Wolves in North Georgia

[tuffdawg]

I guess that would be interesting to find out, most of us know what yote x dogs look like, and wolf x dogs.......... would be curious to know what yote x wolf looked like.

 

[daisy102998]

There was a story about them on the discovery channel. As i remeber they were saying that the red wolve had some coyote genes in them. I do not know how but that is what the story said.

 

[Rich Kaminski]

While reading on the internet about the Catahouls Leopard Dogs the article stated that the Catahoula is part American Red Wolf and part Spanish Mastiff; neither of which is in existence today.
Previously in this thread a few people stated that we have Red Wolves and that the government has tried introducing them and that they are thriving here.
So my question is which is true? Are they still in existence or not?
Having hunted for 24 years all over Georgia and never having seen a Red Wolf here makes me a little skiptical about their existence. Is anyone here an authority on the American Red Wolf and if so, can you clear this up for me?

 

[Dawgy_Daddy]

Im assuming wolves will breed with coyotes. I owned a Tundra wolf for awhile. Some folks I know pulled him from a den in Alaska after mom was dispatched for coming too close to camp on several occasions. Anyway, I looked out my window many times to see him playing around with coyotes. Never actually saw the act, and it could be a coincidence, but I started having some large coyotes with white tails start to show up. I think I was able to kill them all. (not seen one in several years) I also killed a small black female that was carrying pups and when I got her home, my wolf smelled of her dropped his head and layed down as if all the life had left him. So I think wolves and coyotes would cross if the circumstances were right.

 

[seaweaver]

We owned a red wolf that was rescued from a breeding program in Tx. She was a sack of bones. 2 years later she was fantastic. We did not think she could still have pups....and my lab got to her before we understood. She was 15 when it happened. We put her down a 17.

cw

 

[Nicodemus]

While reading on the internet about the Catahouls Leopard Dogs the article stated that the Catahoula is part American Red Wolf and part Spanish Mastiff; neither of which is in existence today.
Previously in this thread a few people stated that we have Red Wolves and that the government has tried introducing them and that they are thriving here.
So my question is which is true? Are they still in existence or not?
Having hunted for 24 years all over Georgia and never having seen a Red Wolf here makes me a little skiptical about their existence. Is anyone here an authority on the American Red Wolf and if so, can you clear this up for me?

A red wolf looks so much like a coyote, it ain`t funny. At a glance, they could pass for each other.

Yes, they are still in existence, North Carolina, I believe, has some.

 

[GAnaturalist]

Yes, they exist and can be found in the wild. The only population in the wild is in Northeastern NC, in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge area.

Here is some info, and where you can observe them in their breeding pens just outside of Charleston, SC. I have worked for the Forest Service in this region, so I visited them every now and then.

http://www.fws.gov/seweecenter/redwolves.html

 

[Chattooga River Hunter]

Have recently been reading a history book of Gilmer County. The book contains a reference to the fact that Gilmer, Fannin, and Union County at one time had a "Wolf Tax". These funds enabled a bounty to be paid for every wolf scalp. The scalp was required to contain both ears intact before they would pay.

This effort to eliminate the Wolf was brought about by his predation upon livestock, with emphasis on sheep. Early settlers in isolated areas of the mountaineous terrain were highly dependant upon their sheep. They were sheared annually and the wool was washed, carded, and spun into thread which was then woven on hand looms into cloth. Clothing for the entire family was sewn from the hand woven material.

When and if a surplus of sheep developed, the family would butcher one for the family table. With constant predation from wolves, families seldom ever ate mutton.

No mention was made as to whether the critters were Red Wolves or Timber Wolves. Could have been either or both.

There are in existence today many local names which relate back to pioneer times. Many of the names suggest the existence of Wolves in former times. Examples of these are: Wolf Pen Branch, Wolf Pen Gap, and Wolf Pen Mountain. Wolf Pens were built of notched logs with a trap door. They were covered with logs as well as floored with logs to prevent scatching out. They were baited with the remains of a deer or any fresh meat.

The Wolf was apparently eliminated from even the wilderness areas before 1900. The early Mountain Men were a determined people.

Vernon

Interesting, we have a "wolf creek" and a "wolf fork" here in Rabun county.

 

[Southernhoundhunter]

i have a picture of 2 red wolves my Grandpa killed back in the late 60s and early 70s in Newton County Texas (Louisiana border). Those were the last 2 known red wolves to ever be killed in that part of the country. I've seen the pictures and there is a major difference in a full grown red wolf and a coyote. The red wolves are 3 times bigger than any southeastern coyote

 

[douglasgerlach]

I've never seen a red wolf in person, but we ain't to awful far from NC. The alpha female of the local coyote pack weighs 60+ lbs and many of her pups have a reddish coat. It makes you wonder...

 

[chevyguy]

Cougars have been in Ga.since the mid 60s. Never seen a bear or wolf. There was a bear spotted near Thomson today. I heard the report on radio station.BB

Actually the native americans knew about cougars and even black panthers in GA. Seeing a black panther to them meant "death"

Theres a thread here about panthers/cougars in Georgia. Look at it and there are naysayers there saying some surprising stuff against a possibility of cougars in GA

The bear spotted in Thomson was not far from my house. DNR said it was impossible to have a bear here, that it must have been a big dog. A dog that looks like a bear? Thats a first for me....

 

[redneck_billcollector]

A red wolf looks so much like a coyote, it ain`t funny. At a glance, they could pass for each other.

Yes, they are still in existence, North Carolina, I believe, has some.

Chehaw Park (outside of Albany) has a pair of red wolves for breeding purposes and I have spent a good bit of time looking at them. For the life of me I can't tell the difference between them and some of the big coyotes I have either trapped or shot over the years in sowega. I have killed many a coyote out west too, and the ones I have killed in Ga. as a whole look a heck of alot more like those two red wolves at chehaw than any of the coyotes I have killed out west. I think that the coyotes we have here either have a heck of alot of red wolf blood in them (interbreeding with coyotes is what is causing them to go extinct more than anything else) or they are red wolves. It is just that the tree huggers have too much invested in wolves being endangered, if folks thought they were common nobody would donate any money. It really doesn't matter too much to me, from what I have read lately, the red wolf is a recent genetic creation and now they are thinking that they are basically a grey wolf/coyote hybrid. Who knows. There really isn't any pure red wolf genes to compare the sowega brush wolves to.

 

[Nicodemus]

Chehaw Park (outside of Albany) has a pair of red wolves for breeding purposes and I have spent a good bit of time looking at them. For the life of me I can't tell the difference between them and some of the big coyotes I have either trapped or shot over the years in sowega. I have killed many a coyote out west too, and the ones I have killed in Ga. as a whole look a heck of alot more like those two red wolves at chehaw than any of the coyotes I have killed out west. I think that the coyotes we have here either have a heck of alot of red wolf blood in them (interbreeding with coyotes is what is causing them to go extinct more than anything else) or they are red wolves. It is just that the tree huggers have too much invested in wolves being endangered, if folks thought they were common nobody would donate any money. It really doesn't matter too much to me, from what I have read lately, the red wolf is a recent genetic creation and now they are thinking that they are basically a grey wolf/coyote hybrid. Who knows. There really isn't any pure red wolf genes to compare the sowega brush wolves to.

Yea, I`ve spent some time lookin` at them too. Ben and me have had some conversation about em as wel.

Sowega brush wolves...I like that, catchy name.

 

[redneck_billcollector]

i have a picture of 2 red wolves my Grandpa killed back in the late 60s and early 70s in Newton County Texas (Louisiana border). Those were the last 2 known red wolves to ever be killed in that part of the country. I've seen the pictures and there is a major difference in a full grown red wolf and a coyote. The red wolves are 3 times bigger than any southeastern coyote

I have killed many a sowega coyote that was between 50 and 75 lbs, the "pure blooded" red wolves at chehaw aint no bigger than that. There are 2 adults at chehaw that are in some kinda federal breeding program for red wolves.

 

[Sweetwater]

I just moved from Sasser from a place that backed up to a peanut/cotton field. Right after they harvested the peanuts 2 years ago, I would see a huge coyote come out to the same spot in the field for about 2 weeks marking.

It was way bigger and redder than the coyotes I would see in nw ga where I'm from.

 

[GusGus]

We had a black bear in Cedartown a few years ago. It was right in the middle of town behind Taco Bell. I leaving taco bell and noticed a bunch of cops and a couple of DNR officers so I walked over and there was a small black bear up in a tree. They tranqed it and relocated it.

Also as a side note. Arizona now has a breeding population of Jaguar, the third largest cat in the world.

 

[injun joe]

I saw a red wolf while trout fishing on the far side of Fontana Lake (the boat access side) in the mid 1990's. It crossed the creek I was fishing about 30 feet above me. At the time, I had never seen a coyote in the wild and assumed that was what it was. About an hour later, a park ranger came walking down the AT bordering the stream and we struck up a conversation. I described what I had seen (looked like a red German Shepherd to me) and he told me he figured it to be a wolf.
I wish I had a picture cause I figure I'll never see another.

 

[Backlasher82]

A red wolf looks so much like a coyote, it ain`t funny. At a glance, they could pass for each other.

Yes, they are still in existence, North Carolina, I believe, has some.

I saw a red wolf in Rabun county a few years back while fishing Tallulah river above Persimmon. I was walking up the dirt road and a truck came down past me. Soon as he passed I walked around the curve and the wolf was crossing the road about 30-40 feet from me. Soon as he saw me he jumped up the mtn about 100 feet and stopped to look at me.
I got a good look and it was a wolf- no doubt about it.

 

[kletzenklueffer]

I grew up with a friend that had a mexican wolf for a pet. His dad was LEO out in California. The wolf had reportedly been stolen from a zoo or refuge. She was great and very very smart (took all commands in english and german). Later he got an 85% tundra wolf timber wolf mix. she had several litters and dies of old age. She was around 110 pounds and listened to me as well as her master. I say that to say I'm familiar with wolves.

This past year hunting in the Northe Georgia mountains I was sitting at the top of a saddle between mountains where I know deer cross. After about 30 minutes I saw moition through the leaves so i raise my rifle expecting to see a deer. Out from behind a tree came the canide. Looking through the scope it looked big, so I dropped the rifle a bit to see it with the naked eye. It was about 70 yards away. I thought to my self that is one big coyote, then another look through the scope, it was marked like a wolf and the size of a GSD. I'd guess 80 pounds on the low end. I'll be hunting up there again this fall/winter. This time I think I'll take a distress call and see what shows up.

 

[ChristopherA.King]

I live at the east valley entrance to pine log wma and I swear I have seen a wolf across the field in front of the house it was way bigger than a yote and its eyes were what gave it away glad someone else has seen one here know one belives me. Also when the yotes get to going sometimes what sounds like a wolf chimes in and everything else goes silent.