February 4, 2024 In an effort to increase access, I have made my latest e-book, A Beary Special April in Yellowstone, Open Access which ensures that anyone in the world can read this book for free. All I ask, as explained in the book, is that you donate to my research (see bottom of this page) if you enjoyed the read. That will help facilitate the production of more books like this one. Enjoy!
Seeing a grizzly bear is a powerful thing. Since the first humans appeared in North America, people have revered, feared, and admired this magnificent animal. Seeing one can be a life changing experience. I observed at least one grizzly on all 9 days of this trip, which was amazing and is the core story of this e-book.
Yellowstone is normally in transition from winter to spring during most of April, so sightings and temperatures can vary from one trip to another. My April trip in 2021 consisted of a lot of mud on the landscape, as the snow was melting during most of my time there. This trip, during April 2023, was much colder; most of the ground was still covered in snow. Despite having officially been spring for a month by that point, it felt more like winter for most of my week and a half there. Because of a long cold season, many ungulates, which are hoofed animals, died. Most notably were the bison. Each carcass produced a large amount of food for the carnivores that found them. Some of these were close to the park road, with a dead bison at Blacktail Ponds being the most visible.
Grizzly bear #769, numbered by park management staff, was already at that carcass site for a few days before I arrived and for 8 of my 9 days in the park. Yes, he spent about two full weeks at a single bison carcass! His presence was easily the cornerstone of this trip. You will see hundreds of pictures related to this bruin, in addition to the other abundant wildlife and gorgeous scenery associated with Yellowstone.
Citation: Way, J.G. 2024. A Beary Special April in Yellowstone. Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, Barnstable, Massachusetts. 596 pages. E-book. Open Access URL: http://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/BearySpecialAprilinYellowstone.
Most recent update of book: February 4, 2024. Note: Because this is a longer book there is a way in Adobe Acrobat to resume where you left off (i.e., at the last page you read). In Adobe Reader, go to “Edit” and at the bottom click on “Preferences” (or simply hit “Ctrl + K” buttons). From there, click on “Documents” at the top left of the menu and then “check the box” at the top of that screen for ‘Restore last viewed settings when reopening documents’. Once you click that, scroll down and click “OK”. PDFs will now open where you left off instead of at the beginning. This is not a default setting so you manually have to do it, unfortunately.