Bears, Wolves, and Lions
After Tony and I finished Mill Creek, he went back to work in Bozeman and I went to Tom Miner.
The ranch manager met me at the gate, escorted me through the ranch to the access point, and briefed me on the Grizzly Bears, wolf pack, and recent Mountain Lion attack.
See my car on the left in the grass - that's the access point.
In the photo above, follow the park on the right. It curves up toward the peak - the survey is on top of that mountain. To my chagrin, it looks relatively flat in this photo.
See the ridge on the left, above my car. The ranch manager pointed there and said, "That's where the wolf pack's den is. There are seven adults."
In the photo above, the survey mountain is on the left. The ranch manager pointed to the series of parks on the right-hand ridges and said, "The Grizzly Bears come down from there and dig caraway in the back pasture. We see them every day."
He said they found a cow kill recently. Before the Fish and Game biologists left the property after examining the dead cow, both traps they had set went off: a small sow and a "huge, gorgeous, black, boar." Both wore collars and, although the boar was originally blamed, the sow's collar had pinged at the kill site. After collecting physical data, like weight, they released both bears.
Fish and Game reimburses ranches for Grizzly-killed cattle. And they give a bear chances before relocating or killing the bear.
Then the ranch manager said, "That huge, gorgeous, black boar - his collar pinged up Mill Creek recently."
Oh, really.
He said I might see the Range Riders. Cowboys work for Fish and Game and ride through cattle herds around dawn and dusk to keep the animals in a tight herd, provide a human presence to deter bears, and deal with carcasses if necessary.
The ranch manager asked, "Have you ever heard a Grizzly Bear in the forest."
No.
"They purr."
What?
"They vocalize as they walk and it sounds like purring, whether they're happy, or they 'winded' you, or they’re talking to themselves. When you hear the sound, it may sound like a far off ATV - but it's a lot closer than you think."
I thought of all the times, every day, constantly, when I thought I heard distant ATVs.
Then he told me about the Mountain Lion. He said, he got up to let his dog out at six AM a few weeks ago and, "She walked straight into a lion. I ran at them, scared the lion off, but my dog barely survived. She needed surgeries."
The ranch manager left, and I locked myself in my car.
Next morning, I was too scared to walk up to the survey in the dark, so I left the car at 5:30 and didn't make it to my first point until almost 7:00.
I kept looking to my left for wolves.
To my right for Grizzly Bears.
And everywhere for Mountain Lions.
Snow in July.
When I made it to the top and looked over the back ridge, there was Yellowstone Park.
After the survey, I played Pride and Prejudice on volume ten for the walk back down to the car.
See the tiny spot at the bottom of the park in the photo below - that's my car.
By the time Darcy proposed for the second time, I was back at the car and had seen zero bears, wolves, or lions.