'Yellowstone' Stars Kelly Reilly and Jefferson White on Working with Real Wolves and Bears

"Every pocket on my body was stuffed full of a shredded chicken to try to get the bear to chase me," Jefferson White tells PEOPLE

Yellowstone
Photo: Danno Nell/Paramount Network

Talk about some wild times on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch!

Actors often speak about the unpredictability of working with animals, but they're usually referring to dogs or cats. On the set of Yellowstone, things are just different.

During a cast dinner at Delilah at Wynn Las Vegas for the launch of the official Yellowstone podcast, the stars dished on their insane and "terrifying" experiences working with wild animals.

Kelly Reilly, for instance, had to run into a pack of wild wolves during the first season of the Paramount show, calling it a "real trusting moment."

Reilly, 44, admitted to having her reservations, but she was assured that the wolves would be fine. "I'm like, well, don't you think their most inner instincts might come out when there's a woman with a bottle of whiskey running up to them?" she said, recalling what she told the crew. "They were like, "Don't worry, we've got these like invisible pieces of cord, so if they do run at you, that will trip them up.' "

Reilly, who plays the fiery Beth Dutton, couldn't see the cord.

"That's not going to stop a wolf, let alone his 12 mates," she remembered thinking of this so-called cord. "But, we went for it and it was pretty terrifying I have to say. I'm in the middle of Montana and I'm running directly at a bunch of wolves."

The actress then joked, "I'm really brave."

Cast of Yellowstone
Ben Trivett

Actors on the show typically work with more docile creatures, like horses and cows. However, Jefferson White, who plays ranch hand Jimmy Hurdstram, recalled shooting a scene in which an actual bear chased him up a tree.

"We shot it in like late November, so it was hibernation season. So this bear was like the laziest bear you've ever met," he said. "They kept trying to antagonize the bear to get it to chase me."

The bear would not play along, so producers improvised and tried to incentivize the animal, trying to make it think White was an even tastier treat.

"What they ended up doing was stuffing my pockets full of chicken," he said. "So every pocket on my body was stuffed full of a shredded chicken to try to get the bear to chase me."

Each episode of the podcast, hosted by White, will feature a different Yellowstone cast member and will also dive into the upcoming Yellowstone prequel series, 1883, starring Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Sam Elliott.

Wynn Resorts, which is sponsoring the podcast, is set to host the global premiere of 1883 on Dec. 11.

The first episode of the official Yellowstone podcast, produced by 101 Studios and Paramount Network, drops Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Related Articles