Dan, that's a nasty big yote.

I doubt if a 20 pound yote could snap the rib bones off the spine of a 150+ pound deer and seen lots of carcasses with only head, spine, femurs and the hide on the ground side.

One thing many people don't understand around here (especially our wildlife biologists - and that simply floors me) is that our "yotes" were eradicated when the white man eradicated the caribou around the turn of the last century. There was NOT enough grub for them.

Now, there is enough grub and that is why they have returned and are thriving. The increasing human population has provided them with new food sources. Deer, for instance, which only appeared here the late 20s and 30s because the stripping of softwood forest allowed a tremendously rapid increase in deer feed. Farming grew to feed an increased population of humans which provided livestock... and pets.

Re the Virginia White Tailed Deer arrival. My old man worked in a lumber camp in the 30s. One supper, a couple of lads told of pig or sheep tracks in the mud. Again, bullshit or crazy talk because the nearest farm was at least 20 miles away. The next eve, they produced a shovel of dirt with these tracks. One of the lads, from The Boston States, announced they were deer tracks. Nobody in the camp had ever seen one or even knew what they were but the Yankee said they must have followed the railway (the only way into many lumber camps) and that they were delicious. Deer steaks and pancakes with maple slurpup became a favourite meal immediately.