3-22-99. Update 3-24
The Soda Butte Pack Recently returned from Yellowstone to the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole. The Soda Butte Pack has no alpha male. They were thought to have taken the sudden journey to Yellowstone on a mate-hunting trip, presumed unsucessful. Instead, they lost one member to the Crystal Creek Pack. Did they stay on the bountiful elk refuge? No, today they were reported back at Heart Lake in the deep snow of southern Yellowstone.
Heart Lake is 14F, the alpha female's, traditional den site. She whelped a litter there, sired by the late no. 13M, "Old Blue," in 1997.Perhaps her search for mate was successful after all despite the unpleasantness with the Crystal Creek pack. Maybe she (or her daughter?) is returning to den. Of course, they may have returned to Heart Lake for other reasons, although it is hard for me to discern what they might be. Wolves do have false pregancies.
This morning (3-24) the Soda Butte Pack had moved to Hawk's Rest in the Thorofare at the Yellowstone NP/Teton Wilderness boundary.
Jackson Trio has left the Elk Refuge too. On March 21-22, they moved northward through Ditch Creek and on March 24 were near the northeastern corner of Grand Teton National Park. So there are no wolves known to be on the Refuge at present.
Meanwhile the Teton Duo was located in Coal Mine Draw, in the general area they have staked out near Moran Junction.
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