Winter in Yellowstone Report: February 5-11, 2023

I’m writing this post a bit retroactively, so details on each day aren’t quite as numerous as the next week’s report was. Future reports will include more of the things we saw each day.

The week started off very strong, with our first wolf sighting coming early in the morning. This is the 8 Mile pack, named after a creek in southwest Montana where they originated. They’ve been a “Yellowstone” wolf pack since moving into the park around 2010.

Some of these shots were taken at around 300 yards out, but the background of Electric Peak and the surrounding mountains was incredible.

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There was a lone male from the Wapiti pack looking to mate with a member of the 8 Miles, and he was running around all over and howling constantly.

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Some bull elk were also hanging out in the same area, and were mostly left alone by the wolves.

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The light was great on the mountain but lacking on the wolves, so this was more of a silhouette image as the pack milled around.

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The wolves didn’t move very far all day but eventually we decided to move on more into the park. We had a great encounter with a lone coyote walking down the road, all to ourselves for a while. Most coyotes largely ignore humans, just getting to wherever they need to go as they walk past us.

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Later in the week, we hiked out towards Slough Creek to see some of the Junction Butte wolves. They are usually pretty far out at this spot, so it can be difficult to get much more than a documentary type of shot.

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Saturday after the workshop ended, I went out by myself for a bit and hung out with the Rescue Creek pack that was visible all afternoon from the Blacktail Ponds area. None of them ever came much closer than about 300-400 yards.

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All images taken with Canon R5 & EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II (+2x extender most of the time)

Interested in joining me for a photography workshop in Yellowstone? Check out www.workshops.trentsizemore.com for more info, including dates and pricing!