A slow day but a good hike

Day 22 Winter Study in YNP went thus:

Today was another slow day. We didn't get any signals in the morning so Rob and I conducted another elk count. Afterwards we checked signals and received all collars coming from the same area as yesterday. However, by ten in the morning they had moved out of range again. A check in the late afternoon did not produce anything useful.

In between the checks we climbed Specimen Ridge yet again (fourth time if you're keeping score) but the mission was not a success as we failed to find the location of the carcass we were after. We think we found the general area but obviously not close enough. We did find numerous tracks from the scuffle a couple of days ago; and we also did not find any dead wolves but that only means we didn't find any, not that there aren't any out there. Time was important as there was a storm closing in. The snow will obscure our ability to find anything. Well, the hike was still worthwhile for the view alone.

Yesterday I forgot to report that the plane found the Crystals near Agate and Deep Creeks apparently heading back towards Pelican Valley. We did not get Crystal signals this morning. Also, I found out today that the Druids had made a kill yesterday that we weren't aware of. This was made near the Cache/Lamar confluence.

We still don't have a good count for the Druid Pack since the Crystal encounter Saturday, and until we do get a good count we won't know if any wolves are missing. Tomorrow, assuming the Druids will remain out of the area, we will take a hike to examine this latest kill.