Wolves.

[CMV]

Twenty years ago I used to work the graveyard shift, so at the end of my shift each day I would go to the top of a local dam to watch the sunrise. One morning I had an animal step in front of my Jeep that I would have sworn was a wolf. It was big and the coloring was all wrong for a coyote- greys and white rather than tawny browns. I told everyone I knew about this wolf I saw, but was told by the old timers that it was impossible and didn't happen. Fast forward 20 years, and I now live above this same dam. The coyotes in this area are enormous, long-bodied and really leggy. I got an up-close and personal viewing of 5 of them attacking a fox in my yard a few years back. I have a 60-ish lb. dog and had a 110 lb. wolf-hybrid. These animals were not nearly as big as my hybrid, but easily outweighed the smaller dog by a good 10 lbs. I was surprised and fairly alarmed because I had always assumed that coyotes here would be the same size as the ones out west. It was an education to see those animals that day, and I have seen many others in the meantime that are much bigger than they ought to be. I have often wondered if that animal I saw 20 years ago might have contributed to the super-sizing of our local coyote population.

 

[herfrds]

Try watching this movie. It takes an hour.
http://cryingwolfmovie.com/


Last week my son was driving to the bus stop and saw a dead deer laying in the neighbors stubble field. He checked it out. It was a yearling with the hind end eaten away and the guts gone too.
Next day I was driving by and saw a lone coyote looking towards the deer, but as soon as the coyote saw me it took off like a shot running full out. We have not shot at these coyotes. It acted plain scared.
I've found coyote kills before and they clean everything up right away.
This kill was a mile from our house.

The coyote pack (6 of them) did not go near that kill for 5 days. They finally did move in and cleaned it up.
The start of antelope season one of our hunters saw 2 black wolves east of us.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Probably it was. I was in Montana in 1995 when I saw my first western coyote--I couldn't believe how small it was. Kinda like an over-sized red fox. My only experience with them prior to that were the eastern ones. I've got a good 5 sec video showing one of the pair that lives close to me on my blog site http://jimmortensen.com/ --click on the highlight. It is in it's winter coat which makes it look more wolf-like but I can assure you it is an Eastern coyotes. ETA: it is hard to estimate size but that camera only reaches out about 20 yards when using the IR so I'd say the animal is no more than 12 feet from the lens--snow was only a few inches deep at the time. It does look huge though.

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

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Yes I did. I would of used my tag on it. I don't like them and never will. I had this dumb neighbor that had one when I lived in VA. She sent her 2 sons out to feed it and it killed the oldest one. It seemed totally tame and was like a big baby around me. Never thought much about them until then. They are really destroying our wildlife and its not hard to see it if you get into the mountains as much as I do. I am for total extermination.

I heard about that one from the WolfPeople also. I never did hear if it was killed or captured though. Anyone know the rest of the story??

They haven't found it. They think it died. Due to age and health. Probably shot

 

[goobhen]

As far as the coyote/wolf cross is concerned, be varying sizes and near-wolf throwbacks. bucks shrink to 120 when they were actually hoisted up on a scales.

BTW, I live in the rural part of Chenango Co and have a pair of coyotes that have a den--confirmed--not more than a quarter mile from me. I have a couple of game cams and have recorded pictures of the pair as well as a lone male not more than 50 yds from my house so I'm pretty familiar with coyotes. I've hunted since I was 12--just turned 73--but have no desire to knock off any of these animals as long as they just appear on the game cam.

I am glad you mentioned the coyote/wolf mixes because the coyote that tried to get my chickens, last Saturday, looked like a wolf, but I know there are not wolves in my area (central Indiana). The face had the yellow eyes, but the fur on it was gorgeous! Larger than the coyotes that I saw when I lived in California in the high desert. The muzzle was larger but still pointy like a coyote. My husband was not home during the "attack", and I told him if I did not know better, I almost thought it was a wolf. I do not want to harm it, but at the same time, I do not want it to harm my animals. My husband got me a game cam for my birthday, the only animals we have "captured", are our own dogs and chickens! Theresa

 

[mrpekinduck]

Ok wolf coyote crosses are only possible when a female wolf and male coyote mate. This creates sterile males only and due to some sort genetic problem it is impossible for them to create female offspring. I used to be very intersted in hybrid animals and found ot this. Therefore you have either all male coyote wolf hybrids, plain coyotes or plain wolves. I too am a New Yorker nd know that in my area we have an abundance of coyotes but lack any supply of wolves. Hope this helps!

Brian

 

[Yardbirds286]

This is an interesting topic. I lived in Minnesota for 28 years. Then relocated to New Hampshire, and currently live in Massachusetts. I have seen plenty of eastern coyotes, and they are large no doubt. However, I also had the chance to see, and hear wolves in the BWCA. That is something that stays with you. There is a marked difference.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Brian, where do you get your information and what makes you think the cross has to be between a female wolf an male coyote? This flies in the face of everything the NYS Museum naturalists are saying in regard to the wolf/coyote cross in the the Northeast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coywolf. This article seems to say they not only hybridize but are fertile.
As does this one http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=wylie-coywolf-the-coyote-wolf-hybri-2009-09-23
And this one http://www.wonderquest.com/Wolf-coyote.htm

 

[mstrrlm]

There is no strong evidence it is a FACT check you data in fact if memory serves the eastern coyote was dubbed that because of the inter breeding creates it's own species of coyote.

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[deerman]

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yep know a few who have moutain lions, and the other bigger cats to..