# Wolfs in Georgia???



## daddybuck (Sep 19, 2007)

If you think the sighting of a large cat (of some sort) will get your attention you should hear a wolf howl at dawn or dusk while you are in your tree stand.  Trust me I have heard them and seen them.  These things will make ALL of your hair stand up on end.  I'll tell you more about my sighting later.  Lets hear what you have to say about this.


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## NickW (Sep 20, 2007)

There was a red wolf project in the Smokey Mountains back in the early 90's. They were trying to reintroduce the red wolf, which was virtually wiped out by the early 1900's in the southeast. The project in the Smokey's failed due partly to the crossbreeding and stealing of pups by the coyotes. I have always thought that it could be possible that some sort of mixed breed or maybe a few pure bred red wolfs made their way down south into Georgia. Was this in the mountains?


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## R G (Sep 21, 2007)

I heard that they were trying to re-introduce the Red Wolf to North Carolina.


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## 60Grit (Sep 21, 2007)

I've only seen one pair of gray wolves down in Macon County. I'm sure I must have been seeing things cause they don't exist in Ga. right..


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## Hi-tech Redneck (Sep 21, 2007)

i have heard all kinds of stories. some you take with a grain of salt. this one striked me odd because he had no reason to lie or brag. this is in middle ga. i worked for a tractor dealership and dealt with a lot of farmers. one day (this year) one of my customers proceeded to tell me one of his calfs had been eaten by a wolf. and i said "a wolf, huh? sure it was a coyote?". he proceeded to tell me that he had been on this earth long enough to tell a difference. so he then decided to call the DNR. whom proceeded to tell him that they were trying to reintroduce or introduce them into the state of ga. or something. he was upset about the calf and said he would shoot the wolf if it appreared again. DNR urged him not to shoot it and said the state would pay for the calf. 
take it for what it's worth. i ain't never seen a ga. wolf. but i reckon stranger things have happened....


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## 60Grit (Sep 21, 2007)

balvarik said:


> Oh NO!
> 
> The Black Panthers are being joined by the Grey Wolves!!!!
> 
> ...


 
That would be a big plus.

I have seen plenty of yotes in Ga. This pair was much, much, much larger than yotes and 10 times as skiddish. They were silvery in color.

It was a very cold day just south of Marshalville on a lease we were hunting and I was about 30 ft up in a lock on on the edge of a hardwood stand that bordered a planted pine area I was watching. I just happened to ease around to look behind me and saw some movement in the scrub brush so I put my bino's up. I couldn't believe my eyes, they were easing into a nice sunny spot in the brush and bedding down to sun. I was about 60 yds from them and the wind was in my favor.

I proceeded to get my camera out of my bag in order to try and get a shot of them. About the time I got my camera up, my lock on creaked and it was game over. They didn't even stick around to try and figure out what the noise was.

Beautiful animals though, I wish I could have gotten that photo.


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## daddybuck (Sep 22, 2007)

When I started this thread I did so just to see where it would go.  The wolf that I spoek about were owned by my wife's cuz.  He is an Ag teacher and has about 5 or 6 of these things.  the DNR told him he had to get rid of them but he has all of the paper work for them.  He had to build a chain link box top and bottom with, I think, 10ft. sides.  these things will make your hair stand up on end when they howl.  Now that some of you have posted a reply I see that anything may be walking around in the woods.


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## RackNBeardOutdoors (Sep 22, 2007)




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## Hi-tech Redneck (Sep 22, 2007)

daddybuck said:


> When I started this thread I did so just to see where it would go.  The wolf that I spoek about were owned by my wife's cuz.  He is an Ag teacher and has about 5 or 6 of these things.  the DNR told him he had to get rid of them but he has all of the paper work for them.  He had to build a chain link box top and bottom with, I think, 10ft. sides.  these things will make your hair stand up on end when they howl.  Now that some of you have posted a reply I see that anything may be walking around in the woods.



in our society today there is always the possibility. there are alot of species in zoos, santuaries, and as pets that were never indigenous to ga. or even north america. all it takes is a few to get loose. they may start a small population. but that is all it takes. how about feral hogs? anyone know what feral means...?


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## jmharris23 (Sep 22, 2007)

All the black panthers on my property ate the few wolves that I had, the red and gray ones. I was so mad, now I don't have anything to keep my elk population in check


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## LLove (Sep 22, 2007)

jmharris23 said:


> All the black panthers on my property ate the few wolves that I had, the red and gray ones. I was so mad, now I don't have anything to keep my elk population in check



Elvis has a secret house in Cartersville.. steal a couple outta his back yard


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## Bass Buster (Sep 23, 2007)

I was fishing on coopers creek in north, Ga last fall.  I was alone.   There were a couple of large trees down stream of me about 75 yards away.   I look down stream just a the right time.   I saw a red woof cross the creak by walking across one of these trees.  The area was down stream of first set of campgrounds the you reach when you go in the entrance across the street from the little store on the highway that runs between dalohnaga and blueridge.


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## 11P&YBOWHUNTER (Sep 23, 2007)

Maybe the Sasquatch will help keep the wolf population down...


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## hunter_58 (Sep 24, 2007)

Bass Buster said:


> I was fishing on coopers creek in north, Ga last fall.  I was alone.   There were a couple of large trees down stream of me about 75 yards away.   I look down stream just a the right time.   I saw a red woof cross the creak by walking across one of these trees.  The area was down stream of first set of campgrounds the you reach when you go in the entrance across the street from the little store on the highway that runs between dalohnaga and blueridge.



I saw one  about 20-30 miles as the crow flies from coopers creek.


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## seaweaver (Sep 24, 2007)

I had a red and a timber. The red was from a breeding program in Tx and had had 40 some odd pups there. We got her as a bag of bones. Two years w/ love and what a great animal she turned into. Put her down at 18 due to the fact she was just tired. No coat,eye, health problems at all...her teeth were a bit run down!
I wouldn't want to see the timbers brought in but the reds would take care of the yotes, but I don't know if they are as adaptable as the yotes and urban growth.
I want a Carolina dog next!
cw


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## SELFBOW (Sep 24, 2007)

I just had a conversation with my cousin yesterday(a retired undercover wildlife officer). he was involved on the red wolf project in SC back in the 80's. it did happen. they were brought here.
He also was involved in illegal game trading and mentioned a place in Ohio where you could buy any type of game you wanted. He mostly dealt with the interstate trade of wildlife.this was back in the 80's.


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## crackerdave (Sep 26, 2007)

daddybuck said:


> When I started this thread I did so just to see where it would go.  The wolf that I spoek about were owned by my wife's cuz.  He is an Ag teacher and has about 5 or 6 of these things.  the DNR told him he had to get rid of them but he has all of the paper work for them.  He had to build a chain link box top and bottom with, I think, 10ft. sides.  these things will make your hair stand up on end when they howl.  Now that some of you have posted a reply I see that anything may be walking around in the woods.


I would howl,too,if somebody put ME in a pen.


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## hevishot (Sep 26, 2007)

wolves in Macon county.....too funny.


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## SuperSport (Oct 3, 2007)

They are Wolves in North Georgia, Seriously!!! My buddy's brother-in-law has some, well just one now the others die of old age. These are pure breed Wolves. Someone use to raise them for "the type thing ya'll talking about, reintroducing them" He was part of the women's group. He is no long doing that, but since he was he gets to keep the wolves he had, after this one is gone no more, unless he wants jail time


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## Paddle (Oct 4, 2007)

Hey, has anyone seen a Black Wolf?


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## earlyrain (Oct 4, 2007)

In Montana!!!


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## 60Grit (Oct 5, 2007)

Man if Wolves control Yotes that good then Georgia needs to bring em on.


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## Quercus Alba (Oct 5, 2007)

Paddle said:


> Hey, has anyone seen a Black Wolf?


Actually red wolves(Canis Rufus) were once named Canis Nigra(black) by Mark Catesby I believe. It must be possible.


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## SuperSport (Oct 5, 2007)

Was camping in Montana, and was woke by a pack of wolves, they just made a kill. Pretty cool, to actually be woking up by them. Seen them and heard them also in Wyoming.


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## Nicodemus (Oct 5, 2007)

Quercus Alba said:


> Actually red wolves(Canis Rufus) were once named Canis Nigra(black) by Mark Catesby I believe. It must be possible.




William Bartram documented red wolves in Florida in the late 1700s. A lot of them were black, along with the normal colored ones.


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## Quercus Alba (Oct 5, 2007)

Thanks nicodemus.


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## deedly (Oct 15, 2007)

You never know.   I will have to look and see if I can find the newspaper article that backs this up.  Years ago my younger brother shot a coyote before anyone in this county (Jones) had ever seen one.  My father called the DNR  and they promptly told him that coyotes had not migrated this far. They told him even without seeing that it was a dog.  So he took it the DNR office in Macon The DNR had to eat Crow and my brother was credited with the first confirmed kill of the county for a yote. So you never know what might be prowling ..  Better be careful..


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## dale (Oct 15, 2007)

My uncle who has passed on, lived in Waynesville North Carolina at the edge of the blue ridge parkway. He told me several years ago that the DNR were reintroducing the wolf in his area. He spoke directly to a officer about this, as he was a well known bear hunter in that area.So it is very possible they have made it south.


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## dixie (Oct 15, 2007)

We have a pack of "somethings" on the lease, I've seen at least one of them in the past, now we're seeing tracks much too big to be yotes, I'm come to believe they're a cross breed between wild dogs and yotes. One of the guys got a pic of one on his trailcam and its easy to see its not a dog or a yote


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## GrlsHnt2 (Nov 6, 2007)

Come on. There are no wolves in Georgia. Just like there are no coyotes, armadillos, black panthers. While we are at it let's add possums, fox and racoons to the list.

I don't put it past any type of animal to migrate here. It is proven that animals adapt to their surroundings. With more and more development going on in this country, I don't doubt that things only found in the SW corner of Minnesota 100 years ago are now all over North America. 

If you listen to some of the folks on this forum, they would try to convince you there are no possums in Georgia


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## jamie.brett.sr (Dec 6, 2007)

It was probably coyotes they howl and look like wolves


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## RackNBeardOutdoors (Dec 6, 2007)

Has anyone seen the swamp thing? I saw him and Bigfoot having a picnic, camera batteries were dead though, couldn't get a picture


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## Cletisbocephus (Dec 6, 2007)

i just read an interesting article in outdoor life that says a lot of the coyotes of the east have bred with wolves. this causes the coyotes to take on some of the genetics of wolves such as being bigger, hunting in packs, etc.  the article was in this months outdoorlife


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## Cletisbocephus (Dec 6, 2007)

the article said the breeding between the 2 was a big  reason why the reintroduction of the wolf into the carolinas is failing


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## Lloyd72 (Dec 6, 2007)

i read the same thing gator said the reintroduction had almost zero chance of lasting because of the inbreeding


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## jamie.brett.sr (Dec 8, 2007)

I think it is possible there are some


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## siberian1 (Dec 8, 2007)

A few years ago the National parks people tried to reintro the Red wolf in the Smoky Mountains/Cades Cove area. I talked with them this summer and they said the wolves have all been removed.  Apparently the ranger said most contracted Parvo and died. The few remaining were removed and relocated to other places outside the southeast.  I dont believe there is a wolf running wild in Georgia (Outside of an escapee from a zoo or one someone had as a pet)  They are a type of animal that needs a lot of room to roam.


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## daddybuck (Dec 11, 2007)

I still hear the wolfs howl when I hunt on my club in the AM and PM.  I will see if I can get some pics of them.  I have not seen them in about 2 or 3 yrs so I don't know how many he (my wifes cuz) has and he may not want me to take any pics but I will see.


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## Beenslayin (Dec 15, 2007)

I was in an Upson County club. A guy came back to camp over 2 hours after dark. We were loading up to go look for him when he pulled in. He was a mess. He said that about an hour before dark he say a reddish colored, long legged dog (not a coyote as we had seen plenty down there). Then he saw 3 that resembled the first one running around his stand. One of them saw him and keep looking at him and baring its teeth (I know they do this due to fear). One of them was almost black. The others came back and noticed the other one staring at him and became curious. Well to say to make a long story short they hung around even past dark. When he quit hearing them he climbed down and made a run for the 4 wheeler. I believe him because when he came back to camp he was very upset. He is a seasoned hunter with over 20 years of hunting under his belt and has killed Coyotes.  He believes they were some type of wolf.  I told him whatever they were they have never bothered any hunters. He still did not hunt for a while. He then slowly worked his nerve up by hunting mornings then went back to afternoon hunts.


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## pitbull (Dec 16, 2007)

Myself, I do not believe there are wolfs in mid or south Ga. I have seen red and grey coyotes that are big enough to make you wonder but nah... I don't think so. For one wolfs are huge! way way bigger than yotes I'm talking over a hundred pounds.


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## potsticker (Dec 16, 2007)

Little known FACT! The dnr did try to stock red wolves back into their natural habitat in central ga. This was done with the funds provided by non game species. Red wolves were a species native to Ga. What the dnr didnt realize was that the coyote population was spreading verry rapidly into all parts od Ga. The few wolves, complete with radio collars seemed to like the mating aspect of coyotes. So what the state ended up with is a hybrid, with the hunting prowess of both. A 45 or 50 lb coyote is not normal. Look at the next coyote you take and many have the size, girth and face of a wolf! FACT>


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## Derek Edge (Dec 16, 2007)

Glad this thread came up.  I haul chalk out of the mines in Washington County.  As some of you may know, there are some large tracts of hilly land up that way.  One day, in the middle of nowhere, I caught sight of something coming out of the woods into the road, and stood there for about 10 seconds.  As I got closer, I could make out that it was a dog, only it looked just like a wolf, and to add to it, the dang thing had to be over 3 feet tall to the middle of his back, very large in size.  His tail didn't look like that of a german sheppard (which is the only thing I could think of other than a wolf), but it was larger in diameter, and nearly drug the ground.  As I approached, he "trotted" back into the woods where he came out.  I just found it strage that the was in the middle of nowhere and really looked like a wolf.


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## jason8047 (Dec 16, 2007)

Cletisbocephus said:


> the article said the breeding between the 2 was a big  reason why the reintroduction of the wolf into the carolinas is failing



My dad worked on the wolf project in the Smokies and it completely failed.  These were the Red Wolf that were introduced.  There are no more Red wolves in the smokies.  The restoration was a disaster.  The inbreeding with coyote woud have made them not pure but that didnt really matter because the infant mortality rate was 100%.  They kept a close eye on these animals and had tracking devices on every one.  Not  a single pup lived and to boot the ones released died as well except for just a few which were rounded up and removed.


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## TAG1025 (Dec 17, 2007)

Beenslayin said:


> I was in an Upson County club. A guy came back to camp over 2 hours after dark. We were loading up to go look for him when he pulled in. He was a mess. He said that about an hour before dark he say a reddish colored, long legged dog (not a coyote as we had seen plenty down there). Then he saw 3 that resembled the first one running around his stand. One of them saw him and keep looking at him and baring its teeth (I know they do this due to fear). One of them was almost black. The others came back and noticed the other one staring at him and became curious. Well to say to make a long story short they hung around even past dark. When he quit hearing them he climbed down and made a run for the 4 wheeler. I believe him because when he came back to camp he was very upset. He is a seasoned hunter with over 20 years of hunting under his belt and has killed Coyotes.  He believes they were some type of wolf.  I told him whatever they were they have never bothered any hunters. He still did not hunt for a while. He then slowly worked his nerve up by hunting mornings then went back to afternoon hunts.



YOU DID SAY HE WAS HUNTING


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## nontypical (Dec 17, 2007)

*road kill*

friday nite saw a huge coyote ranover about a half mile from my house.i stopped to look at it ,it was much larger than the average yote,looked to weigh about 75 lbs.i know that sounds too big for a yote,but i have a pitbull that weighs 55 lbs this thing was alot bigger.in the past week i saw 2 more really big ones dead on hwy 400 not far from my house these were red in color.


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## jason8047 (Dec 17, 2007)

Nontypical. Yotes get that big.  The strangest thing I saw this year was a pack of yotes come by.  Saw 7 at one time come by my bow stand.  I almost got drawn on one but got busted.  Too many eyes on me.


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## Rich Kaminski (Dec 18, 2007)

*Wolves in Georgia?*

We have 2 types of wolves in the USA. The northeast Timber Wolf and the Northern Wolf. The male Northern Wolf goes about 170 pounds. The Timber Wolf is somewhat smaller (but not much). The females are typically about 140 pounds.
If you see a wolf, you will definitely know it!
There has never been a reported incident of a Wolf biting a human being in the history of North America. For some reason wild wolves avoid humans like the plague.
Even rabid wolves have never bitten a human in North America...
I do not doubt that your friend seen a wolf while hunting. I do think that he was stretching the truth when he said the wolf bared it's teeth at him.
Now there is an article that I read recently about the Catahoula Leopard Dog. They were bred from the American Red Wolf (which has been extinct for quite some time now-as stated in this article on the internet, look it up if you want to), the Spanish Mastiff and in some cases the French Bischon.


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## pcsolutions1 (Dec 18, 2007)

In areas that have wolves, if they eat up the yotes wouldn't they eat the heck out of the deer as well.  While a yote is to small to kill the larger deer, wolves would have no trouble at all.  Seems that we sholdn't want them so they could control the yote population or they would do to much controlling of the deer population.   I think the main idea is that we like to control the deer population ourselves.


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## hawglips (Dec 18, 2007)

jmharris23 said:


> All the black panthers on my property ate the few wolves that I had, the red and gray ones. I was so mad, now I don't have anything to keep my elk population in check



I had that problem too, so PETA donated some birth control pills that I put in my corn piles that seem to work pretty good on the elk.


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## Corey (Dec 18, 2007)

I think it would be a good idea to introduce wolves to GA to 
control the yotes, there is no way hunters can control deer 
here, think about how many get hit by cars or die due to 
diseases cause of over population.


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## potsticker (Dec 18, 2007)

Corey, be careful for what you wish for, you may have allready have got a taste of it. The article i refered to was in a Dec. issue of GA Wildlife in 1972. I think enough of the old salts that were around in those days, can remember the entroduction of red wolves in central Ga. Maybe the mountain wolves failed but the central  Ga. few rapidly maited with coyotes, as well as many yard dogs. Example: goose hunting in december several years ago, we had put out a few decoys and at first light had a flock of woodies check us out. My cousin blew some sort of woodie call, a few seconds later three of us turned around to see a german shepard sized yote charge the fields. Got about 60 yards away and saw us, exit stage left. Huge head, large body, fluffy tail. I know what i saw and it wasnt someones dog. The dnr isnt going to go on record, the deer populations are falling as well as turkeys and small game. Their is a reason for red foxes to vanish, they mated with coyotes.


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## redneck_billcollector (May 24, 2009)

As I said in another thread about wolves in Georgia, if you want to see a red wolf, go to the parks at Chehaw, there is a mated pair of captive red wolves there, they are part of a federal breeding program.  Red wolves do not get as big as timber/gray wolves, if you see the pair at chehaw, you will be hard pressed to tell them apart from most of the "coyotes" you see in my part of the state.  There is some debate amongst the scientific comunity now as to what exactly a red wolf is.  There is a trend that is growing that they are nothing more than a gray wolf/coyote cross that developed into a seperate animal at the end of the ice age or shortly there after.  I have seen some genetic studies that tend to show they have only been around for about 8000 years.  

I have killed coyotes out west (Kansas, Colorado and Texas) and I have killed many in Georgia too.  The  coyotes from Georgia tend to be bigger than those from out west, this goes contrary to how most animals are, Kansas and Colorado are a heck of alot colder than here and the common convention is the colder the climate, the bigger the animal.  Well, your average Ga. "coyote" is much bigger than your average Kansas coyote.  Red wolves won't get much bigger than 75lbs, I have killed or caught "coyotes" in Ga. dang near that big with both deer rifle and leg hold traps (I don't even know how many via traps, I used to trap them for a living for property owners).  There is a healthy population of pure coyotes here, back in the 70's some fox hunters in Dooly Co. released some because they were running low of foxes, that is where legend has it that they came to sowega.
That sure does not explain how they are just about everywhere in Ga.  

One interesting note, as the deer population has grown in Georgia, our population of big coyotes has too, I really feel that the coyotes in ga. have a good bit of wolf genetics and they are different from the coyotes out west.  Big coyotes is not just a Ga. trend, most of the "eastern coyotes" are bigger than their western cousins.  When there is a healthy wolf population, they will hunt down and kill coyotes, however, when the population is stressed or almost gone, they will breed with coyotes.  That has been noted time after time.  That is probably the source of our big coyotes.

Seriously, if you have never seen a red wolf up close, you can go to the parks at Chehaw outside of albany, the two there are always visible and at times you can observe them from around 5 or 10 feet away, it is neat and it will set you thinking about all the big coyotes you have seen or killed in the past.


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