Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Anyone know how many wolves are in Colorado?

I used to see one wolf once a year are so while hunting various game. But now I see packs of wolves at a time.

Locations of said "large coyotes"?

curious minds....

Well if this is true you can kiss the largest elk population in the country goodbye. The herd in my area was reduced from 20,000 to less than 4000 in 15 years and still shrinking. But Colorado will wait until it's too late to hunt the wolf. Too bad.

I know one was killed in Grand County this past spring near Kremling. Someone shot it while hunting coyotes. Confirmed with DNA sample. We hunt near Grand Lake and have only seen coyotes. So far no other reports in CO. The one that was shot was alone individual. Who knows what else maybe around. I am sure will hear about while hunting next month.

These are the gray wolves. Not the big Canadian wolves. They do look similar to coyotes but they run in packs in the southern parts of the state. I have not seen any in the northern part of the state. I killed a ton of coyotes. I think I know the difference unless coyotes are running in packs now. Besides they are larger than coyotes. They could be coming in from New Mexico.

Uh grey wolves are the largest members of the wolf family...

They are gray and light brown colored. I really don't know what kind of wolves they are. They just do not look as big as the wolves in Alaska or Canada. I never have seen one which was black in color. They do like big coyotes in color. They just do not act like coyotes. They might go 100 lbs in weight. There is a couple in the Cheyenne mtn zoo in Colorado Springs or at least there used to be. They call them Mexican grey wolves at the zoo.

The wolves in New Mexico are all well south of I-40 and there are only around 105 individuals. You can have all of them you want, but you will probably have to come and get them.

The "coyotes" that appeared in the East in the 1980's are much larger on average then western coyotes and are all different colors like wolves. May the ones from the east migrated back with a bunch of new strains of DNA. They travel in packs or alone and act like 50lb wolves but the government claims they are just regular coyotes........

The Canadian wolves, like we have in Idaho, are the grays. They're larger than any of the natives. We had natives in Idaho until the grays bred them out of existence.

I'm sure some will disagree but I'm of the opinion that there is just one species of wolf anyway, but with a number of sub-species that can readily interbreed. It's kind of like people, all the same species but divided into recognizable races who can interbreed readily.

I'm sure if there were packs of wolves in Colorado CPW would know about it. Nothing has ever been mentioned in any meetings I attend except the 1-2 previously mentioned

Rock Chuck, sure like to see the science behind what you just claimed. Got a link to a study or any other information? mtmuley

There are places to take wolf tours not far from CO Springs, hate seeing the signs when I drive by.

A lot of those are wolf hybrids, Shepard/wolf cross.

There also use to be a sanctuary down by Westcliff. We toured it many years ago, so I don't know if it is still there.

My opinion. The whole science of taxonomy is man made, just grouping things by common characteristics. Of course DNA testing has greatly improved it. However, when you start breaking it down to sub-species, you're basically getting into breeds or races. All the sub-species of elk, for example, will readily interbreed. So will wolves.

When I moved to Colorado in 1986, my household goods were about a week behind me. I had to make a trip to the laundromat to wash a few clothes. Reading the bulletin board to kill the time, I was a little surprised to see an ad for 13/16 an 15/16 wolf pups. Saw those ads all along the front range from the Springs on up to Ft. Collins.

We had a guy move in down here about 20 years ago. He bought a couple of 40s and established a "sanctuary" for wolves and wolf hybrids whose owners could not or would not keep them any longer. He was a nonprofit and advertised extensively in various "green" publications, touting his humanitarian efforts to provide for these "magnificent animals".

He kept these things in chain link pens with an old truck camper shell for shelter and bought pallets of dry dog food each month at the local farm store. Escapes were common, as wolf/dog hybrids are digging SOBs. He eventually was remembered in some old lady's will. The money was to be used to purchase a ranch up in northern New Mexico where the critters would have "room to roam". Always wondered how that worked out.

Nearly all wolves are Gray Wolves in North America (outside of the Red Wolf in the Carolinas)

There are 33 sub-species - some extinct. The Mexican Gray (Canis lupus baileyi) is the smallest, not much bigger than a large coyote - about 50-70 pounds. The ones they imported from Canada to Wyoming, Idaho and Montana are the Mackenzie Valley Wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis), the largest subspecies. They evolved to range larger areas and kill larger game than the near-extinct Northern Rockies Wolf (Canis lupus irremotus), which might explain the massive kill-off of elk.

Not sure where the OP is getting his info...

There is also the Artic Wolf in northern north America

I think I know where the OP is coming from.
We see coyotes here every day so when you see something that 'isn't' it becomes real obvious.

I haven't seen any packs but during the elk season before last I saw something in the San Juans that caused me to get on the radio and say something to my hunting partner who was field dressing an elk.

I told him there is something larger than a coyote out there and it is definitely making a move on you. I can't ID it but it doesn't move like a coyote. I told him he should chamber a round.

Not that long ago in Colorado owning a wolf hybrid was the ultimate status symbol for anyone driving a Subaru with a Kerry/Edwards sticker on the rear window. The wolf sanctuaries were offering these things for adoption with various % of wolf/dog ratio. I recall a local college professor's wolf dog was shot by one of his neighbors in Pueblo West around that time.

Who knows what became of all of them.