The sonorous canines\u2019 calls not far away foretold the footage she\u2019d soon review.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at the camera, and I had the Mollie\u2019s Pack,\u201d Patten told WyoFile.<\/p>\n
Patten posted a one-minute clip<\/a> on her YouTube page. Six wolves, strung out, casually loped over patches of snow in the timber.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t identify them,\u201d Patten said.\u00a0<\/p>\n But a biologist she knew confirmed the hunch she kept concealed: The wolves belonged to Mollie\u2019s Pack. That\u2019s the last remaining pack from Yellowstone National Park\u2019s historic reintroduction of wolves<\/a> 31 years ago. Originally called the Crystal Creek Pack, in 2000 they were renamed in memory of Mollie Beattie<\/a>, the first woman to direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who died of cancer during the reintroduction.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a movie<\/a> out about them right now at IMAX theaters nationwide \u2014 the original name<\/a> of the movie was the Mollie\u2019s Pack,\u201d said retired Yellowstone Wolf Project leader Doug Smith, who\u2019s finishing up a book on the wolves. \u201cMollie\u2019s claim to fame is it\u2019s the longest-known intact genetic lineage for any pack in North America.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The pack\u2019s new whereabouts, dozens of miles to the east of their typical backcountry territory in Yellowstone\u2019s Pelican Valley, is \u201cdeeply concerning,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy worry is that there\u2019s a group of people who just don\u2019t like wolves,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd they\u2019ll hunt them more avidly just to get them.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Wyoming\u2019s wolf hunting season starts Sept. 15, and state wildlife officials voted Tuesday to allow the killing of up to four wolves in the area, sparking concern about the pack\u2019s future. Although wolf hunting is quite difficult<\/a>, Yellowstone wolves are accustomed to vehicles and crowds<\/a>. They\u2019re often naive to the dangers posed by humans, and as a result, they are especially vulnerable<\/a> to hunters.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the big issue, really,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt takes them a bit to figure it out, because they\u2019re just so used to people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a \u201cunique circumstance\u201d that Wyoming Game and Fish Department wolf biologist Ken Mills does not relish and is handling carefully. State wildlife managers even attempted to relocate the Mollie\u2019s Pack den site away from cattle to reduce the chance of conflict that could lead to their demise.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not an ideal situation,\u201d Mills told WyoFile. \u201cIt\u2019s exactly the pack you\u2019d never want to move out [of the park]. But that\u2019s what happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The movement and the den<\/p>\n Yellowstone Wolf Project leader Dan Stahler, who succeeded Smith, says that the historically mild winter<\/a> and sparse snowpack<\/a> are the likeliest explanation for why Mollie\u2019s Pack wolves left the park for the most prolonged period in three decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe prey that remained in the park were in better shape \u2014 they were harder to kill,\u201d Stahler said. \u201cWolves need vulnerable prey to be successful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Right before Halloween, he said, the Mollie\u2019s wolves took off, presumably in search of easier meals. They\u2019d moved around before, especially in the winter, but historically more than 95% of their travels were within the park, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mollie\u2019s Pack wolves weren\u2019t the only ones in Yellowstone making extraterritorial forays last winter, Stahler said. The 8 Mile Pack \u201clargely vacated\u201d the park last winter, he said, and the Rescue Creek and Junction Butte packs also made big trips.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are three tracking-collar-equipped wolves in the Mollie\u2019s Pack, animals that keep wildlife managers apprised of their daily movements. They\u2019ve only returned to the park \u201ca handful of occasions\u201d since last fall, Stahler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Around the time the Mollies headed for Sunlight Basin, about an hour\u2019s drive northwest of Cody, seven adults ran in the family group, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department\u2019s annual wolf report<\/a>. Although the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem\u2019s wolf population slumped significantly this year due to a distemper outbreak<\/a>, the Mollie\u2019s Pack only lost one member from natural causes in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another member, a 6-year-old male known as Wolf 1339M, peeled off the pack and has mostly been traveling solo after \u201cseemingly\u201d losing his alpha male status, Stahler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n And another member died accidentally during Game and Fish\u2019s routine capture operations<\/a> last winter, Mills said. That wolf had \u201cpre-existing injuries\u201d \u2014 bruising and hemorrhaging from its head to its hip \u2014 and did not survive being tranquilized.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things that happens,\u201d Mills said. \u201cAbout one in 100 wolves that we catch from the air die.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Currently, the Mollie\u2019s Pack includes five adults and five pups, Stahler said. One of its remaining members, Wolf 1090F<\/a>, is a 12-year-old female and among the oldest wolves on record<\/a> for both Yellowstone and Wyoming.\u00a0<\/p>\n The location of the Mollie\u2019s Pack den site, where they\u2019re raising the five pups, isn\u2019t great, Mills said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot of cattle going into where they\u2019re denned,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Using a method that\u2019s as simple as walking near a wolf den \u2014 a technique Mills has studied<\/a> \u2014 state wildlife officials attempted to get the pack to relocate their den to a safer site. The adult wolves naturally move their puppies after being disturbed, and the idea was to get them away from tempting domestic cattle, which can doom depredating wolves<\/a> that can\u2019t shake the habit.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe tried to be proactive,\u201d Mills said. \u201cThey\u2019ve moved, but not as far as we would prefer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n If the Mollie\u2019s Pack does stay out of trouble during the summer grazing season, they\u2019ll face another threat to their persistence come fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where Wyoming manages wolves as trophy game, hunting is tightly restricted<\/a>. And the seasons are especially conservative this year: The state agency proposed a 50% reduction in hunt limits<\/a> following a canine distemper outbreak that dropped the state\u2019s population to the lowest level in two decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n The coming hunt<\/p>\n Even so, Wyoming plans to allow the killing of up to four wolves between Sept. 15 and Dec. 31 in hunt area 1, where the Mollie\u2019s Pack has been dwelling. On Tuesday, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved those regulations<\/a>, although not before hearing from folks concerned about what the fall hunt means for the Mollie\u2019s Pack.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are one of the most studied, scientifically important wolf families in the world,\u201d Marc Cooke told commissioners. \u201cOnce they are gone, decades of irreplaceable knowledge are gone with them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cooke, who\u2019s the vice president of Wolves of the Rockies, the day before had emailed Game and Fish commissioners a letter<\/a> asking them to temporarily close hunt area 1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWyoming has been getting pretty beat up<\/a> lately with some wildlife issues, and I think there\u2019s an opportunity here for you folks to do the right thing,\u201d Cooke said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cooke\u2019s request didn\u2019t stand alone. Rep. Liz Storer, a Jackson Democrat, emailed commissioners<\/a> asking for a one\u2011season closure in response to an \u201cexceptional biological and public\u2011interest circumstance.\u201d And Jackson Hole resident Lisa Robertson<\/a>, who founded Wyoming Untrapped, urged commissioners to do the same in both emails and in public comment on Tuesday before the seven-person board approved the wolf hunting regulations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe commission\u2019s decision in this matter extends beyond a single hunting season,\u201d Robertson testified. \u201cIt presents an opportunity to demonstrate that Wyoming\u2019s wolf management framework can recognize exceptional circumstances and respond with targeted science-based management action.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n (Editor\u2019s note: Rep. Liz Storer also serves as president and CEO of the George B. Storer Foundation, which is a financial supporter of WyoFile. The foundation has no role in WyoFile\u2019s editorial content.)<\/p>\n Game and Fish Commissioner John Masterson engaged Mills after the requests. Could the state agency \u201clogistically, mechanically\u201d protect an individual wolf pack like the Mollie\u2019s, he inquired. And from a \u201cpurely scientific management standpoint,\u201d he asked, \u201cis there anything substantially unique about that pack?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Game and Fish\u2019s wolf biologist responded: \u201cWhen we look at packs across the landscape, a breeding pair is a breeding pair. A pack is a pack,\u201d Mills said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we implement our management plan: based on the broader population assessment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mills told WyoFile in an interview that Game and Fish has taken the same approach when other Yellowstone wolf packs have moved out of the park in the past, not treating them differently than others.\u00a0<\/p>\n The last two hunting seasons, seven wolves were hunted from the Willow Creek Pack, a former park pack last assessed<\/a> with six remaining members. And two wolves remain in Shrimp Lake Pack after one of its wolves was killed by a hunter and three more died due to conflict-related issues, Mills said.<\/p>\n Only time will tell if the Mollie\u2019s Pack also loses some of its members when hunting begins this fall. At least as of Monday, the pack was in a place where hunters wouldn\u2019t have the chance.<\/p>\n \u201cIronically, just yesterday one of my staff members did a monitoring flight, and they were in Pelican Valley,\u201d Stahler said Tuesday morning. \u201cI\u2019m looking at some data, and it does look like they were still in Pelican Valley, as of about 12 hours ago.\u201d<\/p>\n They were over 30 miles from the den site, he said. Although Yellowstone-area packs have been observed moving pups long distances<\/a>, the pilot did not spot any pups in tow during the overflight.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have any reason to think that their visit to Pelican Valley means they abandoned the den or lost pups,\u201d he said. \u201cWolves can cruise that distance in a day and a half or less.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Should the wolves remain long term in Wyoming\u2019s hunt area 1, Stahler doesn\u2019t anticipate Yellowstone seeking any special relief for the Mollie\u2019s Pack. Park leadership has taken that step before<\/a>, when Montana hunting seasons took an especially heavy toll on park packs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPacks adjust their range in response to prey availability,\u201d Stahler said. \u201cThis is evidence of a wolf pack behaving naturally.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Stahler remarked that he\u2019d \u201chate to see\u201d an old alpha female, like Wolf 1090F, lose her life to hunting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut you know,\u201d he added, \u201cthat\u2019s part of the world of a wolf now, when they leave the protection of a national park.\u201d<\/p>\n \t![\"Youtube](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784090711_578_hqdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/F75A0818-1DD8-B71B-0B826C94F65D08CCOriginal-1024x702.jpg\")
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Mollie Beattie helps hoist the first wolf for reintroduction into Yellowstone\u2019s Crystal Bench pen in 1995. Five years later, the reintroduced wolves were renamed Mollie\u2019s Pack in memory of Beattie, who died in 1996. (Jim Peaco\/National Park Service)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SB-mollies-1090F--1024x536.jpg\")
Wolf 1090F, the alpha female of the Mollie\u2019s Pack and now the fifth-oldest known wolf in Yellowstone National Park history. (Sylvia Borgonovo<\/a>)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DS-mollies-01-1024x682.jpg\")
A bison is surrounded by members of Mollie\u2019s Pack on Feb. 10, 2005, in Yellowstone National Park. The pack \u2014 formerly known as the Crystal Creek Pack \u2014 became known as skilled bison hunters. (Douglas Smith\/National Park Service)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dorgan-KenMills07-682x1024.jpg\")
Ken Mills, a Wyoming Game and Fish large carnivore biologist, muzzles a sedated wolf placed inside a department truck to help maintain its body temperature during a February 2018 capture and collaring operation south of Jackson. (Ryan Dorgan)<\/p>\n