According to the dec the last wolf killed in NY was over 80 years ago so we can't have a wolf problem. But i say we do , not a pure wolf but a half breed. Coyotes in the Catskills no longer weigh 25 pounds but go between 50-75 pounds . Some look the size of my german shepard.And they dont run solo anymore then run in packs. A few years ago the DEC did a DNA test on 100 coyotes and 98% had wolf DNA, this confused me as i always thought the wolf and coyote were mortal enemys. I just found out in an article in outdoor news that i was half right. The timber wolf according to the artical will never mate with the coyotes but the Red wolf will and has. Every winter you can find dead deer killed by coyotes.When speaking to local people who live in that area (local hunters) they say the coyotes are whats causing the decline in that area.But the DEC blames it on two hard winters.One of the locals told me of a DEC study where they put a camera on a coyote den he didn't tell me the time frame but that they counted 21 fawns brought to the pups. And this isn't of consern? Two years ago on my property you could go out and see maybe 30 different deer in your travels and now i am lucky to see 3-7 deer between sunrise and sunset.What do you guys think about this are any other states having a coyote population boom and a scary decline in your deer population?And what do you make of this a story told to me by a friend who lives in Dutchess county NY this year before bow season him and a friend were checking there tree stands and making shooting lanes when 3 coyotes approched they both climed into one of the tree stands and for 20 minutes the coyotes circled the stand before leaving.

I know a guy in Erie PA who was treed by coyotes until some armed people came along. Northeastern coyotes are larger than those in the SW.Part of this is the natural thing that northern animals are always larger than southern ones [mass to weight ratio].A coyote recently shot in Ohio was weighed at 90 lbs.!Originally we had in NY a small wolf called a brush wolf ,That's gone and has been replaced by the coyote I assume the brush wolf was a red wolf.Since the coyote is closely related to the red wolf I'm not surprised at the wolf DNA.Coyotes will hunt as individuals for small game but also in packs for deer.The consensus of people in NY and PA is that last seasons poor deer take is due to too many doe permits over the last few years.Wolves and I assume coyotes regulate their breeding according to food available.We used to have feral dogs here in southern Sullivan Co but they're gone , eaten ,I assume by the coyotes !Coyotes have spread from their original SW to the NE and into Canada - they are here to stay.

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And what do you make of this a story told to me by a friend who lives in Dutchess county NY this year before bow season him and a friend were checking there tree stands and making shooting lanes when 3 coyotes approched they both climed into one of the tree stands and for 20 minutes the coyotes circled the stand before leaving.

Tanoose, I can't comment on the "Red Wolf/Coyote" breeding possibilities, but I do know that coyotes and domestic or feral dogs will interbreed, the result being a larger "coydog," that is NOT afraid of humans.

As for the two guys being "treed" by some coyotes in New York, if that had happened to me (or the hunters I hang out with), I'd have handled that problem with my S&W 57 .41 Magnum, in a New York Minute!! (Pun intended.)

L.W.

They got one wolf there in NY they need to do away with, dressed in sheep's clothing and works in the US Senate.

I doubt that coyotes are causing a decline in your deer. We have record deer numbers and the guys running Walkers take at least 100 coyotes a year in a 5 square mile area. They always are jumping deer in the same areas as the coyotes and rarely find a deer killed by yotes. Coyotes will wipe out all the small game in an area and will take deer fawns but it doesn`t seem to hurt the deer numbers much. We had so many coyotes 5 years ago there was a break out of mange and the coyotes just about disappeared in 2 years. Their already back and eating every rabbit and woodchuck in the countryside.

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Originally posted by DigitalDan:
They got one wolf there in NY they need to do away with, dressed in sheep's clothing and works in the US Senate.

Actually, we've got two of those--the Hag and Chuck "I never saw a gun I didn't ant to outlaw" Schumer...