Yesterdays Yote...

[Captain]

Turned out to be a very large booger... 4127 4128

4129

[Chicken Dinner]

That is a hoss!

[Big Skyz]

Nice'un.

[Bwana]

Does that say 61.5 lbs?!?!

[Buckrub]

Big dog! wow.

[Big Skyz]

If that really says 61 lbs I WANT THE SKULL OFF OF THAT THING!!!

[Thumper]

WOW!!! 615 lbs!!!! ;)

[Captain]

Just got up in the stand.
Yep 61.5 and I actually thought it was more than that.
Sky I'll try to save the skull. I threw him in the gut-pile right after I took those pictures. Rode him around in the truck since yesterday thinking someone would want him to mount. It was a big Yote for around here. Didn't have any takers, So I chunked him. If he's still in the bone pile when I go back to the farm I'll cut his head off and hang it in a tree till it gets clean enough to ship.

[Big Skyz]

Well at least pull the hide off of it, and remove the tongue and eyes, so it speeds up the process considerably.

[Captain]

It would have been good to have done that while it was fresh? It's probably gonna be Sunday or Monday before I go back down to the farm and it will probably be ripe by then. That is if the buzzards or old wild dogs don't drag him off first...
I'm going Quail hunting tomorrow and Saturday so Sunday's the earliest I could possibly check on him...

[Bwana]

Never heard of a coyote that big around here. Muy impressivoso!!

[Big Skyz]

I seriously doubt one that big or even close to that big has ever been killed in Montana.

[Buckrub]

No clue, but Googling around, it appears the largest coyote was 74 lbs.

How anyone knows that, is beyond me. I have no idea. I know Cappy has some red wolf in the area.

[Captain]

It is awful reddish.... Maybe I should do a Sunny on this post and "poof"

How big do them things get Bucky?
I think they are protected? It they want to keep them protected they better keep them out of my pastures with my calfs... :-)

[Big Skyz]

He looks all coyote to me. Doesn't look wolf-y at all.

[Buckrub]

I wouldn't worry one minute. I don't care if it's a wolf, coyote, chupacabra (in the hairy phase), or Christmas Elf. If it was in the pasture with MY cows/deer, I'd shoot it in a heartbeat.

Heck, I might even could hit one that big!

[Captain]

Ah.....
"Description
The size of the red wolf falls somewhere between the coyote and the gray wolf. The red wolf is lankier than the gray wolf, and its legs are longer and more slender, enabling it to move about and maneuver easily in its southern habi- tat. It runs and swims very well and uses its excellent sight, hearing and sense of smell when pursuing prey. Color varies somewhat among red wolves, though it is usually a combination of cinnamon buff or tawny, or cinnamon red, with gray or black on the back and tip of the tail. The red wolf’s undersides vary in color from near white to a pinkish buff."

That thing DID have a black tip on its tail..

[Captain]

He looks all coyote to me. Doesn't look wolf-y at all.

Good. You are as close to an expert as I know... I SURE don't want to call a wildlife biologist and ask for an opinion... :D

[Captain]

Face of a NC Red wolf... 4130
Face of whatever I shot
4131

[Buckrub]

I am zero expert.

Yours looks like a coyote.

[Big Skyz]

Yours looks just like any other coyote I've ever shot only bigger. Oh and btw 95% of the coyotes I shoot have black tipped tails. Every once in a great while I'll get one with a white tip but they are not common around here.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh113/Huntzz/TroyCoyoteSept6B380yds_zpse44e97dd.jpg

[Thumper]

Well, I for one, AM an expert and feel it my duty to report your back country, red-neck ass ... that's a Red Wolf dufus ... and a protected species in the Carolinas.

[Thumper]

And ya' can't compare a Montana 'Yote to a South Eastern 'yote ... that's like looking at a photo of Dolly Parton and saying she "looks" like a Yankee. ;)

[Captain]

Well I protected it from being run over by a car....
And the rest of them better stay out my pasture or they will go extinct.
Troublemaker.... ;)

[Thumper]

Gotta go to a Christmas party in a few minutes but I'm reporting your Tarheel butt to the authorities first thing in the morning. Where PERSACTLY did you say that carcass is?

[Captain]

What carcass? I made all this up....
Early Aprils fools joke, yea that's it

[FooBang]

Prank call! Prank call!

[Thumper]

FooBang??? Are you new around here? ;)

[Bwana]

I'm with Big Sky on this it that I doubt there has ever been a yote that big taken here either.

I have been participating in an area coyote calling event for the past 12-15 years and as a side event they have a big dog/little dog contest for those interested. In all those years I have never seen one brought in that weighed more then 39 lbs. That being said, in talking to a gent who is a 2x winner of the National Coyote Calling competition in Rawlings, Wy and who shoots more coyotes in a year then I will in a lifetime, says the biggest he has ever taken was in the low 40 lb range.

Anyway, congrats on killing the calf chaser.

[Chicken Dinner]

Interesting read on red wolves. Curiously enough, the average male weighs, you guessed it, 61lbs.

http://nctc.fws.gov/resources/knowledge-resources/Pubs4/endangered_red_wolves.pdf