I've had the opportunity to encounter two in my lifetime. One while hunting Mtn Pigeons. It was definitely stalking my friend and I from a uphill position. I cracked a shot at it (bird shot) and a ran off. The other time while my wife and I were walking our dogs. Luckily I saw it early on and was able to leash my dogs. Both times made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. They are straight killers.

I've had one at my urban house's back fence line and that's why my Marlin .357 has been kept handy....I'm assuming 158gr JHP would be fine at 30 yds? My LEO tennant has killed a couple behind his house...also urban like mine, but with woods too. Technically, it's illegal to shoot in the city limits here, but I live in the middle of what was my rural boy scout camp decades ago....I warned my adjacent neighbors and would shoot, then immediately go back inside....

Yeah....I thought I heard a shot :)????

There are a ton of coyotes in the green belt along the river by my house.
There is a big male that I see on occasion trotting down the centre of the road to hunt jack rabbits and cats in the neighborhood.

A few years back, there were so many of them around that I actually saw one in the middle of the school playing fields when the elementary school kids were being let out in the afternoon. After that, they disappeared for a period of time so I assume that the city culled off the colony.
They are back again and becoming braver again.

I have ZERO fear of a coyote for my own safety...I value backyard pets however. I will never change your perspective, nor you mine. Predators will be shot on sight...

I saw coyote in the wood from my deer blind this year. First time I've ever seen one hunting. I've seen way more in the city!

Flew R/C planes for a while. Flying field was in a farmer's pasture with no houses for 1/2 mile and a greenbelt/creek a mile away. One evening saw a couple of coyote pups playing on the other side of the air strip about 150 yds away. Even though warned, idiot let his dog, about the same size as the pups, go play with them. They all three romped for 30 minutes, then his dog came back all tuckered out. The coyote pups disappeared.

The next evening the same thing. Saw the pups and let his dog go to play. This time as his dog approached the pups, Momma coyote popped up, grabbed his dog by the neck, one quick flip snapped it's neck, then momma trotted off carrying dinner with the pups following behind. Think both the coyote pups and the owner got schooled by momma coyote.

Often took my Golden to the same flying field. She always stayed 2-3 ft from me unless sent to someone's pickup to fetch a beer from a cooler. Never let her run around free of go off exploring. She was a great dog and I wanted to keep her.

It's not for me to fear the coyotes. I have dogs and one of them was bit during the day in my fenced yard.

The wildlife shift around these parts has been amazing over my lifetime....seen more deer, turkeys, and predators the past five years than in my first 50 combined....deer a bit longer than that...say 10 years. They've migrated, and the populations have simply boomed. It's unbelievable...both here in the city, and my semi-rural property not that far away. NO, you can't hunt there...it's a wildlife refuge....no predators allowed :)

I get them on my game camera all the time at my property in Central Texas. Usually loners but sometimes a pair. However, I hear packs of them at night yipping and howling. The guy who used to check on the cattle ranch next door, for the owner who lives in San Antonio, would let his dogs run free while he went about his business. One day he heard the dogs yelping down in the woods and soon the larger one returned to his truck. The little Boston Terrier never came back.

Don't people with horses get a mule to keep the coyotes away?

There are a lot of coyotes in my area but, I never seen any on the foothill trails behind my house, in the 10 years I've live in the area. I know there are mountain lion, seen 3 in the month of February 2 years ago, and been wondering if that could be the reason. I've even heard them mating, just imagine a tomcat outside your window banging a female in heat in the middle of the night. It sounds about the same, except coming from much larger cats a mile away, echoing in a canyon like an amphitheater. They kill about a dozen deer every winter and my Carolina dog brings back bones from the wooded trails, and as the snow melts the bones become spread from the kill sights through out the woods.

Seen lots of coyotes in the area but, never behind my house, and know a few people who had there dogs attacked but, elsewhere.

I also, suspect the ranchers shoot 'em when the see 'em, and a lot of ranchers have those big white dogs. I think they Great Piranes(sp), one chomp and the coyote is dead. Btw, they are beautiful dogs.

If their hides were worth anything, I love to shoot 'em.

You shouldn't be afraid of mountain lion, one was hiding 20 feet away from me behind a sage brush. I figured I wasn't the first person the young lion had seen that day. It was at sunset and I just walked past like nothing was there.

[QUOTE=gduke2010;9579266

You shouldn't be afraid of mountain lion, one was hiding 20 feet away from me behind a sage brush. I figured I wasn't the first person the young lion had seen that day. It was at sunset and I just walked past like nothing was there.[/QUOTE]

If a mountain lion is a cougar then you should be afraid. One man against an attacking cougar is a big challenge. They usually stalk and attack from behind. :eek: