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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Might have been but our coyotes are much bigger than the ones I saw in
> the West. They often look like wolves.

Chris once saw from the kitchen window what she thought were three  
wolves trotting the trail behind the barn. These were bigger than  
coyotes, said she. There was snow on the ground so I went up to take  
a look. Working from her memory, the paw prints and using the  
beautifully illustrated book, The Wild Mammals of Missouri, by  
Schwartz & Schwartz, we identified them as red wolves. They exist in  
the Ozarks and over into the southern tip of Illinois. In heavy  
winter coats these looked like big, muscular coyotes. They were on a  
daily deer trail and were in good flesh. The book says they weigh as  
much as 65 pounds.