safe in the woods

Hi Steve
"While driving to Chama from Albuquerque last September, about a half hour out, something big and Grey ran across the highway in front of me (not close).
This was about an hour after dark. Could this have been a Wolf or Coyote?"
my guess would be a coyote. According the the game and fish folks their are no wolfs in this area.
"What precautions do you recommend for exploring as you suggest?
I love my vacations to N.G. land, and prefer not to become some critter's dinner."
As we both know nothing is 100% but my guess is 99.9% of the time what is important is common sense. Humans are normally not attacked by animals when it does happen it is almost always the fault of the human. You wouldn't want to get in between a mother bear and her cubs or any mother and her baby or babies. You don't want to make the animal feel threatened or trapped into a corner. You always make sure your position to the animal leaves more than one easy exit for the animal and they will try to get away from you (The Human) if given a choice. You wouldn't want to get to close to a animal that was feeding on a kill, in this instance stay a safe distance and when you are done with you looking or photo taking leave going away from the animal. Animals look at humans as a threat so they will go away from you if you don't make them feel like they have no choice. If you find a eagles nest with babies you wouldn't want to climb up the tree to get a closer look at the babies. Stay a reasonable distance away and use the zoom on you camera.
Take binoculars to find wildlife and then use the wind and cover to get close enough to get photos with a zoom. Not close enough for them to feel threatened in fact if you do this carefully the animals will never know you were even there. The fact is if you want and you go out the right hours you never have to get out of you automobile to see and photograph most wildlife. Take the back roads and some of the 4 wheel drive roads and be there early in the morning and late in the afternoon and you don't even have to get out of your car. A good example is the gravel road that is on the west side of Heron and El Vado lake. I have never been on this road early or late in the day that I didn't get to see lots of different wildlife. The same goes for the road to Osier & to Sublette. Remember you go slow and look under and in between the trees and in the trees especially the old dead snags. You not only are going to see a lot of animals or birds you normally would not of seen but you also will have an opportunity to see a lot of beautiful scenery.
What I am telling you is what has worked for me for over 50 years and it is only common sense. I hope this answers your questions.
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