For you northern trappers out there. A buddy who is a trapper and taxi sent this to me. He lives in way north Wisconsin and this is in his back 20. He say the body is very big for a yote and there are instances of a yote/wolf mix in Northern WI. He is not sure. Any guesses?? Maybe a young wolf??
I thought all eastern coyotes contained a solid portion of wolf and thus were really "coy wolves". Not sure, going on memory. If you showed me that in New England, I'd say normal Coyote for here. But knowing the location and that there are wolves in Wisconsin... coupled to the high cam angle making size estimation hard... I'm going with wolf. Just feels like that makes sense in that area of the country.
I have a place in Bayfield County WI and live near the MO/IA border. Last winter I saw and took poor video of one like this. I thought it had to be a wolf as it was so much different than any of the dogs back in MO and IA. Who knows though.
I'd go with coyote. With wolves you'll typically be able to notice the large feet. And in July they'll often look like heads are large with thinner fur.
I say wolf, carries his tail like a wolf has that type of head. I have seen some huge coyotes, big males like 55#s in NY but that looks like all wolf to me. I also don't think all that young maybe 3.5 or so. Shawn
""“The term ‘coywolf’ is very misleading to the public,” Shevenell Webb, furbearer biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife told Outdoor Life last year. “Eastern coyotes are coyotes. We recognize that some hybridization occurred, but they are not wolves.”
Most samples from genetic studies in Maine were deemed to be of eastern coyote ancestry, but a small percentage had wolf ancestry.
“At some point, both species interbred and that signature is carried in genetics,” says Webb. She also noted one coyote had a wolf ancestry of 89 percent. Interestingly, it was one of the smaller animals in the study, a 27-pound female. Adult male Eastern coyotes typically weigh between 45 and 55 pounds."""
Any idea how this bio in Dana's link knows which is the primary trait.....the wolf or the yote? For example, she notes a yote was killed that had 89% wolf ancestry. Why couldn't it be a wolf that had 11% yote ancestry?
The gate, long legs, slender rear end tapers to muscular frontal cavity... large head, pup looks at least 75 lbs. Pete, gut feeling... not 100% but gut?
JL, I'm inclined to agree. A 'wolf' may have up to 49% coyote mixed in, or vice versa, but 89% wolf is a wolf. Trying to ID an animal off a video? No way. Shoot it and do a DNA analysis, then you'll *know*.
Me personally....if there was any question it was a wolf mix, I wouldn't shoot it. Reasoning being is if it had any wolf in it, would that open you up to shooting a protected species in Wisconsin (or Michigan)?
Recall a few years ago the light colored bear that was legally harvested and I believe it turned out to be part polar bear/black bear mix and the DNR or RCMP folks were considering charging the hunter with a crime. Not sure I want to tempt fate.