Yellowstone Wolf Pack Takes Down Elk, Has to Battle Grizzly
It's not easy being a wolf in Yellowstone. Your pack takes down an elk and thinks it has a quiet dinner only to be interrupted by a very angry grizzly.
This video was captured by a very wise person with a scope who was hundreds of yards away from a wolf kill in Yellowstone. It's the famous (or infamous depending on your opinion) Junction Butte wolf pack. The wolves had taken down an elk, feasted for a bit, then went off to sleep. When they returned to the carcass, a very large grizzly had taken possession of their elk.
Here's the backstory as shared by the person who recorded the video:
One morning in Yellowstone, the junction butte wolf pack took down a bull elk. They ate and then moved away to sleep. I returned to the carcass in the evening to find a grizzly bear on the carcass. This was highly unusual since most bears should be in hibernation at this time. Then later in the evening the wolf pack moved back to their carcass and were surprised to find a bear had stolen it. The wolves tested the bear to try and win their kill back. The wolves were not successful and the bear was close to injuring the wolves. Eventually, the wolves moved on leaving the bear with his stolen prize.
I can't 100% verify the date that this video was captured. It may have been last winter, but the video was just shared recently so it's new to me.
As Yellowstone Wolf has shared, the Junction Butte wolf pack is by far the largest in Yellowstone. Of the 17 pups the pack produced in 2019, they estimate that 8 survived helping this group of wolves become even more predominant. But they weren't victorious this day as the grizzly ended up with the elk. Sometimes even strength in numbers won't convince a large bear to move on.