Coyote vs. Wolf
07-25-2007, 12:05 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: WI
Posts: 165
Coyote vs. Wolf
I got these pictures of what I believe is a large coyote at my bear bait site. My question is, How can you tell the difference between a wolf and a coyote? Most of the websites I've looked at said size, but that doesn't distinguish between a large coyote and a smaller wolf. This "coyote" stands about two and a half feet tall, so acording to what I've read, that puts it at the top of coyote size and the bottom of wolf size. There has got to be a better way to tell.
Bears never worried me, but wolves make me nervous.
07-25-2007, 02:07 PM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 4,264
RE: Coyote vs. Wolf
I have seen some pretty large coyotes here in TN off of the highway, probably get big from eating turkey and deer fawn.
I thought it was a coyote, but it does have very long legs for a coyote come to think of it.
I thought it was a coyote, but it does have very long legs for a coyote come to think of it.
07-25-2007, 03:06 PM
#9
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: NW Colorado
Posts: 199
RE: Coyote vs. Wolf
One of those Michigan wolves ended up in Missouri a few years back. So I doubt 30 miles is more than two or three hous for a wolf traveling at a normal movement speed.
Michigan Wolf Killed in Missouri The list of animals you can see in Missouri continues to grow. A Grundy County man, returning from bowhunting for deer Oct. 23, spied what he thought was a coyote peering into his sheep pen. Fearing for the safety of his livestock, he shot and killed the animal. Then he discovered the "coyote" was wearing an ear tag and a radio collar. Realizing he had killed a wolf, he did the right thing and brought the carcass to a conservation agent.
Conservation Department. Furbearer Biologist Dave Hamilton later verified that it was a gray wolf and traced it back to Michigan, where it had been marked and its movements tracked as part of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' wolf management program.
Also known as timber wolves, gray wolves once lived in Missouri. They were extirpated here and elsewhere in the eastern United States by the end of the 19th century. Timber wolves persisted in Minnesota. From there, they dispersed back into Wisconsin and Michigan, which now have wolf populations of their own.
The wolf killed here was a 2 1/2-year-old male weighing 80 pounds. Michigan biologists tracked it for nine months after capturing and tagging it in July 1999. After that, biologists lost track of the animal. Now they know why. It was on a 600-mile road trip.
The gray wolf is classified as federally endangered in Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri. However, the species has grown numerous enough in Minnesota that it is considered threatened there, and federal officials are considering downgrading its status to threatened in other states. This would allow more flexibility in managing gray wolves when they cause problems for people. The man who shot the wolf here will not be prosecuted because he was protecting his livestock and reasonably assumed the animal was a coyote.
"For years, we have believed and told people that there were no wild wolves in Missouri," said Hamilton. "We can't say that anymore, though the likelihood of seeing a wolf here still is extremely small."
Hamilton said the Conservation Department has never stocked wolves and has no plans to restore them to Missouri. He said the state lacks wilderness areas large enough to sustain wolves without unacceptable human conflicts.
Michigan Wolf Killed in Missouri The list of animals you can see in Missouri continues to grow. A Grundy County man, returning from bowhunting for deer Oct. 23, spied what he thought was a coyote peering into his sheep pen. Fearing for the safety of his livestock, he shot and killed the animal. Then he discovered the "coyote" was wearing an ear tag and a radio collar. Realizing he had killed a wolf, he did the right thing and brought the carcass to a conservation agent.
Conservation Department. Furbearer Biologist Dave Hamilton later verified that it was a gray wolf and traced it back to Michigan, where it had been marked and its movements tracked as part of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' wolf management program.
Also known as timber wolves, gray wolves once lived in Missouri. They were extirpated here and elsewhere in the eastern United States by the end of the 19th century. Timber wolves persisted in Minnesota. From there, they dispersed back into Wisconsin and Michigan, which now have wolf populations of their own.
The wolf killed here was a 2 1/2-year-old male weighing 80 pounds. Michigan biologists tracked it for nine months after capturing and tagging it in July 1999. After that, biologists lost track of the animal. Now they know why. It was on a 600-mile road trip.
The gray wolf is classified as federally endangered in Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri. However, the species has grown numerous enough in Minnesota that it is considered threatened there, and federal officials are considering downgrading its status to threatened in other states. This would allow more flexibility in managing gray wolves when they cause problems for people. The man who shot the wolf here will not be prosecuted because he was protecting his livestock and reasonably assumed the animal was a coyote.
"For years, we have believed and told people that there were no wild wolves in Missouri," said Hamilton. "We can't say that anymore, though the likelihood of seeing a wolf here still is extremely small."
Hamilton said the Conservation Department has never stocked wolves and has no plans to restore them to Missouri. He said the state lacks wilderness areas large enough to sustain wolves without unacceptable human conflicts.