Fox Collectors

And it ain't no birddog. It is a wild wolf.

Several members requested I post my recent National Geographic cover photo so here it is for all to see.
Thanks for asking guys I appreciate it.
If the moderator feels this is not appropate feel free to remove.

Nice Dawg! I am certainly impressed with your standing as a photographer. Those photographers that get into Nat Geo have got to be all top rate.

Best,

Mike

Thanks Mike.
I am impressed with those dogs of yours. A first and second is not a small thing.
Jess

Jess

Wonderful picture. First rate. Can you tell us how you got the picture? Looks like you were mighty close to a wild wolf.

Mike

Hats off to ya!!!!

tjw

AWESOME!

Thanks, I can't wait to read the article and look at more pictures. However, I must, as always, wait until "The Lovely Linda" deassessions her office copy to the home front.

mc15426378 wrote:Jess

Wonderful picture. First rate. Can you tell us how you got the picture? Looks like you were mighty close to a wild wolf.

Mike

Thanks Guy's
Mike,
I was fairly close. One thing is I know these wolves and their habits. This pack was a least 3 generations from the Yellowstone reintroduction and had never known hunting. They are generally wary around people but if you understand their behavior, where they rendezvous and how to move you can get as close as touching distance to some wolves sometimes.

This wolf was part of a pack that was fairly mellow when people were near. They were in a location where the late autumn elk migration funnels herds through as they are head to winter range. Some years there will be as many as 4 wolf packs in the area making kills as the elk move through. As you can guess the large number of wolves in the area causes a good deal of stress between packs This pack had just been attacked by a larger more dominate pack. Their 5 pups had split from the attack while the Alphas and subordinates briefly held their ground while the pups escaped. The non pups then split and ran for their lives. I found them heading for one of their rendezvous sites and set up there. The alphas arrived first then this subordinate. They begin to howl to let the pups know all was clear and to regroup. To make a long story short, the Alphas were killed two days later by the other pack. This wolf and most of the other pack survived. This wolf became the Alpha female of a pack created by her and a male of the pack that killed her parents.
Pretty normal wolf stuff.

jess

Great photo and story, Jess. Congratulations on the cover.
Jim

A terrific photo, Jess. I am even more impressed by the description of how you got the photo and the behavior of the pack.

Great shot Jess! Quite an honor. I hope you can get some good photos of elk while there are some left. John

It is too late John, they started working over the big bulls about 5 years ago.
The good news is that the wolf population is crashing. There are around 90 wolves in Yellowstone compared to 200 a couple of years ago. The bad news is the elk population is 25% of what it was 15 years ago.
A lot of factors there but not good news for elk hunters. It is nice to see the deer start to come back in Yellowstone with the decrease of elk.

Jess: Thanks for the photo and the narrative on the packs. I've always wanted to go to Yellowstone and now perhaps I will.

Best Regards, George