wolf or not?

I got this one running around at the farm. What is your opinion, wolf or yote?

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First one, wolf, 2nd coyote.

The one from 7-21 is a young wolf. How tall is the grass and grass heads in the dark picture? I don’t think the animal in the dark picture is tall enough to be a wolf unless what it is standing in is 26″-28″ or so. The tail looks a bit heavy for a wolf too, but if its been cool at the farm the wolves could be getting their undercoats already.

How do you tell that’s the first one is a wolf? the ears look pointed and the snout looks longer. Is it how the tail is positioned?

Daylight picture is a wolf, nighttime picture is a coyote.

The face can help identify it as a wolf, but I generally compare how much leg is under the chest area. Wolves have longer legs from the bottom of the chest to the ground as compared to a coyote. Coyotes have somewhat pudgier faces than wolves. Coyotes tend to be more compact than a wolf, while even juvenile wolves along with the adults are much lankier and taller than coyotes so it helps to know how tall the vegetation they’re in is. This late in the summer a wolf pup will be taller than a coyote.

I would agree that picture #1 definitely looks like a wolf to me based what I see as longer legs, longer snout, but it also could be that the fur is wet which is making it look lankier than normal.

The second (night) pic looks like a coyote.

look at the long legs and long snout, to me it looks like a young wolf.

All I can say is that the tail on each of those animals is vastly different as well.

If I were to guess I’d agree with the rest of you. 1 is wolf. 2 is yote.

sticker wrote:

I got this one running around at the farm. What is your opinion, wolf or yote?

You’ve got those TWO running around at the farm.

First picture – Young wolf. Note leg length in proportion to the height of the body from belly to top of back. Also, note length and shape of tail.

Second picture – Coyote. Big male would be my guess. Note bushy tail with black end. Also leg length again gives a good clue. He’s a low-rider compared to the wolf in pic #1, legs are much shorter in proportion to the body.

Or they could both be the elusive green sunfish. Or hosecats.

Grouse

Agree, 1 wolf 2 coyote.

Have looked at a lot of wolf tcam pics and videos over the years and it looks like a young wolf, obviously.

If it’s one pic and you don’t get a lot of pics of it, probably just roaming looking for a mate and territory. If it’s hanging around, it might of found a home. Deer use food plots, wolves eat deer. Get 40% of our wolf pics/videos on or around food plots and it’s obvious what they are doing. Funny thing is it doesn’t stop deer from using them much imo.

basseyes wrote:

Deer use food plots, wolves eat deer. Get 40% of our wolf pics/videos on or around food plots and it’s obvious what they are doing. Funny thing is it doesn’t stop deer from using them much imo.

A lot of other animals use food plots as well. I suspect wolves are more there for the “other” than for deer, because, during the summer in an open food plot, a wolf has a minuscule chance of a good venison dinner. They may get an early fawn or two, but once the fawns have their legs under them, we’ve noticed almost no loss at all on my property despite the presence of wolves.

We got our first wolf pictures about 5 years ago on my property, but the deer population has increased every year despite the constant wolf presence.

I have noticed that wolves love easy walking. They just love to run up and down my field roads and when the Federal trapper was on the ranch next door, he told me that’s where he does all his wolf sets, the wolves just like easy walking.

Where wolves are really going to be an issue will be a combination of deep snow and extreme cold. Get the deer run down by lack of food and then run them in the snow until exhaustion sets in. That’s why I feed corn in the winter and pack trails with the tractor/ATV. Keep the deer in good condition and provide plenty of escape routes in all directions.

Grouse

Both are coyotes thru a scope…..

Man I don’t know, that first one looks like a wolf, but maybe just wet.

The first picture looks like a young wolf, the second one is a coyote. It’s cool that you saw a wolf, they sure are getting more common in MN!

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>basseyes wrote:</div>
Deer use food plots, wolves eat deer. Get 40% of our wolf pics/videos on or around food plots and it’s obvious what they are doing. Funny thing is it doesn’t stop deer from using them much imo.

A lot of other animals use food plots as well. I suspect wolves are more there for the “other” than for deer, because, during the summer in an open food plot, a wolf has a minuscule chance of a good venison dinner. They may get an early fawn or two, but once the fawns have their legs under them, we’ve noticed almost no loss at all on my property despite the presence of wolves.

We got our first wolf pictures about 5 years ago on my property, but the deer population has increased every year despite the constant wolf presence.

I have noticed that wolves love easy walking. They just love to run up and down my field roads and when the Federal trapper was on the ranch next door, he told me that’s where he does all his wolf sets, the wolves just like easy walking.

Where wolves are really going to be an issue will be a combination of deep snow and extreme cold. Get the deer run down by lack of food and then run them in the snow until exhaustion sets in. That’s why I feed corn in the winter and pack trails with the tractor/ATV. Keep the deer in good condition and provide plenty of escape routes in all directions.

Grouse

Agreed, we find more beaver, bear, snowshoe hare hair in wolf scat than deer hair. Amazing the amount of beavers they must consume.

Back when the deer numbers really tanked, we had 3 deer on tcams all summer. One old doe with a fawn made it till fall and through winter all the while wolves hot on her trail all spring and summer. Deer are amazing creatures and way better at avoiding them then we give them credit for.

Young wolf both pictures, same wolf, just daylight his coat is wet and second picture he is dried off and little farther from that camera.
Wallster ><((((>

Here’s three from Aug. The group of two have different coloration and were 32 sec apart so they look to be different animals.

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Deuces wrote:

Both are coyotes thru a scope…..

X2

wallster wrote:

Young wolf both pictures, same wolf, just daylight his coat is wet and second picture he is dried off and little farther from that camera.
Wallster ><((((>

This was my thought exactly.

Deuces wrote:

Both are coyotes thru a scope…..

AGREED 100%. Which brings up another question. With the theory that wolves and yotes might be interbreeding what is the legality of shooting a hybrid wolf yote mix?

Shoot em both. They don’t have a place .

Interesting article: Claims all eastern coyotes are a genetic mix of Coyote, Wolf and Domestic Dog.

https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/yes-eastern-coyotes-are-hybrids-coywolf-not-thing/

sticker wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mr.Beads wrote:</div>
Both are coyotes thru a scope…..

AGREED 100%. Which brings up another question. With the theory that wolves and yotes might be interbreeding what is the legality of shooting a hybrid wolf yote mix?

Coywolves

sticker wrote:

I got this one running around at the farm. What is your opinion, wolf or yote?

In regards to the first two pictures in the first post, I’d bet the farm on a coyote in photo #2 without question.

Photo #1 is tough. I could go both ways off that one look and without knowing your location, what you have seen in your area, and how tall that grass was in-person at the time

After looking at the photos and zooming in, think it’s a young wolf and possibly the same animal.

The wet factor and lighting come into play a bit. And it’s a month apart.

The first pic definitely looks like a wolf from the jaw/teeth size. I’d guess with 90% certainty that one is a wolf.

2nd is really hard to judge size of anything, but to many characteristics of a wolf and nothing that highly distinguishes it as a coyote. But it’s smaller frame is deceiving, and would sway me to think younger wolf. It doesn’t “look” tall with long legs. It’s a night time black and white pic, and farther away from the tcam. That one I’d guess 60% shot it’s a wolf, but not totally convinced. If it is a coyote, the pic makes it look big and it could possibly be just a big coyote.

Curious if Minnesota has any documented cases of cross breeding?

I can agree with the idea that it’s the same animal, but I think it’s a coyote.

I think cross breeding is very rare in the wild.

blank wrote:

I can agree with the idea that it’s the same animal, but I think it’s a coyote.

I think cross breeding is very rare in the wild.

That’s the gist I got from the article. It seemed the hybridization only occurred in some pretty special circumstances. Either wolf populations reduced to essentially nil or on the leading edge of a coyote expansion east where there were next to no breeding opportunities. Didn’t seem to indicate there was hybridization amongst established populations.

If we went Jurassic Park and cloned some Neanderthals it’s possible to mate but I don’t see a lot of people going along with it to create a new
population of Human/Neanderthal hybrids. There’s probably a reason why we only have 2-3% Neanderthal genetics and I suspect it was pretty dire conditions (at least for the Neanderthals).

tegg wrote:

There’s probably a reason why we only have 2-3% Neanderthal genetics and I suspect it was pretty dire conditions (at least for the Neanderthals).

Or one wild party.

blackbay wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tegg wrote:</div>
There’s probably a reason why we only have 2-3% Neanderthal genetics and I suspect it was pretty dire conditions (at least for the Neanderthals).

Or one wild party.

Followed by a case of Coyote Arm (pun intended).