Yellowstone's Junction Butte's Wolf Den & Alpha Female Breaks Her Foot

[@ruthmrozek2531]

Fascinating video. Thank you for all you went through so others could see this.

[@arnonboyd6174]

Good presentation! Thank You! Boyd's

[@Yellowstonewolves]

Thank you sir!

[@bejudson1384]

I saw a Slough Creek Cow Bison last week with a lame back leg or foot I suppose will be discovered by the wolves soon. Life is tough in Yellowstone:( Thanks for the good video!

[@Yellowstonewolves]

You bet and yes that bison's day are probably numbered. A friend of mine saw a pronghorn running and broke a leg after hitting a hole in the ground. It was spotted by a black bear and taken down about 10 mins after it happened. Please do subscribe if you can. Best, Ron

[@emmadempsey4947]

What will happen to her Ron? Is there no way anyone can help her? It was breaking my heart watching her limping along, I hoped she would remain in the den and rest but she didn't...I can't bear to see any animal in pain :(

[@Yellowstonewolves]

No unfortunately the park rules are to never intervene - just protect. There are so many things there that are hard to watch. I am not sure what happened to her but will find out. I am sure my friends had been following her outcome. I have seen some endure a limp for many months. I will find out and post it.

[@emmadempsey4947]

@@Yellowstonewolves I thought that would be the case and I do completely understand - I just find it hard to watch. I would love to know what happened to her if you do find out.. I couldnt watch that grizzly bear tucking into the baby elk when the poor thing was still alive - however I do understand the poor bear has to eat as you say its just hard to watch isnt it

[@Yellowstonewolves]

Honestly that was the hardest video to take and then watch again. However, it did confirm a behavior by both bear and elk we have seen many times. But every other time we could only guess what’s was happening because some part was always hidden by some sage or partial tree. Somewhere in my files I have wolves taking a elk calf too. Exact same behavior by the cow. You do have to remember nothing there free from getting eaten. Grizzly too wolf pups, wolves took a grizzly cub. About the only thing safe is full gown Bison bull.

[@smgolammohiuddin9765]

great film! how much you had to zoom in to see them?

[@Yellowstonewolves]

It can be up to a mile. A lot of the time it has to be a 1/4 to 1/2 mile otherwise they start watching you versus doing the normal stuff you want to watch.

[@mariawolterstorff145]

Any update on the injured female?

[@veray685]

Junction Butte alpha male died after being weakened for months by a fractured jaw, and now JB alpha female breaks her leg.

[@Yellowstonewolves]

Thank you for the updates on the them, so many people ask. Best, Ron Check out this one - kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqi5n4ptmL-DoNk

[@chrismccord4475]

Ron, Love the video's. Spent about 2 weeks in Yellowstone this summer and saw our first ever wolf. Have been obsessed since! Question, how do you know where to be in the Lamar Valley area to see wolves so often? I'm sure you spend countless hours looks and we only see a glimpse but are there certain spots you know there's a good shot to see them? In some of your video's you've said they were a mile plus away, just curious how to become familiar with these spots when we come back.

[@Yellowstonewolves]

Hi Chris that is a great question. Yes we do know where "our best chances" of seeing them are but this does change a lot year to year. The next part is - what is the right habitat for the part of the season you are in. You don't really know where they will be but you can figure where they are most likely not likely to be and save some time. Or where even if they were there you would be unlikely to see them e.g tree cover, where is the food... etc. Last is who is looking, your optics and experience, lots of rocks look dogs and many logs look like bears. There were years were we all looked a spot and saw a log, one of us said "NO its a grizz" twenty mins later the bear rolled over and bam there was its face. A good size grizzly just sleeping at the base of a tree on a hillside - looking just like a log. If you like wildlife watching as I do you must invest in two things, good optics and extra helping of patience. Wolves are almost always on the move or always hidden and watching you. We have a pretty good team of four always looking and have been doing this together it for 8+ years now. I can't count the collective hours we have spent in the park. I have to admit our way of spending time in the park isn't for everyone, it is really long and many times we skip meals altogether - we would all rather sit and just wait and eat a PJ sandwich or granola instead of giving up. The stuff we have seen when absolutely no one was around has been amazing. I do have some really great wolf video still to post too! Send me an email if you want more help or detail. Best, Ron

[@chrismccord4475]

@@Yellowstonewolves Honestly, I could sit in Lamar Valley for hours on end doing exactly what you guys are doing. Most people couldn't sit there for 10 minutes more or less several hours. I find it exciting. Do you guys stick to the roads mainly or do you get off on the trails?

[@Yellowstonewolves]

Some of each depending on what we see, so many people stick to the roads and just miss a lot. In a lot of places I like to stay away from where others might be simply to hear more, less noise, be less of a distraction to what ever I might watch. There seems to be a group of people who think it’s like Jurassic park where you should stay at the road and when people get out and walk it’s a crime. There are lots of good trails but there are also some very cool vantage points that you can hike to and then just watch much more terrain - these are not on walking trails and sometimes you just have follow and use bison trials. Good to hear you have the patience too. When will you go again?

[@old4004]

I finally looked up the definition of "digiscoping". What combination do you have, Ron?

[@Yellowstonewolves]

I use a really custom rig. Now on my fourth generation creation of a scope and 4K camera, don’t use a phone anymore. I am pretty sure my current creation is unique to me. I will post more after I try out here in a couple weeks. This year I went with a new tripod, head, 4K video camera, redundant power sources, large capacity storage, monitor etc. Over the last few years I would record about 400-500 gig of video each week. This year I guessing about 3-5 terabytes for the same amount of time. A kind of extreme digiscoping.

[@tylerbottoms3887]

The alpha female probably broke her foot in an hunting accident. For the time being it will be more difficult for her to move around, but she will recover and will be running before you know it!

[@codegood1024]

Are these videos filmed from this year ?

[@Yellowstonewolves]

No this was from last spring. Headed to the park in about a week to start this season.

[@codegood1024]

Ron Sterbenz oh ok you have great videos I’ve always wanted to go to Yellowstone

[@Yellowstonewolves]

Thank you so much!

[@insansiregar7522]

Is this area not restricted?

[@Yellowstonewolves]

No it sure wasn't - here is a new video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqi5n4ptmL-DoNk