Posted on 05/25/2012 8:35:56 PM PDT by mamelukesabre
I became hyper-interested in canids awhile back when I read something about coy-wolf hybrids in the northeast part of the US. I've been reading about them lately. I know there is an ongoing effort to "re-introduce" wolves into certain parts of the united states. This upsets a lot of folks and makes others giddy with excitement.
So, I am sharing my only personal wolf story I can because it is the only one I have. It isn't much since they've been extinct in these parts for a very long time.
My cousin used to tell me stories about the old-timers hanging dead wolves from the eaves of their porch when he was a small boy. This would've been in the early 60s. He and I were business partners for awhile so we used to trade stories a lot. Sometimes I would wonder about the stories he told me and try to double check them by asking his brother, sister, and dad. This wolf story was one of those that I doubted since according to official history, wolves were extinct in that part of the country way before the time period he speaks of.
So I had a discussion with his dad one time when I was out to the old farm doing some odd stuff for him.
He told me "oh gosh no, those weren't wolves...he was mistaken and wasn't old enough to know the difference." I felt like the air was let out of me because I wanted it to be true. Then he said "those were wolf-dogs...half wolf, half dog...bigger and meaner than real wolves".
So then I said to him "you know, according to the experts there were no wolves alive in this area after the 1800s?" He says "yeah, I suppose. They might be right"
Then I say "well, if they were extinct in the 1800s, how the hell you get any wolf dog hybrids around here a hundred years later?"
He says: "Ya got me there, I guess there had to have been at least one more wolf around cuz those were not dogs. They were wolfdogs...And they were a serious problem around here in the 1960s. We were all out to get them around here. I bought a mauser to shoot them with."
Then I said "your son told me he remembers the dead wolves hanging from the eaves of someone's porch around here and they were so big, they were almost touching the ground."
"Yep...that was [i forget the name]'s place. He was old and strange and would hang them by the neck from the roof of his porch and the hind legs would be pretty close to the ground...let 'em hang til they rotted to nuthin. Those wolfdogs treed me once when I was new to this area. I was out on my old ford tractor pulling a wagon and mending fence. My dog warned me and I dropped what I was doing and ran up a tree while he kept them busy as long as he could. Best dog I ever had. He was free...came with the farm...lived under the porch. I was in that tree a long time waiting for the wolfdogs to move on."
I asked around after that. I decided the story wasn't made up.
Another person from that area told me there was a highway cut through some hills and it disrupted the hunting ground of a small isolated pack of wolves. The pack scattered and was on the run. Just a small number survived and bred with feral dogs. The resulting hybrids formed a pack and terrorized the area for years. This was the theory they come up with because the wolfdogs appeared shortly after a new stretch of highway was cut through some virgin hills.
Sorry, they’re not known to inhabit my part of the country (Southeast) but they are beautiful creatures. I’ve only seen pictures unfortunately. My DH has seen coyotes around here and also a red fox being chased by neighborhood dogs a couple of years ago. Wish I had a story to share though! Fascinating reading.
When he was a puppy, and had those sharp toenails, he could climb a tree like a cat.
He'd play this game with us, where I'd swim out into the middle of a small lake, probably 300 yards out, on a boat cushion. He'd come out and get me, grab that cushion in his mouth, and turn for shore. I'd grab hold of his tail, and he'd tow me in. Absolute beast of a swimmer. He loved that water.
Don’t need no wolf or wolf cross, I got Jack Russel’s.
I’ll bet Jack isn’t as obnoxious as Mack. He was half-human, half Tasmanian Devil. But he never bit anyone, which is a tribute to the way my brother raised him.
Had a red coon hound who wolved his dinner down. Pure Alpha Male who destroyed a 140lb German Sheppherd in a fight; probably bad ass enough to take on the average wolf...
Fascinating topic!
Anyone who is convinced otherwise is an enemy of humanity.
My old lab (bless his late heart), would probably have tried to play with the coyotes had he ever come across any.
One time this kid was pulling his tail and he sat down, kept very still, and cried. Didn't even try to move away because the kids hands were still on his tail.
A gentle canine sould, but exactly bright...
***Wolf-dogs have to be entirely fenced in, no two ways about it.****
My wife’s nephew used to raise these. They were beautiful and the neighbors though they were sweet dogs.
Then a local newspaper interviewed him and reported they were WOLF-DOGS!
Instant panic in the neighborhood. He had to get rid of them.
I think along those lines about domesticated humans and free men.
I don’t know. I never saw a pic of them Hard to say how big they really were. Just about anything can be hung from the porch with the feet near the ground if the rope is long enough.
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I know a guy who claims his dog is 1/8th wolf. It just looks like a german shepherd crossed with a husky to me...and seems really mellow.
You say northeast US but be more specific. Where is the farm where the wolves were killed?
Ha Ha!
Nope,not velvet.
I save the velvet for my Elvis collection.
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