My son and I are getting away for a long weekend visit to Yellowstone towards the end of June. Our focus will be wildlife. Any suggestions on wildlife hotspots in the park at this time of year? I'm trying to plan motel location accordingly.
Lamar Valley should be pretty good with some grizz and wolf sightings. Unfortunately Lamar Valley is really big so your sighting may be a 1/2-mile away across the valley. Swan Lake Flats is usually a good spot for grizz as well. Hayden Valley is also good as well as grizz and wolf sightings have been increasing there recently. Elk and Buffalo are pretty much everywhere. For Black Bear, the area around Tower Falls to Roosevelt is almost always a sure fire spot that time of year. For Moose, your best bet is in Grand Teton NP. Hope this helps. Have fun.
Buffalo and Elk are all over the place. Lamar Valley was most productive for us last year for Prong Horn and Bear. We also saw a lot of Coyote in Lamar. Drive sloooooly and keep a sharp eye out for animals in the fields. If you get off the roads and on the trails you will see more than most people and also get away from the crowds.
I just finished four days in the park, and Ed and Doug pretty well nailed it on recommendations. Here's what I can add under current conditions: As you head into Lamar, spend some time looking around the Yellowstone River bridge. A group of bighorn rams has been hanging there, and they're as tame as barnyard sheep. I got head shots with a 200 from the truck window.
At the lake check on Mary and Sedge bays. There were grizzlies in both places, close to the road and eminently photographable with the 200 (I hadn't planned to be doing wildlife, so that's the longest lens I had with me).
The wolves in Lamar are in a bit of an uproar right now, with normal behavior patterns disrupted. The slough creek den was put under siege by another pack, with ulitimate loss of pups and abandonment by the local pack. Soda Butte pack is behaving as normal, as is the one in Hayden Valley. Bear everywhere.
Lots of antelope this year.
Runoff hasn't started yet, but from the state of the snowpack this year, many rivers are likely still to be blown out and brown well into June.
The young trees following the fire are maturing rapidly and the dead snags are disappearing. The snags are still around, but I found the landscape photography much easier that in years past.
Bring lots of film/memory cards. I went through 22 gigs, and I was trying to be conservative.
Discussion
3 repliesThanks!
-Ken
Have a great time.
At the lake check on Mary and Sedge bays. There were grizzlies in both places, close to the road and eminently photographable with the 200 (I hadn't planned to be doing wildlife, so that's the longest lens I had with me).
The wolves in Lamar are in a bit of an uproar right now, with normal behavior patterns disrupted. The slough creek den was put under siege by another pack, with ulitimate loss of pups and abandonment by the local pack. Soda Butte pack is behaving as normal, as is the one in Hayden Valley. Bear everywhere.
Lots of antelope this year.
Runoff hasn't started yet, but from the state of the snowpack this year, many rivers are likely still to be blown out and brown well into June.
The young trees following the fire are maturing rapidly and the dead snags are disappearing. The snags are still around, but I found the landscape photography much easier that in years past.
Bring lots of film/memory cards. I went through 22 gigs, and I was trying to be conservative.