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sketchy
Trad climber
Vagrant
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rednex love havin pet wolves. I know of several around my neck of the woods that have ran away and never come back.
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Ouch!
climber
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You may have seen an Eastern Sierra Wolf Marmot. They are endangered.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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All but wiped out, by the lowly jackalope.
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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That's some of your best work, Ouch.
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kev
climber
CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 6, 2006 - 10:03pm PT
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It wasn't like any coyote I've seen before. And my climbing partner also thought it was a wolf. Sucker jogged across the road.
Whatever it was it made for a nice morning. Given the proximity to clover meadow it could have been someones pet hybrid who knows. I need a camera....
I thought the manbearpig was just another name for the dirtbag, aka
'climberous dirtyalchyous'
I am going to start looking for the elusive tree octopus though.
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Anastasia
Trad climber
Near a mountain, CA
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The check out clerk at Von in Mammoth did look a bit hairy...
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Sheik aka JD
Trad climber
San Diego
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A few things of interest:
1.)
Last year, a report came out from (I believe) scandinavian researchers that ALL dogs originated from wolves. Forensics researchers were attempting to map dog-DNA in relation to crime scenes. Turns out that all dogs (from Chihuahuas to Great Danes) have wolf DNA.
2.)
Besides wolves, I understand there are also a few wolverines to be found in parts of the Sierra.
3.)
Made popular by "Napolean Dynamite", has anyone actually ever seen a "liger" (lion-tiger)? Gosh.
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CorporateDog
climber
Middle California
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Don't know about the wolves - haven't seen any over on the Mammoth Pool Res side of the hill as yet - but we DO have coyotes and darn tricky SOB's they are!
Watched a single coyote come across the meadow late one day and begin prancing around in that "I want to play" body language that canids use. Think the "down dog" pose from Yoga along with a bit of tail wagging whilst hopping from side to side.
Anyway, the neighbors' not-too-bright terrier takes the bait and out into the meadow it goes to "play".
The two hop around for a while before the coyote begins moving back toward the tree line at the meadow's edge...with Muffie the Terrier tagging along of course.
Not three feet from the treeline before the rest of the coyote pack swarms out and MUNCH - Muffie is Lunch!
I feel bad thinking I should have yelled or thrown a rock or such - but I was kinda intrigued by the whole lure-the-mutt-to-dinner process and besides - the crappy little thing barked too much anyway.
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G_Gnome
Social climber
Tendonitis City
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Even if people can't always tell the difference between dogs and coyotes, coyotes know a good meal when they see one.
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Ouch!
climber
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" get him to eat out of your hand."
Yes, it's possible but he will eat the hand too.
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sketchy
Trad climber
Vagrant
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Coyotes boldly entering neborhoods are a problem and shouldnt be encouraged. You should shoot it or at least throw rocks at it every time you see it. Feeding it will only lead to garbage being torn up and pets missing.
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sketchy
Trad climber
Vagrant
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I lived on the edge of town in college in an area full of chicken houses. Coyotes would walk through our yard in full day light. Some people living about 5 miles from my house had a full grown lab on a runner in the back yard. They heard a coyotes in there back yard, and in the time it took him to run out there with a shot gun the dog had had one of its legs ripped off. The dog had to be shot. I don't no howmany coyotes were involved but coyotes in the area are fairly small uasly less than 40lbs.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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We were on the west side of the Sierra crest camped at 12k+. High enough that you can see the darkness enveloping farther north and still be up in the day of alpineglow. It was a full moon and you could hear the coyotes start in many miles to the north and their kin chime in turn closer and closer as the sun set and then on to the south as darkness enveloped.
I wondered what would have been our races fate if their vocabulary was more than a howl, with that ability for the whole coyote nation from the artic to the tropics to unite in one song on a full moon night.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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They yip and howl. I've never heard one bark.
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sketchy
Trad climber
Vagrant
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I didnt belive the story at first either, and have never heard of happening before or sense. On a different coyote story when I was 14 I was doing an 8 day canoe trip when we heard a large group of coyotes yelping acrossing the river. A couple of hours of silence passed, and I went into the woods to crap. No sooner had I dropped trowl than the whole pack started yelping again, this time on my time side of the river, and some of them between me and my camp. I was never really in danger, but I had never pinched so hard or done such a hasty job wipen in my life.
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CorporateDog
climber
Middle California
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LEB,
Purely anecdotal, but I've noticed that the best coyote candidates for "taming" were bachelor males.
Bachelors are young males (think teenager) who have been pushed out of their birth pack by the Aplha Male to preclude later confrontation for pack leadership. The castoffs then either wander the countryside looking for another pack to join or may form a loose demi-pack comprised of other lonely bachelors until they can latch onto a co-ed pack instead.
Long story short - since they aren't strongly bonded to a formal pack during this time in their lives - they may be more likely to submit to some degree of taming. Perhaps this is purely based on opportunism since a reliable food source trumps solo hunting anyday...or they crave some type of heirarchial contact - I don't know for sure.
Again, not gospel - just what I have observed over the years.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Misc Canine tidbits;
Walking down from climbing @ Pinnacle Peak, Scottsdale Az, my dog Alobar (an extremely intelligent & gregarious Collie, Golden Retriever mix) and I were approached by a large coyote. Coy kept his distance but made a bunch of weird noises (some answered by others nearby) in an obvious effort to call Al out to join 'the fun.' Alobar would have none of it, and completely ignored the coyote, you would have thought he was deaf. This was a dog who lived to play with other dogs, A fifty pound mass of mottled energy known to catch frisbees at my ear level, and lick six footers in the face without otherwise touching them.
I have seen some very large Coyotes on the Eastside, distinct brown/red coats very different from the almost ubiqtuous grey/black coats seen most places. I can imagine 1)them being mistaken for wolves, b) that they might have some wolf blood in them. Didn't have yellow eyes, however.
Sheik,
I read that study about the Wolf/Dog DNA, very interesting.
(feline digression)
There is an 1100lb liger at Sierra Safari Zoo north of Reno. I know that sounds too big, but that's what they claim and it looks about right, much larger than a Siberian Tiger, fat, too.
back on course;
My friend the colonel has been known to play 'tag' with a coyote in El Cap meadows. It would let him occasionaly touch it's tail. They can be pretty social, if wary.
Anyone who wants to know what a wolf sounds like, should go to Isle Royale Nat. Park in Lake Superior. We used to go there in Scouts and family trips. Every single day I spent there, I heard their distinct howl. Only saw them once or twice.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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This has turned into a great thread.
Lois, although it is presumptuious to claim to know the mind of Dog, I'll make a stab at it.
I assumed the coyote (and his cohorts, lurking, out behind the chollas) were trying to appear nice, and call Al out and then eat him. They are known to do that with domestic dogs, as has been mentioned here, earlier (I think.)
I think anyone who has hiked very far in Josh has seen the results of these encounters(poodle pelts) or at least heard this drama going on, back in the campground.
My point was that Al (imortalized in the novel "Badwater", by Clinton McKinzie) loved to play with other dogs but, would have none of these Coyot shenanigans. ¿How did he know? I thought.
Back to wolves.
One time, I ran into k, the wolf I mentioned before, sitting in front of Mom & Dad's tent. I thunked his drumlike head, and he wagged his tail and 'chewed,' on my arme- human/lupine happiness. Then I noticed the half dozen or so dead kangaroo rats (?) that he had dispatched, before I arrived. There was an earleir instance when he killed six sheep one night. I'd trust him with My, life but like was mentioned, I wouldn't keep a cat in his household.
When I had the wolf housing neighbors, Alobar (as well as all the local dogs) used to run up to their enclosure where they would all wag tails (dogs and wolves alike) and lick each others' faces through the chain link fence.
According to National Geographic, wolves Can't bark.
As for Dogs being defensive of their human symbionts; when I was a kid, my dad and two brothers and I (I'm the middle son)used to wrestle in the living room many a weekend morning. Our dog, a cocker mix, would come in and bark and always defend the smallest participant.
Not sure about the feral husky theory, but who knows?
If the human race finally does itself in, but in a way that the dogs survive, will they re-evolve into wolves? Or will the selective pressures, like goodies under cinderblocks, make this world into Dacshund hell?
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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"K" is a huge, 92% wolf that I know. He lives near a boomtown in a large square shaped western state. I think there are some here who know him, so I wanted to spark their memories, but as the topic of legality of cohabitatng with such indivuals came, up I didn't want to be Too specific. (also 'k' is a lame kafka joke.)
I think bears get kind of equated with dogs. It's easy to see, in a superficial way,they're big, generally affable and kind of goofy. They are not generally aggressive, but are almost completely unstoppable, when the whim strikes.
Some of them seem indivually tame-able, like circus bears that ride bicycles and juggle, etc. But it takes a huge amount of responsibility to take on a hobby like that!!
Would 15-20lb bears be Ewoks?
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Tahoe climber
Trad climber
Austin, TX to South LakeTahoe, CA
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LEB:
It's interesting that you use the word "corrupt" when referring to taming feral animals such as coyotes - it's a particularly apt description.
Every bit of advice that I've ever heard warns people NOT to feed or "corrupt" wild animals since it can and frequently does lead to situations that are dangerous for the animal - i.e., walking up to a strange person that is not so friendly towards animals and getting killed for it, or becoming dependent on human handouts and losing the ability to find natural foods, etc. Situations where this is particularly prevalent include the bears in Yosemite and here in the Lake Tahoe region.
Taming or "corrupting" these wild animals, whether its a bear, coyote, bird or chipmunk is the least responsible course of action to take when considering the animal's long-term well being.
On another note, though I suspect (hope) you were trolling, prioritizing a discussion of irresponsibly taming wild coyotes, racoons and other animals over a discussion of our country at war, or of humane treatment of other humans in a prison setting is a pretty horrible admission.
-Aaron
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