We live in an area in NC around a lake where the homes are all on lots of 5 acres or more. Husband and I argued about whether what we have been seeing was wolf or coyote. Now I know. The cats are no longer allowed to roam needless to say. The dog is an amstaff - I don’t let him roam either, but for different reasons.
Truthfully, we need the deer control. I think everyone in the county has lost a vehicle to deer. They are out of control, so I guess I’ll welcome these big guys.
I didn’t think they were coyote because they are so much larger than what I saw growing up in Oklahoma and Texas. Husband said not wolf, because he’d seen the real thing in Alaska.
I can tell you from many years of experience, they suck at deer control.
They’re more inclined to smaller, less troublesome prey..like cats, dogs, young livestock.
An AmStaff won’t bother them.
They’ll swarm it and kill it.
When we had a plague of them here, I let my Ibizans and Dobes out into a securely fenced back yard and *still* stood watch over them with a gun.
Well also the red wolves are not that large. About 85 lbs I think so you could actually see a regular wolf up there. My sister and brother in law lived outside of Waynesville for a few years and they actually had a grey wolf waltz through their yard. It was larger than their Great Pyranees which is about 100 lbs. She also said she saw a red wolf once running along the road as she was driving. They lived way out in Feinnes Creek in the boonies.