Previous Post
Next Post

Orange County coyote (courtesy washingtontimes.com)

“Earlier this month, a woman living in the Leisure World retirement community opened her screen door to pick up her newspaper, only to watch a coyote scamper inside, grab her cat, and run back out,” washingtontimes.com reports. I am fully aware that shooting anything in an urban environment is an inherently dangerous business, on several levels. As much as you love little fluffy, as much as you might want to emulate Texas Governor Rick Perry’s LCP prowess, popping a coyote’s clogs with your trusty home carry piece could violate city ordinances and take out a two-legged bystander. The legally sensible solution to coyote infestation is to  . . .

call animal control. Let the experts get outwitted by the animals – if they get there in time. As you might imagine, that’s not working out very well in beautiful, sunny Orange County, California.

Stories abound in nearby Orange County of dogs and cats snatched off leashes and plucked out of backyards a few feet away from their horrified owners. Mangled pet carcasses turn up on front lawns, often identifiable only by their tails.

The story doesn’t go into the possibility of a coyote attacking a baby, small child or tax-paying OC resident. But such things do – are – happening, With increasing frequency. Especially in SoCal. The obvious solution: shoot the damn things before they wander into town and ring your doorbell pretending to sell Girl Scout cookies.

Oh noes! Shoot coyotes! You OFWG rural folks may trap/shoot/kill animals with your guns just for the taste of it (shudder), but we city folks would never shoot an animal simply doing what animals do!

In rural America, the solution is obvious: Trap and shoot the varmints. In suburbia, however, local governments are increasingly adopting a “coexistence” philosophy promoted by animal rights groups that rejects lethal control in favor of education and behavior modification.

When coyotes get too close, groups like the Humane Society and San Francisco-based Project Coyote recommend hazing: Make noise, stomp your feet, wave your arms, shoot them with water guns, and throw things in order to teach the animals that humans are dangerous.

“Hazing is just a way to remind coyotes that people are something they need to be wary of,” said Project Coyote wildlife ecologist Ashley DeLaup. “It’s something that makes people seem unpredictable again. Because right now, we’re pretty predictable.”

In California, however, hazing is facing a backlash from those who say the ruckus hasn’t stopped the coyotes from feasting on their pets. A group called Coyote Watch is calling on state and local governments to quit relying on individuals to scare off the predators and take a more active role in combatting the coyote infestation.

“Active” meaning trapping and killing the varmints? Yup. I guess a coyote coexistence advocate is just a cat owner whose feline hasn’t been eaten yet. Last week the Seal Beach city council voted 4-0 to hire a predator control company to do what predator control companies do.

Meanwhile, will OC residents tool-up to protect their pets? You’re joking right?

“They are killing our animals. They are scaring us. I go out every morning with rocks in my pockets, tennis shoes on, mace on my neck, a whistle on my neck and a foghorn on my leash, and I still don’t feel safe,” Ms. Warner said last week in comments before the Seal Beach City Council.

[h/t OneIfByLand]

Previous Post
Next Post

91 COMMENTS

  1. I’m not seeing the down side here. One of nature’s beuatiful creatures got a meal without a .gov handout and we lose one more free loading cat.

    What was the downside supposed to be? 🙂

      • Why are so many of my fellow pro gun rights brethren so anti cat that they enjoy hearing about cats being killed? I remember that article on here about a cop shooting kittens and TTAG posters padding themselves on the back about drwoning kittens and other disgraceful acts that made me ashamed of other 2A supporters. It’s people like you who are really making the anti’s job so much easier with such talk.

        • I think it’s because those particular TTAG posters are closest Statists.

          Dogs can be controlled. Dogs want to please Massa and therefore will submit.

          Cats are the libertarians of the animal kingdom. They want to be left alone to do their own thing.

        • More often than they know it, gun folk are their own worst enemies slicer. Nothing vindicates the grabbers more than sentiments like that…and I wish I could say they were uncommon in this “community”.

    • Also free: roaches, rats. They’ll outlive humans. As an aside, when I lived in Colorado some lads spoke of driving their old cars on plains country, chasing and shooting coyotes. Illegal and especially dangerous if one of the hunters opted to sit on the car hood.If feral hogs and wild boars are a threat to agriculture and people, the helicopter hunts don’t bother me at all. A bit expensive, though.

  2. “Meanwhile, will OC residents tool-up to protect their pets? You’re joking right?”

    Uh yes Bobby, we will, and have. It’s the OC, not LA or SF.

  3. Coyotes can go over a six foot fence with their prey in their jaws, and that includes toddlers.
    http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Coyote-Bites-Drags-Toddler-at-OC-Cemetery-216600781.html
    http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/coyote_attacks.html
    http://www.varmintal.com/attac.htm

    I would guess the number of actual attacks is far more than whats reported.

    Have a friend who lost turkeys and chickens from his backyard, in a horsey suburb that lies within the County “no shooting in municipal boundary areas”. He called Fish and Game who said, its illegal to set out poison, or trap them, and referred him to Animal Control, who only does cats and dogs. So he got one of these:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolian_Shepherd#Kangal.2FAnatolian_Shepherd

    Problem solved.

    • +1

      That’s one of many reasons I like my big dogs. Coyote walks up to the house, the dogs are just going to look at them with a face that says, “I know what you’re thinking, but mine’s bigger.”

    • We have a coyote that has a taste for my backyard chickens. Trapping legally is tricky in my municipality (trap must be more than 250′ from nearest residence… I’m in a subdivision) and the only neighbor on our street that would complain lives right next door. But after you trap it in a leg trap, how are you gonna take care of it the rest of the way?

      Now if I just had a suppressed 300BLK shot from inside the garage…

      • The same way i got the one that wandered into my workplace, 4ft section of round 3/4 inch steel stock, couple good whacks and i was tossing him in the dumpster, not sure if my hunting lisence covers varmint hunting with a metal rod indoors but my supervisor had a good laugh about it.

    • Depends on your city, and what you want to do.
      In my semi-affluent suburb, slingshots, airsoft, and bb/pellet guns are listed as firearms, and technically are prohibited inside city borders. No kidding. Progtards rule.

      Would I care about that if I were harassing a coyote in my back yard, to get it to jump the fence? No.

      Cops have told me they dont care what my kids do in the fenced back yard with those kids of toys as long as they don’t break the neighbors windows or scare anyone.

      Would I use that to attack one with its head on my kids head? No. Not accurate enough.

      I’d probably run up and try to rip it from limb to limb in a red rage, and get cut up in the process, so a baseball bat would be better.

  4. Wait’ll the damn things get a big enough hold and they catch an old elderly lady or a kid. They might resort to cursing and possibly go so far as to file suit against Warner Brothers for Wil-E-Coyote being a bad influence on the young coyote population.

  5. Make noise, stomp your feet, wave your arms, shoot them with water guns, and throw things in order to teach the animals that humans are dangerous.

    Wasn’t that what the Active Shooter Drill Facilitator ™ in the last post recommended? It works on demented people too?

  6. I would prefer to use a high power pellet rifle. You would be amazed at how a shot or two of .177 pellets can convince an animal that it don’t want to be there. I also use BBs and put 3 or 4 in at once and fire it off. Works like a shot gun without the recoil. 😉

    • Dad was having a javelina problem tearing up his cactus garden. So I gave him one of my old paintball guns and some paint. They learn quick. No more problem. He said,”I stung a couple of em in the ass and that was that.”

      • My sister was having an issue with the squirrels getting to the bird feeder on her deck. Tried all the usual tricks, but the little fuzzy tailed rats just figger’d ’em all out (as in, no harm done).

        I was there last winter with my trusty Crosman 760 brought along so my son could shoot at some cans. Saw Mr. Squirrel accosting her bird food, and shot him with a bb. He came right back.

        The next time, I was not as sympathetic. I shot him in the gonads. It lit him up good, and he took notice that he was being hunted more….”aggressively.”

        Interestingly, she has not had a squirrel problem since. Not sure if squirrels can actually communicate such things to each other, but there you go.

        BB and pellet guns…quiet and surprisingly effective.

        • To be fair, if there’s one way to get a squirrel’s attention, it’s to threaten the well being of his nuts.

        • Between the tree rats and the rabbits, my Ruger Blackhawk has gotten a workout over the last year or so. The rabbits are stupid and their offspring keep showing back up. My experience is the same as yours when it comes to the squirrels though, the word is out and they stay on the outside of my perimeter fence. Shame too, I like squirrel and too many critters crawl out of the dead rabbits’ asses for me to be comfortable eating. The upside is that I actually get to enjoy my own produce.

          Now to get a sight picture on the opossum that loots my chicken coop…

    • 25, 45 & 50 Cal.PCP Air Rifles — there are videos on YouTube taking out deer with them.

      After a critter problem in my neighborhood even my ant-gun neighbor turns a blind eye to keep his puppy safe.

  7. “I guess a coyote coexistence advocate is just a cat owner whose feline hasn’t been eaten yet.”

    ROFL! I get it…

    nice work RF, thnx

  8. You want to know how to teach a coyote to fear people? Shoot them when they come in contact with people. It might be tough on Wylie but in the end both man and beast will be better off. I use the same 10 yard rule for predators that I have for thugs. If it gets that close I will shoot it. It also helps that coyotes typically run when they see more than one coonhound.

  9. If a human is endangering my life, liberty, or property it is legal to shoot them. I don’t see how that rule doesn’t apply to an animal, be it a coyote, the neighbor’s unruly dog, or a mountain lion.

    Would I be willing to shoot a coyote downtown? While I don’t think anyone in my podunk town would mind, it would have to be a lot more serious situation than a cat in distress.

    • Do you dislike cats so much that you would disregard other considerations in determining whether to shoot the coyote?

      Considerations such as:

      * the coyote has lost its fear of human beings
      * the coyote discovers cats are convenient food source
      * the coyote moves on to dogs
      * the coyote moves on to toddlers
      * the coyote invites all his friends over for lunch
      * the coyote might be rabid

  10. Im thankful for living in a state where I can shoot the blasted beasty.
    As long as Im on my own property and my round doesn’t leave my yard. Except if its in the beasties body.
    Im still OK.

  11. Okay, California’s got a coyote problem. Want to see your dog or cat become supper?

    Well, Florida’s got Alligators. They like cats, and dogs. They lay in the grass motionless, wait for the cat or dog to come and investigate, and CHOMP!

    Think that’s bad? Try Golden Eagles out West (Northern California, Southern Oregon, etc.). Five-foot wingspan. Death from above. Small dog all alone in the fenced-in back yard? Swoop down, snatch, gone. They also like baby lambs and baby goats.

    • Golden eagle? Dude, I’ve seen red-tails make off with cats. Pretty much any raptor bigger than a Cooper’s hawk can manage that. Great horned owls will do it, too. If you live anywhere that is remotely resembling rural, don’t have outdoor cats and don’t leave small dogs unattended. Assuming you want to keep them, that is.

      • Great horned owls like to eat skunks. They can fly down, grab a skunk, then fly it up into a tree and eat it. I’ve seen some pretty big skunks, so anything that size or smaller could fall prey to a great horned owl.

  12. Shoot the yotes. Birdshot works well at close range. A .22 close to the coop too. Then any caliber to reach them at a distance. We used to get a bounty for them. A frozen coyote is better then your dead animals, livestock, etc.

  13. I live in an apartment complex near a big city. There is open prairie about 400 yards away, some of it city/county open space. I hear coyotes almost every night, and often see them in the daytime. It takes a lot of restraint not to get out the AR 15 or the AR 10 with the scope and a varmint load and take one out from my mini-deck or my home office window. Good brace with a bipod or a couple of reams of copy paper from my desk would give me all the steadiness I need.

    Since I’m technically in a city, and it’s illegal to discharge a firearm in the city limits, I restrain myself. The cops in this suburb don’t have much to do, so they’d be here PDQ. Still, it could be some serious fun. . .maybe with a suppressor on my .300 BLK?

  14. …then again, I don’t live anywhere near California. So, edit, .22. But never had to worry about that. You see a coyote, you shoot it. And not in the city, I. If you wanted, you could load up other armament to fight them – paint balls, or air rifles.

  15. “groups like the Humane Society and San Francisco-based Project Coyote recommend hazing: Make noise, stomp your feet, wave your arms, shoot them with water guns, and throw things in order to teach the animals that humans are dangerous.

    “Hazing is just a way to remind coyotes that people are something they need to be wary of,” said Project Coyote wildlife ecologist Ashley DeLaup.

    Hazing? Are these people for real?

    And besides, “hazing” can bite the animal hard, too. (video maybe not nsfw)

  16. As I read this, I had two deer come up the driveway. No doubt after my strawberries. The low power cheap pellet gun stung her again.
    It’s obviously not a deterrent.

  17. Just FYI, the nomenclature for Leisure World around these parts is Seizure World, owing to the fact that the residents of aforementioned World of Seizures are approximately the age of mature Galapagos Tortoises, i.e. about 160 years old. If you told those residents to tool up, they’d go buy a Kentucky Long Rifle. Not a lot of energy and enthusiasm around those parts. Also, it’s entrance is on Golden Rain Road. Seriously. I’ve driven past it thousands of times and I STILL laugh at that.

    • Yeah old people are stupid and know nothing about firearms. There was a few of them of them that got killed landing on some beaches in France and Italy then strolling to Germany. A few more caught some lead island hopping across the central Pacific. Something happened in Korea too but it’s not important today and then there was Viet Nam but they had to trade in a 30-06 for a .223 because the bullets were cheaper. Weak, intolerant, opinionated and stupid. The world will be a better place when all the old people die.

      • You’re completely overreacting to my comment. Most of it was meant in jest. I am well aware of the hardships and incredible feats many elderly people have lived through, and believe you me, I do not take those things for granted. I have met many, many elderly vets (and many non-vets) who I wouldn’t dare cross, knowing that they are a different brand of badass altogether. However, having lived in close proximity to Leisure World for many years and visiting there several times, it is not a place with a high concentration of those type of folks. And yes, I am sure that some of them could easily handle a firearm, badass veteran or not.

  18. Up in Modoc County they had an annual Coyote Festival–a competition to see who could shoot the most coyotes. Fun for the locals, and it kept the packs in check and out of the cattle herds. Then it got publicized and all hell broke loose, with out of area persons claiming that it was heartless and cruel.

  19. Having shot more than a few coyotes, here’s a tip if you want to actually reduce numbers:

    Shoot the first one in the guts. As it is screaming, others get drawn in. Shoot the ones furthest out first. Don’t miss, or you will simply educate the coyotes. You have to make a real effort to not make smart(er) coyotes.

    If you want to make a few bucks, learn how to skin them out. Last I checked, coyote hides were bringing $5 to $15 for green hides, depending on your area, quality of hide and the time of year. The best hides are taken after the coyotes have put on their winter coat, but before early February.

    If you’re going to shoot coyotes and want to sell the hide, use a .17 HMR with a 17gr V-max. Tiny little entry hole, no exit, and if you shoot them in the lungs or in the head, they’re dead pretty quickly. I’ve shot coyotes in the back of the head with a .17HMR and they’ve dropped like a stone.

    • That’s the old SGT York trick.

      If you are in rancher territory then that may be the way to do but in urban/suburban locales you just want them to go away. I recommend identifying the Alfa and shoot it. The others will run away and not come back. In these environments you don’t want to kill them as much as make them afraid of humans.

      If you look at the behavior of moutain lions on the eastern and westerns slopes of the Colorado Rockies the ones that get hunted by ranchers on the west slope generally follow the shy away from humans pattern where on eastern slope along the front range they are far more willing to interact with humans because nobody shoots at them. Don’t know how they transmit this information between generations but somehow it happens.

      • Indeed. I saw a paper from Russia (translated into English) about wolf behavior. It pointed out how much bolder wolves are in the USSR/Russia than in the North American area.

        One of the reasons postulated by the biologists in Russia was the absence of hunting pressure for 70+ years in the USSR after they implemented gun control.

        • I saw a great video shot in Siberia. Cop had a driver pulled over on a snow packed street in town, writing a ticket at the driver’s window. Then the cop looks over his shoulder and lickety split jumps into the back seat of the car and slams the door shut. A few seconds later a large pack of wolves comes charging down the street full tilt. Never seen anything like it.

    • “Shoot the first one in the guts. As it is screaming…”

      Hunters with this kind of cavalier attitude toward inflicting suffering are the lowest form of trash.

  20. 22 cal air rifle to the noggin should stop your average urban coyote. It was like tgat when I lived on cape cod. I used to get close enough I could grab one. My buddy came out to get the paper on his deck and found a coyote with his cat in its mouth, I believe he killed it with a machete and was able to save the cat.

  21. I love how the city’s solution is to hire a company. Yes, spend more money that doesn’t belong to you on a problem you don’t understand. Coyotes will only produce enough pups to fit their current situation. If you start killing everyone you see all it’s going to do is cause ma and pa to get a lot more frisky. There is really nothing a company can do besides steal your money.

  22. “Civilization’s grip has grown weak, and arthritic, and primordial beasts reclaim the wilderness…”

    Wild animals roaming through human territory; our ancestors must be so proud.

    • For those who are curious, I looked it up. It’s from a TV show:

      “The Great Cities have risen and fallen, civilization’s grip on mankind has grown weak and arthritic, dark powers seek to renew forgotten covenants, and primordial beasts reclaim the wilderness.” — Korgoth of Barbaria, “Pilot”

  23. “While not known to be overly intelligent, they are cunning and devious and must be monitored closely at all times. Humans that is, coyotes just do what they do naturally.”

    From the archives:
    Heard tell of a fella who had problems with a dog that kept coming around every time his ‘Rotty’ was in heat. As the story goes, when it finally dug a tunnel under his fence to get to his female, he ‘did him proud with a five shot barrage from one of his trusty paintball guns. Looked like a four-legged piece of new-age mobile artwork ‘till the paint wore off. And no, it wasn’t animal cruelty, on account of I’ve been hit in spots a lot more tender than where I decorated him. Would of gladly given him a touch-up, but for some reason he never got close enough after the first go ‘round. Guessing he didn’t care all that much for being color-coded.’
    [ As a cautionary note for those in New Mexifornia, there’s probably a mandatory fine and prison sentence for molesting a coyote — which most certainly would include paintballing one — in addition to penalties for allowing them to feed on common house pets in violation of Federally-established dietary guidelines.]

  24. I used to ride my Klein Mantra mountain bike at night and a pack of yotes would sometimes parallel me down the trail. When I stopped, they stopped. When I went, they went. They never approached me and it seemed like they were just enjoying a good run — and damn those things are fast.

    I really enjoyed riding alongside the pack. And if one of them tried to mangia one of my cats, it would be my honor to blow Wiley’s head clean off.

  25. I live in a nice, hoa controlled suburban neighborhood … that backs up to a state civil war battlefield site. We were overrun with 2-3 separate packs of coyotes last year, with one large alpha run pack coming 20yrds from a loading elementary school bus several mornings.
    Animal control only deals with domestic animals. Sheriff/Police won’t do anything and refer you to fish and game department. They tell you to handle it yourself. Poisoning is illegal. Trapping only legal with a license, and licensed individuals charge $500 a ‘yote. No thanks.
    Sooo, with the support and co-organization of the HOA, park rangers, and sheriff’s department, we experienced hunters of the neighborhood scouted high traffic areas and safe shooting lanes through backyards (half clear-cut, half wooded lots), and baited using wet dog food. Yes, some neighbors opted out and we avoided their property. Then armed with shotguns, AR’s, and various deer rifles, we hunted two 4-hour blocks over a weekend … with a couple sheriff’s deputies and a ranger hanging in the neighborhood to be sure of safety and boundaries aren’t crossed into the park.
    Long and short of it, only bagged a handful of coyotes, but haven’t had a problem in over a year now. Rep from the Sheriff’s office stated, “Be safe about it and try not to use your neighbor’s house as a backstop, but if you’re threatened any more, take care of ’em.”
    I like where I live. 🙂

  26. an animal simply doing what animals do…

    Well, most of these leftists believe in evolution right? Well, by evolution humans are animals too. We are a short-haired, long-legged, upright-walking terrestrial ape that evolved on the African plains about 150,000 years ago, having split off from a common ancestor about four million years-ago.

    Our key traits are a huge brain capable of a very high level of reasoning and thinking, extreme distance running capability better than most all land animals (hence our short body hair, huge profusion of sweat glands, large amount of slow-twitch muscle fibers, big butts (the biggest by primate standards), large knee joints, and long tendons), fine motor skills, and being the only apes that can perform an overhand throw, as we are specifically-designed to use projectile weapons.

    Being able to throw a spear, and in particular with a tool known as a spear-thrower, allows the weak little apes called humans to kill virtually every animal in existence. Mammoths, elephants, giant ground sloth, etc…humans killed the all using spears. In our natural environment, humans are tribal animals that are pretty violent, and like to do things like kill each other and other animals.

    As a tool-making-and-using, projectile-throwing primate, my primary defense against other animals is via use of projectile weaponry, and if not that, melee weaponry (hitting a wolf with an axe or a stone hammer is much more effective than trying to fight it bare-handed). Being that I want to protect myself and my loved ones, including my beloved non-human animals, I will utilize weapons against all who seek to harm me or my loved ones.

    Therefore, any coyotes who try to grab my cat, I will utilize a modern projectile weapon known as a firearm. Anyone who gets bent-out-of-shape over this, well I am just an animal doing what animals do. Protecting myself and my family.

  27. Saturday night returning from dinner at a West Flower Mound TX restaurant, I spotted a young coyote in the ditch right next to the road. No one saw him but me even though there were 5 people in the car.
    I turned around and pulled into a driveway not 10 feet from the youngster. He seemed fearless and stood for a good 30 seconds staring right at me, although it was dark. I spoke to him and and asked for his ID. My 7 year old niece was wide-eyed. It was her first Coyote.
    He stepped through the white horse fence, turned around and stared at me for another fifteen seconds an calmly retreated to the pasture behind.
    I could have easily popped him with my .40 Glock but he was a beautiful specimen and what would that accomplish? I love those rare moments when I get to connect at close range with a wild animal.

  28. There are lots of coyotes in and around town. I’ve heard them often enough yowling in the greenbelts and canyons, but have never actually seen one. Outside of town they are common. The first one I ever saw in the flesh was 150 miles away on the coast. If the drought worsens, they will be everywhere. In the last two days, we had three bear sightings in town, one bear tranqued and one shooed off. The rattlers will be next coming down the mountains following their prey as the water dries out completely.

  29. I don’t give a rat’s rear end about the varmint problems of California. Everyone of those sheep have been so conditioned that their first and only solution is to call the “authorities”. They are so cowed by the PC bulls#!t, that they’ll accept whatever the loudest activist group tells them. If the coyotes are walking down the street in the middle of the day, use a 22 air rifle and kill them. No silencers, no exotic calibers, no loud bang to make your neighbors wet their pants and call the city to wipe their messy bottoms.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here