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Just saw a coyote

#21
Mojave Desert coyotes are particularly wiley. I was camped out at Joshua Tree once when my friend pulled up. She started unloading and placed a bag carrying Tinker, her little tiny Chihuahua, down by her feet. Just then, a coyote who must've been watching swooped in a snatched her!

Talk about putting a damper on a camping trip! Miraculously, we were awoken then next morning by someone who had found Tinker shaking uncontrollably, in that way the Chihuahuas do, by the main road. Somehow, this tiny dog, three pounds soaking wet, had escaped the grips of wild coyotes with nothing more than a couple fang marks on her neck! We've also had a coyote enter the open back of a Toyota 4-Runner and make off with gallon jug of water.

Having said all that, hearing a pack of desert coyotes howling off in the distance is one of the coolest experiences you can have!

 
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#24
bolophonic said:
I found a pile of coyote poop on my trail this winter. I was not stoked about that, but what are you going to do?
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Get comfortable carrying a piece, even if it's a .22 with rat shot. I spent a lot of time in the wilds outside Knoxville last year and coyotes in packs were a common sight at night. We were spending a lot of time in a barn up there and you'd hear them all over the place after dark. One night a few of us were sitting out under the front shed in the dark when a largish pack of them broke cover and made a beeline toward us across the pasture. It was a full moon and they were clearly headed out way. My host's wife whipped out a little .380 and sent them packing back the way they came. I'm much closer to civilization here at home and we still hear them often enough to know they hang out in this neck of the woods.
 
#25
Where i live, rural central Ohio, there have been coyote sightings and reports of animal & livestock attacks since the mid 1990's. The position of our county sheriff departments & animal control has always been DENY, DENY, DENY, even when people show up at the station with fresh coyote carcasses. "Eh you probably bought that on ebay, stop wasting our time." I don't think they'll bother until a pack goes after a human instead of chickens, pets and goats.
I've seen several packs of them in the last few years, each between 6 and 10 strong in the little time i had to count.
 
#28
megafiddle said:
(sorry, just had to quote that)

I've never seen one. Do they always hang in packs? Are there lone coyotes?

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I'd like to know if they all pack into one car or if they drive separately...and if so, do they drive similar vehicles?

:woot:

On a serious note, I've seen tons of coyotes and except for one case, they've all been alone. The one time I did see a proper pack of coyotes was quite odd since it was in broad daylight. I've heard packs of coyotes a bunch!
 
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#29
I lived in Costa Mesa for 15 years and my condo complex backed up to a nature preserve and the Santa Ana River Channel that went all the way down to Huntington Beach. Used to hear packs of coyotes running up and down the river Channel all the time people ride bikes there people let the dogs run there and it's like a little forced out of the river channel it's amazing cats and dogs were always disappearing used to see him a lot in the early early morning there's never just one trust me
 
#30
/\/\3phist0 said:
I lived in Costa Mesa for 15 years and my condo complex backed up to a nature preserve and the Santa Ana River Channel that went all the way down to Huntington Beach. Used to hear packs of coyotes running up and down the river Channel all the time people ride bikes there people let the dogs run there and it's like a little forced out of the river channel it's amazing cats and dogs were always disappearing used to see him a lot in the early early morning there's never just one trust me
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Yup, it's still an issue!

Huntington Beach confronts coyote threat, could trap and kill the animals
 
#31
we used to live in the hollywood hills, and coyotes were something we saw and heard all the time. they didn't bother us, but one day one of the oldsters from the local pack, who was probably kicked out, tracked me at around 7 am. i was wearing shorts, i'm 5' 3" and i had nothing to hit him with in an attack; he followed me to our apartment. holy wowzers!

i haven't had an outdoor pet since many years ago when i happened to be there as an especially large owl came hurtling down toward my cat (who was in our yard), his claws extended to grab. i was lucky and chased him off, and since then all cats we have are indoor cats. we have large hawks over where we live now, in the middle of los angeles.
 
#32
#33
We live out in "the country" in south Texas so they are everywhere along with feral hogs, bambi, rattlesnakes, packs of racoons wanting our dogs' food, etc. The coyote packs run along the creek regularly here(250 yards from our home) in winter for the past 20+ years. A guess would be a sure source of water with pastures of food on either side mixed in with whatever they kill. We've lost probably 2 dogs to them. Our "outside dogs" all bark and start the coyote imitations when they hear them. Part of why one must be armed most of the time out here.
Did I mention rattlesnakes?

Small dogs don't stand a chance, those are the ones we lost. Unless it was a pack of them, I don't think a single one would stand a chance against wifey's 2 great danes and our hounds, lab, and german setter.
 
#34
I live in the hills right above Redondo Beach, CA. We never had coyotes until about five years ago. Now, I can hear them howling right after they make a kill so I don't walk my 35lbs dog at night anymore. About a year ago, we had a idiot neighbor pull out a high power rifle and try to shoot one with other homes directly in his line of fire. It is the only time I ever had to call the cops since I have lived in this house. This guy was much more dangerous than any coyote. Anyway...carry on.
 
#35
megafiddle said:
(sorry, just had to quote that)

I've never seen one. Do they always hang in packs? Are there lone coyotes?

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Yeah, they were driving around. Lol

Nope, always packs or at least pairs. They are not solitary animals.


Kinda surprised about people talking about carrying guns due to coyotes. It's not like they attack humans. They are extremely shy and skittish. Maybe the odd sick one makes a run at a human, but what, once a year in the entire country?
 
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#38
I'm in an area where the NYC suburbs begin to meet some pretty well wooded areas. In some of the nearby parkland a number of people have had encounters with bears that were behaving in a threatening manner. And some of the farms in our town have had some incidents of coyotes eating a bunch of their chickens. I regularly see deer in my neighborhood or just outside of it. I've even seem some foxes near my house, and on one occasion I saw a coyote just trotting along the side of the road at night.

The thing is, this is what happens when human activity begins to encroach on wildlife habitat. There's no malice on the part of these animals. They're just doing what comes to them naturally. A house pet is a pretty easy meal for a coyote. And I've heard a good number of stories about people losing pets to alligators in Florida, too. I think people just need to be a little more aware of their surroundings, and that there are wild animals in your area. Very often far closer than you might imagine.
 
#39
In the Denver are and along the front range of Colorado they're quite common, and stories of them taking small pets are fairly common. I have my own opinion of people who lets dogs off leash, especially in natural areas....but the penalty falls on the dog, not the negligent owner.

Recently a coyote tried to take a baby in a Denver suburb; the mother pulled him off and the child got away with a couple of gashes.

I recognize the problem of using firearms in urban or suburban areas, but this does make me wish I was a better archer. The naturalists would like us to scare the coyotes off, but they're not an endangered species and I'd like them to be of scared of people as possible.
 

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