Coyote From Different States

[Bobcat]

What changes do you notice in the coyotes from state to state? I know that they get bigger as you gain in elevation in New Mexico. The desert coyotes here and throughout the West tend to be smaller bodied. The eastern coyote seems to be quite a bit larger, possibly some cross-breeding with wolves a while back. Mostly, a coyote is a coyote.

Here some examples from different states:
Arizona

New Mexico

Oklahoma

Texas

[jdickey]

Hey Bob...
While on an elk hunt in New Mexico about 4 years ago, we were set up in a canyon trying to cut off a herd, when we spotted two "ears" moving thru the tall grass! They were two coyote pups, probably a month old. Then close behind, the parents came past. I first thought that they were small wolves, because of their body size! Compared to what we see in Texas, the N.M. coyotes were about one-and-half times larger! I'd given anything to have had my camera then. We were downwind, and they passed within 20 yards from us!

On the my last elk hunt, finally got to see and hear a wolf! Talk about raising the hair on your neck! Two hours later, I shot my first elk!

[Bobcat]

Hey jdickey,

Those mountain coyotes in New Mexico do get quite a bit larger!

I would love to call in and take a wolf.......

Bob

[RidgeRunner]

in the northeast they routinely get a few in the 65-80 pound class, the largest was from pa. a couple years ago, it was 83 pounds. I'm trying to learn how to hunt the darn things, they just showed up here in numbers the last decade. I know when you hear alot of howling in an area, you won't do very well groundhog hunting the next summer, or do much fox calling that fall. and you better watch your back when your out hunting, when easterns get packed up, they have no fear of man, they do however lose they're nerve at the crack of a rifle. Saw a scene once where 11 easterns pulled down a 400# calf, pretty gruesome!
RR

[yotecaller]

The coyotes here in NH have a NewEngland accent.

[onecoyote]

Yotecaller I bet that's true. When I hunted Mexico years ago I had to use Spanish cottontail accent recordings for the predators to respond, they were very hard to find.

[Bobcat]

RidgeRunner,

I hope you call in one of those big eastern dudes soon. I can't wait to see you in a photo with one.....

Good Hunting,

Bob

[NechesBobcat]

I have noticed a diffence in coyotes from one side of our county to the other. My father and i helped a friend get started trapping 2 years ago on his hunting lease about 30 miles away. All the coyotes I have caught have been very large and have very nice color to there fur (mostly light). I caught one that was over 70 pounds and it took both my father and I to hang it up to skin it.
All the coyotes our friend caught were one solid tan color and were never over 25-30 pounds.
Also, down here the coyotes have two different accents. Some you have to use a Texas accent and some it's a little more cajun.

[Bobcat]

Hey NB,

Adult coyotes in the west weigh from 20 lbs. to 40 lbs. on the average. To my knowledge there has never been a 70+lb. coyote taken by any means in the state of Texas......or any of the surrounding states. Whatever that critter was, it was not a coyote, IMHO. Even Red Wolves just weigh from 40-80 lbs. Do you think it may have been a coydog or your scale was off a bit?

Bob

[TommyJ]

Heres a mountain coyote from AZ. He hung out with the bears and lions.

[NechesBobcat]

Bobcat...
In a few days I will try to put some pics on here of it and you can tell me what you think. I have been told that what I have been catching are red wolves. I have plenty of witnesses that will say that it was a 70+ pound coyote though, but maybe we don't know what we are talking about. I can tell you that stuff does git a whole lot bigger in southeast Texas than it does in West Texas. I personaly have seen a bobcat that was caught in the same place that I hunt that was officialy weighed at 54 pounds and every year dear are killed on our lease that exceed 175 pounds and occasionaly alot more.

[Bobcat]

Hey NB,

The only thing I am questioning is that it was a coyote. There just aren't any 70 lb. coyotes in the western United States. Here is some data comparing the Red Wolf and the Coyote from "The Mammals of Texas". The Red Wolf looks very much like a large coyote. They have supposedly been extinct in Texas since 1965 and in the wild across the USA since 1980.....officially.

Red Wolves:
Distribution in Texas. Formerly, red wolves ranged throughout the eastern half of Texas but their numbers and range quickly declined under pressure of intensive land use in the region. Also, early lumbering and farming practices allowed the coyote to expand its range into East Texas; hybrid offspring of interbreeding red wolves and coyotes more closely resembled coyotes and the genetic identity of the red wolf was gradually suppressed.

In 1962 Howard McCarley, who had assiduously searched for them in East Texas for several years, held the opinion that they no longer occurred there. John Paradiso reported in 1965, however, that seven specimens taken near Anahuac (Chambers County) in 1963-1964, and one specimen from Armstrong (Kenedy County) taken in 1961, were definitely red wolves. All of the recent, so-called red wolves we have examined from eastern Texas have proven to be large coyotes. It appears that in Texas, red wolves are now extinct.

Male Red Wolf:
Weight:
Means and extremes- 38 lbs.-88lbs.

Male Coyote-Texas:
Means and extremes-22 lbs.-35 lbs.

Please post those photos when you can. I would love to see them. You really have me curious.


Here is a photo with the Red Wolf on top and a coyote on the bottom:

[NechesBobcat]

Here is a picture of it in a trap in the dark. I didn't have a real good picture of it is the trap but I got some better ones after I shot it but haven't gotten them developed yet.

[NechesBobcat]

There is a guy that comes on AM 560- KLVI ( I can't remember his name) that says that there are red wolves in southeast Texas. I will try to find out more about this.

[Bobcat]

I sure wouldn't bet against it............

Bob

Here is another photo of a Red Wolf: