Wyoming
There Are Plenty Of Coyotes And Wolves In… | Cowboy State Daily
As near as anybody can tell so far, Wyoming coyotes are just that: coyotes.
Even though there are plenty of coyotes all around the Cowboy State, and they share territory with Wyoming wolves, as far as anyone knows they haven’t mated with wolves to produce hybrid offspring.
But in the Eastern United States and Canada, the coyotes people encounter are likely to be coywolves, or coyote-wolf crossbreeds, frequently also with some dog DNA tossed in.
Different canine species can, and in some places have, successfully crossbred and had fertile offspring, some experts told Cowboy State Daily. But in Wyoming, wolves and coyotes tend to avoid each other, and coyotes risk getting killed by wolves.
A Bigger Dog
Coywolves, or Eastern coyotes, are burlier than coyotes out West.
“They’re larger than your Western coyotes. They average about 35 pounds, and the largest ones can get up over 50 pounds,” David Sausville, wildlife management program lead with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, told Cowboy State Daily.
Even on the larger end, Western coyotes rarely tip the scales past 30 pounds.
Sausville is a Vermont native, but has experience with both Eastern and Western coyotes, as well as purebred wolves having spent some time in the Dakotas and Alaska.
Eastern wolves, which might, or might not, have been smaller than wolves out West, were wiped out, probably by the early 1900s, he said. Coywolves moved in to take their place.
“They’ve taken over the niche of what our Eastern wolf used to do,” he said.
The coywolves’ prey consists largely of rabbits and small mammals, but they will also take down deer from time to time.
“They’re opportunistic. And if they get the opportunity to take a deer, especially a fawn, they’ll take it,” Sausville said.
Wyoming’s coyotes are also known to occasionally take deer fawns or elk calves, but in some places they must compete with wolves or grizzlies for those tasty prizes.
Coywolves also adjust well to urban living.
“I’ve heard reports of them in New York City,” Sausville said. “They catch them down there at night sometimes.”
No Proof So Far Of Wyoming Coywolves
While coywolves are increasingly common in the East, in Wyoming they’re more likely than not in the same category as jackalopes — mythical creatures.
Particularly since the advent of social media, rumors crop up and get circulated about somebody spotting a coywolf slinking through the mountain forests or bounding across the prairie.
Those are probably rumors and nothing more.
“I’m not aware of any coywolves being documented in Wyoming,” Wyoming Game and Fish Large Carnivore Specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.
“In an evolutionary sense, species with the same genus (such as canine) can breed and produce offspring, but it is not something that occurs regularly, based on behavioral adaptations and other social hierarchy,” he added.
Researcher Kira Cassidy monitors and studies wolves in Yellowstone National Park, including the tenacious 11-year-old, one-eyed Wolf 907F.
Yellowstone has its share of coyotes too. To survive, they must be crafty about out-competing bears, wolves and mountain lions for big game carcasses and other food.
And one celebrity coyote named Limpy has mastered the art of looking pathetic and suckering tourists for snacks, even though feeding wildlife in Yellowstone is strictly against the rules.
But seducing wolves and producing supersized offspring isn’t a trick that Yellowstone coyotes have learned, Cassidy told Cowboy State Daily.
“I’ve never heard of a coyote/wolf pairing out here. It’s rare to even see a coyote and wolf in the same vicinity without showing a classic dynamic of a wolf trying to chase and catch/kill the coyote, or multiple coyotes chasing away a single wolf, usually near a coyote den,” she said.
Colorado Coywolf Rumors Probably False Too
There’s also been social media chatter and barstool talk of coywolves or other such critters to the south of Wyoming in the Centennial State.
But that’s also likely just unsubstantiated talk, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Joey Livingston told Cowboy State Daily.
There’s never been a verified report of any such animal in Colorado, he said.
“Wolves and coyotes have coexisted in the Rockies for many years, and they are still distinct species. That should be good evidence to say they will continue to not breed with each other at any significant rate,” Livingston said.
“The coywolf issue usually comes from the Eastern U.S./Canada,” he said. “There are always rumors about coywolves and wolf-dogs in the northern Rockies, but it has rarely been proven and has never been a problem.”
On the off chance coywolves ever do take hold in Colorado, they wouldn’t be a protected species there, Livingston said.
“They would be managed as any other wildlife species without Federal Endangered Species protections,” he said.
Taking The Long Road To Vermont
It took considerable time and coyotes traveling long distances to produce a permanent population of coywolves in Vermont and across the East.
“The Eastern coyote (Canis latrans) moved eastward from west of the Mississippi and first appeared in Vermont in the late 1940s,” according to Vermont Fish and Wildlife.
“It is generally larger than its Western ancestor because it gained size by breeding with gray wolves occupying the Great Lakes region, Eastern wolves, and even domestic dogs in southern Canada before it moved into our area,” according to the agency.
Coywolves have become more common over recent decades as they’ve moved in and claimed territory, sometimes pushing out foxes, Sausville said.
And there’s some misconceptions built up around them, he added. For example, that they regularly hunt in packs and howl like wolves.
In the springtime, pairs of coywolves, or Eastern coyotes, might hang out and hunt together with some of their offspring, he said. But then they’ll tend to go their separate ways in the fall.
As far as howling goes, Sausville said he’s mostly just heard coywolves yipping, much like the coyotes he heard in the Dakotas.
“I actually think that domestic dogs howl more than Eastern coyotes do,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
Since moving to Wyoming many years ago, and having lived in a few towns around the state, I find that some town and city rivalries must be addressed. Some are based on past conflicts that still cause pain to this day. Some are unexplained.
For example, to this day, all of Johnson County still does not trust Cheyenne after the Johnson County War of 1892. Cattlemen in Cheyenne sent a hit squad hired by the barons to invade Johnson County to eliminate alleged rustlers. A shootout that lasted several days ensued.
Other town rivalries include:
Green River vs. Rock Springs: The two towns are close together and share one of the most intense and oldest community, cultural, and athletic rivalries in the state.
Lander vs. Riverton: Located in Fremont County, this rivalry dates back to 1922 and divides the area over high school football bragging rights. They talk a lot of smack about each other.
Cheyenne vs Casper: The towns just HATE each other. I’ve lived in both, and I can tell you that there is nothing wrong with either town. But I’ve come across people in both towns who talk about their hatred of the other.
There is not a lot of love across Wyoming for Jackson, mostly because of the mega-rich liberals who live there. Many of those mega-rich liberals look down on the rest of Wyoming.
Folks talk smack about Laramie, but in a very different way than people talk smack about Gillette.
Having traveled around Wyoming, I can tell you that most of this hate is just nonsense and a waste of time. In the end, we are all Wyomingites. Just one big bickering family who still have each other’s backs when it comes down to it.
The Charmingly Odd Town Of La Grange Wyoming
It is well worth the long drive to see one of the most interesting and quirky little towns in Wyoming.
Stay for lunch. You won’t regret it.
Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods
Jay Em, Wyoming, Frozen In Time
Jay Em, what an unusual name for a town.The few people who live there are proud of what their spot on earth once was, and they work to preserve it. They keep this little community frozen in time.
Gallery Credit: Glenn Woods
Wyoming
Hoping to draw Colorado interest, construction begins at $80M betting facility in Laramie County
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Foundation work is beginning this week on Wyoming’s next horse betting and gaming house.
The $80 million Wyoming Downs facility in Laramie County, one of two the company is investing in over the next couple of years, is poised to be one of the largest facilities of its kind in the state. The company is aiming for a spring 2027 opening.
The facility will host upwards of 600 historic horse racing machines, Wyoming’s largest TV wall, multiple dining options and more across 58,000 square feet. More land was bought for future hotel development. Commuters driving between Cheyenne and the Colorado border can see clearly from Interstate 25 the expansive development.
That placement along the travel corridor is purposeful, Wyoming Downs and 307 Horse Racing President Kyle Ridgeway said.
“I think that the targeted consumer for this is from Colorado or from the Front Range,” Ridgeway said. “I anticipate we’re going to have plenty of people from Cheyenne come down here to play and enjoy the amenities, but when you look at 600,000 people within a 30-minute drive, that’s what justifies this investment and brings all that tax revenue in from another state, which is fantastic.
“We don’t get the opportunity to do that in Wyoming very often.”
There is still plenty to offer Cheyenne residents besides the facility’s amenities. Ridgeway said in a speech to attendees at the project’s groundbreaking Tuesday, June 2, that more than 150 permanent jobs will be supported by the facility on top of the dozens supported by the companies’ corporate offices and the 400-plus involved in the project’s construction.
Groathouse Construction, a Wyoming business, is the project’s general contractor. Wyoming Downs said it believes putting the project in local hands also helps keep the project uniquely Wyoming-focused.
Ridgeway added the facilities have already proven themselves to be effective tax revenue generators for the local governments. The Wyoming Gaming Commission’s 2025 report, released in late May, shows bettors wagered $2.49 billion on historic horse racing machines last year, a jump from the $2.11 billion wagered in 2024.
Wyoming Downs facilities generate roughly $25 million in taxes annually across the state, and Ridgeway estimated after the ceremony that the upcoming $80 million facility alone will generate an additional $3 million for Laramie County once the property has been in operation for a few years.
Horse betting sites have been increasingly popping up across Wyoming this decade. The Wyoming Downs location will be Cheyenne’s second large-scale horse betting facility since 2024, when the 30,000-square-foot Horse Palace at Swan Ranch opened. Ridgeway said Wyoming Downs is still offering something fresh for tourists and residents.
“This’ll have amenities that Swan Ranch doesn’t have, including the largest TV wall in Wyoming and a pretty super-cool sports viewing area with a restaurant and just a level of finish and class that I don’t think Wyoming has quite seen yet with these types of properties,” he said.
Ridgeway said he thinks resident fatigue with these facilities isn’t as strong as it appears, especially given the tourism benefits of off-track betting.
“Wyoming’s been built on mineral extraction and tourism, and what this is is a touristic facility. I’m not aware of any particular pushback about this specific facility outside of — you see random social media comments where people say, ‘Oh, another gambling facility.’ But where this is located, I think people in Cheyenne have generally been supportive of,” he said.
The Laramie County facility will be just one part of a larger project Wyoming Downs is working on over the next few years. Construction will begin in early 2027 on a similar facility in Evanston looking to draw in Utah and western Colorado crowds.
Some of the company’s current facilities, notably in Casper, Cheyenne and Rock Springs, will see millions poured into renovations as well. New smaller-scale parlors will also go up in Gillette and Green River this year, according to an information packet provided by the company.
More details will come as the construction process develops, Ridgeway said. Details about amenities, such as what the complex’s dining options will look like, remain undisclosed, though Ridgeway promised that options will be “excellent.”
“We haven’t made final selections on what the options are, but we have a number of different options on the table that we’re considering for what we want to offer for the customers,” Ridgeway said. “You have to have something that’s high quality for where this is located. If somebody’s going to drive 25 or 35, or even 45 minutes to come here, they got to be able to sit down and have a quality meal.”
For more information as it becomes available and to learn more about Wyoming Downs facilities and 307 Horse Racing‘s events and offerings, see the companies’ websites. Renderings for the upcoming Cheyenne facility commissioned by the company are available for viewing below.
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