Two coyotes attacked my fat border collie tonight. Advice please!

[Ranchman]

Pat -

<font color="blue"> I'm sorry you are taking all this OVER SERIOUSLY and feel the need to cary it to such lengths. </font color>

When talking about the safety of a child in the scenario as laid out in this thread, I do not believe one can be too serious. We’re talking about a REAL mother with REAL kids - not some academic exercise but REAL PEOPLE. That makes a difference.

<font color="blue">I'm sure if you take a deep breath and think about it unemotionally for a moment you will reconsider any remarks you have made that insinuate either of us have a callous disregard for child safety are excessive. </font color>

I saw you and Egon going on about how a .17HMR/.22Mag/.22LR is "plenty ‘o gun" to hunt coyotes. Considering the subject (defense of a child), that in itself illustrates a callous disregard for child safety by failing to consider the potential consequences of using such a small round.

<font color="blue">Ahh what a "good job", all the requisite elements, righteous indignation, selflessness, child welfare... </font color>

So be it - at least it’s sincere.

<font color="blue">No one has come close to trying to secure "bragging" rights for saving a child by a thin margin of ballistic sufficiency through the application of their superhuman marksmanship directed by steady nerves in a time of peril. Geesh! </font color>

Re-read Egon's last response. Even if it is "tongue-in-cheek" it sure comes across as bragging about marksmanship abilities with an inferior cartridge.

<font color="blue">I felt as you did regarding the African lion but the responsible party is not subject to hysteria, has seen several examples of mountain lions AND African lions, claims to know the difference, and insists it was an African lion. </font color>

I’m not saying your friend is purposefully lying about it (although that is a possibility) - he may very well believe that’s what he saw, but without any direct evidence (police report, photos, newspaper headlines, etc.), I'm sure you will understand my reluctance to take such a story at face value.

<font color="blue">The way I remember it a couple comments were made regarding the fact that a .22 rimfine will kill a coyote and SHAZAM!!! we are off to the races. </font color>

The way **I** remember it a mother, concerned for the safety of her children, asked for hunting tips - upon which I stated that certain cartridges were unsuitable in my opinion. Three posts later (by you) you’d insulted the original poster saying she was unrealistic and wanted to live in a "Disney Land" and insulted me (and her) by saying the only reason to kill a problem coyote is some revenge based version of bloodlust we have. Funny how different people will take away entirely different things from the exact same wording...

<font color="blue">I do not have any problem with your basic thesis. You are RIGHT. I know that, Egon knows that, EVERYONE knows that. There really isn't any NEED to go to great lengths to DEFEND yourself as you aren't being attacked. </font color>

Fine - if that’s your "official position" now I’ll take it at face value and ignore my interpretation of your earlier comments.

The way I see it, this thread is now going nowhere fast. I propose we agree to end it now so we can avoid the inevitable continuation which would serve little purpose.

[Pat]

"Maybe coyotes are Republicans"

Never thought of that but they are very wiley, adaptable, have terrific family values and care well for their young but are often underappreciated for the service they provide in the natural scheme of things.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

Hi Hi!

[kensfarm]

I think one thing is being over looked...

"Of course when my husband is trying to bait them in, they never come."

"This is the 4th sighting in 2 weeks"

If he has baited them in the vicinity of the house.. they might start to associate human scent w/ food.. or def. the location w/ an easy meal.

I'm not sure of the best course.. maybe a call to DNR.. I'm sure they have prof. trappers/hunters for problems such as this.

If a coyote is hungry enough they will go after anything their size and if they are in a pack they will try and take down a cow. I have gotten alot of grief from people because I shoot every coyote on sight whether they are causing trouble or not. We've lost too many dogs, too many calves, and way too many cats to not shoot them every chance you get. They are not in any danger at all of becoming extinct.

[Boondox]

I'll echo what Richard said. We've had packs approach the house in the winter months trying to lure our dogs off the porch. Thank goodness the dogs have enough sense to recognize a setup when they see one! The sheep farm on the other side of our hill lost thirty animals, including full grown rams, to coyotes. And ditto; here on Luce Hill we have a shoot on sight policy. Show me a coyote within a quarter mile and that beautiful 6.5x55mm reaches out and touches them.

Pete

[beenthere]

Be wary of pet dogs getting into 'packs' to go on killing sprees.

Years back (not so many either) I lived in a farming community in central Iowa, and dogs from town would 'gather' either day or night and kill. One farmer after one night had 2 rendering trucks loaded with dead sheep, and several more trucks loaded with injured sheep to be sent in for slaughter (tankage is what they called it). In mid-day, dogs jumped into a pig pen and killed dozens of small weaned pigs. These were just family pet dogs.

Have more experiences that I could tell, but it's what can happen if family pets are allowed to run. Must conjure up something in there brains to get them to revert back to some latent behaviour. Usually if we could kill just one dog in the pack, it would break them up and stop them. Made for some wild and interesting 'night' hunts riding the roads at night just to intercept the dog packs.

First I have heard of coyote packs, but don't doubt that could happen as well. I know ours were dogs (big, little, and all breeds running together).

[Bird]

It's been 50 years now, but we had that problem in the Healdton, OK area back then. The dogs killed two horses that I know of personally; one of them mine, killed a hog, and attacked our milk cow, shredding one ear pretty badly before Dad ran them off, but the cow survived. Besides those of my personal knowledge, I heard of many other animals killed by them. There was a male black and tan hound and a slightly smaller, mixed breed reddish female (possibly some collie or retriever ancestry); sometimes just the two of them and sometimes with them leading a pack.

[Rebailey]

Opie, I had a gun shop for 15 years. The best weapon for you would be a 20-gauge shotgun with #4 buckshot. Not many people can shoot a rifle well enough to hit a snarling coyote at 20 feet. The shotgun will give you some room for error. Just be sure and not hit the dog.

[opie744]

The shotgun is our gun of choice.
We pen the bordercollie up now and she hasn't given us a problem going in to her pen since. Heard them howling tonight while I was putting all the animals in thier barns. [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]