The snow coach had just left the forest on the snow covered roads of the Fountain Flats in Yellowstone National Park. About a half mile ahead we could see several other snow coaches parked on the side of the road, a sure ,tell tale of wildlife action ahead. Far to the right of the coaches was a herd of bison at the base of a couple of small hills on the far reaches of the flats. Normally herds are spread out brushing the snow aside with their massive heads to get to the grasses beneath the snow cover. This herd though was bunched together, for them an indication that danger lurks.
At first glance we could not see the danger to them but as we pulled up on the other coaches it became apparent as to what was happening. The Wapiti Lake wolf pack had isolated 3 bison on the side of the hill about a hundred yards from the rest of the herd.
For the next couple of minutes both the isolated bison and the pack jockeyed for position, the bison in an effort to escape, the wolves in an effort to attack. I do not know which made the first move, the bison or the wolves but within 2 minutes of arriving on scene the bison were charging down the hill with the wolves nipping at the throat and chasing them down.
The full attack lasted a matter of seconds, but in those few seconds the three bison managed to escape and return to their herd. At the end of the attack those wolves involved stood staring at the bison with the realization that their attacked had failed. They would have to wait longer for their next meal.
The wolves turn and started walking back up the hill, heads hanging, in a single file line. The last few wolves in the line stopped and turned back towards the herd of bison where what I believe to be the alpha male reversed direction and started walking towards the herd again.
Stopping a distance from the herd the alpha stood and stared. A single bison then walked from the herd to stand staring head on at the wolf. For several minutes the two stood staring at each other until finally the alpha wolf turned and walked up the hill to rejoin the rest of his pack.
On this day, in this moment, the bison were the victors!
Yellowstone National Park – Feb 5th 2020
