Coyotes, they aren’t just a rural problem:
The real eye-opener:
Donelan contacted Animal Control hoping they would step in – with no luck.
Have a look at the house in the video. This is NOT rural Mass, this is the wealthy ‘burbs. And the Police were contacted and they did nothing.
I’m sure Chestnut Hill, like just about all of Eastern Mass is regulated “No Discharge of Firearms”. Still that law excepts defensive shooting. If a coyote was attacking my dog (or child!) I’d feel pretty justified in popping it with my carry gun.
Not only would it have saved this woman her dog, but probably other family pets as well.
Carry your gun, and remember, it isn’t just for two-legged predators!
I awoke one morning a couple of weeks ago to a coyote running off of my deck/porch to chase after pheasants. I don’t go out in the early AM without iron on my hip.
Around here we have a big problem with coy-dogs (coyote/dog mix, get it?). They have all the predatory instincts of a coyote without any of the fear of humans. They’re often larger and stronger than coyotes as well.
I always go outside at night with my dog when she uses the lavatory. This is also why I “mark my territory” out in the yard – to let the coyotes know who’s boss.
Much to my wife’s chagrin…
The Mainers out in the woods, as well a my homies in backwoods vermont all talk of Coy-Dogs, but doing some research I haven’t found any evidence that Coyotes and Feral Dogs would ever interbreed in the wild.
Most likely, coyotes have a lot of variation in the species, and some strains can get rather large, and as a general rule unless they are being activity hunted they are rather fearless beasts.
i dunno about feral dogs, but there IS evidence they’ll hybridize with wolves:
http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2010/10/coyotes_species_definitions_an.php
I don’t think there’s much of a Wolf population here on the East Coast.
check the linked story. the speculation is that the hybridization happened further west, in the Canadian great lakes region most likely, and the hybrid strain’s been dragging the wolf genes along as they’ve moved east.
Well what are you waiting for? Get your giggin’ stick out and get at em!
Yeah, but much like gators, its not good ti gig big things with teeth.
A good coyote giggin’ stick is a Ruger 10/22
Aww, Come on. We’ll get a cold steel spear. I’ll come up. It’ll be great!
OK now you’re talking my language! 🙂
I wish I had snapped a picture of the spears they had!
http://www.coldsteel.com/boarspear.html
This here is mah’ Coy-Dog Giggin’ Stick! 😉
GIG ‘EM!!!
oh god…LOL.
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Last year we had a very agressive yote in my neighborhood- by agressive I mean I got out of my car once and he started to advance on me across the yard. He eventually stopped about 15 feet from me before turning and running across my neighbors yard and into the woods. I did draw on him but his angle made it a very poor shoot as the back stop was the interior of my neighborhood so I decided to shoot once he got to within 10 feet.
I had seen signs for missing cats and small dogs so I was pretty sure a yote was in the area. Well after this I contacted animal control and was told unless it attacked a human there was nothing they could do about it. On either side of me are families with 3 – 4 year old kids- this yote could easily dash out of the woods and grab one of these kids. Animal control said to call when that happened- so my reply is I would shoot it myself and got read the riot act about felony arrest for discharging a weapon within the city limits, etc etc.
Two nights later the bait I set out attracted him the the edge of the woods which is about 75 feet from my kitchen window. I got rid of the problem using a suppressed AR and 62gr TAP ammo fired from my kitchen table. Clean kill- buried him in a prepared hole and called it good. No more missing dogs and cats after that either.
I dont feel any guilt over “breaking the law” with this- any yote that would advance 70+ feet in daylight across an open yard towards a large human male is much too dangerous in my book to let live in a neighborhood full of young children that play up to and into those same woods.
Sounds like you did the right thing, and I would have done the same (minus the suppressor, as I don’t have one of thems.
I 100% agree with “no discharge of firearm” laws in densely populated areas…but there is no damn point to it all if the Po-Po can’t send out a marksman to cap a varmint.
Well I was pretty comfy shooting out the back as we have a good 1/4 mile of woods as a backstop and I used a 7x set of binoculars first to make sure there wasnt a kid in the woods behind the yote (I took the shot about 7:30 when the tykes are typically inside but I wanted to make sure). Shooting from the front of my house is a nightmare and I would only have done it if that yote crossed the 10 foot threshhold as I would have been firing steeply into the ground.
This being CT though they take a dim view of even a legal discharge of firearms in a residential area. I’m actually happier that I took him how I did as it was safer for everyone in the end.