This wolf-like coyote was killed with a bow near Glenville, West Virginia:
It’s reddish in color, and it’s more wolfy than Western coyotes.
I guess it’s a red wolf.
Actually, it likely does have some wolf genes, but these genes came from Eastern Canadian and Great lakes wolves that crossed with Western coyotes as they wandered in the East.
These more wolfy coyotes are much more adept at killing deer than their Western relatives.
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Our coyotes sure look a lot “wolfier” than the coyotes out West. Do you know when this one was killed, Scottie?
It was this year, probably this month during bow season (which is still on).
Around here, we call this “dog food”.
Beautiful animal, but I am glad I don’t have to worry about having them get after my livestock.
Bow hunting should be banned for the simple reason no matter how expert one gets in using it, it is a pain inflicting killing tool. There is no way an animal can die without feeling intense pain for long duration of time.
I am not necessarily a big fan of bow hunting. I think it is too easy to mess up a shot and wound an animal, but if there are some people who are good enough with a bow, that they do kill quickly and humanely.
I’m somewhat inclined to agree with you.
What I don’t get is why rifle-hunters need to take the Canadian Firearms Safety Course; but archery-users are not mandated to take a Bowhunters’ Course. There are clubs out there which offer the the classes, but they are voluntary-only.
That should be Bowhunters’ Education Course. My apologies.
Then why do wildlife biologists constantly recommend it as a management tools in countries where firearm ownership are either restricted or banned? The rise in number of bow-hunters in Canada coincides with the increasing restrictions on gun-uses.
There is no pleasing Canadians it seems. The non-hunting community wants to respect the hunters’ way of life; but they also want restriction on firearms and regulate how someone can hunt despite active involvement has been dropping for years with imposed “ethics”. You can’t have it both ways.
The picture is amazing! Great illustration of the Coyote/Wolf complex.
What a fine specimen of a “Red Wolf”. Truly handsome!
Yes a beautiful animal. Why was it killed?
They are usually killed because they do take some fawns in the spring, and there is conflicting evidence about how they affect deer numbers.
The other thing is they aren’t endangered. The state has a continuously open season, so it really doesn’t matter.
Just so long as they have a healthy fear of people, they’re going to do fine.
Hunting them is probably the least expensive way to keep them fully afraid of people.
When they live in town, where there is no hunting, they become very adept at killing house cats and small dogs.
I don’t think you’d have the same issues with killing them, if you saw one run off with your little dog.
That is why no “Biological Dolls” or “Biological Jewelry” for my family and me. Always had, now have , and will always have large dog breeds as companions :-)
‘“Biological Dolls” or “Biological Jewelry”’ LOL! I like that Suhail.
I always thought the designation ‘Toy’ was very appropriate for so many of the diminutive breeds. On the other hand some small dogs, like the Shiba Inu and Jack Russell, seem to fall outside the parameters normally used to describe the more diminutive breeds–though neither of these would stand a chance against an Eastern Coyote either.
As for domestic cats, they belong inside unless they’re on a leash or in an enclosed space. If you let your cats go outside, you’re just feeding the Coyotes.
massugu,
LOL. That terminology comes from Mark Derr via his book ‘How the dog became the dog”.
My wife says, Shiba Inus and JRs are tigers in dog clothing.
But there is also supposedly a glut of deer, and the numbers are kept down by the hunts. So if that’s true, and I think it is, what’s wrong with coyotes taking some?
If a coyote took my little dog – and I won’t own a LITTLE dog until I’m 90 if I make it that far – I would hate and want to shoot THAT coyote. Not coyotes in general.
Different people have different interests. People with vegetable gardens are happy the coyotes are culling them. BTW, whether Eastern coyotes control deer numbers is quite debated in the literature. Coyotes also control fox numbers, which is good for ground nesting birds.
But if you’re a serious trophy buck hunter, you want to control coyote numbers, which is actually something of a quixotic undertaking.
Some people do enjoy hunting coyotes. It’s not something I would necessarily do (too much like a dog).
I don’t get the kill coyotes cuz they eat fawns argument either, but then you have the Elk hunters out west wanting to kill wolves to increase the potential take of Elk for themselves. These are particularly stupid arguments since apex predators do so much to improve overall habitat for the endemic prey species–including Elk and Whitetails. We really need need some strong education programs for these hunting lobbies.
On the other hand coyote (or wolf) hunting can be a sport in and of itself–coyotes can be particularly cunning, so I can see where some hunters would enjoy hunting them. I also assume that their pelts have some commercial value. Its not my cup of tea since I’ve always insisted on being able to eat whatever I shot or caught (and I’ll draw the line at eating coyotes, thanx), but to each his/her own.
I wonder if our Beaver & Grouse-eating Metis friend shoots and eats wolves and/or coyotes? Scottie, do you know?
Btw, about 5 years ago, a pair of reddish Coyotes were raising their pups in the farthest corner of gardens of my former office compound in Mississauga, Ontario. I distinctly recall my office mates and I used to observe them play with the pups during our lunch break.
More recently (in 2010), my wife and I saw a fresh body of a red coyote, clearly crushed to its death by public transport bus, on a pretty lonely road of Mississauga in early morning hours.
I haven’t seen any coyote since then. I think that the coyotes out here may be reddish in colour in general.
They are routinely reported to pick a small dog every now and then, but I haven’t heard of anybody advocating their hunt. Read this news, for example:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/03/31/whitby-coyote-dog.html
Harassing or physically harming wild animals like racoons, skunks, pigeons, etc. is illegal in Greater Toronto Area.
Read this interesting series of news:
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/archive/index.php/t-1044896.html
It says, “Putting out poison, using firearms or using certain types of traps to deal with pests could bring criminal charges and fines of up to $5,000.
The maximum sentence for someone convicted of cruelty to animals is two years while conviction on a weapons dangerous charge can bring a sentence of up to 10 years.”
I have seen park rangers of a conservation park near my home carry a deer carcass, killed on the road nearby, deep into the park premises so that coyotes could feed off it.
you can find reddish coyotes in the Mojave. Their color range goes from sandy to a red because there are areas where red is actually a better camouflage. The big difference I see is in the far more robust head and jaws of the Eastern edition. While theoretically the coyotes could expand to hunt the feral horse and donkey herds out here, they really don’t, beyond taking a foal or so. They are happy, however, to add any cat or small dog they encounter to their diet.
Is it not illegal to have dogs of any size wandering about outside and not under control in America?
It has long been recognised in Britain, for instance, that dogs out on the loose can attack sheep and cause traffic accidents. At least we do not have rabies to fear here but I believe you do?
However, our dogs are allowed pretty well anywhere off the lead as long as they are trained to be under human control by voice recall. Mainly it works for us, but problems do arise of course.
Depends on the place. Some dogs are allowed off-leash, especially in rural areas.
Lots of coyotes take small-dogs while owners were walking them on a leash.
Whether or not the dog is controlled or not has very little with predation by coyotes.
Which is why I never take my 9 pound AHT anywhere without at least one of my Central Asians along as well.