Wolf: Yellowstone National Park, October 2024 — This is an accidental close encounter with a wolf. I was sitting on a hillside overlooking a fresh carcass where we had been watching 2 wolves come and go…always up and down the draw across the road. There had been a whole group of people there when I arrived, but they all left and I was alone. Suddenly I heard the folks up the hill from me yelling “behind you” and by the time I got to my feet this wolf crested the ridge no more than 15 feet from me. We looked at each other, and since it was too late to do anything else, I took photos. Eventually she (I think) decided to go around me, again at a distance of about 20 feet to cross the road and get to the carcass. She picked up a good sized section of intestines and departed down the same draw as the other wolves had used. That is as close to a wolf as I want to get, and closer than I would ever have chosen to be…but I got some great shots. Sony a6700 with the Tamron 50-400 Di iii VC zoom at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.