Tag: encounter

Watch: Oblivious hikers startle Yellowstone wolf pack

A photographer on Saturday shared video footage showing two Yellowstone National Park hikers startling a wolf pack at close quarters and continuing on as though nothing had happened.

A photographer has captured footage showing two Yellowstone National Park hikers startling a wolf pack at close quarters and continuing as though nothing had happened.

That’s because the off-trail hikers were not paying attention and did not know that wolves had been napping and were suddenly watching them from only 20 yards away.

“They have no clue,” Julie Argyle says in the video, as she and her group watch from 600 yards. “Isn’t that funny, those people have no clue.” (Video is posted below.)

Argyle was shooting through a spotting scope; hence, the grainy footage. It shows the hikers – one of them fidgeting with his backpack – walking with their heads down as the closest wolf eyes them from a hill to their right.

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Stirring in the shadows are at least three other wolves, all from the Wapiti Lake Pack.

“The wolf at the beginning of the video was actually laying down halfway down the hill when the hikers were walking up,” Argyle told FTW Outdoors. “I hadn’t started my video at that time. It realized they were coming toward it and it jumped up and hid behind the tree.”

Wolf from Yellowstone’s Wapiti Lake Pack. Photo: Julie Argyle

Yellowstone guidelines stipulate that tourists must stay at least 100 yards from bears and wolves. But it does not appear as though the hikers had been in danger.

In fact, in sharing the footage – the encounter occurred Sept. 25 – Argyle hoped to drive home the point that wolves are not the savage creatures many believe them to be.

Wolf from the Wapiti Lake Pack. Photo: Julie Argyle

Her Facebook introduction reads: “What happens when two hikers unknowingly walk into an area where a pack of wolves is sleeping? Absolutely nothing.

“Contrary to what some people want you to believe, wolves are not going to attack you. In most cases they will run away from you if you encounter them in the back country.”

When it was suggested that the hikers were fortunate that a momma grizzly bear wasn’t sleeping on that hill with her cubs, Argyle responded, “They sure were. That would have been an entirely different story.”

Details emerge after hunter’s standoff with snarling cougar

A hunter has revealed details about his stare-down with a snarling cougar last month in the Montana wilderness – an encounter his partner caught on video.

A hunter has revealed details about his standoff with a snarling cougar last month in the Montana wilderness – an encounter his partner caught on video.

Janis Putelis, during a Meat Eaters Podcast episode, revealed that the cougar was a kitten, perhaps a year old, weighing 40 pounds, and that Putelis was concerned enough for his safety that he raised his shotgun to scare off the critter.

“That movement was enough to spook it, and then its sibling spooked, and momma spooked off, too,” Putelis recalled. (See the video below.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CNsNiX9AHtR/

Putelis and Zach Sandau had ventured into dense brush during opening weekend of Montana’s turkey hunting season.

“Down in the gully off to my right, I hear… in my mind it registers [simply] as air coming out of an animal’s mouth,” Putelis says in the podcast. “[But there] might have been a touch more grrr or growl to it….

“Right after that I can hear footsteps. Soft pads, but a little bit of crunching of pine needles and detritus.”

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Putelis, who was sitting beneath a tree during a break from calling turkeys, asked Sandau to document the encounter with his phone. He figured a bear was approaching “because that’s what I’m expecting in this landscape.”

But then he saw tan hide and guessed it was a deer. But the long tails were a dead giveaway: The turkey calls had apparently attracted a “three pack” of mountain lions.

Momma kept her distance but the kittens “caught our movements” and approached, softly growling. The cougar shown in the video was bolder, approaching to within 15 yards.

It crouched and snarled, and that’s when Putelis clutched his shotgun.

“At that point I’m like, ‘Alright, that’s enough of that,’ ” he says. “I then took my shotgun from my lap and I pointed it at it, and that movement was enough to spook it.”

Almost immediately the distant turkeys that had been so vociferous went silent, realizing a threat was in their midst.

Said Putelis: “There was no more clucking, no yelping, no gobbling, and we hiked around that mountain for another 30 minutes and they were gone.”

Reporter: Yellowstone bison encounter ‘a reminder of my journey’

A year has passed since TV reporter Deion Broxton gained widespread notoriety for his “I ain’t messing with you” bison encounter in Yellowstone National Park.

A year has passed since TV reporter Deion Broxton gained widespread notoriety for his “I ain’t messing with you” bison encounter in Yellowstone National Park.

Broxton’s tweet, revealing his deep concern and featuring humble  commentary as a herd of enormous bison approached, became a wonderful distraction from from the barrage of harrowing news related to the growing COVID-19 pandemic. (The tweet has garnered more than 13 million views.)

https://twitter.com/DeionBroxton/status/1242910540105576450

On Thursday, marking the anniversary of that unforgettable moment while he was on assignment for NBC Montana, Broxton implied that it helped change his life from a professional standpoint.

Now a reporter for Iowa News Now, he tweeted:

“A year later. I get tired of talking about this video. But it’s a reminder of my journey. I couldn’t get a job on TV because of my hood/Baltimore accent. I spent thousands on a speech coach. Fast forward, this week I learned I won an award from the Iowa Broadcast News Association.”

About 4,600 bison reside in Yellowstone National Park and provide lifetime memories for tourists who appreciate viewing them from a safe distance.

But considering that bison can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds, and are surprisingly quick and unpredictable, messing with them is never wise.

Park regulations suggest staying at least 25 yards from bison at all times.