12 replies to this topic

[Meadowlark]

If you've ever been to Yellowstone, you know how stringent they are and how many warnings you get about bears and bison. Everywhere you look, there are warnings-even on the picnic tables-about not approaching the bison or the bears. Our campsite in Slough Creek had a bear box and the camphost...a wonderful woman named Rosalinde Willson-patrolled her campground, looking for bear box scofflaws. She was also always on the spot when a bison or a bear entered the camp ground.

 

The problem is, nobody tells the bison or the bears.

 

We had a sow black bear come through the campground with her two cubs. Apparently there is a bear watch network (we didn't have internet at the camp) because within minutes of the bear alert, a ranger and about fifty people showed up, only a handful were actually camping in the campground. The poor bear merely wanted to pass through and all these folks are standing (a safe distance away) and watching her.

 

Every day we had bison in the campground. This one showed up, walked past our Grus egg at about three feet from the tongue, then plopped his heavy bison butt down not more than the width of the road from our Grus egg. His friend started grazing the edge of the road directly in front of a tent camper's tent. The tenter wasn't  aware of it until he came out of the tent and almost ran into the bison. He took cover behind the site's bear box. He was trapped, as there was a river behind him and he didn't dare go that close to a full grown bison bull. So what did the bison do? He came right up to the bear box, and right after I took this photo, the bison LAY DOWN and took a nap. The poor man was forced to hide behind the bear box for about half an hour.

(I hope it shows up...I had to really shrink the photos down to fit. The man is sitting just to the right of a tree trunk).

The last photo is of a bison who crossed the river with the single minded determination of a tank, and kept on going. He passed so closely to me that I could hear a gentle 'whuff' with every step he took, and could see the water dripping from his not insubstantial beard.

I love Yellowstone...it's the only place in the world (other than the Serengeti, I imagine) that you can experience things like this.

 

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 
• 

[clover]

Ditto on Yellowstone. Last time there we spent a lot of time in both Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Every year some part of the main road that makes the big circle around Yellowstone is under construction. I am a "no reservations type" and willing to get up early. As we moved from the northern end of Grand Tetons before dawn by way of Hayden Valley in Yellowstone we knew we could make a campground in the north end to get a spot since we would miss all of the traffic..........car traffic.....we didn't count on the Buffalo Sleeping on the road in Hayden Valley and unwilling to move. So we sat there for about an hour and watch a couple of wolves wander up from the Yellowstone river into a meadow filled with a large herd of Bison........."just shopping" for "something"...........after causally loping behind a couple of yearlings a bull saw what was going on.........he put it into full throttle to run down the wolves, then a second bull joint in the attempt to turn the wolves into dust............yes, Bison can go from zero to..............30+mph is a matter seconds!

 

Our second interesting encounter with a Bison was at 6:30 am at Ole Faithful. We went there at 6 am to beat the summer crowds, Ole Faithful went off at 6:20 with maybe 5 other people there at the time. We then started down another boardwalk to view the other thermals in the area. As we were looking at one quietly we heard some very loud crashing and breaking of big tree limbs just beyond the thermal and it wasn't squirrels in the trees. Out come a bull in a full throttle charge towards us, my son's jaw dropped to his belly button. Thank goodness there was a very small grouping of Lodge Pole Pines just to the right of us.........I grabbed my son's hood on his jacket and jerked him behind the trees, thank goodness he only weighed about 50 lbs at the time. The bull stopped 3 yards from us and shook his head. He was just feeling fresh because of the cold morning and I suppose wanted to get his "jollies" by making some tourist wet their pants in fear. We came back several hours later and he was laying near that same thermal after a nice "dust bath" and enjoying a siesta. 

 

We also saw a Bald Eagle at dusk dive straight into the Madison River and without slowing down pull out a Rainbow Trout and fly straight up with seemingly no hesitation in the entire flight pattern. My son was only 8 at the time and immediately responded..........."mom, I will never see that happen again in a lifetime, a Bald Eagle pulling a big fish out of a river, right in front of me!"

 

Yes, visitors of Yellowstone could ramble on and on for hours about the wonders seen and experience at Yellowstone...............!!!!.........and those would not even include the stories about some of the stupid things people do at Yellowstone............

 

Clover & her pup

[Dutchman]

Nice pictures.  During my last visit to Yellowstone I wandered on a wooden walkway and came on a sign: "Do not step off walkway, thin crust."   Right behind the sign stood a large bull bison.  Apparently he couldn't read.

 

No need to go to the Serengeti.  Yellowstone is not the only place where campers can be surprised by bison.  Theodore Roosevelt north and south units in North Dakota have bison that on occasion wander right through your campsite.

 

Dutchman

[Plainsman]

Dutchman is correct. Y'stone is hardly "the only place." My neighbor raises them and to get to my place I have to cross a section of his open range. The road is frequently blocked by the critters but they move out of the way most politely.  Two or three times a year I help him move them from one "pasture" to another. His pastures are 5-10,000 acres and he runs 5000 head more or less year 'round. His total spread is about 90,000 acres. These are very interesting animals and when they become accustomed to hooman beans they are not nearly as aggressive as sometimes made out to be.

[Jerrybob]

We were in Yellowstone a few years ago.......this actually happened......

 

 A park ranger lost his favorite Bible while he was out mending fences on one of Yellowstone's back roads. Three weeks later, a buffalo walked up to him carrying the Bible in its mouth. The ranger couldn't believe his eyes. He took the precious book out of the buffalo's mouth, raised his eyes heavenward and exclaimed, "It's a miracle!" "Not really," said the buffalo. "Your name is written inside the cover." 

[Plainsman]

I've heard of that buff, altho' I have forgotten his name. There is a rumor that he will be the next Sect'y of Agriculture but I cannot confirm.

[Meadowlark]

What I find so encouraging about Yellowstone is how the entire ecosystem has responded to the re-introduction of the wolf. There are pronghorn everywhere (their numbers had been reduced to virtually nothing before the wolves return, because coyotes preferentially prey on their fawns.) The grizzlies...we saw grizzlies every single day in Yellowstone. Every sow we saw had at least one cub. They have really begun to do well, because they steal kills from the wolves and put on a lot of weight. Despite the fact that their preferred late fall food, white bark pine, is in serious danger of extinction, the grizzlies are doing well. We saw foxes, another species that suffered at the hands of the coyote, and we even saw a fisher...first one I've ever seen. There was a den full of baby badgers not far from where the Druid Peak pack lives. We didn't see cougars, they are afraid of the wolves and stick to the high country. Even the mountain goats are responding...we saw 11 on Thunderer Mountain. Most of them had kids. It's amazing to see them running up and jumping down steep rockfaces that you wouldn't think a weed could grow.

Elk are everywhere, despite the fact that they're the wolves preferred prey. They're staying in areas where they normally would, and that means the willows...plants that the moose prefer, are coming back, as are the moose.

 

We saw wolves several times. Everyone in the park seemed to want to see them and the grizzlies.

 

We didn't see golden eagles, or otters, my only disappointments.

[Muttley]

The bufalo were well behaved when we went to Yellowstone, and we never saw a bear.  We did have an elk stick his nose into the truck window and bellow in Marge's face.  She was no way prepared for that.l

[Meadowlark]

Muttley, did you have the elk fill out a referral card??

[Jerrybob]

The bufalo were well behaved when we went to Yellowstone, and we never saw a bear.  We did have an elk stick his nose into the truck window and bellow in Marge's face.  She was no way prepared for that.l

 

Not in Yellowstone but.....this morning.....my wife and I had 19 elk come through the back of our property. There were two spike bulls in the herd.  We also have an eagle nest with babies back in the woods.  If we had a geyser.......I could open a campground!   

[Dutchman]

Speaking of wildlife,  some of the most intelligent animals are the Javelinas.  I met one that took a serious interest in my Casita, and then queried me at length on the use of my solar panel.

 

Since then, one of my favorite songs is: "Don't cry for me, Javelina!"

 

Dutchman

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

[Jerrybob]

Speaking of wildlife,  some of the most intelligent animals are the Javelinas.  I met one that took a serious interest in my Casita, and then queried me at length on the use of my solar panel.

 

Since then, one of my favorite songs is: "Don't cry for me, Javelina!"

 

Dutchman

 

Great pics and great song!  ...

[Meadowlark]

Dutchman, you should be spanked..