Title: Re: This is cool, someone shot a gray wolf near Hillsboro, ND!
Post by: pmp6nl on March 07, 2011, 06:46:19 PM
Interesting. You never really think about the types of animals that could be lurking around.
Now im not a hunter or anything, but couldn't you tell the difference? The article states during a recent tournament the biggest coyote was 33 pounds and female gray wolves typically weigh from 50 to 85 pounds. Thats a pretty decent difference.
Title: Re: This is cool, someone shot a gray wolf near Hillsboro, ND!
Post by: gh on March 07, 2011, 07:08:28 PM
Wow, that is interesting. I do think that hunters should be able to distinguish the wolf and coyote, so I found this picture from the Michigan DNR (http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10363_10880_10996-31682--,00.html). It definitely seems like with the height and length alone, you'd be able to tell them apart because the gray wolf is so much larger! At least the hunter was honest and called up the game warden after realizing his mistake, so hopefully if charges are pressed, they will take that into consideration. There probably would have been a lot of people that would have left the wolf laying where it was shot and not reported it after they realized their mistake.
Identifying Wolves and Coyotes
Hunters should know the difference between the gray wolf and the coyote.