Close encounter with a large 'yote

jill jackson said:
This one didn't see me, as the area I was in is very thick briars and saplings. The dogs went off the trail and into the thick brush and I'd heard deer run out just before that. I went on up the trail with my Pit Bull on leash and came back when the hound was running at something in the brush. When I saw the 'yote at first he was moving down the trail away from my hound, who was following him. Then he turned raised his upper at the hound. The other two dogs were still in the thicket at the time. When I saw it was a big coyote as it turned (instead of a dog) I was mildly shocked and just dropped the Pit's lead so she could attack.(she was straining anyway) I know for fact this 'yote didn't have a clue a human was there, instead of just the hound harassing him. He looked in great condition and was fully furred out with longish yellow tinted hair, over grayish. He was a very impressive specimen.
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Is there a reason why you just didn't call your dogs back and let him proceed on his way. It seems to me you put your animals and the yote in danger just for some perverce personal pleasure. We are supposed to live with nature, not eradicate it when ever we encounter it. Maby there is more to the story than you mentioned but from your description he was vacating the area when you purposly escalated the situation. From your own description this was a fine speciman of an animal. Who knows what type of damage your dogs did to it before it was able to get away. You didn't even have the humanity or courtisy to finish it off cleanly. :thumbdn::confused:
 
I reread it and it sounds like it happened pretty fast. The other 2 dogs were not on a leash and were mach charging the coyote. When he finally saw what they were mach charging, his dog did it again. Then he let go or the leash knowing the only dog their that could clearly take care of the yote was the pit. It sounds like he dropped the leash in defense of his other two dogs. I see nothing wrong with that.

In regards to going to look for a possibly injured coyote with dogs that were not leashed, I think he made the right choice.
 
Jim G. said:
Is there a reason why you just didn't call your dogs back and let him proceed on his way. It seems to me you put your animals and the yote in danger just for some perverce personal pleasure. We are supposed to live with nature, not eradicate it when ever we encounter it. Maby there is more to the story than you mentioned but from your description he was vacating the area when you purposly escalated the situation. From your own description this was a fine speciman of an animal. Who knows what type of damage your dogs did to it before it was able to get away. You didn't even have the humanity or courtisy to finish it off cleanly. :thumbdn::confused:
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I was hoping my dogs and I would be able to kill it. The dogs were doing a pretty good job of holding it, until I got close and then it seemed to really want to get away and did. I don't have your sympathy for coyotes, after seeing what they do to smaller dogs and cats they can catch and kill. They also follow our calving cows and try to rip the baby out of the mother as they are born. (yes my Dad has witnessed a pair trying to do just that) If you had ever lost a beloved pet to these sneaky animals maybe you'd feel differently about them. There was a old beagle disemboweled by 'yotes not 50 yards from where this happened, last year. They killed him just to be killing him, and didn't even eat him until weeks later when the snow and ice made it hard for them to find other food.
Sure I let the Pit Bull at it. I would have put a .22 mag in it too, had I been able. Coyotes are not afforded any protection by law. Maybe there is a good reason for that?
Besides I have a little Jack Russell and I don't want coyotes around my place and my good friend and neighbor that lives the farm over has already lost many of his pet cats and had several badly injured by 'yotes at night coming close to his home. When my old Lab passes I'm getting a large flock guardian type dog, that will be a real deterrent to 'yotes.
 
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tonym said:
I reread it and it sounds like it happened pretty fast. The other 2 dogs were not on a leash and were mach charging the coyote. When he finally saw what they were mach charging, his dog did it again. Then he let go or the leash knowing the only dog their that could clearly take care of the yote was the pit. It sounds like he dropped the leash in defense of his other two dogs. I see nothing wrong with that.

In regards to going to look for a possibly injured coyote with dogs that were not leashed, I think he made the right choice.
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umm I'm not a "he".:)
 
jill jackson said:
I was hoping my dogs and I would be able to kill it. The dogs were doing a pretty good job of holding it, until I got close and then it seemed to really want to get away and did. I don't have your sympathy for coyotes, after seeing what they do to smaller dogs and cats they can catch and kill. They also follow our calving cows and try to rip the baby out of the mother as they are born. (yes my Dad has witnessed a pair trying to do just that) If you had ever lost a beloved pet to these sneaky animals maybe you'd feel differently about them. There was a old beagle disemboweled by 'yotes not 50 yards from where this happened, last year. They killed him just to be killing him, and didn't even eat him until weeks later when the snow and ice made it hard for them to find other food.
Sure I let the Pit Bull at it. I would have put a .22 mag in it too, had I been able. Coyotes are not afforded any protection by law. Maybe there is a good reason for that?
Besides I have a little Jack Russell and I don't want coyotes around my place and my good friend and neighbor that lives the farm over has already lost many of his pet cats and had several badly injured by 'yotes at night coming close to his home. When my old Lab passes I'm getting a large flock guardian type dog, that will be a real deterrent to 'yotes.
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Then kill them, you should have called your dogs back and shot it, not let the dogs try and kill it. All you showed by your actions is you have no concern for the safty of your animals. If it had attacked your animals and you couldn't get a clean shot that would have been one thing. You state in your post that it was a ways off, instead of unleashing the pit bull you should have recalled the other 3 who were not engaged with it, and if you felt you needed to kill it then shoot it.
 
It wasn't aways off it, I went back down the trail to see what the dogs was after in the brush, with my Pit Bull. It came out of the brush on the trail trotted aways with my little hound after it and they wasn't over 50 feet away. The 'yote turned and raised it's lip at the hound so I let the pit go after it. I only had a .22 mag mini-pistol with me. I let the Pit go to counter any threat to my hound. She is a willing capable fighter and was at no risk.
 
I think I may just get me a pack of these and use them to hunt coyotes.
http://www.angelfire.com/in/CalicoCoyoteHounds/page2.html
I bet you will love that?
Seems scent hounds are used a good bit to control these hard to control pests, in the east a sight hound like the Greyhound or Deer would be at a disadvantage to run a 'yote down on speed alone before it got in the thick woods. Out west the sight-hounds are used mainly. This American Stag Hound is bred just for that purpose-
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/staghound.htm

More scent hounds being bred to hunt 'yotes
http://www.udarrell.com/cruiser-walker-coyote-hound-stud.html
 
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The Mastiff said:
We have the really big coyote/dog hybrids here too. They are typically not going to bother humans though there have been reports of joggers being followed by them up in the state park here. I ran into one in my neighborhood one night. He watched me for about 30 seconds, then loped off the other way.

I'd hate to have to shoot into a big dogfight to try to hit the coyote. As fast as dogs move that's a chancy proposition. I'd imagine Jill's coyote wanted nothing more than to haul ass after a few pit bull chomps!

Though Coyotes aren't above snacking on a housecat, or dog they aren't big on fighting dogs. That's more of a dog trait.

I'd bet money Jill never see's that same coyote again. Joe

edit: kdstrick, I've never seen a large pack here. They 're a different animal when in packs. I agree with the rabies thing. That's pretty much any animal.
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They are typically not going to bother humans though there have been reports of joggers being followed by them up in the state park here.
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They don't care about humans, they follow people because they see humans as bigger predators, thus we might lead them to a food source. It's just an isntinctive behavior, they don't intend to attack us.
 
I'm not worried about them bothering me. They only kill anything small enough to be able to do so without much risk. Unless they are in a pack and can gang up. Everybody around shoots them on sight, even if it was in their nature to attack man (it isn't) they will never lose their fear of man. It's been proven many times over, we can't eradicate coyotes. The grey wolf we can, but the coyote is just too cunning and adaptable. People have been trying by all means out west to eradicate them for decades and the 'yote has responded by increasing its range!
 
tonym said:
Damn, I always do that:o

Please accept my apology, I read everything but the name.
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GS, c'mon over here, we have to talk. Girls are different from boys and.............

Seems to me you've made that mistake twice in as many weeks?

Where was I? Oh yes, Girls are different..............

GP
 
DOC-CANADA said:
GS, c'mon over here, we have to talk. Girls are different from boys and.............

Seems to me you've made that mistake twice in as many weeks?

Where was I? Oh yes, Girls are different..............

GP
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I was realy hoping you wouldn't catch this one:o
 
Mountainman38 said:
When I lived near San Bernardino, I saw coyotes all the time while mountain biking. They would sit very close to the trail (sometimes several of them, sort of spread out), and just watch me as I rode by. Sort of unnerving.

Then again, when I was riding those same trails on my XR600, it was pretty funny to see a coyote pop up near the trail. Boy, can they run when you hit the gas and get on their tail!

I heard Ted Nugent on the Adam Corolla show talking about a baby that was taken off of a porch in SoCal by a coyote in broad daylight. I can't find verification of his story, but there have definitely been problems with coyotes down there.

Here are a couple of links to human/coyote interaction in SoCal:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4811654&page=1

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/02/25/news/californian/20_34_002_24_07.txt
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I'm not supprised. I was stationed at MCAS Tustin in the mid 90's and my friends in base housing used to see them frequently. The would use the storm water aquaducts as a highway from the nearby hills. Many a cat disappeared from that housing complex.
 
Jim G. said:
Then kill them, you should have called your dogs back and shot it, not let the dogs try and kill it. All you showed by your actions is you have no concern for the safty of your animals. If it had attacked your animals and you couldn't get a clean shot that would have been one thing. You state in your post that it was a ways off, instead of unleashing the pit bull you should have recalled the other 3 who were not engaged with it, and if you felt you needed to kill it then shoot it.
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Much easier said than done. Even very well trained dogs are difficult to manage when they are acting on instinct... especially when in a 'pack'. I doubt very seriously they would have responded to their owner calling them back.

It's always easy to 'armchair quarterback' any situation, but she did the right thing. If you have ever seen a dog fight you would know that it is very difficult to shoot accurately in such a situation. To do so would likely end up with one of her own dogs being hit either due to a miss or over-penetration of the .22 mag.

Hey Jill, check out the great pyrenees. They are the only ones that survive (and kill) the yotes down here. They are huge, but seem quite gentle as pets.
 
I agree that Coyotes are pests and kill cats and pets, but they are really just nature doing what it does best. Coyotes are scavengers and will take a meal when they can.
If they didn't kill the occasional cat they would be looked at with respect and awe, but because we choose to coddle domesticated animals they have become our sworn enemies.
The coyote is one beast that always gets me thinking too much.:D
 
OldPhysics said:
They are wild, crafty animals
I've seen some very large coyotes out west. While I don't fear them, I do respect them ... and leave them be.
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First off, glad to hear you and all your animals are ok Jill.

Secondly, I'm with old physics:thumbup: Some of the sneakiest lil buggers I've ever seen. Several years back at my inlaws' place in the Sierras, my wife, father in law and I were in the back yard getting ready to BBQ some dinner. It was dusk, and daylight was fading. Anyway, our Golden Retriever, Rowdy, was wandering around the woods behind the house and bristled when he noticed a coyote slowly approaching him from the forest. I managed to call him back before he chased too far, and it was a good thing. Another 40 yards or so into the trees was the rest of the pack, about 7 or 8 eight of 'em all lined up in a semi circle waiting to pounce on Rowdy if he took the bait. It really is amazing to see how they work together, thankfully unsuccessfully on this particular day;)
 
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