Red Wolves? Really? *UPDATE* Now its black coyotes! pg. 5

[Mattsculpt]

I think the tracks are too small to be a full grown wolf. That print is 3 inches by the measuring tape. The claw marks start at the 1/2 inch mark and the bottom of the heel is right at the 3 1/2 inch mark. I once had a wolf shepard cross (rescue) who weighed in at 119 lbs and his feet were 5 inches long toe to heel pad, not counting the claws. Wolves have big feet, much larger then dogs their same size. The overlap is more a guide then a hard and fast rule, just as the walking in a straight line is. A wolf checking theings out will wander, walk slower and his tracks won't overlap. A long legged dog moving at a running walk on a scent will go in a straight line and take longer strides and thus overlap his tracks.
I vote for big dog.

 

[debs_flock]

I too think large dog. I'd measure that track as 2.5 inches, front of toe pad to rear of rear pad, add a bit more for the nails.

Here is a website on identifying tracks. Notice the first photo for dog shows a rear track overlapping a front track.

http://www.bear-tracker.com/dog.html

From everything I've read, red wolves only weight around 50-75 pounds on average.

Deb

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

As already mentioned only two canine type animals stride like that. Dog is not one of them.

That's an interesting theory, but you can't base much on a couple of random tracks.
This doesn't confirm the theory at all:

According to the descriptions on this site, they are most likely to be dog tracks since one is on top of the other:

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

I turned to my trusty Mammal Tracks & Signs book and learned that the Red Wolf tracks tend to look much like a large Coyote tracks. My guide shows that Red Wolves are known to be in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. Trying to differentiate between a wolf and a dog can be tricky. Your best bet is usually to follow the tracks to observe the behavior. Dogs are dogs and tend to leave an erratic trail. Wolves are focused and leave a trail that has purpose, usually a straight line from point A to B.

A few other points in making this determination are:

Wolf and coyote tracks will be tighter than the dogs. They tend to be more oval in the overall shape of the track and in the shape of the pads of their toes.

Wolf and coyote tracks tend to be made at an angle with the toes being deeper than the rear pad of the foot.

The claws of the wolf and coyote will be sharp and pointy. The claws of the outside toes will be closer to the centerline of the track. The dogs tend to be splayed out.

Based on your pictures, it’s hard to tell due to the deep mud but, my guess would be a large dog because of how the four toes are splayed out in four different directions and because the track looks so flat footed. These look a lot like my Newfie’s big flat footed paws in the deep snow.

Another note, the conversations about where tracks are relative to the other tracks seems to a red herring. What seems to be shown in the first picture is a direct register or an understep walk or maybe even the classic side trot of dog. It’s hard to tell without seeing more of the trail but, it doesn’t really matter that much because all canines use all of these walks depending on the situation.

No matter what this animal is though, it’s time to batten down the hatches.

Jim

 

[chickened]

If it were indeed a wolf we all know your coop would have been blown down along with the little piggies house. (from a real wolf experet)

 

[geoff40]

I doubt those are red wolf tracks, red wolves are not that big. But they could be timber wolf (AKA gray wolf) tracks, which are much larger animals than the red wolf is. It is well established that timber wolf tracks can be 4+ inches long.
Or as BFF said, they might be simply the tracks of a large dog.

Or an escaped exotic pet.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

If it were indeed a wolf we all know your coop would have been blown down along with the little piggies house. (from a real wolf experet)

I don't know how we missed that

 

[fishman65]

GAME CAMERA...all questions answered...thats all im saying...

 

[harveyhorses]

Quote:
Amazon. .com.

 

[Chikn-Chik]

Quote:
We don't have other wolves around this area, only coyotes and foxes