The start of mange?

Caught a small Wolf today and it has the ugliest patch of fur in the world! Is it mange?

No idea but great job on the wolf!

I thought mange started at the base of the tail..on the top side. That looks more like lice. Does it smell and feel oily ?

I never noticed any smell, but I also didn’t put my face near that brown patch. The fur wasn’t good at all, didn’t have that fluffy look. Seemed thin and wirey, but not oily.

Overall the fur didn’t look great.

I agree with White, looks like lice. is there a rub like between it's shoulder blades along the spine? Usually looks like a football shape.

Lice-the red belly is a sure giveaway.
Hang it in a warm place and you will see the tiny lice crawling up to the ends of the hairs.
Looks like a good bit of usable fur on it for your own use.Not worth marketing.

Boco, do you still skin these things with lice like that?

If there is enough useable fur for my own use,yes I salvage the good part and tan it.
If you just sell raw fur-toss it.

Looks like lice to me too, T.Canis.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/h...ch_pdfs/91_spraker_lice_kenai_wolves.pdf

Wolf legs with claws attached may find a market. Good wolf claws are worth $5 - $20 apiece depending on your marketing. Tanned Face may be worth something also the tail.

Thanks guys for letting me know that it’s lice!

It doesn’t have a rub between the shoulders, but is missing a bunch of guard hairs on the side of the neck.

I see you have the conibear trap in the sleigh.Is that what you use for wolf jurassic?

Lol nope! Caught that wolf in a snare!

This is about best case scenario as far as lice damage goes. mPups usually get it worse. Older wolves may develop an immunity to some extent. Also, any of them may prime up fine in December only to rub later on. For sure lice are nasty.

Learn something now .I was not sure for how lice looks ,now I do and what to look for ,

I'm seeing stuff like this on yotes around here. Probably pretty contagious I would think. I imagine the plague holds on for awhile once it gets a foothold?

I think it's pretty permanent once it shows up. I've had seasons where all I catch have lice. It seems as lately there have been more healthy wolves taken.
Coyotes had it commonly for a while but I don't trap as many of them as I used to so it's hard to say if they have improved.
Many years back my Golden ret. picked lice up from the coyotes in the neighborhood, I wasn't trapping then. Ivermectin works great if your dog gets them. All the years of skinning lousy wolves my dogs have never picked them up oddly enough.
Something else I've learned is that the leather does not tan up that great on wolves with lice. Has to do with the oil the skin is secreting to combat the lice making the leather tan up cardboard like. Also the underfur starts to matt up in the areas where there is still guard hair. The root beer color is common with most canines I believe when they have allergies or parasites. You will see it in the groin, feet, and under the muzzle. I used to sell the salvageable ones, but now I just take the skull, and claws if they are nice and leave the rest in the bush.
These are just my observations I'm no expert, and I could be very off base on any of that.

Here are a few nasty ones, and some that look decent, but weren't worth skinning

That’s quite the load of crappy Wolves nooksack! Funny I always imagine a healthy prime furred animal when I see tracks in the snow, but obviously that’s not always the case.