Wolves in LP of Michigan?

[12poundbass]

I saw this today. The DNR said for years there weren’t any cougars in Michigan and they started popping up on trail cameras in both peninsulas. Now wolves! There’s plenty of packs in the UP. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were in northern lower Michigan, but Calhoun is 2 hours south of me yet. 
 

Unlike cougars, wolves aren’t solitary animals so there most likely is more. @A-Jay @MIbassyaker thoughts?

 

https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2024/04/rare-gray-wolf-found-in-southern-michigan-killed-by-coyote-hunter.html

[gim]

Mountain lions in the Midwest and Great Lakes are not there in high enough numbers to be reproducing. They are generally young males that have been pushed out of their traditional territory and they are wandering through. There was even one found this past winter here in the Twin Cities and it was eventually hit by a car. It originally came from the Black Hills in western South Dakota.

 

Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s at least a few gray wolves in mainland Michigan. They are elusive animals. There’s obviously packs in the UP and northern Wisconsin so I’m sure that’s not far for a wolf.

[A-Jay]

Plenty of coyotes here at the 45th but haven't seen or heard of any wolves yet.

Doesn't mean they're not around though.

A-Jay

 

[gim]

The coyote hunter who shot it thought it was an 84 pound coyote?! Lol there is no yote on this planet that big. Not a very smart hunter. Bet he gets fined or cited for shooting an endangered species.

[12poundbass]

@gimruis first thing I thought too was how do you mistake a wolf for a coyote? 
 

Oops!

[GreenPig]

1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

@gimruis first thing I thought too was how do you mistake a wolf for a coyote? 
 

Oops!

Night possibly, running maybe, long range will also make judging 40 versus 80 lbs very difficult if not impossible. I called predators for over twenty years and you typically get a couple seconds to make a decision. 

[NorcalBassin]

They're even making appearances in CA now all the way down south of Yosemite. That was inconceivable just a couple years ago. 

[TnRiver46]

Wolves? I’m out…….. 😂 

 

there is a reason they wrote stories about bad wolves a few hundred years ago

 

my buddy killed a deer in UP and while they were gutting it some wolves showed up, I would have just had a heart attack and turned into wolf poo. The wolves apparently just watched from a distance and caused no trouble. Maybe that’s how they were domesticated? I would just assume they intend to rip my neck out haha

I was about to say I would imagine they could walk a few hundred miles and I read the artlice, they can walk a few thousand miles ……… sheesh 

 

did I mention I’m going camping on a island with wolves this summer ???? I’m not scared at all………

 

[12poundbass]

6 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Night possibly, running maybe, long range will also make judging 40 versus 80 lbs very difficult if not impossible. I called predators for over twenty years and you typically get a couple seconds to make a decision. 

While I understand what you are saying 100%, you are supposed to identify your target before you take the shot. You can’t just assume it’s a coyote because it’s at night, it’s a dog, and it came into a predator call. To be fair what are the chances a wolf of all things is going to show up especially in an area where there are no documented cases of there being wolves?

 

I’ve watched a ton of the warden shows and I’ve heard them say more than once, “ignorance is not an excuse.” 

[Dwight Hottle]

On 4/4/2024 at 9:10 PM, 12poundbass said:

@gimruis first thing I thought too was how do you mistake a wolf for a coyote? 
 

Oops!

 

How big to you think this yote is? I saw one cross the street & walk down the side of my house in Erie Pa a few years back that had to weigh 75-80 lbs.Much bigger than my 55lb Airedale. 

[12poundbass]

@Dwight Hottle hard to tell, the man in the picture is doing the hunting version of long arming a fish. Regardless, that coyote appears to be big and has a beautiful coat.

[Scott F]

50 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

How big to you think this yote is? I saw one cross the street & walk down the side of my house in Erie Pa a few years back that had to weigh 75-80 lbs.Much bigger than my 55lb Airedale. 

The way that photo was taken, a house cat would look as big as a full grown lion.

[TOXIC]

When I lived in Iowa (between Ottumwa and Oskaloosa) on a 130 acre farm, the young farmers in the area would group up on snow machines and go hunting for wolves, coyotes and packs of feral dogs that attacked their livestock.  They always got a few wolves.  

[gim]

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

my buddy killed a deer in UP and while they were gutting it some wolves showed up, I would have just had a heart attack and turned into wolf poo. The wolves apparently just watched from a distance and caused no trouble.

 

There's only been 3 documented attacks in North America by wolves on people in the last 100 years.  And one of those was in northern MN because the specific wolf had a mangled jaw and could not hunt/feed on normal prey.

 

I deer hunted in northern MN (arguably the most prime wolf country in the entire country) for 26 years with 9 other people and none of us never even saw one.  We spent 3 or 4 days in our stands every November.  Think about the amount of time 10 hunters adds up to in "prime" wolf country for 26 years...and the fact that none of us ever got a visual on one.  That's how rare and elusive they are.  I have seen old tracks in the snow and howling in the distance while I was hunting once, that's it.

 

The amount of ground they cover in one day is staggering.  They are always on the move and their activity peaks at night time.  The wolf map I attached is a little old but its still relatively accurate.  They have slowly been expanding southward but they've reached the "dotted line" on that because that is where the timber line ends in MN and the agriculture region begins.

 

[MIbassyaker]

9 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

The wolves apparently just watched from a distance and caused no trouble. Maybe that’s how they were domesticated?

[TnRiver46]

[you]

19 hours ago, gimruis said:

mainland Michigan

 

As a born Michigander, this made me chuckle. Might offend a few Yoopers to learn they're not on the 'mainland'

[N Florida Mike]

Ive always found it an interesting subject no matter where it is. 

We had wolves here until they were hunted out in the late 1800s. I got into an argument of sorts with a woman that swore there were still wolves in Florida. Turns out that FWC stocked some on one island in the panhandle! So technically they are in Florida. But the historic ones are long gone.

More interesting than that is that we’re the only southeastern state that has a recognized panther population. 

Talk about elusive! Think I saw one once when I was 10….