Dear CZ 550,
Isn't the area you hunt the place where those so called "red wolf" (feral dogs) hybrids live?
I thought the weighed about 70 pounds tops?
Actually, we have three species: 1)Timber wolf (to which I was referring); 2)Coyote and 3)"Coy dog", "brush wolf" (so-called down east)or whatever. Some biologists insist they are just overgrown coyote, others say they are the result of coyote breeding with dogs, and still others are confused like the rest of us. But, one thing's for sure: wolf, coyote and "brush wolf" are all found in the same ecological system. In other words, they compete, but both coyote and brush wolf (60 to 80 lbs) will vacate the immediate area when a (real) timber wolf moves in! Timber wolves have been sighted south of where I live. I've seen two, one in mid-afternoon crossing a major highway, a few yards directly in front of me, and another crossing a major highway, that I almost nailed, at 2:30 am. I wasn't dreaming, as that same wolf (or it's sibling)was sighted by a friend in the same location going to work at GM in Oshawa. He said "It was as tall as the hood on my truck!". Well, maybe not THAT tall, but it was very impressive! The other I saw was in travelling to Peterborough in mid afternoon, and it was one of the most beautiful animals I have EVER seen, bar none! I don't get the U.S. point of view, frankly. But then I haven't lived in the west, or owned a cattle ranch!
I've hunted bear in the spring (before spring hunting of bear was shut down)on the border of Algonquin Park, and always just after it got dark, as we were waiting to be picked up, the wolves in the Park would start howling... The only other sound in the wild that sends such a thrill up my spine, is the loon, I kid you not.
The wolves, in the area where I hunt them, are big and beautiful and I would not like to see them exterminated. To me, in this area, they provide one of the greatest hunting challenges because you rarely see them.
Yes, they kill some game animals, but NOT anything like bears, which are proliferating. And in some areas they (bears)are destroying moose populations because they kill the calves in spring and summer. I'm a dedicated bear hunter because we have too many, but, frankly, the wolf is much more of a challenge because we don't have the wide open areas of the west. We have to deal with a lot of forest and underbrush! YMMV.
Bob
www.bigbores.ca 
