This is a nearly complete rewrite of a story I posted on June 14, 2004. The information came form Dan Staher, Doug Smith, and Rick McIntyre of Yellowstone Park.

Druids-
There is always intense interest in the Park's most visible pack.  As reported earlier 376F has 2 pups across the Lamar Valley in the general area of the pack's usual summer rendezvous site.

At the main den above the road on Druid Peak, 286F may have 5 pups.  There has been one good report of this. It came from a visitor. Flying over the den area, Dan Stahler saw 3 pups one time and 4 another. There are many trees that obscure vision from the air as well as the ground.

194M and the U-Black-
Their den is on Specimen Ridge, but they have moved it from the relatively visible spot (from the road) away into the trees. 5 pups were counted earlier. 194M, and so maybe the pack, is slowly moving higher and higher on Specimen Ridge.

Slough Creek-
There is a better count on Slough Creek now.  Previously just one pup had been seen, but now at least 4 have been identified, and there is a good possibility there are more. The pack has chosen a new den site this year. Perhaps last year's was too close to human disturbance in Slough Creek.

Geode Creek-
As reported earlier this pack has a double litter and eleven pups!

Two-year old Geode male 392M is wearing a GPS collar. Stahler told me that a lot of good data is being recorded, including for the first time what wolves do at night in the summertime.

Among much more, it seems that 392M and the other pack 2-year olds (353F and 391F) are doing most the hunting. It is not known exactly how many adult wolves there are in the pack. Its 6 to 8. Nor is it known   which wolf had the second litter (in addition to 106F, the small alpha female).

The pack has moved out of range of human observers from the road -- more and more into the Cottonwood Creek area (tributary to the Yellowstone River).

Agate Creek-
They have denned in Antelope Creek, but it is in an area not observable from the Tower to Canyon road. It is also in an area closed to the public due to high grizzly bear density. Two black pups have been seen, but it is likely that more were in the timber.

Leopold-
Since the demise of the original alphas, 2M and 7F, this pack has been producing double litters, and it is highly likely this year is no different. Twelve pups have been counted. 209F is believed to be the Leopold alpha female. 344F also seems to have some special status in the pack and may be the mother of the second litter. The alpha male has never been collared, but is always described as a "big gray wolf."

The pack has been using the den sites favored by the first alpha female, pack founder, 7F, and then later in the year they move gradually to the northwest.

Swan Lake-
For a long time this pack was listed as probably denned, but no pup count; but now it looks more and more like they didn't den this year. The alpha female never localized and the pack ranges quite a bit, and all the old known den holes are unusued. Stahler speculated that the death of 206M, killed by other wolves, last winter, might have disrupted mating.

This used to be a very large pack, but there have been numerous dispersals, including 293F, who went to Colorado. It is now a pack of about 10 adults.

Mollies-
The pack was found partly at their traditional den site in the trees on the edge of the Pelican Valley. The alpha female, 174F, was radio tracked here along with 379M, who has moved back and forth between the Slough Creek Pack and Mollies Pack. The alpha male, 193M and wolf 343M, were located in Raven Creek, probably hunting. Stahler noted that there seemed to be an unusual abundance of elk in the Pelican.

Mollies Pack pups are usually counted late, perhaps because they are kept away from kills due to the usual presence of a grizzly bear feeding with or stealing the kill from the pack.  The Pelican Valley has always been a very high density grizzly area.

Nez Perce-
Always one of the last to get a pup count, none have been seen.  This formerly large pack is now medium-sized with numerous dispersals in the last year-and-half. The pack has localized again in Nez Perce Creek and it appears that 48F (born in 1996) and 70M (the last remaining of the Sawtooth Pack pups from northern Montana, 1996) are still the alpha pair.

Yellowstone Delta-
This remote pack in the SE corner of YNP has been observed with 5 pups. There was a mortality signal, but it turned out to be a chewed off collar. This pack, as I have mentioned before, has a strong tendency to chew off each other's radio collars. Ten adults were seen from the air.

Bechler-
The Bechler Pack has localized and probably has pups, but anyone who has ever been in the Bechler in June knows about the vast marsh it becomes. Stahler observed 192M, the big, white alpha male, standing on a small knoll, while two other members of the pack waded nearby, chest deep in water. There are 2 mortality signals coming from the pack, but it is far too wet to go see if the cause is dead wolves or chewed collars.

340F's Pack (will it be named "Old Faithful?").
No pups have been seen, but 340F was seen carrying a big chunk of meat in her mouth to some location.

Gibbon Meadows-
304F is a suspected alpha, and the only member with a collar. Recently one black pup was been seen from the air and 3 adults.

Cougar Creek-
They have pups. No count yet.

Chief Joseph-
Denned. Four pups have been seen so far.  They are in the area of their traditional den site (Daly Creek area, NW corner of the Park). A closure is in effect to restrict people to the Daly Creek trail (no cross country travel).

Previous update (late May/early June)-

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Ralph Maughan PO Box 8264, Pocatello, ID 83209