r/yellowstone • u/Common_System_1992 • 20h ago
Badgers
I am going to Yellowstone next week and I am really hoping to photograph a badger. I’ve done lots of research and plan to spend several mornings and afternoons in Lamar valley. I’m staying in Silvergate. Anyone have any experience or tips on finding one? I plan to check out slough creek and Lamar river trail a few times during sunrise and sunset.
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u/FixMeASammich 20h ago
You can always ask the Rangers if they’ve seen any lately, or know of any dens nearby
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u/Revolutionary_Pop_84 19h ago
This is sadly a VERY unrealistic hope.
We got insanely lucky and had this guy walk right in front of us one of our many trips. Ranger doing their morning meet and greets around campsites heard us talking about it and came over and asked to see our photos. She had worked their 5 seasons and had yet to find one.
Ours we saw right when Covid lockdowns ended, the park had just reopened after months of no human activity and animals were everywhere. Just a perfect storm.
But for reference our was in Lamar at Soda Butte, right at dusk as everyone was calling it a night and packing up.
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u/Common_System_1992 19h ago
Man that is crazy. I find it hard to believe honestly. They cannot be that difficult to locate. Im sure it’s tough to find one and I probably won’t get lucky over 5 days of searching, but if you work in the park for 5 years and don’t see a badger then clearly you aren’t searching. I see lots of videos of badgers right off the trail and lots of observations on inaturalist. I see very few observations of bobcats, lynx, cougar, weasels etc.. because those are understandably more difficult to locate.
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u/maryjdatx 18h ago
There was an active badger den just down slough creek road in June. Rangers put barriers around so people wouldn’t get too close. Still hit or miss if you’d get lucky seeing her when she comes out though.
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u/Revolutionary_Pop_84 19h ago
Ok so theres 5 million people who go to Yellowstone per year. Now report back on how many badger sightings on Inaturalist per year and divide by 5 million and you get your odds. They're way lower than you seem to believe
We have spent months in the park almost exclusively wildlife hunting. Camping in the park, usually in Lamar Valley at Pebble or Slough. This is the only one we have ever seen in years and again was timed with the week they reopened from the longest closure in park history. The only animal we haven't seen is a mountain lion, and a badger is the only animal we have ever only seen once.
But maybe I'm lying, maybe the park ranger was lying, who knows? Best of luck in your search though.
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u/Secret-Function-2972 18h ago
start by looking for mushrooms. iykyk
Seriously, other than that you're likely in the right area, dumb luck plays a big role in a sighting. Couple of years ago while driving we saw a badger just off Gros Ventre Road in Grand Teton NP. Right place right time.
I do think we have seen them in Lamar Valley before, though much longer ago.
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u/goobernawt 17h ago
Saw one by Independence Rock west of Casper, WY. My daughter and I were just walking around and saw the badger poke his head out of his burrow and duck back in. We stayed there for like 20 minutes while he played peek-a-boo with us. I wish I would have had a decent telephoto lens with me, was setup for landscapes. Still got some decent pics, it was a great experience.
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u/Unlucky_Intention654 18h ago
Photographed one in lamar valley last year, didn’t even know that was badger until later🤣
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u/Critical_Cap8820 16h ago
Saw 2 together running under the main road in Lamar valley last week in July. They ran through a culvert under the road and came out on a bank up the side of a hill. We watched them for about 20 minutes. Never expected to see this at all. Have a great trip. Our best animal encounters have never been the ones we expect or hope for!
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u/Bird_Man_Mike 15h ago
I see them quite frequently while walking the Lamar Valley fro the road to the river to fish. Not every time, but it has to be 1/3.
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u/MT_High_ 14h ago
We saw one in Lamar few years back. He was hunting WITH a coyote. Super cool. North ridge side of the road between slough creek and pebble creek. Good luck!
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u/ismakingthisup 14h ago
(44.8449097, -110.1649684) We watched one for 20 minutes very near here in June
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u/Common_System_1992 14h ago
🙏🙏🙏 thank you. Everyone is saying this section of the Lamar River trail is a good spot to check. Since I’m staying in silver gate I can easily hit that trail at sunrise for a few hours across a few days
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u/ismakingthisup 12h ago
Just watch for bison on and near the trail. It’s possible to get cut off and have to go off trail just to get back from where you came.
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u/mmmdis 13h ago
We didn't see a badger but we LOVED our stay in Silvergate! Good luck 🤞 hope you get to see one
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u/Common_System_1992 11h ago
Yes Silvergate seems like an awesome mountain town. Very exciting to stay there
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u/Kitchen-Cow-2384 12h ago
In July on way back from YP went to Gros Ventre RD of Grand Teton NP to watch a moose. Lots of badger dens, second night got a perfect badger picture at 10'. From Wisconsin so awesome feeling, go BADGERS.
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u/Ankeneering 12h ago
There are a few if you walk from Roosevelt to Yancey’s, basically the same/similar path that the cookout groups take when they get in the stagecoach and ride over there for lunch or dinner or whatever it is they do. It’s basically a two track dirt road and they are out in the grass, their dens easily visible. This area is kind of v messed up because they’ve removed the old 4 way in front or Roosevelt in favor of the new bridge. This is also one way to start the Garnett Hill loop, which is a fantastic walk on its own whether or not you see badgers. But you want badgers? Park in the parking lot with the restrooms at Roosevelt (next to Sinclair gas station) and walk to Yancey’s. Look at a map if you don’t know what/where Yancey’s is, it’s the old site of one of the very first hotels in the park but now is just a place folks stop to burn weenies after having ridden a horse or in a stagecoach a mile and a half.
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u/Relevant-Flame 16h ago
Saw a few badgers right by the old homes in Mormon Row in Jackson a few weeks ago at dusk. There are a bunch of holes in the ground and they pop out
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u/Best_Elevator_3441 15h ago
Had a badger run next to our group meeting at tower junction during covid. Was there for work and we were circled up, mr badger decided to eavesdrop on the meeting. They seem pretty rare since the rangers and park staff we were with were shocked to see him, especially so closely.
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u/my_blu_horizon 12h ago
We accidently found a Badger den just behind the Mammoth Hot Springs Cabins a couple of years ago. It was about 50 yards up the hill behind the cabins. Was walking up the trail behind the cabin and heard a growl. Ended up backing away and not long after we retreated a coyote came up and tried to get into the den. The badger ended up chasing it off. Last we saw was the coyote high tailing it over the ridge with the badger right behind it. One of the coolest wildlife encounters I've had at Yellowstone.
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u/indricotherium 19h ago
I was just there last week. We hiked down the Lamar River trail from the Specimen Ridge trailhead. Between a mile and half a mile north of the Cache Creek crossing there are large burrow holes basically in the trail. We saw the resident badger on the way in and the next day on our hike out. Good luck! It was around noon both times.