Wolf in Kansas?? Surely Not!

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deaddog7117

New member
Ok guys. Here's the back story. Supposedly this happened about 1.5 hours east of the Colorado border near I-70. If you are not familiar with this area, it's primarily dry ag land with some pasture. Few rolling hills. Very little timber.

This "wolf" was supposedly killed by greyhounds, but not before it put up a good fight. Reportedly took 8 or 9 dogs before the standoff ended. I've heard this thing weighed anywhere between 100 and 125 lbs.

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Here's my opinion. It's nothing more than a big coyote laying next to a small coyote. Looks nothing like a wolf to me. No way does it come close to weighing 100 lbs.

Wouldn't consider myself a coyote "expert" and I have even less experience in wolf country, but to me this seems like a pretty easy call.

What say you??
 
I could see it being either the real deal or a hybrid; it's a whole lot bigger than the coyote its laying next to. The yellostone wolves have a bad habit of going where they want.

A few years ago the local game warden showed a map to my uncle and I of a pair of collared wolves that started in yellowstoned, marched up by Billings, then traversed back South through the Bighorns, down by Wind River canyon and the Riverton area, cut East over by us (Douglas area) where they hung around in the Laramie range for a while before they finally headed south and got killed around Walden, Co. I'm pretty sure thats where it was; if it wasn't Walden then it was nearby. I think the warden told us that the map was a 3 or month track for that pair. So to have a wolf get killed in extreme eastern Co isn't far fetched.
 
Somebody school me a bit about wolves. Are they prone to venturing out solo like a lion? Seems to me you hear a great deal more about lions being found in various places, far from typical lion habitat. Do wolves exhibit those same tendencies from time to time or do they tend to stay in a group/pack and not be found in odd places?

Also, if you know this area, it's about as far from typical wolf habitat as you can get. Picture tumbleweeds and pasture. No cover to speak of.
 
Totally dependent upon how big the trunk of the bunny hugger's car was that's transporting them.
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With the ever increasing predator population, I think "typical habitat" should likely be redefined for most predators. I don't think there is a "typical habitat" for any of them anymore, they are opportunistic feeders, and tend to go where they find food. Downtown anywhere isn't typical coyote territory, but we see stories of yotes in even our biggest cities. Downtown anywhere isn't typical bear territory, but Florida Game and Fish documented bears feeding on trash cans a mile or more within city limits when they started studying bear proof trash cans in communities on the southern end of the Ocala National Forrest.

Another prime example would be this monster killed in Canada, Canadian Game Officers indicate he too was outside what would be defined their "typical" range.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2349750

And, we don't know for certain this is a single animal. There may be more in the area, that people haven't encountered yet. I spotted a wolf in ND one time, and was discussing it with a gentleman in the bar. He said that he and his brother had seen one a couple miles from where I saw mine, that same hunting season. No big deal, except the one they saw was black, and the one I saw was brown. Both on the edge of a big ridge in the middle of tumbleweed and farm field territory. And, when I say ridge, it's just a BIG hill. Too many rocks in the area to farm it so most of it is pasture, a few big sloughs and such, a few gulleys that are a little rough, but not really "typical" wolf territory either.



 
Yea they are prone to take off in instances like this, more often in pairs than alone though. They do it to find a new pack or to establish one. There are many cases of this throughout ID, MT, and WY. And wolf territory/habitat is whatever they want it to be or wherever they are at the time. There is a website I believe that shows a map of the established and labelled packs in WY and then the non-established packs that still have a "range".
 
Hard to say, sure woulda been nice to see something in the picture that references size though. Looks like a wolf I shot in Louisiana where there weren't supposed to be wolves.

As Rocky put it, I sure wouldn't rule it out.

In 1973 outside of Shreveport LA I shot what looked like a coyote from the tree stand I was in, because it was a 375 yard shot the size was hard to judge. When my friend and I got closer to it we started making comments like "holy crap, that's the biggest coyote I've ever seen".

This thing weighed about 100/110 pounds, which correlates nicely to Brown wolves, only problem with those is that they were thought to be extinct. Turns out that the time frame also correlates right around the last known verified sighting of a brown wolf in that area. It has bothered me all my life that I probably took out one of or even the last one.

I can't tell you how many people I've had call BS on the grounds "that there were no wolves in that part of Louisiana", or "no way, you didn't shoot one of the last brown wolves".

I look at that picture and think it looks like a small coyote, but next to either a HUGE one or a wolf or hybrid which is also a possibility.

But the question is, do you really know this is BS? No way, you would really have to have a chance to look it over yourself to come to that conclusion.
 
First let me say that it was my cousin that caught this and it was around Wakeeney KS, as they pulled in the field they thought it was a house dog due to the fact it tried to stand its ground then took off, when the first guy dumped his dogs on it took off and thru the first set of dogs off, as it took another 2 guys to dump also before they could get a handle on the so called "wolf"... After they killed it word got around fast and the fish and game called him and asked if he would go weigh it and it came to 106lb. but that was not a certified scale so he took it to a guy that did and it came in at 85lb. the coyote beside it was a full grown 35lb coyote. The fish and game came out Monday to take some samples of this and was going to test it. The world record stands at 76lb. and was confirmed 100% coyote..Most KS yotes are 30-40lb so whatever it is it will be confirmed shortly
 
I was spending holidays with a great aunt and uncle in Three Rivers Michigan in the early 70's. They had a 260 acre ranch that they cultivated part of in corn to feed cattle and pigs. They also raised about 200 rabbits and chickens at a time, sold half and ate the other half.

I was up early to do some duck hunting on their pond and saw a Badger run across the yard and into a burrow under the edge of the barn.

At breakfast later that morning I said, "you'll never guess what I saw that's living under the barn". Everyone wanted to know what, I said it's a badger.

My aunt and uncle scoffed at that and said no way, there hadn't been any badgers on the area for 50 years. A bit of an argument ensued, I said I know what a badger looks like and it is a badger. My grandma bless her heart, maintained that if Keith says he saw a badger I will guarantee you he saw a badger.

So for the next couple of days as I was meeting other ranchers in the area my uncle would say, "Keith thinks he saw a badger under the barn". To which laughing and comments of there hasn't been any badgers in 50 years, what kind of drugs is he doing?. There were only a few people who would say "well, maybe, ya never can tell".

So my grandma was getting irritated as all get out, she got up two mornings in a row and the second morning comes in and wakes me up and says Keith, you did see a badger, I saw it too. She told everyone as breakfast was being made that she had seen it too, and added and you better not tell me I'm full of bull or I'll ring this frying pan upside of your head. There are some people that those who know them would never think to contradict, and my grandma was one of those. So now everyone was excited about the fact that there was a badger, and a badger watch was on. I will say that my uncle went around to everyone that had made fun of my badger sighting and set the record straight, he spent half an hour calling people on the phone. The whole countryside thought it was really cool that a badger had been seen.
 
Originally Posted By: Kansas220SwiftFirst let me say that it was my cousin that caught this and it was around Wakeeney KS, as they pulled in the field they thought it was a house dog due to the fact it tried to stand its ground then took off, when the first guy dumped his dogs on it took off and thru the first set of dogs off, as it took another 2 guys to dump also before they could get a handle on the so called "wolf"... After they killed it word got around fast and the fish and game called him and asked if he would go weigh it and it came to 106lb. but that was not a certified scale so he took it to a guy that did and it came in at 85lb. the coyote beside it was a full grown 35lb coyote. The fish and game came out Monday to take some samples of this and was going to test it. The world record stands at 76lb. and was confirmed 100% coyote..Most KS yotes are 30-40lb so whatever it is it will be confirmed shortly

Glad I'm on the record not calling BS.
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Wolf or not, I'm having a hard time swallowing that it's 100lbs, or even 86lbs. The only (poor) reference for scale I see is the guys shoe, which kinda confirms my initial guess at the size of this thing. I'd put it in the 60lb range just by eyeballing it, with a juvenile pup beside it (note the lack of "stop" in the face, length of the eyes along the snout).

Not saying I won't believe it's a wolf and a coyote, but no way it goes over 100lbs, and again, I'm hard pressed to believe 86lbs, just based on this pic.
 
Varminterror get out you Check book because I can Guarantee you that it weighed 86 lbs the animal is at the Kansas dept of wildlife and parks so the Biologist can take some samples of it It remains unknown what for sure it is It was weighed on scales and came in at 106 but they weren't certified scales it was then taken to certified scales and came in at 86 I can post some more pictures if you would like to evaluate
 
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