature until we got to Mammoth, where it was 38 degrees. With that kind of temperature, it’s no wonder all the snow is melting. It was sprinkling as we drove through Mammoth, but it did get a dusting of snow overnight. On the other side of Mammoth the road was bare and dry up until we crossed the Gardner. The road up the hill from there had just a dusting of snow, but you could still see the center line and four black tracks from the passing cars. This section of road had been totally snow-covered when we left for Old Faithful. We pulled over at Undine Falls to let a ranger pass us. The parking area that had been totally covered was practically bare of snow.

The pretty boys were on both sides of the road, mostly back in the woods. A whole herd of spike bulls had taken up residence on the hillside above the trail to Wraith Falls. We caught up to the ranger who had slowed for the bison herd at west end Blacktail Lakes. He turned his flashing lights on, but kept going, and turned them off once he was past the bison. He slowed and again turned on his lights for the second part of the bison herd at the east side of the lakes. As we passed this bison herd, we looked between two of the frozen lakes and saw 6 coyotes milling around. We didn’t see a carcass or any ravens in the area, so we weren’t sure what was going on. Since we were on a mission to get our scopes, we didn’t stop.

The road continued to be mostly bare pavement, except in a few shady areas. Phantom Lake was full of elk, many of them feeding on the willow bushes growing there. The elk would grab the small branches in their back teeth and rip them off. The first real snow we had on the road was near the Hellroaring overlook, but even there, you could still see the center yellow lines. Another large elk herd was bedded down on the hills around Floating Island Lake. The road back to the Roosevelt cabins was plowed and there were some vehicles parked back there. We didn’t see any people.

The temperature remained above freezing as we entered Little America. We saw our usual quota of bison and elk scattered over the hillsides. At Lamar Canyon, we stopped to see if the carcass was still there. Some of it was left and two coyotes were picking at it. If nothing turned up in the Lamar, we planned to return here.

As we approached Fisherman’s pullout, we saw Bob Landis and Cliffy set up at the side of the road. We knew something was up. We pulled into a parking spot and immediately saw Doug Dance. He quickly brought our scopes over and told us to get them set up, since nervous elk were spread out along the ridge about a mile away across the river. We scanned the ridge southwest of Jasper Bench with our binoculars and saw a large herd broken into three groups all facing the same direction with a total of 7 wolves above and below them. After we got set up, we had some time while we waited for the wolves to move. I asked Doug if he was on the snow coach that saw wolves at Gibbon Meadows on Friday. He said he was and that he was the one to spot them. I laughed, grabbed his hat off his head, and gave the top of his head a good rub. He had a surprised, startled look on his face as I explained I was just following Ballpark Frank’s suggestion to get some of his luck to wear off on us. It must have worked because we had quite a day from there on out.

Soon after the head rubbing, we heard, “We have wolves on the move!” 21 came running down from the top of the ridge along a small section of pines. That got the elk moving. The two sections of elk joined together, pursued from below by a grey and a black wolf that chased them toward two more wolves waiting above. The pursuing wolves exploded through the herd, separating it again. One group headed down the hill, the other up. From the downhill group, two of the wolves selected an elk and attempted to take it down, but missed. One of the black wolves chased the group headed uphill and selected an almost adult-sized calf from the group. It leapt at the hindquarters and sank its teeth in to hamstring it. At the same time, 42 grabbed for the throat and got a good grip. The calf was down and two other wolves leapt in to make sure it stayed down. 21 and another black soon joined in the pile and it took a little time for order to be established.

Four of the wolves began to feed immediately, while two waited. Eventually, these 6 all got a turn. Then 255 appeared, exhibiting very submissive behavior, approaching the alphas, rolling over, licking their faces, but she was not allowed to eat. When she approached the carcass, 42 disciplined her, rolling her over and chasing her off. 255 bedded down to wait far below the carcass. It began to snow, but it was a very wet snow; instead of flakes, the snow was coming down as little pellets.

With a break in the action, Lew took a moment to call Allison. As usual for us, Allison was not at home, so Lew left a message on her answering machine. I started to give our traditional howl for the message, but immediately thought better of it, since we were out in the Lamar.

21 and 42 appeared to have eaten their fill and moved off to the west of the carcass. 42 parked herself between 255 and the carcass and 21 lay down uphill from her and closer to the carcass. 42 must have tired of watching 255 and moved uphill to 21. She began teasing him, presenting her rear end directly in front of his face. He showed some interest, got up, and followed her closer to the carcass. About 20 feet from it, he mounted her, but the scent of food must have been stronger than his desire, because he quickly jumped off and went to the carcass. 42 joined him and they both fed again. They then laid down, one on either side of the carcass to guard the remains of their meal.

When it appeared that they would remain bedded down for awhile, we left to check the confluence, in the hopes of seeing otters. Doug left to photograph sheep and pronghorns at Gardiner. We didn’t get all of Doug’s luck, because we didn’t find any otters, but we did find that the three rams at the confluence had been joined by a young ewe. We decided to run up to Cooke City for lunch. On the way back we had another piece of luck in finding a young bull moose just before the Warm Creek picnic area. That was our first winter moose in Yellowstone.

We saw no otters at the confluence on the way back, so we returned to Fisherman’s pullout to check on the carcass. We passed Ray from Pebble at Dorothy’s Knoll and Rick was at B&B. When we got to Fisherman’s, Ballpark Frank came over to the car to tell us the Druid alphas were still up on the ridge. Cathy Montana and Jim Halfpenny were across the parking lot. We got the alphas in the scope and soon saw that 42 was no longer teasing 21. They were doing the REAL Druid dance, the mating embrace. As we watched (yes, we were real voyeurs), Rick pulled up behind us and said, “Excuse me, do you people realize what they are doing, that they are mating?” We said that yes, we knew what was going on. Ray from Pebble also joined in the party. The alphas remained in a tie for at least 20 minutes, maybe longer; you kind of lose track of the time. They danced around behind a large conifer, first to the right of the tree, then hidden from view behind it, and then to the left. At one point, one head was peaking out to the right and the other to the left. Eventually, they tired of their dancing and separated. 21 checked out the place he had just been and then checked his own equipment, maybe to make sure he reclaimed it all. They then lay down next to each other to the right of the tree so that we could admire them some more. Predicted birth date is 9 weeks.

We switched our attention back to the carcass, which was being attended to by ravens, magpies and eagles. Usually, three or four eagles were on the carcass at once, while several others waited in nearby snags. At one point, we counted 9 bald eagles and 3 golden eagles, either on the ground or in the trees.

253 and another black came up over the ridge and down to the alphas. 253 was greeted warmly, but the second black was rolled by the alphas and then 42 proceeded to sit on it. We never did find out if it was 255 or one of the other blacks. 253 limped over to the carcass, chasing all the eagles back into the trees. He fed on it, ripping hunks of flesh from what appeared to be the backbone. The other black laid down about 30 feet from the alphas. When 253 finished eating, he moved uphill from the carcass and the second black came down to feed. We watched it tug and pull on the carcass until it too appeared to be sated. It lay down next to the carcass. The other Druids had gone over the ridge earlier and were not seen once the dancing started.

By this time it was beginning to get too dark to see. We said our goodbyes to Frank, Cathy, and Ray, and also to our last evening in the Lamar. Oh my, it was hard to leave.