No ground shrinkage on today's coyote

[jimbob86]

Ridgerunner (post #7)- I realize there is nothing in the pic to indicate scale, but that thing looks tiny........... fox cross?

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Optical illusion I think...he wasn't huge, but those leaves laying around are Sycamore leaves (fairly big).

I didn't weigh him, but I did drag him out...he was at least 35 lbs.

 

["JJ"]

I was kind of thinking the same thing.
With nothing but leaves to compare to it did seem small. That does make sense, sycamore leaves are big!

 

[603Country]

It's 'ground shrinkage', like I said early on. They are almost always smaller looking after you shoot em.

The line about the Sycamore Leaves was a good comeback...

I was honestly surprised to hear that some folks take a scale with them. That's interesting.

 

["JJ"]

I was honestly surprised to hear that
some folks take a scale with them. That's
interesting.

Well, me personally, I like to know for sure myself. But, no matter how sure I am of my guesstimate, a guesstimate is a guesstimate! If I were to call in another big dog, I would like to have verification! Besides, it was in my tackle box gathering dust!

 

[TXGunNut]

I think some of the bigger coyotes around here are coyote/dog hybrids. We had one around here that had the wierdest howl, more than a few neighbors noticed it too. I connected on one of his running mates but never got a good look @ him. Heard he was huge, tho.

 

[603Country]

Txgunnut, It's interesting that you mentioned the odd howl. That same thing happened to me about 3 weeks ago. Right about dusk, a coyote or hybrid or whatever cut loose with a howl that was way louder and deeper in tone than any I EVER heard before. Shocked me and sent chills down my spine. They say that Wolves are no longer in Texas (since about 1974), but geez.

 

["JJ"]

Hey guys, one of the "old-timmers" who allows me to hunt his property says he saw a red wolf on his praperty back in the 80s. If you do a search for the red wolf it looks just like the coyotes here in NE Texas and I am sure other parts of Texas.
Another local "old timer" swears that the reason our coyotes are a buit bigger is because they are mixed with the red wolf.
Anyway here is a good informative page with some great pics of the red wolf!
http://www.naturalworlds.org/wolf/canis/Canis_rufus.htm

 

[sc928porsche]

Got a yote early this morning about 5:30 am. '86 Dodge 1 ton van. I tried to avoid but wasn't quick enough. Thought it was a dog, but turned out to be a coyote.

 

[hornetguy]

That's no surprise. Isn't everything big in Texas?

well... not EVERYTHING...

I think the ground shrinkage (sounds like a Seinfeld episode, doesn't it?) is because they LOOK bigger than they are because of the fur. Sort of like what I've heard about black bears.

Most of the coyotes I've seen here in north Texas appear to be in the 35 lb range, but I have no empirical data. I'm hoping to get to try to thin some out on a friend's deer lease in a few weeks, so perhaps I'll get to check it out for sure.

 

["JJ"]

No doubt the fur adds a lot of size to them. I think that is why everybody allways thinks a bald coyote is everything BUT a coyote with mange.

 

[Deja vu]

I have shot 40 LBS Coyotes but never seen a 50LBS one. That is huge for a Coyote. I would like to fill my tag for a 130LBS Coyote (AKA Grey Wolf) but life has gotten very busy and I have not had time to fill my tag.