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kev
climber
CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 5, 2006 - 11:36pm PT
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Has anyone heard of wolves in the Sierras?
I ask because if not I saw the f*cking largest coyote in the
world at the north end of Minerets Road this weekend.
Wasn't hungover and it's been many years since I've done anything other than drink....
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pc
climber
East of Seattle
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"Wasn't hungover and it's been many years since I've done anything other than drink.... "
So you were not hungover 'cause you were still drunk? Either way it was probably chipmunk ;)
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maculated
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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They have really big, healthy coyotes on the east side. There was one that lived in my neighborhood in Mammoth and was GOREGEOUS. As well as huge. Different from the desert ones.
Maybe the same one?
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PDHMAN
Ice climber
Eastside of ....
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It was Bachar's pet marmot disguised as a wolf running around looking for snow free rock...
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JerryGarcia
Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe
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They get big.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Perhaps Gumbie and Pokie, out for a ramble? Or Rocky and Bullwinkle, up to who knows what? Maybe escapees from CG's menagerie? Or perhaps smuggled in by nefarious Canuckleheads?
The conspiracy theorists are gonna have fun with this one.
Anders
ps We thought we'd start with wolves, then maybe move onto grizzlies. They are, after all, on California's flag. And would sure liven up things in the Valley.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
one pass away from the big ditch
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I seen a wild cat dog thing in a river drainage once. I don't like to talk about because I could not tell you what the f*#k it was.
freaked me out, 5 minutes later I ask my climbing partner, what the hell was that. He says, "I have no idea."
no sh#t, there I was.
Anyways, ya never know. Apparently the marmots in the Wasatch are related to the marmots in the Sierra. Trippy stuff like that.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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One time up above Nevada Falls in the summer of 1968, I was camped by the river for the night. Sometime around 2-4AM, we heard an incredibly loud animal fight some hundred or two yards away. When it was over, there was this amazing, huge howl, a classic wolf call---absolutely chilling. It couldn't have been anything else---no yipping, no barking, just a long, drawn out wolf call. I asked Pete Thompson a couple of years later about what the NPS knew about a few wolves repopulating the Sierras, and he smiled, said that it was very possible and that he had heard similar accounts.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Peter, back around 1975 near Lake Tenaya (edit: Tenaya Lake) my buddy Andy and I saw what looked like a wolf. Later that evening we heard what had to be a wolf call, either that or it was a baritone coyote.
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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DUDE, you saw manbearpig!
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G_Gnome
Social climber
Tendonitis City
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That's nothing! You should see the coyote at Joshua Tree. It has the 'my foot is hurt' act down pat. It stands by the side of the road and when a car comes it picks it's front foot up and acts wounded. If you get out of your car and chase it that thing is fast and walks and runs just fine.
I have heard other tails of wolves in Tenaya Canyon too over the years, so maybe there are some in the Sierras.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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When I lived on Mt Rose, we had neighbors with Wolves (illegally) before the powers that be made them get rid of said uber canines, they (5-6 of them) lived in a cyclone fence enclosure.
Every morning and evening the Wolves would sing, often setting off local Coyotes and dogs. It was good (& melodic) times. But the point is, once you hear a Wolf howl, you're never going to mistake a Coyote for one. Coyotes don't sound like dogs & Wolves are even more distinct.
I'm sure some people here know the wolves and their owners that live in the Ophir area. One of those, whose names starts with a K, is the smartest, sharpest dog-like creature I have ever met. Once while wandering in the desert, I ran into him (after a several year interval since our last meeting) and called him by name he turned and came over to me. He knows his name, not the inflection of a familiar person.
Wolves have big heads, yellow eyes, (not the blue of malamutes) and don't, (can't) bark. They get squirrell-ier the more they are interbred with dogs. Half dog/wolves are spooky in a way that real wolves aren't..
Dirt, I thought Al Gore took out ManBearPig?
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Cool, kev. My climbing buddy saw a mountain lion in the same vicinity last year - plain as day, and as far as I know, he wasn't drunk...
Wildlife sightings are far more common than climber sightings up there - as it should be.
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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NO way, manbearpig lives!
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G_Gnome
Social climber
Tendonitis City
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The ability to cross breed and produce viable offspring is no longer the main criteria for determining speciation. In the cat world domestic cats have been bred with Bengal Cats, African Servals, Bobcats, Ocelots and probably other smaller wild cats. Most produce viable offspring but all are certainly considered seperate species.
The fact that dogs, coyotes and wolves can crossbreed doesn't lessen the fact that they are different species. And 'Yes' coyotes are way smarter than dogs.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
one pass away from the big ditch
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manbearpig musta been what I seen.
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ladd
Trad climber
land of fruits, nuts and flakes
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kev, awesome sighting I'm sure - very cool.
I was up on Squaw Sunday, and am seeing scat that is most certainly Cougar. Could be what you saw a mountain lion? Also, around Fuller Buttes - there's a bears den down along the base of the west butte.
One of the most amazing moments in my 30 years of climbing is now a cherished memory. While suiting up at the base of Squaw, this magnificent Red Tail dove right at us - she was ballistic. We heard the hawk piercing the silence just in time to look up and see the bird open up a very beautiful wing span (about 6' tip to tip), and soar down into a wingover to perch on the treetops below. I still have a vision of windspan in my mind's eye - the sunlight shining translucent through the array of striaded feathers with the tips aglow as if set on fire.
cheers
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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There is a theory that coyotes are evolving to occupy the niche vacated by wolves.
In any case, we only seem to be able to kill the stupid ones with the result that we are actually making coyotes smarter. My guess is that by the end of this century they'll have their own space program (they know when they're not welcome.)
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10b4me
Trad climber
California
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One time up above Nevada Falls in the summer of 1968, I was camped by the river for the night. Sometime around 2-4AM, we heard an incredibly loud animal fight some hundred or two yards away. When it was over, there was this amazing, huge howl, a classic wolf call---absolutely chilling. It couldn't have been anything else---no yipping, no barking, just a long, drawn out wolf call. I asked Pete Thompson a couple of years later about what the NPS knew about a few wolves repopulating the Sierras, and he smiled, said that it was very possible and that he had heard similar accounts.
that would be cool.
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