Cheyenne's Howl

Printed in Mountain Messenger on Friday June 27, 1997

Rendezvous Sites

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I was cruising down Main Street the other day and happened to glance into the Antique Shop window and boy did I get a surprise. I saw a buffalo with its head stuck way up through the wall. Imagine that, I have been wanting a buffalo burger and all this time there was a buffalo right here in Silver Plume. I'm not sure how that buffalo got its head stuck through the wall, but it's still there. It looks a little dazed and doesn't move much, but I guess if I rammed my head through a wall I would be a bit dazed too. I went and looked at the back side of the wall, but I couldn't see the back side, or more commonly known to me as the dinner end of the buffalo, at all. It must be some magic trick done with mirrors or something like that. Wait a minute. Hey Ted, is that where you got my buffalo burger?

A few weeks ago I was telling you about the wolf pups as they were making their first appearances from their den and about the new experiences they were having. Even though the pups are growing at a rapid rate, they lack the stamina to travel the long distances that the adults travel to get food, so food is still brought to them. Once summer has arrived and the pups are about eight weeks of age, they permanently leave the den and travel with the adults for the first time to what is known as a rendezvous site. This will be the first of many sites where the pups will remain for six to thirty day at a time. Rendezvous sites will be used until Fall. At that time the pups are from five to six months old and are close to forty five to fifty pounds. They will then have the strength, stamina, and speed to be able to keep up with pack.

A rendezvous site can cover several acres and are most often located in open areas surrounded by dense vegetation. The dense vegetation provides hiding places for the pups if they are threatened. They will also wedge themselves between boulders to escape danger. The pups seldom venture more than a few hundred yards from the center of the site. Not only do these sites provide a safe haven for the pups to sleep, play, and explore while the adults are out hunting, but it also functions as a social center for the pack. The adults return to this site after a hunt. During the summer months, many of the adults will hunt individually because smaller animals such as beaver, deer fawns, and elk calves are easier to catch and they are also easier to bring back to the site for the hungry pups.

The pups are usually weaned by the time they are moved to the first rendezvous site so their diet consists almost entirely of meat. However, when the adults are away the pups will eat berries and any grasshoppers, mice, or birds that they might be able to catch and play with. Rendezvous sites can be used over and over again by the pack, or it may be used only once. As the pups get older the pack may take down a large prey animal and then move the pups to the site of the kill. This will then become the new rendezvous site.

Next week I will tell you about why wolves howl. See you then.

Cheyenne