Good article on Pa coyotes

[uncle buck]

http://blog.pennlive.com/pa-sportsman/2010/01/pennsylvania_coyotes_have_a_bit_of_the_wolf_in_their_background.html

[ColonelAngus]

Great article. Always have thought that, good to see that research has proved it.

[lone howler]

I guess i will throw this question out here under this. A few months ago i was hunting one of my spots in the gamelands where the coyote have been traveling. I seen 2 sets of tracks following where a deer had been drug out by a hunter the day before. One set was avg. size the other was very noticeably larger. Wasn't a dog due to where in the gamelands i was at. And wasn't due to expansion due to snow melt as the were pretty fresh. Now today i noticed very large set of tracks in the snow behind my home 2 1/2 inches wide by 3 1/2 long with about a 2 foot stride. Had very noticeable claw marks in the snow. It came up snooped around our chicken coop and made its way to the neighbors bird feeder. Was thinking a bear, but aren't they hibernating? there is a avg. size coyote that has been visiting out yard to check out the coop, just haven't been able to tag his ass yet.That dog has a very noticiable stride in the snow where all 4 of his feet can be seen where he walked. Was wondering if this might be a very large sized coywolf they are talking about?  There hasn't been any large neighborhood dogs roaming around lately either. Got the game cam out waiting to get a pic.

[uncle buck]

When domestic dogs run their foot prints do not transpose on top of the other..Where as a coyote running looks like one track right after the other. A coyotes foot prints should land on top of the other...Coyotes foot print also look narrow compared to a domestic dog..  Domestic dogs will look fat...I kind of like to think of the coyotes foot print resembling a spear head.. The two front claws will show in mud too...

Sounds like this predator was hunting if it was going back and forth to buildings.

Please let us know should you get anything on the camera? Sounds interesting!!!!

[Hern]

This may be a 'new' article, but old information. 1970's & 1980's sturdies show the difference in Coyote skull plates (east-west). Eastern Coyote skull plates are more 'Wolf like' then 'Coyote like' (western Coyote). Evan today.
Studies from  central-eastern Canada showed how our Eastern Coyote bred and moved to eastern Canada then down to New England parts of United States. Pretty neat to live in a time of a new species evolving.
In my youth, I never had Coyote, Beaver or Turkey to harvest in my area.

lone howler...
You should do a search on animal tracks to see what's running around. I never heard of a Coyote track as big as a Bear track. A Bear may have been streach'n his legs during the warm spell a few weeks ago.

[uncle buck]

Surely you have read the articles on how you can determine what killed an animal...They say when a coyote kills it eats the entrails first then the buttocks....Um now you have them determine that these things are wolves....Should you pass out in the wild  I suggest you never fall face down with your buttocks exposed....