The below photograph was sent to me from people I know in Maine. It was taken with a game camera from a location in Eastern Maine.
We know that genetically the wild dogs in Maine are a hybrid mixture of coyote, wolf, feral dog and domestic dog. It appears from this photo and others similar to it that I have seen, that Maine’s “coywolves” certainly have inherited more size and hunting tactics employed by wolves to bring down large prey such as the nice mature, healthy buck shown in the picture.
The myths of predator/prey relationships perpetuated by the ignorant believe that wolves/coyotes only kill sick prey and have no idea that this is simply not true or how the wild dogs go about eating and killing their prey while the prey is still alive, as is depicted in this photograph. For this kind of hunting, there is no such thing as an instant or “humane” kill.
