Canid Comparison: How Could Experienced 'Sportsmen' Not Tell A Wolf From A Fox?

 This is a rather interesting post on the Cedar Creek Eyes On The Wild blog titled Comparing Canids and the chart speaks volumes. https://eyesonthewild.blogspot.com/2019/02/comparing-canids.html

How could experienced hunters/'sportsmen' not know that they were chasing a wolf or coyote or even a jackal on a hunt?

As noted in The Red Paper 2022 Vol. I: Canids the English and Welsh hunts imported not only foxes to replace the ones they wiped out but also wanted the animal they chased to "give a good account of itself" (ie put up a fight when cornered by hounds and killed).

They wanted an animal with stamina as the duration of a chase and distance covered was even more important than killing the animal chased. The records are proudly given of "wasted" hounds and hunters (hunters being the horses) which meant that both were run up to a point of near collapse or actual collapse and death. One hunter who refused to ride his £40 (EXPENSIVE back in the 19th century) horse that was nearing exhaustion and collapsed was mocked.

So there had to be a good chase. There also had to be, if wanted, either a capture so that the fox could be released and hunted again (in some cases 6-8 times) which was a "bagged fox" that was released at an announced place.

For stamina the old colonials who also went on hunting holidays to the United States and Europe knew that wolves, coyotes and jackals had the stamina superior to the fox (by the 1860s they had wiped out the old greyhound fox).

Wolves, coyotes and jackals also fought well when cornered and that was something the hunters wanted., The Duke of Beaufort on a wolf hunt in France in the 1880s rather than let the wolf be released after cornering to let the chase continued threw a hissy fit and demanded the animal was strangled on the spot.

Acquiring either wolf or coyote was no problem as animals were imported by the many thousands each year -including jackals. We know there were announcements of wolves and jackals being released for hunts and we know there were attempts to cross-breed the animals.

There was one fox that eluded the hunt for years and was white in colour and known as Mr Lloyd. One day its luck ran out and all but the head (a bitch fox hound had to be beaten to get it off her) was consumed -hounds were always starved or else they were not keen to hunt. An author noted how the day after the kill a friend brought the head to his house and it "looked for all the world like a wolf"

From the description it obviously was a wolf.

All of this was public knowledge and stories appeared in newspapers, magazines and journals as well as well read books. And it continued into the early 20th century.

Is it possible that the 'sportsmen' could mistake a wolf, coyote or jackal for a cat sized red fox? That would either be gross stupidity and ignorance. The animals were deliberately released and it is possible some of the hunt social hangers on did not know what they were chasing.

All of this is well documented if you carry out even basic research. For many in fringe groups such as cryptozoology facts are inconvenient as to spin a mystery (and make money) they are not needed -The Great Dog of Ennerdale (1810) has been labelled a thylacine that escaped from a travelling show to a tiger and even a dire wolf (it is always a dire wolf with these people) or hyena. I went back to the original sources and solved the 'mystery'

One group wants to cover up its embarrassing history while another will accept the denials to 'prove' that various "mysterious animals"/"cryptids" were on the loose and simply....'vanished'.