The Coyote Game

The Coyote Game  Yellowstone April 3-5 2017

Whenever Kevin & I visit Yellowstone, we find ourselves playing the Coyote Game. Whomever finds the most Coyotes during our trip wins!  We don't really win a prize so to speak, just the satisfaction of accumulating points.  On this trip however, we both gave up on the game.  With so many carcasses around, we had more than our share of Coyotes!  We couldn't keep track of which Coyotes were new or if they were just the same ones returning to the carcass to feed again. 
   We arrived late in the afternoon on the 3rd. We had heard about the carcass in Round Prairie, so we headed that direction.  It was overcast & a bit breezy.  We found the carcass & low & behold there were three Coyotes tugging on it. There was no sign of any other predator, so we decided to look for the Grizzly Sow & yearling cub that was reported near Junction Butte.  We found her near the base grazing away with her rolly-polly little cub.  At quite a distance for photographs but we took a shot for documentation.

That was about the extent of our first 1/4 day & we headed back to Gardiner so we could rise early the next morning.  We rose at 4:00 am & decided our best bet was to head for the Round Prairie carcass again.  We would be driving in the dark most of the way. It was snowing lightly & there was a dusting of snow on the road. We could see only one other vehicle track ahead of us.  Turned out it was the plow.  He pulled over for us in Little America which was nice.  That gave us the opportunity to see a brief glimpse of an owl by the Lamar Canyon Bridge.  It appeared to be a Great Horned Owl.  When we pulled into Round Prairie, there was only one other car.  Rick McIntyre.  He had heard about the carcass but didn't know where it was. More light now on the horizon revealed dark shapes in the distance.  Not on the carcass but scattered about in the tall willows.  Moose.  3 Moose, no 4 Moose & then 5 Moose!  Another cow & calf were around the corner a bit for a total of 7 Moose that morning.  It was a chilly 11 degrees & all the Moose had frost on their fur.  The morning light finally revealed that once again it was only Coyotes on the carcass.

We stayed for awhile hoping a bear or wolves would come in but it was not to be.  We got word that The 8 Mile Wolf Pack had made a kill over by Wraith Falls & a maintenance worker had seen 14 wolves at first light.  Darn it.  We drove right by them in the dark! After watching the Moose & coyote show for awhile, we thought we should try our luck at the new carcass at Wraith & maybe if we were extra lucky, the wolves might return or a bear would sniff out the fresh aroma of Elk Tartare.  We arrived to the carcass & once again the only thing on it were, you guessed it,  Coyotes.  Ravens were also busy but strangely, no Magpies. We did hear the wolves howl, which was incredible to hear 14 wolves howling but never caught the slightest glimpse.   The Coyotes were incredibly fat & happy & they would come & go, stopping to clean off their nose & mouth in the snowbanks or to haul off a tasty morsel for a midnight snack.

The excitement finally came when a Bald Eagle arrived.  It made several passes before it finally landed on a boulder a few feet from the carcass. It seemed very cautious.  After a few minutes, it made it's way to the carcass.  Another Bald Eagle arrived & the acrobatics ensued. It was hard to capture the action as the eagles warp speed passes & spirals intertwined with each other.  It was quite the sight to see.

Eventually they each had their morsels & they flew off.  Back to the coyote game.  This time three coyotes came trotting in from a different direction but suddenly they turned & were running away from the carcass.  They were after a Badger! The Coyotes had it surrounded!  It didn't look good for the Badger but he snarled & charged at them & was able to escape their grip & head for his holes nearby.  He would dive into his hole & then turn around & lunge up & out at them.  Not giving in & clearly standing his ground.  The Coyotes eventually tired of the game and turned their attention back to the carcass.  Again, this was at a great distance for photographs but the action through our scopes was great!

We never did catch a glimpse of any wolves & a bear never made an appearance at the elk carcass either.  The carcass was pretty much picked clean in a day.
We found a pretty fox near Blacktail Road & were entertained by some silly Ravens but the rest of the trip was relatively slow.

  We hope to be back in a couple of weeks when we will start our Coyote Game all over again!