Of course by carrying your most people suspect if they ever use it, a person with ill-will will be on the receiving end, but that’s not always the case:
For many people, hearing coyotes howl in the distance is a beautiful experience. But a face-to-face encounter with the predators can leave a different impression.
Scientists say these adaptable animals could be becoming more aggressive and less fearful of humans—to the detriment of both species….The problem of human-coyote encounters does not lie with those animals that live in their traditional wilderness habitats. Rather the problem rests with those wily animals that have adapted to life in suburban and even urban environments.
There are very few deaths, but lots of documented attacks, not to mention loss of family pets. I’ve seen good sized ‘yotes near my home, and my street is littered with missing dog and cat signs. I know all of them couldn’t have just run away.
Couple this with vicious dogs and the more traditional “Dangerous Game” type animals of bears and mountain lions, wolves, et al. Its a good idea to always be armed, and remember that it may not be a person you end up defending yourself from.
Be safe out there!
h/t Wirecutter
Last fall a coyote came south out of the desert right across our field, looked both ways before crossing the road, and then kept going south into town. Don’t know where it was going, but it looked like it knew what it was up to.
I feel you do your readers a sore disservice by not mentioning in this post that:
1) Rick Perry killed a coyote that was menacing his puppy in February 2010. He jogs with his Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380.
2) In June 2010 he signed a Peace Treaty with the [coyote] mascot of the San Antonio Spurs.
🙂
It was a Ruger LCP with a CT laserguard. 8)
Lissa:
I thought the Rickster used a Ruger LCP to shoot the coyote. Wasn’t that why they came out with the Coyote Special?
(If he did actually use a S&W, my opinion of him just increased substantially.)
Foo, I read a report where it was the Bodyguard, but apparently my memory deceived me. Pout!
Rick Perry approves of this post.
I have been around coyotes all my life, and they aren’t really that dangerous. The problem is that a lot of them have been breeding with dogs, and the hybrids are a different animal altogether. Hybrids are more likes to be aggressive to humans, and will form packs on occasion. I think most of the accounts of aggressive coyotes have probably been hybrids.
As to bluesun’s comment, just think for a minute:
We shot all the slow ones and poisoned all the dumb ones, so what do we have left?
Here in Arkansas, we also have to watch out for feral hogs–some of those beasties can get huge. Of course, that’s if we don’t get taken by the snakes, ticks, and poison ivy.
The only times I’ve been *that* close to drawing my weapon was due to aggressive animals.
I am pretty sure I posted this story before but I live in a nice middle class neighborhood bordering a small city. Less then 400 yards from my back door is I-84 and an industrial park is less then a half mile away which is largely undeveloped. We have had a coyote pack or two living in that park for a while now.
About two years ago an extremely agressive alpha male moved into the area. By aggressive I mean he advanced on me- in daylight- TWICE in a three week period. The first time he came around the corner of my house while I was getting the mail, came within 30 feet of me, then ran across the road. The second time he advanced DOWN my backyard towards me, head down in an agressive posture. I was already out of the car before I saw him and had no option but to draw my pistol. The bastard came within 15 feet of me and we stared at each other before he loped back up the yard an into the woods. The only reason I didnt shoot him was my angles of fire were poor and I didnt want to risk a stray round going anywhere then in his body.
I called animal control as I was worried about my neighbors who have small children that play in the backyards. This yote could have easily grabbed one of the kids and hauled ass with him. I got told by control that unless the yote actually attacked someone they could do nothing about it. So I did. I baited the bastard and sat at my kitchen table my suppressed AR with the bait backed up against a nice little backstop. Took about two days but he came for it and I dropped him with a 75gr TAP round at about 30 yards. Hauled his ass into the woods to the prepared hole and called it good.
SOmetimes suppressed weapons are the bomb!
Yeah I heard that story before You did a good thing, I don’t care what anybody did.
BTW how much do you think he weighed?
He was a big boy and I’m guessing on the high end- maybe 40 pounds or so. I never saw him with a pack- he appeared to be a solo very agressive male.