Is this normal size for a wolf?

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5RWill

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First off this isn't me as you can see i live in the delta. But i was wondering fo rall you that hunt wolves in the mountains and protect elk populations etc. This size of that animal isn't normal is it? This just seems far to big for a wolf. Maybe i've never seen one and thats why but thats rather huge IMO.

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=259917&Number=2987984#Post2987984

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Anything in front of the person will look relatively larger than reality. That's true for fish, deer or wolves.

However, it looks to be about the same size as a full-body mount I saw in a gunstore in Detroit in 1963, so, yeah, allowing for the camera deal, it's about right.

According to a bunch of buzz here at and at THR wolf threads, a big male at around 150 is not rare.
 
I've only laid eyes on 1 wild wolf in my life....it was in Wisconsin a while back, feeding on a deer that had been hit by a car. It was right next to the road...


Yes...it was that big, at least 150 lbs.
 
On average they run about 100-120#. The ones in the pics look a bit bigger than that and are what i would consider exceptional.
 
ive seen what Id call "city-wolves" walking down the sidewalk at about 3am here in the IL suburbs bordering on farmland.

happened about 3 times. Was probably the same fella all three times. He was a little guy, maybe 60 pounds if wolves run the same as dogs.

I gotta tell you, as a semi-city slicker, that scares the hell out of me! I didnt know they came that big!
 
That one in the pics was an unusually large one shot in Idaho. The alpha males might occasionally get that big but that's not quit the norm. They still are some very large animals. We have a huge black alpha male on our land but it's not that big. It's chased deer right past some guys blinds during rifle deer season. I posted some pics of some of the smaller wolves taken by one of the bow hunters. Here is what a more typical wolf looks like.
 

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My only experience with wolves was the one my buddy shot during our bear hunt in southeast Alaska last may. This was a young female around 75-80 lbs. My buddy that shot the wolf is 5'10" and 190 lbs.

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Wolves have very distinct size variations. The big Canadian wolves are being brought in to 'repopulate' the Western States. You might wanna buy a bigger gun.
 
Here in Idaho where the wolves have lots of elk/deer/sheep/calves to eat they get pretty big. I suspect in areas where there is less for them to eat they may not get as big.
 
I have seen some very big wolves and then many smaller ones also.Of course these smaller ones were in the summer and some of the smallest were in Canada were we watched 3 that were chasing a deer that swam out into the lake we were fishing. The wolves couldn't follow the sent because it kept bringing them into the shore as the deer made good the escape
The wolf will look smaller in summer and I am dreaming of a picture with my smile in it some day also. :)
 
From National Geographic

Fast Facts:
Type:Mammal
Diet:Carnivore
Average life span in the wild:6 to 8 years
Size:Head and body, 36 to 63 in (91 to 160 cm); Tail, 13 to 20 in (33 to 51 cm)
Weight:40 to 175 lbs (18 to 79 kg)

The diet of newly introduced wolves in areas that are high elk populations probably allows them to reach their genetic size limitations.
 
Those photo's look fake to me. I've killed a 260 lb bear that wasn't nearly as large as the animals in those photo's. No way I could have held my bear up that way to pose.
 
THe Idaho wolves are gorging on huge dinners of elk and deer with a few domestic pets thrown in the pile from time to time. Yes, 180 pounds is seen here officially.
COEUR d'ALENE - As the woman walked by the truck with the tailgate down, she glanced at what lay in the bed of the pickup parked outside Fish and Game's Coeur d'Alene headquarters.
Then, her eyes opened wide.
"Oh my God," she said.
It was the head and fur of what had been a massive wolf that Brett Pitcher shot Monday.
The 2002 Coeur d'Alene High School graduate got what he estimated was a 180-pound wolf in the St. Joe area.
"Really. I live there. I don't like that," the woman said Tuesday morning. "That's big."
Click to expand...
http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_1ae38b6f-0d8d-5529-8b53-03d5118ce217.html

Why do they get so big here in Idaho? First, this is the largest subspecies of wolf, the Canadian Mackenzie Valley Wolf. This is not the native canus lupus irremotus that they replaced. The native Idaho wolf was much smaller and had a different temperament.

Secondly, they have unlimited supply of game animals not yet depleted. Some studies document 47 elk killed per wolf. Add a number of deer and you see an amazing feast here in Idaho by these huge killers.

So to the question of faking the pictures? No, not by that documented by F&G for instance in the link above. Yes, that is a big wolf and that is what they can grow to be here in Idaho. It is an alien subspecies gone wild in an ungulate population that just can't cope with these giant killing machines. I have no doubt that those photos are quite real.

Here is another set of pictures of the wolf from CDA above. Yes, that is a big wolf!!

http://www.skinnymoose.com/bbb/2010/02/24/idaho-panhandle-man-bags-first-wolf/
 
Those photo's look fake to me. I've killed a 260 lb bear that wasn't nearly as large as the animals in those photo's. No way I could have held my bear up that way to pose.
Click to expand...

Those aren't fake photos. Those were in a major hunting magazine that I have somewhere laying around the house. They named the hunter and gave the story of it.
 
If you see wolves in a zoo they are usually well fed and very big, wolves in Idaho are nearly as well fed and they get exercise to build muscle mass. They are naturally going to tend toward the larger end of the species
 
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