Wolves in southern Missouri??

[ATH]

If a 90lb kill looked just like a coyote, it wasn't a wolf. Wolves and coyotes look and carry themselves quite differently.

I don't trust anything a DNR tells me. In 2003 I lived on a 2 acre lot outside Willow Run Airport, bordering on the undeveloped land surrounding the airport. This is perhaps 15 miles from Detroit Metro Airport. One morning I let my dog out in the backyard to run and notice a piece of brown packing paper lying in the back of the yard. As my dog gets closer the paper moves, and I realize it has ears and a face. It's a cougar. I run in and grab my 1187 and yell and my dog to come, and the cougar jumps up and bounds over the back fence. There was no mistaking the identity, I got a clear view of the color features of the face and tail. It was a half-grown animal, obviously born locally, not some South Dakota transient like the DNR was claiming every upper penninsula one was. Of course I call the DNR, they tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, until I detail my qualifications as a biologist, at which point they shut up and just leave.

Within just the past 2 weeks, 14 years later, after incontrovertible photographic proof near Lansing, they are admitting cougars exist in the lower part of the state.

That said, a large coyote is not a wolf, it's most likely a coydog. I've personally shot two coyotes in Indiana weighing 50 and 55 pounds. A timber wolf is an entirely different critter, and don't handle competition with people in nearly the same way as coyotes. So I really doubt they'd handle Indiana well. And they also travel in packs, so you won't see just one of them.

 

[soren]

Here in OK. I was hunting with a friend and I was in a ground blind and saw two wolves chasing a deer my friend was uphill from me and saw the third one. I called the local game warden and he said the habitat couldn't support them......what a joke.

My ex is a dvm and I actually got to walk a timber wolf on a leash so the wolf could do her business. She was very indifferent to me, but when her owners picked her up she was like a puppy. My ex-bil in law had a hybrid and a local friend had a hybrid that he trained for search and rescue. I've killed plenty of coyote to know the difference.

I don't know if these wolves were pets turned loose or not. I have a picture of someone locally that has a younger male that was taller than my male great pyr. They used to be for sale on a regular basis at local guns hows......

 

[gigori779]

there is nothing i fear more in the wild than wolves, they move in groups and that's serious business. no reports of them here in Arkansan but years ago while camping in colorado, we had an encounter with a pack but we were seriously armed and a few warning shots pushed them back.

 

[buzzgun]

I haven't told this story to very many folks and, I have to admit, if someone shared it with me I'm not sure I would believe it.

It has probably been over 20 years ago when I was visiting my parents who lived south of Springfield, MO around Christmas time. They lived in a housing addition at the edge of town, just south of them was a large area of undeveloped property along the James river. My brother in law and I were down by the river with our bows, killing time and chasing squirrels and rabbits. As we got close to the river, we decided to split up, he made a half circle east down into some bottoms, and I stayed up on the top. We were both moving very slowly, watching for squirrels, he was far enough away and the cover was thick enough that I couldn't see or hear him.

I got to a point that was a bit higher than the surrounding ground and offered a bit of a view towards the river. I stopped and leaned against a tree, watching for movement of anything coming from the direction my brother in law had gone. It wasn't long until movement caught my eye, so I stood still against the tree and watched. Coming toward me was a very large canine, my first thought was a big dog or coyote. As the canine got closer, I began to doubt what I was seeing......this was no dog and certainly no coyote! I had the wind in my favor and was hidden well enough that the canine could not see me. I stood dead still and it passed at less than 10 feet......I got a VERY good look at it and I was stunned!

I have done a lot of predator hunting in several different states and have seen and killed some pretty big coyotes, but nothing even close to the size of this animal. It was clearly a wolf or wolf hybrid. I don't know where it came from or how it got there, but I know what I saw and I still have a hard time believing it. It was big enough to easily take down a decent sized deer. Maybe it was a wolf or wolf/dog cross that was someone's "pet" and was loose and roaming around?? I don't know, but I do know for sure it was big enough and had the appearance of a wolf.

I used to hear these kind of stories and strongly doubted the honesty, sobriety or sanity of the tellers, even laughed out loud at some of them......I still doubt most of them, but, after that day by the James river, I no longer think it's impossible.

 

[gigori779]

I haven't told this story to very many folks and, I have to admit, if someone shared it with me I'm not sure I would believe it.

It has probably been over 20 years ago when I was visiting my parents who lived south of Springfield, MO around Christmas time. They lived in a housing addition at the edge of town, just south of them was a large area of undeveloped property along the James river. My brother in law and I were down by the river with our bows, killing time and chasing squirrels and rabbits. As we got close to the river, we decided to split up, he made a half circle east down into some bottoms, and I stayed up on the top. We were both moving very slowly, watching for squirrels, he was far enough away and the cover was thick enough that I couldn't see or hear him.

I got to a point that was a bit higher than the surrounding ground and offered a bit of a view towards the river. I stopped and leaned against a tree, watching for movement of anything coming from the direction my brother in law had gone. It wasn't long until movement caught my eye, so I stood still against the tree and watched. Coming toward me was a very large canine, my first thought was a big dog or coyote. As the canine got closer, I began to doubt what I was seeing......this was no dog and certainly no coyote! I had the wind in my favor and was hidden well enough that the canine could not see me. I stood dead still and it passed at less than 10 feet......I got a VERY good look at it and I was stunned!

I have done a lot of predator hunting in several different states and have seen and killed some pretty big coyotes, but nothing even close to the size of this animal. It was clearly a wolf or wolf hybrid. I don't know where it came from or how it got there, but I know what I saw and I still have a hard time believing it. It was big enough to easily take down a decent sized deer. Maybe it was a wolf or wolf/dog cross that was someone's "pet" and was loose and roaming around?? I don't know, but I do know for sure it was big enough and had the appearance of a wolf.

I used to hear these kind of stories and strongly doubted the honesty, sobriety or sanity of the tellers, even laughed out loud at some of them......I still doubt most of them, but, after that day by the James river, I no longer think it's impossible.

you lucky bastard, if the wind wasn't at your favor this would have been another story.

 

[newmexkid]

Don't remember the exact year but, I was living in Big Piney, WY. at the time wolves were released in Yellowstone. we were (if I remember correctly) about 100+ miles from Yellowstone. Two years before the release, my brother-in-law and I were deer hunting West of Piney. While glassing a hillside about 400 yards away, all of a sudden we see this black object break out of some quakies running like lightning! My B-I-L says coyote and I responded, "not that color". Then I said, we are looking a, wolf. We could see it perfect. It ran into a big draw and we lost sight of it. Later that afternoon we were at the truck eating and a game warden came by. We shot the bull for a few minutes and he got ready to leave. I then told him what we had seen and said, "are there wolves already here?! He didn't answer me. He gave me the slightest sign of a grin and drove off.

 

[WildRose]

I haven't told this story to very many folks and, I have to admit, if someone shared it with me I'm not sure I would believe it.

It has probably been over 20 years ago when I was visiting my parents who lived south of Springfield, MO around Christmas time. They lived in a housing addition at the edge of town, just south of them was a large area of undeveloped property along the James river. My brother in law and I were down by the river with our bows, killing time and chasing squirrels and rabbits. As we got close to the river, we decided to split up, he made a half circle east down into some bottoms, and I stayed up on the top. We were both moving very slowly, watching for squirrels, he was far enough away and the cover was thick enough that I couldn't see or hear him.

I got to a point that was a bit higher than the surrounding ground and offered a bit of a view towards the river. I stopped and leaned against a tree, watching for movement of anything coming from the direction my brother in law had gone. It wasn't long until movement caught my eye, so I stood still against the tree and watched. Coming toward me was a very large canine, my first thought was a big dog or coyote. As the canine got closer, I began to doubt what I was seeing......this was no dog and certainly no coyote! I had the wind in my favor and was hidden well enough that the canine could not see me. I stood dead still and it passed at less than 10 feet......I got a VERY good look at it and I was stunned!

I have done a lot of predator hunting in several different states and have seen and killed some pretty big coyotes, but nothing even close to the size of this animal. It was clearly a wolf or wolf hybrid. I don't know where it came from or how it got there, but I know what I saw and I still have a hard time believing it. It was big enough to easily take down a decent sized deer. Maybe it was a wolf or wolf/dog cross that was someone's "pet" and was loose and roaming around?? I don't know, but I do know for sure it was big enough and had the appearance of a wolf.

I used to hear these kind of stories and strongly doubted the honesty, sobriety or sanity of the tellers, even laughed out loud at some of them......I still doubt most of them, but, after that day by the James river, I no longer think it's impossible.

Many generations of large wolf like and wolf hybrid dogs have gone feral and bred into the coyote population.

One of the biggest if not the biggest problem we've ever had in predator control is in trying to deal with the "coy dogs" or "coy wolves" as some call them.

The East Texas Red Wolf was supposed to have gone extinct in the 60's, our mammal collection in the biology dept where I went to college had the skin of one in the collection that I got to examine several times. I was shocked and amazed at how it resembled the large "coyotes" we saw in one small area centered around Throckmorton County throughout the seventies and into the 80's. Eventually those animals moved or were all killed off but I'll eat my hat if they weren't among the last of the red wolves still in existence and more than twenty years and hundreds of miles from where they were known to call home.

We're still finding new species and discovering that species thought long ago extinct still have wild populations in remote areas so there's no reason to believe you didn't see what you think you saw or that it might have just been the result of someone years ago dumping a litter of wolf hybrid pups some of which might have survived.

Although it is somewhat rare coyotes and wolves will absolutely interbreed with domestic dogs and lots of people have bought wolf hybrid shepherds and Huskies that eventually dumped them in the country when they became aggressive or too big to tolerate anymore.

We unfortunately end up putting down dozens of stray dogs roaming the country every year.

 

[WildRose]

An article on the Red Wolf. The last documented population of them is in Florida.

https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Mammals/Red-Wolf.aspx

 

[Doghunter23]

Here in Illinois the state didn't used to recognize that we had the occasional timber wolf pass through (and had no laws about shooting them..), until enough people shot them and then ran them down to the DNR office to brag about the wolf they shot. So they passed the laws protecting them here.
If the individuals had just exercised the three S method of predator control they wouldn't be protected now.
Food for thought.. in Missouri if the DNR doesn't protect the wolfs now maybe you shouldn't be soo eager to get them protected.

 

[flowhnun63]

All I have to say is protect yourself because the people in charge of protecting us from these wild animals won't do their job. Wolves migrate to wherever they want so far the conditions like weather and food supplies meet their needs. If you said you heard wolves and you uncle saw one, who is he to say it's not true.

 

[Canhunter35]

Its probably a wolf. With large wolf populations in some areas they're migrating out. Game wardens made fun of cougar sightings where I live along with wolf sightings...till enough of them get shot or trapped. Now they've admitted per acre we have the densest cougar population where I live in Canada.

 

[platella]

Its probably a wolf. With large wolf populations in some areas they're migrating out. Game wardens made fun of cougar sightings where I live along with wolf sightings...till enough of them get shot or trapped. Now they've admitted per acre we have the densest cougar population where I live in Canada.

 

[platella]

Up here in the Northeast we have coy-dogs some weighing up to 70 pounds. Coyotes were non existent here until the 1970's. Now they are the number one threat to our deer population. Supposedly they crossed with wolves from Canada at some point turning them into a much larger and more capable killing machine, especially once the snow reaches a certain depth and starts to crust over in the early spring.

 

[RandyinVa]

An article on the Red Wolf. The last documented population of them is in Florida.

https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Mammals/Red-Wolf.aspx

Not so about Florida being the only documented population. North Carolina brought them back and then released them all around the coastal areas and the results are disastrous. You now can't shoot out of Control coyotes because they have interbred with the Red Wolf and you cannot tell what you are looking at. HUGE problem.