Coyote encounters

[Handlebars]

And when they find some, they like to roll on their back and chew it.

 

[Handlebars]

Holy Moly! I had to subscribe to this channel on you tube. Don't ever tell me there is nothing new under the sun.

One of the most entertaining type of video he has is where the muskrat is super wily and they go round and round in and out of the holes. The smart muskrats seem to know exactly where the mink is, they way they do their maneuvers.

 

[john peck]

Former farm kid here. When I'd see a coyote getting to close to the house, I'd grab the rifle and lob a few shots in that direction. It is important to keep them scared of people.

In my former house, I saw a coyote trotting unscared through my yard. Couldn't shoot at it as I don't have rifles anymore. I had a cat that was a shop cat, and when picking out a cat for that job, asked for a mean one. Coyotes didn't get him. My Lab was OK too, but was indoors at night. Coyote howling is more of a yapping and is just as annoying as a barking dog.

For deer, I have a weak Daisy BB gun. It is so weak that you have to compensate for the arc. It will sting a deer when shot in the rump, which is where one should aim for so as not to put their eye out.

The worst wildlife I've had to deal with was packrats. They make your woodshed smell like an outhouse, destroy things, and a mean kitty won't hunt them. I trapped one but the rest of the rodents seemed to have learned from that. When I'd go grab the little shotgun, they had time to get out of sight. I hate those varmints. They seemed to escape predation by the coyotes. Maybe they are not tasty.

Yup, I had a Daisy pump as a kid; Not exactly an elephant gun. I recall popping a starling 6 times as it flew
from one fence post to the next & then out of range. I got better results with a boomerang.

 

[SFHills]

I live in an area of SF between at least 2 established coyote families, both of these groups living in city parks. I see a number of coyotes usually at night while walking my dog. They always skirt around us. My last sighting was across the street at the base of a hill where it seemed 2 parents were teaching a yearling how to dig for gophers (and yes we did have a huge gopher increase this year so I'm all good with them working on that population). The previous link of a biting coyote in the East Bay is most likely a coyote who was use to human feeding.

There's a retired woman in SF who spends her days tracking all the various family groups in SF. She told me a story of a coyote pairing where the male got so use to daily feedings from one person a few miles from their den that his mate gave up on him, dumped him and got another mate. This person recently died of cancer and this coyote male finally moved on and got another female mate but he has no fear of humans. She tries to tell people not to feed the coyotes but the usual response is "mind your own business."

 

[SFHills]

This is the only time I've run in a coyote during the day. This coyote is actually a very popular one in SF, she was a solo at the time and use to give very playful shows at one of our city parks. She was beat up and forced out of her territory by a younger female who had a collar tracker. Turns out the collar tracker acts as armor around the neck so this younger female was able to win all their fights. Not sure if you can see but she's quite ragged from her wounds. I'm sure she was staying close to me looking to be fed. She ended up sleeping under a nearby deck as she recovered. The younger female actually then chased her out of my neighborhood. At some point this younger female took over an ever larger park in SF so this one went back to her park, got a mate and just had her first litter this year. Kind of funny what you end up keeping track of during COVID restrictions....

 

[jangles]

I'll bet that Coyote does have rabies. I had a large muskrat come after me in a parking lot located next to a swamp one day. As luck would have it, I saw it coming and was able to give it a flying lesson. End of encounter. Would be funny if it were not for the thought that if I hadn't seen it coming and it bit me, I'd have had to go through the rabies shot ritual. No fun there for sure!

how do you know it had rabies did you have it tested

 

[Handlebars]

how do you know it had rabies did you have it tested

If not rabies it had a bad case of flew.

 

[AHicks]

how do you know it had rabies did you have it tested

When something the size of a muskrat comes after you in the middle of a parking lot, in broad daylight, clearly there's something wrong with it. It was not cornered, it had not been provoked in any manner, yet there it was - looking very menacing coming at me with it's mouth wide open. That's not something that will leave a sane person asking "gee I wonder if it's got rabies?" It's a pretty safe assumption....

We turned that into a case of the "flew" for sure!

 

[ki11a]

Ive been seeing lots of bunnies and does around...they are pretty cute.

 

[Newby]

We can live with animals, we don't have to kill them. We just have to be smarter than them, though it can be really frustrating trying to outsmart them. In Wisconsin they have started killing wolves again, and it is a hateful thing to do. They kill because they hate, and hate is not a good reason to kill. We have encroached on their territory and should try to live with them. I know that I might be off topic here but feel strongly about this, don't shoot at something unless you intend to kill and eat it. And yes I'm a hunter.

 

[reed scott]

We can live with animals, we don't have to kill them. We just have to be smarter than them, though it can be really frustrating trying to outsmart them. In Wisconsin they have started killing wolves again, and it is a hateful thing to do. They kill because they hate, and hate is not a good reason to kill. We have encroached on their territory and should try to live with them. I know that I might be off topic here but feel strongly about this, don't shoot at something unless you intend to kill and eat it. And yes I'm a hunter.

I do not hate coyotes. I just love my cats and dog. A lot. And most people who kill wolves are protecting their stock ... not because they hate the wolves. We have 4 large deer leases on this ranch and we must kill enough deer every year for if we did not they would over populate very quickly and then slowly starve to death or die of disease. These are just the facts of life on a planet where life and death is a real thing. You know, " nature red in tooth and claw" as a great writer and thinker once opined.

 

[Mulezen]

I was in a heated discussion recently at the stockyard. We were discussing coyotes going after calves. I admitted to having a soft spot for them as they have decimated my ground hog problem. That started it. I keep a donkey to guard my herd...mainly from suburban dogs (the coyotes can have them if the donkey misses). The scale house discussion went bad after I mentioned that the presence of wolves was the best insurance against coyotes. No one there was interested in following my opinion to its source...Barry Lopez’s Of Wolves and Man.

 

[Newby]

I talk with these people, and from what they say they kill wolves and coyotes because they think the animals are killing off the deer heard. You hear on the news about livestock and pets being killed, but most I have spoken too about the subject want to kill wolves because of the deer. I also love my kitty and go for long walks with him in the woods, I just keep a close eye on him. I have no problem with harvesting deer for food, I have killed over 50 in my life, and some think that barberic. It just makes me want to cry when I see a shoulder mount of a wolf coming out of a wall.

 

[Akrotiri]

So we went out for a winter picnic at dusk at picnic tables beside a parking lot for a community centre in Toronto. No cooking at that point, but we did eat a couple of ready chicken wings. We heard someone yell twice "Coming up the hill" so I went to look and the pack of coyotes had circled to one side. I yelled at them and the leader jumped back about ten feet only to come forward again. Not as calm and bold as some racoons, but pretty darn big coyotes! Packed up quick and left. Forgot I had my gopro, would have liked to capture that. I record them at night sometimes and the screaming they do is blood curdling until suddenly all silent.
I never knew they were so plentiful in the parks until this year and had never seen one in the city, forget come face to face with them. I've never seen any at the garbage cans or dumpsters so they must be getting enough live kills. Or something. These were tall animals. Feel sorry for the homeless sleeping out there in parks with so many very bold coyotes. I suppose the coyotes are very distant second as a threat compared with other humans, though.

I saw a video of a coyote in NYC Central Park. Someone posted it on Reddit about 2 months ago. Need to be careful out there because the lockdowns worldwide with less people out and about wild animals have gotten more bold and venture into cities.

 

[reed scott]

I talk with these people, and from what they say they kill wolves and coyotes because they think the animals are killing off the deer heard. You hear on the news about livestock and pets being killed, but most I have spoken too about the subject want to kill wolves because of the deer. I also love my kitty and go for long walks with him in the woods, I just keep a close eye on him. I have no problem with harvesting deer for food, I have killed over 50 in my life, and some think that barberic. It just makes me want to cry when I see a shoulder mount of a wolf coming out of a wall.

Sounds reasonable. I've never thought well of trophy hunting.

 

[Catalyzt]

Hadn't seen this thread until today. Here in Hollywood, I have coyote encounters all the time. Me and my two Bichons successfully hazed three coyotes the size of German Shepherds a few years back. I was SO proud of them. We had our backs to a neighbor's house, I took point, and they both flanked. They did not freak out or cower, just stood and stared, growling low, like, "Yeah, you can take me-- but it will cost you an ear at least." I screamed at the top of my lungs at the coyotes. My neighbor opened her window, was like, "You guys need to come inside?" I said, "Thanks so much, please stand by, but I think we got this." The four-legged thugs gave up and took off after a few minutes.

Just two weeks ago, I hazed a pair of coyotes on the Trek kit bike. I was nearing the end of my range, and headed out of the park, stopped to greet a random couple and their dog, everyone very friendly, headed down the path, and there were two coyotes following them! Rode towards them, yelled at them, and they took off. I should have gone back to warn the couple, but I was at least 10 miles into a battery that can sometimes only do 12 or 13, at least a mile from home, and the couple and dog were already a quarter mile at least uphill.

Totally love all animals, but won't tolerate pets being hunted if there's any reasonable way to stop it. Hazing has never failed me, but I am not afraid to be REALLY loud, and I also maintain a mental imagine of picking up the coyote and throwing it off a cliff to keep fear out of my mind. Not a foolproof system, but beats running away. I also throw rocks if I have them.

 

[6zfshdb]

We usually enjoy the common wildlife encounters around our place. They can occasionally be scary though.
I opened the back door one morning last summer to take out the trash only to find this guy headed for our trashcan. These are shots from our security camera:


The container is made of heavy composite material and supposed to be bear proof. Apparently, it is. It weighs over 100# when loaded and this adolescent black bear threw it around like it was a toy! He dragged it off the driveway apron with his teeth!


Although you can't see it well in the picture, at one point, he stopped trying to open the can and played with it by spinning one of the wheels.


Eventually, he gave up and walked off.


Taking out the trash can be hazardous duty these days.

 

[Urban Coyote]

I'll bet that Coyote does have rabies. I had a large muskrat come after me in a parking lot located next to a swamp one day. As luck would have it, I saw it coming and was able to give it a flying lesson. End of encounter. Would be funny if it were not for the thought that if I hadn't seen it coming and it bit me, I'd have had to go through the rabies shot ritual. No fun there for sure!

I’ve never heard of muskrats having rabies; I doubt they are susceptible. And my understanding is that rabies in coyotes is quite rare. The main animal vectors, at least here in Canada, are bats and raccoons, along with dogs.

 

[AHicks]

I’ve never heard of muskrats having rabies; I doubt they are susceptible. And my understanding is that rabies in coyotes is quite rare. The main animal vectors, at least here in Canada, are bats and raccoons, along with dogs.

I guess you had to be there....

 

[Urban Coyote]

I guess you had to be there....

I don’t doubt there was something wrong with the muskrat, and I would be scared too! I just doubt it was rabies.