Help needed in identifying some tracks by my coop

[kartking22]

I am thinking that these are the tracks of a wolf. A neighbor had a calf killed by a wolf earlier this spring. After getting permission from the state DNR to shoot it, it was never seen again. Guess that it's back now.

 

[NEChickenNoob]

How far did you follow the tracks? From the pick, it looks like they are straight. Another key indicator of a wild canine versus a domestic is that wolfs and coyotes follow straight trails with little meandering unless there is a reason for the track to veer such as a meal. Domestic dogs will often never head in one particular direction but rather meander about discovering new smells and such. If you ever get the opportunity to track a coyote or wolf, it is really interesting where they go. You can almost reason why they walk where they walk.

 

[kartking22]

The tracks came out of the harvested corn field next to my property, went to my coop, turned, and left my property across the road. Seems that it was just passing through.

 

[blucoondawg]

I would lay money on it being some sort of medium to large domestic dog. The track size isn't far off from a wolf track but wolf tracks will usually be in a straight line not side to side also a wolf track will generally overlap the front track with the rear foot basically stepping in their own tracks. Tracks are way to large for coyote that would be a record setting coyote with paws like that. Just because your neighbors don't have a large dog doesn't mean it isn't feral or a stray some jerk dumped off because they didn't want it anymore, if it is a stray or recently abandoned it might hang around homes in the area looking for food or shelter or just people in general. Depending where you are located it could easily be someone's hunting dog straying from a coyote or bobcat hunt

 

[KGreene]

Most definitely canine. Toe shape with notable non-retractable toenails are indicative of this. Certainly bigger than any coyote track I've seen. we don't have wolves here ...yet ... but wolf or dog would be my guess.

 

[welly]

A coyote track would be a straight line that track looks to be almost stepping in same track.I can't comment on wolf don't have any nor do I want them.My guess is doggie from down the rd.

 

[TalkALittle]

They look about the size of the coyote tracks that I see here in MA. The eastern coyote is big--50ish lbs. It's more closely related to the wolf than western coyotes and is likely the result of long-term interbreeding with eastern grey wolves. They are much less reclusive than wolves and more likely to live in more densely (human) populated areas. Cape Cod has a huge coyote problem. Interestingly, many of the coyotes trapped and DNA tested are what they can only label "coywolves" in that they have a disproportionately large amount of wolf DNA and are substantially larger than even typical eastern coyotes.

I just saw fresh coyote tracks about 100 feet behind my house today outside the yard fence. They were as big as those of my 55lb dog. I have no doubt they are coyote as we have virtually no stray dog problem near me. I often hear the coyote calls in the summer and have occasionally seen the bold buggers in the woods in broad daylight.

 

[welly]

They look about the size of the coyote tracks that I see here in MA.  The eastern coyote is big--50ish lbs.  It's more closely related to the wolf than western coyotes and is likely the result of long-term interbreeding with eastern grey wolves.  They are much less reclusive than wolves and more likely to live in more densely (human) populated areas.  Cape Cod has a huge coyote problem.  Interestingly, many of the coyotes trapped and DNA tested are what they can only label "coywolves" in that they have a disproportionately large amount of wolf DNA and are substantially larger than even typical eastern coyotes

I just saw fresh coyote tracks about 100 feet behind my house today outside the yard fence.  They were as big as those of my 55lb dog.  I have no doubt they are coyote as we have virtually no stray dog problem near me.  I often hear the coyote calls in the summer and have occasionally seen the bold buggers in the woods in broad daylight.

Talkalittle
We do have a good population but the (50)ish pounders are hard to come buy.I try to manage the population just down the rd from you and as far as being huge that's just not the case.There tracks will definetly look like your 55lb dogs track but that will not make them weigh the same as your dog they just have some big paws.The only reason I am commenting on this is people think that they are big and scary just not the case in a healthy eastern coyote.While hunting them at night only as we do during there hunting season if they see you blink an eye or catch your wind they will turn them self inside out and end up 3 towns away in a blink.The average coyote that we harvest is 35lbs.They do coexist very well here.

 

[TalkALittle]

Welly, where in MA are you? I don't live on the cape, but have friends there and in traveling to see them I've witnessed a coyote that was much bigger than 35lbs. This thing was HUGE and just loped across the road without a care. I'm not saying that every coyote in MA is a 50 pounder, just that you can find them in the northeast. My cape friends have had some close encounters with coyotes and didn't bat an eyelash when I told them of the size of the one I saw. I do recall reading that the further north you go and into eastern Canada and New Brunswick there is a higher percentage of the larger ones.

I suppose it did sound like I was estimating the size of the coyote that visited my woods by the size of the pawprint I saw. I was just offering a paw size comparison--not implying that paw size is an indicator of overall body size/weight. I make my living with dogs and know that dogs can have big paws but still have a small frame. I would assume it could be the same in coyotes--better to walk over snow and such. I thought I had read an earlier post that said the print looked too big to be a coyote and was more likely a dog. I was just saying I have seen coyote tracks that look as big as my good-sized dog's tracks.

I was vacationing in CA a year ago and got my first look at some western coyotes. They didn't really look that much different than what I'm used to seeing. They did look smaller though. However, they were in summer coat and given the time of year may have been young. Most of the times I've seen coyotes in my area, it's been in winter so maybe they just look "puffier".

 

[blucoondawg]

Unless someone has done a good amount of actually hunting or trapping and actually weighing them for yourself it is hard to get an idea of their weight, seeing them at a distance and estimating weight can be hard even for experienced hunters and trappers. I know I've never been good at it.

Op is in northern Wisconsin, so am I and I've done a fair amount of hunting them, the biggest of males COULD make 50 lbs but not going to be anywhere near common, you have to figure a very large portion of the population is juveniles and females that aren't going to be that large. A coyote over 40 lbs is a good coyote here and their tracks in not going to be that big, I find many people don't realize how small coyote actually are it can often be hard to tell the difference between a coyote and fox track, that's how small a track a small to medium sized coyote can make. Many people hunt the coyote with hound dogs, the dogs weigh on average 50 to 65 lbs and they dwarf coyotes pretty easily.