Here Come The Bears: First Grizzlies Of The Season Spotted In Yellowstone

Grizzly season in Yellowstone National Park kicked off this week, with two large males that have awakened gobbling most of a bison carcass in the Hayden Valley area.

And Yellowstone’s office of public affairs Wednesday announced that a grizzly spotted on Specimen Ridge was the park’s first officially confirmed bear to come out of hibernation this year.

The bears finished what a pair of coyotes had a difficult time starting. The coyotes had been at the carcass for a while, but their feeble efforts were no match for the teeth and jaws of the grizzlies, wildlife watcher Kyle Vetter told Cowboy State Daily.

And a fresh layer of snow wasn’t slowing the bears down either.

“We got only few inches of snow, but the carcass is mostly consumed now,” said Vetter, who works in Yellowstone and was among the first to spot and photograph the Hayden Valley grizzlies.

And the fact that it was two large males should come as no surprise, Vetter said. Dominant males almost always emerge first from their winter dens.

Meanwhile, bears were apparently still snoozing in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming wildlife photographer Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven told Cowboy State Daily.

He added that it’s not unusual for Yellowstone bears to start popping out first.

“Yellowstone typically has a bigger food supply waiting for them once they wake up,” he said.

Renowned wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen, who closely follows Teton grizzly activity, also told Cowboy State Daily that he hadn’t heard any verified reports of grizzlies coming out of their dens.

Drowsy And Stumbling

Over the winter, Vetter watched the coyote pair go about their business, largely unchallenged by larger predators like grizzlies and wolves.

He recently filmed the coyotes tugging at the carcass of the bison – most likely an older, feeble animal that had succumbed to winter weather.

He first noticed a big male grizzly making short work of the carcass a few days ago. And it didn’t take long for the second bear to show up.

The second bear had obviously just emerged from its den, as it was “drowsy and stumbling, having just woken up,” he said.

The two grizzlies were fairly close to a road, but didn’t cause the year’s first “bear jam,” Vetter said. Passengers on one of the winter season’s last snow coaches missed the sight, because the bears were elsewhere when it went past.

He added that he’s spotted two more big game carcasses in the area, and those were starting to draw attention.

“One had a wolf pack on it, but it’s pretty far away, and the other had four coyotes on it,” he said.

Teton Might Be Quiet Until April

Things in Teton country might stay quiet for a while, Vangoidtsenhoven said.

Teton bears get fewer chances at bison and elk carcasses for breakfast than Yellowstone grizzlies. Yellowstone’s bison herd must cross areas where some might fall through pond ice and die, he said.

“Our bison herd in the Tetons not only is much smaller, they also don't have similar dangers to cross. Plus, up until recently, there wasn't all that much snow cover in Jackson Hole, so even in February, the bison hadn't been forced down to the Elk Refuge yet,” Vangoidtsenhoven said.

“With the fresh snowpack in the valley, I don't expect much bear action in Jackson Hole until perhaps April. In the meantime, the odd boar (male bear), like ‘Bruno.’ may make an appearance,” he said.

Bruno is a well-known, super-sized grizzly thought to be the sire of many cubs of the world’s most famous bear, Grizzly 399.

Grizzly 399 usually emerges late. Last year, she and her new cub Spirit weren’t spotted until mid-May.

Yellowstone grizzlies also have the advantage of wolves sometimes leaving behind unconsumed parts of elk they kill over the winter, Vangoidtsenhoven said. That’s not as frequent in the Teton area.

“There have been wolf kills in the (National) Elk Refuge this past winter, but that's a long way away from where some of the Teton celebrity bears are believed to den in the northern section of Jackson Hole,” he said.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect the first grizzly of the season in Yellowstone was spotted on Specimen Ridge, not the two bears seen eating a bison carcass in the Hayden Valley area.

Mark Heinz can be reached at: Mark@CowboyStateDaily.com