Posted: 5/8/2011 7:23:05 AM EDT
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My house is on a small limestone bottomed river just north of Austin, right outside Georgetown/Liberty Hill. It is full of all types of wild life, and it is like watching a wild-life TV show to live out here. We watched 3 coyotes (?) kill a deer one morning. One had the deer under her throat, and the other two were on her back...she was dead very quickly, probably from a broken neck. The size of these coyotes made me think I was watching wolves instead of coyotes. Most of the coyotes out here are thin and weigh 30 to 40 pounds. What I saw were up to 70 to 80 pounds, tall, muscular. Their markings were like a coyote, brown, black, gray. I did not pay a lot of attention to any other markings, because I was so astonished to see this happening right in front of me...about 100 yards away. They left the deer within minutes after killing her, and I figured they were bring back some little ones to start dinning. Only one returned, and it chewed off a front leg at the shoulder, and carried it away. They never returned. The vultures, a kara kara and a red tail hawk took a day and a half to finish off the deer. The skeleton was removed over a few more days.
I wrote to an outdoors sports reporter here about mexican gray wolves in the area, and he said he is not aware of any wolves in central Texas. He suspected they did not eat the deer because they did not like the dinner company...me. My next door neighbor told me after I talked to him, he saw one of these animals in the neighborhood one night, and he thought he was looking at a wolf. I have never seen a wolf other than one at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, and it was sleeping, curled up in a ball. My barber lives on ranch land about 20 miles north east of me, and he swears he has wolves out there. Anyone here know about wolves or wild dogs in central Texas? |
| Back in the 90s it was popular for people to buy "wolves" which were usually part wolf part something else. My parents bought one too. Let's just say the instinct and natural inclinations of the wolf are dominant because those things are not meant for captivity. After it tried to kill their horse they took it to another farm where it promptly escaped. I can imagine that there are plenty of wolf-dogs that were dumped or escaped from captivity. I don't know if they would follow the dog instinct to pack or take more of the lone wolf approach. I'm not sure a wolf could really survive in Texas on its own anyway. |
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Quoted: Back in the 90s it was popular for people to buy "wolves" which were usually part wolf part something else. My parents bought one too. Let's just say the instinct and natural inclinations of the wolf are dominant because those things are not meant for captivity. After it tried to kill their horse they took it to another farm where it promptly escaped. I can imagine that there are plenty of wolf-dogs that were dumped or escaped from captivity. I don't know if they would follow the dog instinct to pack or take more of the lone wolf approach. I'm not sure a wolf could really survive in Texas on its own anyway.  They did just fine for a while.  |
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Back in the 90s it was popular for people to buy "wolves" which were usually part wolf part something else. My parents bought one too. Let's just say the instinct and natural inclinations of the wolf are dominant because those things are not meant for captivity. After it tried to kill their horse they took it to another farm where it promptly escaped. I can imagine that there are plenty of wolf-dogs that were dumped or escaped from captivity. I don't know if they would follow the dog instinct to pack or take more of the lone wolf approach. I'm not sure a wolf could really survive in Texas on its own anyway. I had one of those dogs...Wolf/malamute mix. Best dog I have ever owned. They don't live very long, mine had an unusually long live the vet said, he was 12 years old when we had to put him down. 
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Quoted: Back in the 90s it was popular for people to buy "wolves" which were usually part wolf part something else. My parents bought one too. Let's just say the instinct and natural inclinations of the wolf are dominant because those things are not meant for captivity. After it tried to kill their horse they took it to another farm where it promptly escaped. I can imagine that there are plenty of wolf-dogs that were dumped or escaped from captivity. I don't know if they would follow the dog instinct to pack or take more of the lone wolf approach. I'm not sure a wolf could really survive in Texas on its own anyway. One of those 'after humans disappear from earth' shows had a section on dogs and it was saying that after a generation or two dogs would show behavior similar to wolf packs. I can believe that the wolf hybrids could be running around in small packs like coyotes. If they mated with the coyotes it would explain the coloration the op saw. |
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I have never seen a coyote anywhere near 70 lbs. here and I am about as far north in MI as you could get. Did the animals all look very similiar? If it were a group of dog mixes I would expect them to not look similiar to each other. I would be very surprised if it were proven that there are no wolves in Texas!
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Quoted: Wolves aren't present in Texas anymore. It's possible that either some wolves escaped a sanctuary or zoo and have taken up residence out there, though. It's possible too that they might have strayed from New Mexico/Arizona. http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/ |
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Quoted: Interesting read - thanks.Quoted: Wolves aren't present in Texas anymore. It's possible that either some wolves escaped a sanctuary or zoo and have taken up residence out there, though. It's possible too that they might have strayed from New Mexico/Arizona. http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/ |
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I am in NTX and I routinely see coyotes in my backyard. One day I saw what appeared to be a wolf from about 100 yards with binocs. So I would say it is possible but I doubt they are significant in numbers. Some coyotes- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chrxIWunI1Y&feature=player_profilepage |
| I hunt pigs for a rancher outside Rosanke and have seen what the rancher told me were grey wolfs on two occasions. The first time I saw one I reported back to the rancher that he had some very large coyotes on his property to which he confidently replied that they were wolves and he has seen them for the past several years. The second time he and I watched a very large dog gallop across a pasture, stopping a few hundred yards to watch us. I watched it through my rifle scope and it was not a coyote. Possible it could be a wild dog, but also possible that grey wolves are still here in isolated pockets. The last grey wolve was killed in the 70's I believe so this isn't impossible. This ranch has a few thousand acres of pine forest of which I have walked for hours through during feral hog hunts. It's a very secluded area, definitely suitable for rare species to remain in for years without being seen by humans. I'm a biologist and worked for a wildlife management firm in central TX and have heard stories of large dogs and cats from old and young ranchers and farmers. I'm also a huge skeptic; need to see it to believe it. I became more trust worthy of these ranchers' claims after seeing a jaguar, not a puma and not black but spotted, on a south TX ranch in 2003 after trying to convince this particular rancher for the longest time that there were not jaguars present anymore and that it had to be an ocelot or light colored jaguarundi. Nice to hear that the jaguars have been seen again in AZ. Large carnivores returning to habitats and regions long thought to be absent, whether they have always been there or have begun to migrate back, is a neat thought although their paths will eventually cross with humans at some point and possibly with a tragic outcome for one or both. |
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I am in N.E. Texas. On the way in from our morning walk several years ago one of my dogs alerted, and refused to follow commands. There was what I am calling a wolf about 150 feet away. I saw it very clearly, it was much too large and heavily muscled to be a coyote, and after hesitating briefly unassed the area and has not been since seen.
I contacted TPW and they said the Red Wolf had been extirpated. That there may be a coyote/wolf/dog cross but genetically pure wolf are not in existence in Texas. I'm pretty sure I know what I saw. |
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I have never seen these animals again. I was pretty amazed about how easily one removed one of the legs. It must have a very powerful bite to remove that much meat at one time. I have never seen a coyote that could remove a leg from a deer like this animal did.
Well, that's why I love living out in the sticks. Real nature is right out my back door and I love it. |
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Wolves aren't present in Texas anymore. It's possible that either some wolves escaped a sanctuary or zoo and have taken up residence out there, though. It's possible too that they might have strayed from New Mexico/Arizona. http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/ This. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Last spring I was traveling up 77 just North of Hallettsville. There is a nice spot pf land I would like to buy, and I always look at it as I pass. The next farm land is divided up, and has a fence about 75yds from the road, and considerable brush along the fence line. That is where I believe I may have seen a wolf. I braked hard after seeing it, but at 70mph, it took a bit to stop. I looked again, and it was still there. It was standing broadside to the road, looking at something to the south. I usually carry a camera, and did this day. To get a picture of it, I had to back up a bit to clear some brush on the roadside fence. When I backed up, it looked directly at me, and walked into the brush. I didn't have time to get the picture. It was larger than my Australian Shepard that is 70lbs, it a beautiful dark grey coat, and almost black accents. I've always wondered what it was, I know it wasn't a regular dog though. |
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Quoted: I have never seen these animals again. I was pretty amazed about how easily one removed one of the legs. It must have a very powerful bite to remove that much meat at one time. I have never seen a coyote that could remove a leg from a deer like this animal did. Well, that's why I love living out in the sticks. Real nature is right out my back door and I love it. Just hope it doesn't come knocking on the back door.  |
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I would be very surprised if your area of Texas had no wolves.......but I don't really know. We got them in Michigan, I don't see why a State as HUGE as Texas wouldn't have some in its central parts?  wolves were totally wiped out in the lower 48 except for a small pocket in Northern MN. The MN population has rebounded and spread into Wisconsin, and on into Michigan. There is a lot of heavily forested ground between Northern MN and the UP of Michigan....but not between Minnesota and Texas. I don't think Mexico did anything to save their wolves, so I don't really see any wolves from some Mexican Preserve heading north. The tiny population of 'Mexican Wolves' being captive-raised and with a small band or two on special preserves, they are being watched like hawks and they'd know if an individual wandered off...let alone 3. I think it is a good chance it was some wolf-dog hybrids that someone couldn't handle and 'gave back to the wild' or maybe just some feral dogs that have some sled-dog or shepherd etc mixed in them, or coyote x dog. |
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My house is on a small limestone bottomed river just north of Austin, right outside Georgetown/Liberty Hill. It is full of all types of wild life, and it is like watching a wild-life TV show to live out here. We watched 3 coyotes (?) kill a deer one morning. One had the deer under her throat, and the other two were on her back...she was dead very quickly, probably from a broken neck. The size of these coyotes made me think I was watching wolves instead of coyotes. Most of the coyotes out here are thin and weigh 30 to 40 pounds. What I saw were up to 70 to 80 pounds, tall, muscular. Their markings were like a coyote, brown, black, gray. I did not pay a lot of attention to any other markings, because I was so astonished to see this happening right in front of me...about 100 yards away. They left the deer within minutes after killing her, and I figured they were bring back some little ones to start dinning. Only one returned, and it chewed off a front leg at the shoulder, and carried it away. They never returned. The vultures, a kara kara and a red tail hawk took a day and a half to finish off the deer. The skeleton was removed over a few more days. I wrote to an outdoors sports reporter here about mexican gray wolves in the area, and he said he is not aware of any wolves in central Texas. He suspected they did not eat the deer because they did not like the dinner company...me. My next door neighbor told me after I talked to him, he saw one of these animals in the neighborhood one night, and he thought he was looking at a wolf. I have never seen a wolf other than one at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, and it was sleeping, curled up in a ball. My barber lives on ranch land about 20 miles north east of me, and he swears he has wolves out there. Anyone here know about wolves or wild dogs in central Texas? I will come hunt it fro you. |