What animal is this?

[Fuddy1952]

Yes I have a few trail cameras. I have so much going on right now, other projects. I wouldn't try to fool anyone, otherwise I'd never find out what it is.
We're getting our first horse this week and I'm concerned. I have heard of dog, wolf mixes.
This county used to be overrun with deer. Up until a few years ago especially in early evening there would be a herd crossing road right at my place. Now you don't see as many, or turkey, quail, rabbits, etc.
I've seen coyote but this is much larger.
Back in the woods there are many acres with no houses.

 

[atsah]

I saw a wolf a few weeks ago, I'm on the Canadian line. It's tough to tell what that is but I would say it's a canine of some sort..

 

[Fuddy1952]

If it had a canine face then I'd suspect a stray that's wandering through

... although it could also be a very large coyote or possibly (but very unlikely) a red wolf: Red wolf - Wikipedia ... or some sort of hybrid between a large breed of dog and coyote.

Not a whole lot of large species of canines native to the US so this may also help: Distinguishing between Coyotes, Wolves and Dogs

This is really good information. I'd say it was very much more wolf-like than coyote, the face shape, etc. My guess would be either a dog-wolf mix or a medium sized wolf of some sort. A large coyote would still have it's features which this didn't.
I have heard, although it's hearsay, the Virginia Forestry service has introduced mountain lion and wolves to control the overrun deer population.
Where I grew up about 15m from here we never ever saw a deer until the mid 60s when with binoculars we could see one. Now I see 50 in a herd close to the house.
There used to be Elk here years ago.

 

[Diggin It]

My first impression from the first (blurry ) picture before reading any of the responses was a variety of wolf.

 

[atsah]

They say there are no mountain lions in Maine, I have news for them..

I saw one scooting down a field line at my brothers farm, a biologist from maine fish and wildlife came to have a look at the tracks in the snow, 4 1/2 inches across, he said could be a large Lynx, I said not with a tail the length of a yard stick..

 

[Fuddy1952]

Wolves were released in Virginia.
Wolves Coming to Virginia
We're fairly close to the Blue Ridge Parkway. About 25 years ago a friend and I had an encounter with a mountain lion where I grew up. We were sitting at the lake about 15- 20ft apart about midnight when it walked between us. It roared! It was dark but against the sky I could see it was about 6ft long (tail not included), probably 200#.
Next day very large footprints next to lake.
The roar made my hair stand on end! I grabbed a boat anchor on a chain. I'm guessing it didn't attack since there were two of us.

 

[ovrszd]

In regards to it being afraid of you. Animals roam around you all the time. They will not be afraid of your tractor in any manner. You walking will instill much more fear.

I took this pic from my tractor seat. Driving up the road. Wasn't the slightest bit disturbed by me.

 

[atsah]

In regards to it being afraid of you. Animals roam around you all the time. They will not be afraid of your tractor in any manner. You walking will instill much more fear.

I took this pic from my tractor seat. Driving up the road. Wasn't the slightest bit disturbed by me.



View attachment 616795

They follow me around when I'm bush hogging, kicking up mice and snakes for them to eat..

 

[ovrszd]

They follow me around when I'm bush hogging, kicking up mice and snakes for them to eat..

Smart huh!!!! They would immediately slink away if you got off the tractor and walked toward them.

This Mom was teaching her three kits to hunt. They were in the timber around a brush pile hunting rabbits. She was in place to catch anything that got away. I stopped and took this pic, then started talking to her. That made her nervous and she finally trotted into the timber. After I thought about it, that was sooo stupid. I should have sat there silently. I might have gotten to see her in action.....

 

[atsah]

Smart huh!!!! They would immediately slink away if you got off the tractor and walked toward them.

This Mom was teaching her three kits to hunt. They were in the timber around a brush pile hunting rabbits. She was in place to catch anything that got away. I stopped and took this pic, then started talking to her. That made her nervous and she finally trotted into the timber. After I thought about it, that was sooo stupid. I should have sat there silently. I might have gotten to see her in action.....

It seems as soon as I completely stop, they get nervous, if I keep moving they are comfortable.. I watched one heading straight for a large porcupine, he gave it a wide berth when he realized what it was.. Smart animals...

 

[ovrszd]

It seems as soon as I completely stop, they get nervous, if I keep moving they are comfortable.. I watched one heading straight for a large porcupine, he gave it a wide berth when he realized what it was.. Smart animals...

In this regard, I think felines are much smarter than canines.

This Mom raised her brood around me all Summer. I'd always know she was around when I went in the timber by how Willard, my dog acted. When she was near I'd hafta pay attention to not run over him. He wouldn't get more than 50ft away from the tractor. I'm guessing him and her had a coming to Jesus meeting at some point.

 

[stuckmotor]

Wolves were released in Virginia.
Wolves Coming to Virginia
We're fairly close to the Blue Ridge Parkway. About 25 years ago a friend and I had an encounter with a mountain lion where I grew up. We were sitting at the lake about 15- 20ft apart about midnight when it walked between us. It roared! It was dark but against the sky I could see it was about 6ft long (tail not included), probably 200#.
Next day very large footprints next to lake.
The roar made my hair stand on end! I grabbed a boat anchor on a chain. I'm guessing it didn't attack since there were two of us.

Fuddy,
Did the roar sound more like an African lion or a scream?

 

[coobie]

Coyote.

PLUS 1

 

[atsah]

I think felines are much smarter than canines.

No doubt in my mind that this is true.. From a house cat to an African lion, I believe this to be the case..

 

[/pine]

Many mistake instinct for intelligence...

 

[MossRoad]

Many mistake instinct for intelligence...

I'm gonna agree with you on that. Having owned both dogs and cats, dogs are way smarter in learning new things and cats are almost all instinct actors. Although I have been pretty successful teaching cats to do tricks like sit, shake hands, sit-up, high five, and speak, they are 100% food motivated and not doing the trick for you. They're doing it for the food. Dogs will do it just because they like you and want affection. Cats couldn't care less as affection for a reward.

 

[Diggin It]

^^ No that proves cats are smarter than dogs. And humans.

 

[/pine]

^^ No that proves cats are smarter than dogs. And humans.

Wrong...G. Larson disproved the former and exhibited viable arguments towards the latter...

 

[MossRoad]

In the 2nd picture its not even 2 wires tall on that fence. It's coyote sized at best. Go stick a yardstick back in the shadows where it was and take a repeat picture from the original spot.