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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 13, 2008 - 03:05pm PT
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i recently crossed paths with a wolf in the high country out of convict lake. i first noticed his tracks, and then spied him on a bluff above the frozen lake i was crossing. i've heard they were re-introduced into this area some time ago. a very special treat for sure. his presence commanded my attention and respect for an extended while.
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Domingo
Trad climber
El Portal, CA
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Mar 13, 2008 - 03:15pm PT
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That's ridiculously rare; if you're willing, please report it to an area Wildlife office. They'd like to hear about it, I'm sure.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 13, 2008 - 03:31pm PT
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im (al)most certain that this was not a coyote. i was with my dog (medium breed norwegian elkhound) and the footprints were a bit larger than his. after i saw the prints i keenly scanned the skyline. i then saw him sitting on his haunches watching my dog and i. he was mostly black and his demeanor was much different than any coyote i've encountered. after a while he split and i scrambled up to where he was sitting. there was evidence all around of activity. scat, fur, dirty snow and habit trails. i poked around a little but didn't see a den.
my certainty stems mostly from the stare down that i shared with him. there was nothing skitty about him. i guess it could have been a coyote, but i like to believe that i glimpsed and shared a little wolf magic in an unlikely place.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 13, 2008 - 03:50pm PT
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If you have some fur, and a picture, it seems likely that the department of wildlife (or whatever it's called) would be interested. They could do DNA analysis if it seemed promising.
Another poster suggested it could be a coyote, of which there are many sub-types. This seems possible, especially as to some extent coyotes have expanded to fill the ecological niche formerly occupied by other predators such as wolves and grizzlies. It could be a wolf-coyote hybrid, or a hybrid wolf-dog or something, as there are some captive wolves and wolf-dogs. Though the nearest wild wolves may be in Yellowstone, or northern Washington.
When was the last wolf sighted in the Sierra Nevada? I suspect a confirmed wolf sighting would be quite newsworthy.
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couchmaster
climber
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Mar 13, 2008 - 04:44pm PT
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Probably just a Schanauser that got lost.
Look like this?
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Matt
Trad climber
primordial soup
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Mar 13, 2008 - 04:53pm PT
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"This is just a tad off topic, but what I find absolutely fascinating is parallel evolution."
and yet the person you'd most like to support for president of the united states and leader of the free world, denies that evolution occurs, go figure.
i wonder if it's some sort of selective intelligence, or more of an intellectual laziness...
apathetic and therefore pathetic. what's truely fascinating is that you think anyone cares what you think is fascinating.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Mar 13, 2008 - 05:52pm PT
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Tasmanian Wolf, full marsupial, there is a stuffed one in the Field Museum of Natural History, in Chicago.
I get the bit about not having to be in agreement with everything a candidate pimps; but I could never (with one exception) vote for a creationist for a post (like POTUS) where that person makes decisions about education. That would be, by definition, decadent.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno, CA
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Mar 13, 2008 - 05:59pm PT
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That the view you talk about above, with GW, is the least harmful of all of his flaws/beliefs is preposterous. In reality, his fanatical religious views are probably one of the most *dangerous* things about him.
Anyhow, WTF does this have to do with a possible wolf sighting?!
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scuffy b
climber
up the coast from Woodson
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Mar 13, 2008 - 06:07pm PT
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He's also seen a 5-foot tall Golden Eagle.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Mar 13, 2008 - 06:15pm PT
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This is how rumors get started,
Scuff,
that golden is now the second largest
raptor I have been close to,
even the Condor was,
probably
shorter than five feet.
-But when I dropped the rap rope on that nesting Bald E moma, I truly feared for my life! and was one with my inner Kirk Douglas,
"The Eagle will now tear out his eye!"
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 13, 2008 - 06:29pm PT
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There is a California Wolf Centre, the website of which is at http://www.californiawolfcenter.org/why.htm They are breeding wolves at a facility east of San Diego, and hope to reintroduce wolves to at least part of the state.
It suggests that the last wild wolves in California were in the 1920s or 1930s. Any trapped more recently were wolves released from captivity.
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Matt
Trad climber
primordial soup
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Mar 13, 2008 - 07:14pm PT
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toots-
i was talking about huckabee
"you'd most like to support"
so, in your view, that was written in the past tense?
(in general your vast intellectual laziness is most apparent wrt reading comprehension, not that i give a rats ass about it)
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tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Mar 13, 2008 - 07:29pm PT
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If that was actually a wolf at convict lake, it would be really cool. If it was there once, it might be again. keep your cameras ready.
Norwegian, is there any possibility the hair is still there? How long ago was the sighting and where exactly? I'll go looking.
I saw a bald Eagle in Bridgeport yesterday, not as unusual but not common either.
Tom
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scuffy b
climber
up the coast from Woodson
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Mar 13, 2008 - 07:42pm PT
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Jaybro,
I meant that the original poster has seen a 5-ft tall Golden
Eagle. He mentioned it in the thread about malevolent spirits.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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Mar 13, 2008 - 07:54pm PT
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Have there been any other sightings in recent years? There have been on occasion rumors of wolf re-introduction "radicals" taking things into their own hands.
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Matt
Trad climber
primordial soup
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Mar 13, 2008 - 07:58pm PT
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hmmm, gee whiz, i wonder how those (not so) urban legends get started...
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stella
climber
cali
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Mar 13, 2008 - 10:26pm PT
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that would be pretty sweet if it actually was a real, wild wolf. my guess is that was a captive animal that got loose/released (many people have wolf/dog hybrids as pets), but you never know. wolverines have also been assumed extinct in california for probably a hundred years, but apparently one got caught on remote camera about ten miles north of my home, truckee, in the past week (i believe there may be a thread floating around here related to that). i would think the closest wild wolf populations are somewhere in central idaho, which is a pretty friggin long way. wolves, like wolverines, are far-ranging species though so i suppose anything is possible. it would be interesting to get some of the hair/scat analyzed if you did happen to collect any of it. keep us posted.
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Delhi Dog
Trad climber
Good Question...
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Mar 13, 2008 - 11:21pm PT
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Forget the blooding wolf hybrids...
I want to see a Great Dane/Chihuahua hybrid.
Now THAT would be worth seeing.
Oh, and if your collie was being lured by coyote...they were most likely on the dinner menu.
Cheers,
DD
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Mar 13, 2008 - 11:37pm PT
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"Oh, and if your collie was being lured by coyote...they were most likely on the dinner menu."
True that.
I have often witnessed my local coyote pack try to lure an unsuspecting domestic dog to "lunch" ...at least 5 attempts were successful...for the coyotes at least.
This pack seems to use two luring methods - the "come out and play" and the "hey baby, wanna fvck".
The "come out and play" is done by sending a young or small coyote out into the meadow towards some visitor's dog. The coyote goes through the whole canine "let's play" vocabulary - down dog pose, tail high and wagging, small hops side to side - all the while sliding backwards towards the tree line with Spot hopefully in tow, where of course the rest of the hungry pack awaits.
Only once have I seen this approach work to completion tho - not to say it's not successful.
What seems to work the best for the pack is the "hey sailor" ruse. I can only guess that they are sending out an in-heat female. The lone babe sashays around the area until she attracts a brain-fogged menu choice who readily follows her back into the trees. I have to believe the sounds I hear soon after are not sexual in nature since I rarely see the pup come back out.
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