Wolf Track v. Dog Track, distinction?

[Kirk Freeman]

Is there a method to discern between a wolf track and the track of a large dog like a German Shephard?

Do you go on size or something? How deep the track is as wolves are heavier?

"Wolf tracks" in Stockwell . . . I remain skeptical.

 

[MrYesterday]

Unless someone has a mastif around it's hard to confuse the 2.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

So, overall size?

Wolves have Meg Ryan feet?

 

[Yeah]

Of the few wolf tracks I've cut, most in AK, I've only been able to distinguish between them and large dogs by the distance between the pairs. Wolves take very long leaps compared with dogs having the same size foot.

There are a few species of dogs with feet as large as a wolf. A couple of the ones used for running coon do, which has one of my neighbors convinced a pack of wolves regularly passes through his creek bottom.

 

[Yeah]

So, overall size?

Wolves have Meg Ryan feet?

If it isn't 4"+ from the tip of the toe to the back of the heel pad, it is very likely a dog.

 

[GREEN607]

For one thing, you can tell by where the hind foot 'tracks' in conjunction to the front. Coyotes and wolves walk/run with both front and hind paws in line. Dogs do not.

Here's a good link for track ID- dog; coyote; wolf.


Canid Identification: Wolves, Coyotes, and Dogs - WDNR

Also, most adult wolves are so heavy, their tracks almost show no seperation.... between the claw and the 4 front pads. Like this.....

 

[witdog2020]

Wolf Timbers

I wouldn't say a Wolf track would have to be 4in, A large Coyote weighs in at 30#, a Red Wolf is the size of a midsize German Shepard. The Red wolf was so highly confused with the Coyote, they have now been put on the endangered species list. I used to hunt Coyotes in Oklahoma. My first set down there yielded the biggest Coyotes I have ever seen in my life. Olustee Oklahoma to be exact. 3 came in at once, they were all the size of Shepards. I was so surprised at the size and so was my partner that he stood up as they ran in. He spooked them we never got a shot off. I couldn't stop talking about them.

We decided to take a trip to Wichita Mountains wildlife refugee, while walking through the building looking at the animals on the placards. I seen the Red Wolf, I knew that was it, that was what I seen. The Placard stated that they were determined extinct in Oklahoma and that the last known confirmed Red wolf was spotted in Olustee, OK in 1994. This was in about 2006, that was 12 yrs. difference in the same location the last one was spotted. I went to the Warden I told him what I saw........They told me it was a Coyote that they were extinct, having killed many Yotes out there and around here. I know different. They didn't even check it out. The Red Wolf used to be distributed all over the US and actually crossbred with coyotes in some locations.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of any animal here locally.

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