Coyote attack

Going down the youtube rabbit hole I came across this. It was in Northern BC, where it’s far, far less populated than around here. Here the coyotes tend to keep their distance, or they generally get shot. Or they get shot from long distance. The closest I’ve ever got to one, that I knew about, was around 30 yards– Three different occasions in winter while I was out hunting. Their heavy winter coats are quite spectacular, and I’ve yet to have the heart to kill one. Beautiful or not though, if a ‘yote were putting its teeth on me, even my boot, it’d be dead right quick I think. If the bugger is that bold, I may respect it in a way, but it’s going to be causing serious trouble for someone if it isn’t stopped. Kind of like Progressives– They’ll push things until someone gets hurt.

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30 thoughts on “Coyote attack

  1. We had some attacks on joggers on the local Army post a few years back. Nips mostly. No dead coyotes.

  2. If they got that close I would be afraid of rabies. I saw two cyotes when I was driving into Death Valley the weekend before last. They were wandering around on the highway in Saline Valley like a couple of gang bangers out for no good. At least they had the good sense to get off the road as we approached, which is more than I can say about the wolf my dad hit with his car in 1940.

      • Ok, here are facts on rabies:
        It is VERY RARE for a human to contract rabies from any animal. On average, 3 people in the US die from rabies every year. The most common animal to spread the virus to humans are bats but even so, ONLY ONE HALF OF ONE PERCENT of bats carry rabies. So, you can imagine how incredibly rare it is for a coyote to spread the virus to a human.
        Rabies is a very fragile virus that dies outside of the host very quickly. Also, rabies cannot go through unbroken skin, so to contract the disease requires a person to get bit by an infected animal. The virus dies in open air and only survives in the animals saliva and dies when the saliva dries up.
        With timely treatment, rabies treatment is 100 PERCENT EFFECTIVE.
        Distemper in coyotes, raccoons and foxes is very common and symptoms are almost identical to rabies. If you see one of these animals that appears sick, confused, unafraid of humans, with discharge from its eyes and nose, or acting strangely, odds are MUCH, MUCH higher that it has distemper than rabies.
        Worrying about contracting rabies from a coyote is like walking around worrying about being stuck by lightning three times in the same spot. Theoretically, it could happen, but the odds are ridiculously long.
        Finally, seeing a coyote out during the daytime is NOT a sign of rabies. Coyotes are not naturally nocturnal but have been forced to become nocturnal due to persecution from man. So, healthy coyotes that are particularly hungry, or particularly relaxed around humans, will often be out in daylight hunting.
        The coyote in this video does not show any evidence of rabies, or any illness for that matter. It rather appears to be a very healthy coyote that has probably lost its natural fear of humans from being fed by people, or he is just an unusually playful, bold. lonely or territorial coyote.
        This coyote does NOT show any aggression however.

  3. I was thinking the same. Out here (rural NH) we see coyotes occasionally, and hear them a lot (they like the 4000 acre USAF tracking station, formerly bombing range, right next door because no one bothers them there).
    Once I saw one in daytime, 100 feet away, while I was mowing the field behind the house. A neighbor commented that the coyote was probably watching for mice I was scaring away with the tractor.
    In any case, at that point I decided that a coyote getting that close or closer, and not inclined to run away, will be considered a target. No problem in NH, coyote season never closes.

  4. +1 on the sick yote theory. I had a large one run at me in my suburban back yard a few years ago. I did a smooth draw with my carry gun and it veered off and passed 10 feet away at about 25mph+. I didn’t fire, Rule Four. The yote left tracks in a newly-rototilled flower bed, and they were pure yote tracks (perfect “X”) and 4.5″ long, just twice as large as usual. My estimate was 55# yote. Even today, I have 3 dens within 1/2 mile of me, 2 of them being within 200 yards. There are NO outdoor cats in my neighborhood, no possums and damn few coons. This is 17 miles from downtown Portland.

  5. The things are getting bold around here. Lotta vacant land on Redstone Arsenal where they hang out, then move out into the city from time to time. They know they’re safe in both places. At least on my property away from the city, there are old coyotes and bold coyotes but no old bold coyotes…

  6. Incindentally, with the coyotes getting bolder, it really sucks working on a .mil installation where the best form of defense I can get away with is a wrist rocket…

    • Yeah; the last thing we’d ever want to see in a military installation is anyone walking around with a gun. And of course you don’t really need that wrist rocket.

    • Hey, I thought only Transformers had wrist rockets! Well, they have them more shoulder-mounted, but, yeah…. Heat seeking, laser-guided, optical target recognitions, or…. ohhhh, THAT sort of wrist rocket…

      Never mind /ChurchLady

    • Yes, Dear, and the point I was making in case you missed it was that coyote attacks on people are rare partly because the ‘yotes know that people regularly kill them. Most times you see a coyote it’s 100 yards or more away and running away, because it knows people = danger.

      If everyone took your advice, the ‘yotes would begin to feel safe around people, and attacks, especially on small children, would increase, but since you refuse to understand that simple equation with regard to human predators and self defense, I wouldn’t expect you to embrace it when it comes to wild animals.

      Anyone who raises fowl of any kind, or hunts upland game, knows that coyotes are their competition. Anywhere you find ‘yote dens you find that pheasants are scarce and that quail are generally limited to the thickest, brushiest, most ridiculously inaccessible spots. You’ll see more rabbits, pheasants and quail here in Moscow proper than around my place out on the edge of a tiny town surrounded by farmlands, with a river running through it, and my theory is that it’s because there are no coyotes in Moscow.
      On the other hand; we have millions of hawks and owls, and thousands of eagles to control the rodent populations. Anywhere you go, even right on the edge of town, under the trees you find owl pellets, and in them are the tiny bones of little rodents.

      • Rosie is, as her webpage admits, “one in a million”, which means It’s admirable when it happens that way, but that’s not the way to bet. Who wants to be the Timothy Treadwell of Coyotes?

        • And the level of aggression and sustained attempts shown in the video qualify as attacks, as this is one way such predators worry down a cow or horse until they can go for the kill. This wasn’t your average neighbor’s average dog horsing around for a doggie treat, this Coyote was testing the defenses, jumping back out of reach each time, until he found he could get his teeth in the boot.

      • We got our dog from the animal shelter when she was about a year old. She had been picked up as a stray in eastern Washington (Spokane area), badly malnourished, very timid/shy about people (particularly men except me), and she’s terrified of loud noises. I expect she had a few close brushes with farm workers before she got picked up. She’s very fast (best guess is greyhound/border collie mix), hell on rabbits and mice in the yard, and likes pouncing on things when we go for walks. Makes a darn good alarm, too.

        • I had a friend who had a gentleman’s ranch in the mountains about 4 hours North of the city. There’s a working ranch nearby, and the cowboys HATE with capital letters unaccompanied dogs, as they tend to harry down cattle. Coyotes were less inhibited in this activity than the dogs, both with cattle and with chickens in coops. Sheep, somehow seemed to take care of themselves. Or the wool was too thick and tasted too bad.

          • Yup. One year there were some dogs running loose where I hunt deer in eastern WA. One of the dogs was a big mastiff. Owner was a dickhead about getting yelled at by the hunters to keep them under control, called the cops. Sheriff shows up, assesses the situation, tells the gathering of hunters, drunk Indians on ATVs, dog owners, et al, (paraphrased) “any dogs not on a leash during hunting season, or harassing game at any time, should be shot on sight. Any questions?”
            Dog’s owners suddenly got very polite, and hunting season resumed in a much more peaceable manner. Haven’t seen a loose dog up there since.

    • To the contrary, shooting them is good for them. Smartens up, keeps them from overpopulating with commiserate disease vectors. End up with healthier population.

  7. Is it just me, or did this guy strike any of the rest of you as Timothy Treadwell clueless? Holding out your bare hand to a wild predator???

    • Yeah, I think he watched Charlie the Lonesome Cougar or Sammy the Way-out Seal one time too often.

    • No, I think he was just a kid having fun among the wonders of nature. You don’t grow up in the northern reaches of BC without developing some basic survival sense. I thought he had it under control alright.

      Man, I haven’t told you all one tenth of the crazy things I and my friends did in NE Washington State and North Idaho, to Canada to Alaska when we were young. Risk averse we were very much NOT. I’m glad our mothers never knew about most of it, because it would have killed them from the stress, and I wouldn’t trade most of those experiences for all the tea in China. Climbing trees on a remote mountaintop in winter at night, canoeing the stream from Priest to Upper Priest Lake by starlight, floating a river system at flood stage for over a week during the salmon run, having never been there before and without a guide in the wilds of Alaska to rendezvous with a float plane on a specific day with no communications. Playing with a little coyote? That’s just having a little fun.

  8. Am I the only one who thinks that chasing after a wild animal – especially a PREDATOR – is getting a person pretty close to an ultimate stupid moment?

    • No, but it’s no worse than riding a motorcycle, running whitewater rapids, hotdog skiing, or chasing criminals or wild women. Probably safer than any of the above, in that particular case. No one is trying to talk you into doing something you don’t want to do.

  9. This is a coyote attack? I have had more threatening encounters with my moms Chihuahua.
    Despite the comments above that paint coyotes as terrifying monsters, I have lived and worked around them all my life including dealing with them often at the wildlife rescue where I volunteer. I have never encountered one that was near as aggressive as some spoiled dogs I have dealt with. In fact, they are among the shyest and most timid animals we deal with. I have found squirrels, tiny weasels, and just about every other wild animal prone to more aggression and harder to handle than coyotes.

    • Good point. I don’t know anyone who’s been threatened in any way by a ‘yote. They are pest though, especially when it comes to domestic animals like fowl. They have been known to attack people, but it is very rare, hence I though it was newsworthy.

  10. There is a small coyote that frequents my backyard, here on the fringes of Silicon Valley. (Half the size of the video one.) Got a cattle ranch across the road that her pack sweeps on a regular basis. Usually she comes in to eat some figs that have fallen on the ground. She climbs a 7ft fence to get in/out.
    Late one night, while taking out the various trash type containers from the back, I spotted her laying in the elevated yard area. The first trip had her standing, waiting to see if I was going to be a threat to her. By the third trip, she was back to laying down, with her tail covering her face to avoid my little headlite. Probably 20 ft distance.
    The neighbor complains about them going into their backyard, because they have small children. But, they’re not willing to actually do anything about it. Big Obama stickers on their cars, so I’m not going to make any suggestions.

  11. Will,
    So, after determining that you were not going to attack him, they coyote went back to sleep.
    That is hardly cause for alarm.
    Urban coyotes are constantly surrounded by humans. If they perceive someone is not a threat, it’s likely that they will continue to get some much needed rest whenever possible.
    As for your neighbors kids; instead of teaching them that wild animals are scary and must be killed in order for them to be safe outdoors, maybe it would be more productive to teach them rules for behaving around wild animals. For example, they could learn the natural history of the common species found in their neighborhoods, why they should never feed, or run away from, a wild animal, how to observe them safely from a distance, and when to haze an animal to keep them wary of humans. Most importantly, we can teach them that by learning to live with coyotes and other wild animals, it allows these animals to perform the jobs that they were put on this planet to do.
    This training would have the added bonus of teaching children how to be safe around domestic dogs, which are thousand of times more likely to attack a child than any wild animal.
    Unless we remove all wildlife from the planet, there will continue to be the very, very, rare attacks. These will happen regardless of whether we use lethal control methods or not. In fact, many biologists believe that predator populations that are impacted by hunting are actually MORE likely to come into conflicts with people, pets and livestock than are stable populations.
    As human populations explode and there is less and less and less room for wildlife, we need to learn how to share the planet with them, because they have certainly learned to share it with us.

  12. I’d be more afraid of a female moose with a young’n up there… I used to work up there, never saw a coyote, just wolves and moose.
    On Vancouver Island we have Cougars, Hybrid Black bears and now Wolves to worry about, we’ve always had wolves, they just weren’t always that interested in people before…

    • I find wild animals to be more predictable in behavior, more respectful and generally better neighbors than many humans.
      My hope is that we all just try and keep open minds when it comes to sharing the land and accept that with wild animals around there is a certain amount of percauctions we need to take to coexist safely. We might find they cause us occasional problems as do our domestic pets and even other people. However, showing them some tolerance is the lest we can do for them.

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