By Team 399
Republished with permission
It’s been a crazy 10 days with 399 and her cubs, but I’ll start by saying that at least one cub, 1058 (yellow ear tags) is completely separated and the other three cubs are well in to the process of being involuntarily separated and may now be completely separated.
399 came back in to GTNP last Monday, moving quickly through the Moose area before spending the night north of Schwabacher Landing. Tuesday morning a large boar was at Elk Ranch Flats on 926’s scent. He ended up crossing 89 and heading west toward the Snake River at about Cunningham Cabin. He was on a possible intercept course with 399.
Late on Tuesday afternoon we saw 399 and the cubs running northbound at Potholes. She was clearly in a hurry. She ended up spending Tuesday night on Signal Mountain.
She hurriedly crossed the Snake River below the Jackson Lake dam on Wednesday morning and headed north in to Willow Flats. A large male crossed the Snake on Thursday less than 24 hours later. He appeared to be on a mission.
We briefly saw 399 at the north end of Pilgrim Flats on Thursday morning.
Late on Friday morning 399 appeared near the base of the dam again. She slowly worked her way eastward to Upper Oxbow by Friday night. Someone apparently saw a large male near the Wormhole on Friday evening.
399 and the cubs spent Saturday going back and forth between Lozier Hill and Upper Oxbow, waking up Sunday morning high up on Lozier Hill. She eventually worked her way west toward the area east of the Jackson Lake Lodge. She was seen in that area at distance on Monday as well.
On Tuesday morning 399 and all four cubs showed up in the willows north of Jackson Lake Junction before moving across the road in to Willow Flats. All 5 were visible for about 90 minutes before moving northward in to Willow Flats. They were at Pilgrim Creek heading north in to the trees at about 3 p.m.
Yesterday morning someone saw 399 and 3 cubs on the road at Signal Mountain heading south. There was a 5th hand report that she and all four cubs were at Deadman’s Bar in the late morning.
One of our previous guests had a bear in the southern part of the park last evening, but no identification was made. This morning there were several reports of bears near Moose. The long and the short of it is that 399 and three of the cubs were in the area and 399 was seen with a large boar. She was without the cubs. 399 hung out with this male at great distance at most of the day. They appeared to mate though they were behind some trees. They were grazing together at about 5:30 p.m. and all seemed peaceful. 399 suddenly alerted and started running north. Some 90 seconds later all three cubs came running out of the trees toward 399. Rather than receiving her cubs 399 tried to run them off with the large male in tow. We lost track of one cub, but 399 was successful in drawing the male off of the cubs and deep in to the woods. Two of the cubs stayed together and also headed south. We didn’t see where the last cub ended up.
In talking with the bear managers, there is collar data to show that 1058 stayed behind in the Pilgrim Creek area – we wonder if he will hook up with Fritter like 1022 and 1028 did last year. Also, the large male cavorting with 399 is not the Bruno we think of.
That’s what we have.
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