Catskillmountaineer.com Forum

About a month ago I saw some large animal tracks on the side of a private lake in the Platte Clove/ Elka Park area , and then about two weeks ago I saw fresh tracks from (I think) the same animal at the same spot. This time I spotted the tracks right after a rainfall, and I came back the next day to take some photos. The tracks are bigger than the palm of my hand in length - about 4 1/2 inches long and the tracks went basically in a straight line (not zig zag). They emerge from the woods, go to the edge of the water and crisscross the small beach area. I thought it was from one animal, because to me the tracks looked the same throughout the area.
There are no dogs living anywhere on the large property or even on neighboring properties, and I was the only human to have been by that lake in days. The tracks were very impressive because of their size.
I have not heard coyotes this past summer.
My question is: are these wolfish coy-wolf tracks OR wolf tracks?
Twice in the past 7 years I (and the person I was with) saw what looked like a solitary wolf-like animal - once crossing the road from one set of woods and entering woods on the other side of the road, and once in a field near the road (the road which leads to Platte Clove and down the mountain).
Are there wolves in the Catskill Mountains?

I would like to add that my shoe (seen in the photo) is a size 9 1/2 (which is a large woman's size). And that the tracks shown in the photos are about 24 hours old. The tracks were more crisp a day earlier when I first saw them.

Looks like a coyote. Some can get quite large.


Here is one from 2010

All the tracks were about 4 1/2 inches in length (larger than in your photo).
It may have been a coy-wolf, which the scientific literature says is a possibility in New York state, or a wolf, but they are too large to be a plain coyote. I've seen coyotes and their tracks up close, and these tracks were much larger and more impressive.
Seven years ago, the person I was with who also saw the wolf-like animal cross the road thought it absolutely was a wolf based on her experiences (both wolves and coyotes). The only reason we accepted that it was a coy-wolf was because we couldn't find evidence of wolf existence in the Catskill Mountains when Googling the topic.
So it would be interesting to know what others have experienced or seen in the Catskills.

the tracks by my hand around 4" wide. There has been a very large coyote running around the Catskills for years. I did see him once. he was around 70-80 lbs. Quite large. Hard to say if this is the same one, or something different.

I agree that it's a coyote.