Weekend with the Wapitis, Part 4 (+ Bears!) - Fall 2025
Weekend with the Wapitis, Part 4 (+ Bears!) - Fall 2025
By Isaac Rath, and Katie Milesky
Photos by Isaac Rath
In the evening of 12/9/2025, I (Isaac) received word that the Wapiti Lake wolf pack had been seen on a carcass in the park, relatively close to the road in a section of the Yellowstone called “Elk Park”. While Katie had to work that next day, I decided to get up early and check it out. I left before dawn, making the entire 45-minute drive from Old Faithful Village in the dark. It was going to be about a 45-minute drive, and I knew I wanted to get there before sunrise, so I had to get up by 4:45 and leave Old Faithful just after 5:00. I arrived at the kill-site just before 6 am, and besides one other car, I was alone.
After a few minutes, I started to hear some howling and yipping from inside the warmth of my Subaru, so I stepped out to listen. Once I got out, it was clear to me that this was a pack rally, with the majority of the pack barking, howling, and yipping. It was still dark, so I couldn’t tell how far the wolves were from me, but I’d estimate about 100 yards. It was a little eerie and kind of unnerving to not be able to see them. As the sun came up, I could make out their location and began to film from my spotting scope (which was stolen from us a few days later; if you know anything about this or would like to help us get a new one, please contact me or Katie!).
In the light of dawn, I could clearly watch the Wapiti Lake pack members playing in the meadow. As I watched them, other cars started to show up. Luckily, most people out at this hour are looking for wildlife and show respect to the wildlife they see, so we didn’t have any issues with folks approaching the animals or getting too close like we saw earlier in the season in Hayden Valley (Link to Weekend with the Wapitis, Part 3).
After a bit, the wolves started to head south into the woods. I moved south to Gibbon Meadows, hoping they would continue into the next open area, and I was not disappointed. I watched them in this meadow for a while until they went back into the trees to the north. I’d hoped for them to pop back out in Elk Park, but no such luck. After a bit, I assumed they’d bedded down for the afternoon in the protection of the forest, so I called it a morning and packed up my stuff. My intention was to return the next morning, but that quickly changed when Katie returned from work with news of something exciting on the east entrance road.
We’d know that a few days prior, a large bull elk had been stuck in the mud at a place guides refer to as “No Moose Pond” (because it looks like it should have a moose at it, but there never is one). We’d heard that a ranger had shot it, so it wouldn’t have to slowly starve or be attacked with no means of escape, but we’d figured it had been discovered and eaten by bears while we were on our backpacking trip a few days before. Turns out we were wrong, as the photography guide let it slip to Katie that there had been four different grizzly bears in the area surrounding it that morning and that there was still a significant amount of the carcass left. So the next morning, I woke up early again and made my way to No Moose Pond.
When I arrived before sunrise at the carcass, there were already about 20 or 30 people there, and three bears were already in sight. It was still too dark for photos, but our eyes could make out their outlines as I got the optics and equipment set up. As the sun rose, I noticed one large boar on the carcass, and two smaller females nearby waiting for a turn to feed. The boar fed and moved grass on top of the elk carcass to cover it. The boar had a lot of frost on his fur, so I’m willing to bet he spent the night on the carcass to protect it from other bears. The bears are in a phase called hyperphagia now, meaning they will have an uncontrollable urge to eat and won’t feel full. This adaptation helps them to prepare for hibernation, where they will not eat for months.
Two more grizzlies emerged from the forest in the distance, but never approached the carcass. My guess would be that it was a mother and cub, and she didn’t want to risk bringing her cub near the large boar. A few hours passed, and at about 9 am, the large male finished covering the elk with grass and began to walk away. When he did this, one of the patient females moved in for a bite. The male took notice and stopped to watch her, and when she got too close to his food, he charged at her. He didn’t risk leaving the carcass for the rest of the day and never let anyone else get close. Katie, who was on tour, took a small detour with her guests who had been really hoping to see a grizzly bear and popped out on the east entrance to share this experience with them.
