So Worth It

Sow and her cub on the carcass

What a day...5:00 AM comes around super early, but we hit the road 20 minutes after our feet hit the ground.  As great as camping is in Hyalite Canyon it is a LONG way to the section of Yellowstone we needed to be... three hours if we don't get stopped by slow cars, construction, or animals.   

Bull Moose

Our only distraction this morning were a couple of bull moose in the burned out woods close to the road.  We had to stop.  It is a requirement to stop if one sees an animal with antlers as large as this guy's.
  

How on earth do they maneuver through the woods?

Darn stick blocks our best efforts

Bear takes a bite

After less than 10 minutes of clicking pictures of a moose with a tree blocking his face we headed on towards West Yellowstone.  Record time... we were at the carcass site before 8:30 AM along with quite a large group of people.  

We were able to park right alongside of a hill where we could watch the action.  Coop even was able to get out of the car to watch the action...25 yards of pavement rule was met.  

 

Female white wolf

Dark gray male wolf

Quite a lot of action to watch too.  Bears were on the carcass... as were two wolves waiting their turn on the rise above the bears.  We even spotted the black wolf (that makes THREE wolves) patiently waiting and watching up the hillside!  

We had thought that the wolves would be long gone by the time the sun rose so it was pretty exciting to watch the interplay between the multiple bears and the wolves.

One leaves as another arrives

We watched at least three bears take their turns... get full and wander off to nap.  The last bear ate for a good long time and did not want to leave it to the wolves.  

The white wolf tried sneaking in for a bit and got chased off a few times.  She eventually wandered down to the creek for a drink leaving the grey wolf to pester the bear.  

White wolf sneaks a bite

Both the black and white wolves got tired of waiting and moved on up the hillside out of sight.  The bear got so full that it was just 'going through the motions' and finally left the carcass to nap.  Mr. Grey Wolf ate for a bit and then he took off.  We took off soon after to grab a late breakfast ourselves.

 

Gray wolf gets his reward

When we returned we only had one set of bears to watch before an hour of not much happening on the carcass... well we did watch a few Bald Eagles visit the site along with the ever present ravens.  

We actually left as a bear was snacking away... sad to say, but we left before the bear did since we had the 3 hour return trip and wanted to get back to Bozeman before it was too late to grab dinner.  

Packing up to start the journey home... taking the long approach through Wyoming and South Dakota.  Should be fun... just no Grizzlies to watch.

 

Bear does not want to leave

Finally full the bear heads off...wolf watches

What's up

Bear passes in front of the white wolf

***as always click the pictures to enlarge***