This is the kind of Yellowstone footage that visitors dream about.
Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, is the first national park in the world and spans parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Covering over 2.2 million acres, it’s famous for its geothermal features, including the iconic Old Faithful geyser, and is home to diverse wildlife such as grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. The park sits atop a supervolcano, responsible for its dramatic landscapes, hot springs, and geysers. With stunning scenery, outdoor recreation, and rich ecological diversity, Yellowstone remains one of the most visited and cherished national parks in the United States.
Every year, millions and millions of visitors flock to the park hoping for a chance to see some of the country’s most awe-inspiring wildlife in action. And while most of us are out there with our cellphones, taking terrible photos of a grizzly bear from a mile away, the park also attracts a ton of professional wildlife photographers looking to capture the beauty like nobody else can. And man, do they ever… it’s incredible what people are able to do with a camera.
And last week, some of these pros were out and about in the park’s Hayden Valley, witnessing two of the park’s most sought after animals… the majestic bison and the fearsome wolf.
According to Michelle Valberg, a whopping 23 wolves from the Wapiti Wolf Pack came face to face with a herd of bison for what proved to be an intense standoff for the ages. Wolves are of course known for hunting in packs, using their speed, power and strength in numbers to isolate and wear down their prey for a easy meal. Bison use many of those same characteristics… strength, size, and numbers… not for hunting, but for defense. Needless to say, these photogs had quite the heavyweight tilt unfolding in front of them.
“A raw and powerful scene… our day with the wolves ended in an unforgettable standoff— a small bison herd facing off against the Wapiti Lake pack, 23 strong. The tension was electric, a primal dance between predator and prey. By the next morning, the wolves had their kill.”
Bozeman Camera captured video of the encounter:
What a scene, right? It’s wild just how calculated wolves are in their attack… teasing, annoying, trying to lure one bison away from the herd, they’re playing chess out there. I think a lot of us imagine wolves running their prey down in an attacking fashion like you see in all the Disney movies (Frozen, Beauty & The Beast, etc…), and sometimes they do, but it is often much more methodical than that… and when you have 23 wolves on the roster, you always have a pair of fresh legs ready to go… like a hockey team changing their lines… it’s incredible.
Unfortunately for the herd, one of the bison met its demise at the hands of the wolves. Photographer Jeff Vanuga managed to capture the bison cow and her final moments… and as he would explain in the caption, this kind of footage doesn’t come around often:
“It was the end of the road for this cow bison as the large and overpowering Wapiti Wolf pack separated her from the herd and with little effort met her fate. Since wolves usually kill at night this was a rare sighting and equally rare to capture on film. Some happy faces on my last photography tour.”
Josh Miller was another photographer on hand to capture some of the action, and once again… it’s amazing what people can do with a camera.
“Yesterday was a lifetime day for sure. Our group watched and photographed an entire bison hunt by the Wapiti wolf pack. All with great views from above. What a show and a story to tell. Can’t wait to actually have time to go through the entire shoot. But we are back on the snow coach looking for more today.”
But that’s not all… perhaps one of the craziest parts of the entire day, aside from the once in a lifetime wolf footage, was that the bison herd made a beeline for the group of photographers after one of their own fell to the wolves. Of course, it wasn’t an intentional stampede towards the group… the bison didn’t even know they were there, but their escape route just so happened to be where everyone was standing.
And if you know anything about bison, you know they can move FAST… a lot faster than you can move in the snow.
Josh explained the scenario in another post:
“Nothing like having a heard of Bison come charging down the road at you as they run away from a pack of wolves. You can see how hard they had been running from their breath in the sub zero temps. Amazing to see how fast they can run, and how fast photographers can move to get out of their path. To be clear when they suddenly appeared on the road running from the wolves we all put away our cameras away and high tailed it out of their way so they could pass. It was no longer about shooting photos, but more about giving them safe passage and staying safely out of their way.”
Jeff captured a wild photo of the group getting out of the way:
“Close call! After wolves took down a bison cow 100’ below the road the herd came up to where the everyone was observing the kill. Seconds later a stampede ensued with bison running directly at the crowd. Everyone ran and scattered about as the bison thundered through people, snow coaches and snowmobiles. Luckily no one was injured and after getting out of harms way I managed a couple shots of the last bison weaving through the crowd. An adrenaline filled morning!”
Like they said… a once in a lifetime kind of day out at Yellowstone National Park. Hopefully, we get some more video footage as more of the photographers who were there dig through, edit, and release more of it.
In the meantime, give these few photos a follow on Instagram… their work is phenomenal.
