70lb. Coyote

[John Bly]

This isn't exactly hunting, but I thought it appropriate. A trapper caught a coyote that weighed 70 lbs about a half mile from property that I own here in northern Virginia. He said it is the biggest one he has ever caught. He is a serious trapper who traps for farmers and the State of Va. when it is requested. I know of one several years ago that weighed 63 lbs that a taxidermist had and he could not get a form big enough for it and had to trim it to fit the form.

Has anyone heard of coyotes this large in other places? This seems quite large for a coyote. I guess he was well fed. They will eat almost anything I guess. I know they will go for calves, fawns, sheep, goats and small critters. I know rabbits and groundhogs are in short supply around here.

[madisonvalleywapiti]

Didnt weigh it, but I killed a pretty big male a couple years ago. He and His pack decided to run all the deer and antelope out of the field I was bowhunting in. His hide stretches a hair over 5" from nose to tail.

[ironramrod]

In my former life I worked primarily with red fox and coyotes in ND. On the coyote side I weighed and took measurements off ~3,500 coyotes here and eastern MT, and the heaviest coyote I ever weighed was 39 lbs., and was a 9 yr. old male. The second heaviest was 37 lbs. and was a 10 yr. old male.

At least in this country all the super heavies (45 lbs.+) were likely part dog. Often one could see some domestic dog characteristics in the super heavies (e.g. anatomy, foot size, stature, fur coloration, etc.), but in some the only differences were things like the fur texture.

Regards

[SteveA]

Sounds like maybe some of the wolf/coyote hybrids (Eastern Coyotes) are moving south.

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/se ... coyote_pdf


Steve