The Trifecta

[Bart Carrig]

Winter storm in Yellowstone, Lamar Valley

Three bison; three wolves, three trees.

One lucky day, for several hours we watched this wolf chase, which passed by the trees (and the bison).

We were watching a group of 14 wolves in the valley, when the alpha, on a ridge behind and above us, called out for them to chase out a lone gray wolf who was getting to know some of the younger and female wolves on the edge of the pack. Then, for the next several hours, during the storm, the pack chased that lone gray along the valley, taking turns in the lead to plough through the deep snow. We followed the road ahead of them, and up the river to the canyon, where our guide said they would either catch the gray wolf or chase him out.

As we took landscapes waiting for them to arrive, the lone gray got caught between some rocks in the canyon and the black wolf pounced on him and the gray gave a " yelp" and took off, up the bank and popped down onto the road right in front of me. With my camera in hand, I was too shocked to even get a shot at him. Then he turned, jumped over the bank, into the deep snow to get away. He was bleeding a little, and left some spots in the road.

The next day we asked the ranger if he knew what happened after that, and he said the pack wound up taking the lone gray into the pack; since he was such a tough guy, and apparently agreed to drop the alpha challenge, and go omega.

What a great time it was.

Bart Carrig (NY)

 

[AlanLichty]

Neat post Bart - I liked the image quite a lot and then read through the tale behind it. Neat story.

 

[Jeffrey]

What a tremendous experience to witness. Great photo, too. Lucky man you are, Bart.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Bart, this is such a cool shot! And thanks for relating the story, I almost felt like I was there.

 

[Ben Egbert]

This is a great catch with the trips sets of three.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Beautiful shot - perfectly exposed and composed. Thanks for the great story too, that adds so much depth to the viewing.

 

[Bob Denton]

This is great!

 

[Bart Carrig]

Thanks all, it was a great experience, the next day, we did an XC ski in the Agate Creek area and bumped into a lone black wolf.

 

[MonikaC]

That's a great story & a wonderful. clean shot! Should definitely get a "featured post". Sounds like an experience that will stay with you for many years to come!

 

[AlanLichty]

The lone black at the end here doesn't look entirely friendly......

 

[Joe Colozzo]

Very cool story and excellent images. Thank you for sharing them with us.

 

[Bart Carrig]

Thanks Monica, so glad you liked it. It was one of those situations that started of so well, and just kept giving. You know how it is in photography, it's all of it: the conditions, the sights, the company. Keeps us all going.


Al: The black lone wolf has a little story too. We took a ski along the set trail (looking for wolves), and down the trail, two or three took off into the snow to avoid us, and we went back figuring they had circled around us. As we did, we came across the old kill remnants (he was standing over in the photo). We went back to a curve, and heard some wolves howling. We saw a black wolf across a ravine on a hillside across from us. We took off our skis and plowed through thigh-high snow to get some shots of him. As he howled, other wolves howled behind us, and to our right. My hair was standing straight up (or at least it felt that way). As he went down the ravine, he was following a path, and it looked to me that path was going to come back up where we saw the old kill, so I plowed back to the road and ran down the road towards the kill site, and as I was about 40 yards away, he came up over the ridge and stood over the kill. This time I had my 70-200 and he was right there; I fired off a few shots, and off he went. When I saw his yellow eyes and the frozen snow on his chest, I knew I had something special. Later I found him on the charts, he was a 2 year old, in the Agate Creek pack.

It was so exciting; I was a bit intimidated, but not enough not to shoot.

I don't know if he was unfriendly, but yes, I saw the stare.

And it was just as exciting for us to be standing in the center of the howling from 3 directions around us.

Thanks,

Bart

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Incredible story and great images, Bart.