One of a kind.
Every so often, there comes an individual wild animal that captures your imagination and holds it for months, years, and sometimes, great swaths of your life –Wolf 302M was that for me. I first came to know 302 as a young male looking for love in all the wrong places. He was ostensibly the nemesis to wolf 21 and 42, the alpha pair of the Druid Peak pack of Lamar Valley. He was that pesky boy from down the street that was continually courting their adult daughters, and despite having been caught on multiple occasions, he was not killed. Somehow 302 knew how to play this most deadly game in order to fight, rather, love, another day.
Part of me still wonders if Wolf 21, the old man of the Druids, went easy on the young black wolf because he knew of their shared lineage: Wolf 302 was actually 21's nephew, the son of his sister, number 7F who
was released from the Rose Creek acclimation pen behind the Lamar Valley Buffalo Ranch in 1995. As we know from the well-documented wolf family tree of Yellowstone, Rick McIntyre‘s book "The Redemption of Wolf 302" and National Geographic's film, "The Rise of Black Wolf," filmed by Bob Landis, 302 was truly one of a kind.
302’s ultimate success was evident in the litters of pups he sired among the Druids, leaving them with more mouths to feed than they would have otherwise had. I distinctly remember during those early days before much of the wolf world was on the internet and you had to just be out there to know the details of what was going on from day to day. 302 became a principle character in so many dramas during the mid to late 2000s. I would sometimes drive a group of students from Mammoth out to Lamar Valley in winter, only to pick up a set of wolf tracks, big ones, walking the road around the S curve on Blacktail plateau and going east all the way to Lamar Valley.
Those were 302’s tracks. He would walk the road to just past Floating Island Lake, then cut off the wide curve to Tower/Roosevelt, and head straight for the bridge across the Yellowstone River, and they he was off to Lamar. That night, after who knows how many miles of chasing and being chased, he would travel the 20 miles back to his family on Blacktail Plateau and repeat the same process the following day. Each morning bringing more of those big footprints in the fresh dusting of pre-dawn snow heading in the direction of the rising sun.
The first to teach me wolf language
I wanted to pay tribute to Wolf 302 in bronze not just because of the fact that I knew him so well, but because he was the first wolf really who taught me wolf language. Although I am certainly anything but fluent in wolf-ese, his insights did bring me closer to understanding the world of a wolf as shared by that most iconic of wild sounds-a wolf's howl.
After he had matured, he finally did mend his wandering ways, and settled down with a mate to start his own family, ironically enough on the very ground where he himself was raised--Blacktail Plateau. 302 ultimately died from that most noble of fate's-protecting his family against the attack of enemy wolves. I also had the great fortune to assist with the reconstruction of 302's skeleton after his passing. It was unspeakably special to have known him in life and be able to help rearticulate his bones for posterity, including all of those bite wounds on his head and snout, cracked ribs and broken tail tip, from clashes with the Druids, other wolves, and his prey.
His skeleton, in a running pose, is on display for all to see in the foyer of the Yellowstone Heritage & Research Center in Gardiner, MT. Since his passing in 2008, I have wanted to do a sculpture of him, to honor that sacrifice, his story, and what he meant to me--it has been formulating in my mind for more than 18 years.
Sculpting Wolf 302M (also inspired by 907F)
I can't be more pleased to finally share my sculpture of this incredible wolf with you here.
Wolf 907F, aka "the one-eyed wonder," carried much of the same force of personality as the 'on again, off again' alpha female of of the Junction Butte Pack for the generation after 302. 907 was so pivotal in the story of the Junction Butte pack and catalyzed much of my friend Dr. Jeff Reed's work on the monumental bioacoustics study on Yellowstone wolf howling. For these and many other reasons, this sculpture also imbues 907's spirit as well. Note: Despite being 907 being a female, 907 was a very large wolf, to the point of being the same dimensions as 302 (based on my anatomy measurements of both animals), and so you the viewer have the choice of who this bronze most embodies to you.
I'm still working on a title for this piece, so for now I'm calling it Wolf 302/907. There are three sizes, miniature, 23" Maquette, and Life size. (Image is of the clay sculpture, the final artwork will be bronze).
The miniature is currently available to order:
Miniature wolf 302/907, 5.5"L x 1.75"W x 5.25"H (14cm L x 4.5cm W x
13.3cm "H), edition of 75 bronzes. Want to bring 302/907 home? Order this sculpture here.
Please inquire at info@georgebumann.com for pricing and availability of the 23" and life-size bronzes.
Enjoy!
George Bumann
