wolves in texas?

[texasmom]

I'm positive that we saw some (3 alive, one dead) wolves on our roadtrip last weekend. They were large & gray. I haven't seen anything showing that wolves are normally found around these parts. Any stories you have of interest regarding that would be appreciated.

[Shuffler]

http://wildworldofwolves.tripod.com/id37.htm

[Regular]

We go to shoot them!

[eagl]

There are coyotes in north texas, but I'm more concerned with the cats.  Big cats.  Cougars.  Mountain lions.  The kind that eats children and unwary hikers/bicyclists.  The canyon behind my house is part of a mountain lion's territory and the cat has been seen with a cub.

We have bobcats too, but they don't ever bother anyone.  The big cats though...  All it would take is a year or two of really bad weather for them to get hungry/sick enough to come through the neighborhood looking for lunch.

[oakranger]

They should be gray wolf or red wolf.  There are subspecies of wolf in this country.  what you may have saw is canis lupus baileyi in the gray wolf family.  Then there is canis rufus gregoryi or canis rufus rufus in the red wolf family.  there is long talks that red wolf in your area may have cross breed with cyotes.

[eddiek]

eagl, you live in Wichita Falls, correct?
I grew up about 80 miles west of there, we had coyotes, some bobcats, and, despite what the experts say or said, about 15 people in our community claimed to have seen what they could only describe as a huge black panther-like cat in the area.  I never saw it myself while I was growing up, but local farmers would report seeing it from time to time.  Big cats do roam North Central Texas, I believe.

[texasmom]

I've seen coyotes a little further out from where we're at. Seen lots of foxes.  These things were pretty big though. I've got a german shepherd mix dog, I don't know how much she weighs, probably 90 lb. These things were at least as big as her.

Heard we've got cougars around here too.  Heard a few jokes about it over at the Army base "look out for the cougars while you're on your 3-day pass" type of jokes .

Thanks for the websites and the remarks.

[oakranger]

the problem with certain species like mountain lions, black bears is that wildlife state officials will deny that there are any.  Even in Kansas, many ranchers saw them, as for my seen one too.  But wildlife officials deny that there are any.  Recently a small herd of elk where released in southeast Kansas. The funny thing about it that nobody knows how they got there.
About three years ago, a lynx was found in northwestern Kansas.  This was a case that somebody put it there.  they are only found in elevations of 8000 ft or more.  The investigation concluded that the animal was last pick up in southwest, Colorado.   They know this because of the tracking device it had on it and it was part of a reintroduce program.  But for it to travail 400 miles into the plains like that raised suspicion of how it really got there. 
There are some animal that will travel in great distance.  Case example, a mountain lion was hit by a train in red rock, OK.  That lion came from northern Nebraska.  It travails over 600 mile in 3 month to red rock.   North central Kansas has a moose that travel over 500 mile from Wyoming.  Why they do this is not clear. 

[Slash27]

eagl, you live in Wichita Falls, correct?
I grew up about 80 miles west of there, we had coyotes, some bobcats, and, despite what the experts say or said, about 15 people in our community claimed to have seen what they could only describe as a huge black panther-like cat in the area.  I never saw it myself while I was growing up, but local farmers would report seeing it from time to time.  Big cats do roam North Central Texas, I believe.

The absoultely roam North texas. I have seen a mountain lion myself and have so have many others in my area. A friend of mine found tracks just last week. I have not seen a "black panther" but I know several that say they have. Most of them have no reason to make it up either.

[skullman]

I was born and raised in S.E.Texas.I have seen panthers at night(outlaw hunter in early years).I have also seen what could possibly been wolves but not sure.Tons of coyotes.

[Treize69]

We also occasionally see them in NY too, even though we officially haven't had any here in decades. I saw a huge white one a few years ago- had the long face of a coyote, but the much stockier body and thicker legs of a wolf. And I've occasionally heard them howling in the Adirondacks during the summer- I'm familiar with Coyotes, and they are definitely not Coyotes that you hear then. But I have friends who are DEC cops, and they vehemently deny that we have any in NY or Vermont.

I for one hope they come back, hearing them call is a beautiful sound, and we need something besides hunters to help keep the deer population. And I get ticked when guys at work talk about going hunting for them for no reason other than they're wolves.

[WWhiskey]

not sure where you live mom, but up here in the panhandle we have coyote's year round,
in the spring and early summer alot of bears and big cats make there way down into my part of the world   ,and i have seen a wolf or two in this area, but not very often, the big cats scare me the most!
 i used to work on the farm, taking care of the center pivots, one year  when the corn was about 8 feet tall, i had one break down about 300 yards into the Field, while looking down the line pipe, i could see what looked like a large cat, walking along on top of it,  about 14 feet above ground, right where it was broken down!!
 that was a long day as i had to go into that corn Field 3 times before i got that sucker fixed,
 first trip i had my pistol with me, the next two trips i carried a large "bowie knife", but i was pretty sure if she wanted me, i was dead!!
 the reason i said she is because about 4 days later she got killed,about 2 miles from where i saw her, on the front lawn of someones house, she had cubs too!!

[MiloMorai]

About three years ago, a lynx was found in northwestern Kansas.  This was a case that somebody put it there.  they are only found in elevations of 8000 ft or more.

I live in an area with the elevation less than a 1000ft and have seen lynx (Lynx canadensis).

[Vudak]

We also occasionally see them in NY too, even though we officially haven't had any here in decades. I saw a huge white one a few years ago- had the long face of a coyote, but the much stockier body and thicker legs of a wolf. And I've occasionally heard them howling in the Adirondacks during the summer- I'm familiar with Coyotes, and they are definitely not Coyotes that you hear then. But I have friends who are DEC cops, and they vehemently deny that we have any in NY or Vermont.

Yep.  You won't find many locals in Essex county that will deny there are wolves in the area.

[oakranger]

I live in an area with the elevation less than a 1000ft and have seen lynx (Lynx canadensis).

Where do you live. Are you sure you not mistaking it for a bobcat. They look vary similar to the point that it is common ppl will misID them.

I forgot to point out that Lynx are common in cooler climate. So, i am guessing that you are in Candana.