Coyotes

I've always seen coyotes on my rides around here. They usually just
watch you go by, they usually aren't frightened, they usually don't run
away, they usually hold their ground even though you come pretty close
to them. Sometimes they'll run alongside you for a while, hoping you'll
scare up a squirrel for them to catch. I've seen them easily chase down
and catch jack rabbits. I've never been scared of them but their
numbers are increasing and news stories from nearby say they're getting
more aggressive too… feeding on cats and dogs, stalking children. I
wonder what would happen in a bike-coyote collision - would the coyote
run away in a panic? or attack in defense?

Well, at least they're not mountain lions.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

"Diablo Scott" wrote in message
news:1097692590.Pg+hlVjIN1Er/iLVUjnLcA@teranews...
I've always seen coyotes on my rides around here. They usually just
watch you go by, they usually aren't frightened, they usually don't run
away, they usually hold their ground even though you come pretty close
to them. Sometimes they'll run alongside you for a while, hoping you'll
scare up a squirrel for them to catch. I've seen them easily chase down
and catch jack rabbits. I've never been scared of them but their
numbers are increasing and news stories from nearby say they're getting
more aggressive too… feeding on cats and dogs, stalking children. I
wonder what would happen in a bike-coyote collision - would the coyote
run away in a panic? or attack in defense?

Well, at least they're not mountain lions.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

Where is "around here?"

We have coyotes galore here in rural western South Carolina. The only time
you see them is every now an then around sunset. But at night, when the
trains go by on the nearby tracks, that sets them off and you can hear them
howling for miles. There must be hundreds of them. I've never seen one on
a bike ride.

They'll eat chickens, small dogs and cats. Cattlemen and horsemen hate them
because they'll kill newborn calves and colts -- if the vultures don't get
them first. I've never heard of any attacks on humans. But I wouldn't
tempt fate by walking down in my woods around here in the dark of night.

Bob C.

Diablo Scott wrote:
I've always seen coyotes on my rides around here. They usually just
watch you go by, they usually aren't frightened, they usually don't run
away, they usually hold their ground even though you come pretty close
to them. Sometimes they'll run alongside you for a while, hoping you'll
scare up a squirrel for them to catch. I've seen them easily chase down
and catch jack rabbits. I've never been scared of them but their
numbers are increasing and news stories from nearby say they're getting
more aggressive too… feeding on cats and dogs, stalking children. I
wonder what would happen in a bike-coyote collision - would the coyote
run away in a panic? or attack in defense?

Well, at least they're not mountain lions.


Where are you? No point in posting for info and then leaving out any
info that may help you.

Anyway, the coyote is now a danger to humans. The mountain variety goes
50lbs so it can rip your throat out just like any dog can. Here is a
good article including the warning that you may be killed by these dogs
at any moment.

http://www.desertusa.com/june96/du_cycot.html

HEre is one line:

"Children and adults being bitten by coyotes in California, Arizona and
other states."

Enjoy your ride.

On Wed, 13 Oct 2004 13:50:09 -0600, Paul Cassel wrote:

Where are you? No point in posting for info and then leaving out any
info that may help you.

Anyway, the coyote is now a danger to humans. The mountain variety goes
50lbs so it can rip your throat out just like any dog can. Here is a
good article including the warning that you may be killed by these dogs
at any moment.

http://www.desertusa.com/june96/du_cycot.html

HEre is one line:

"Children and adults being bitten by coyotes in California, Arizona and
other states."

Enjoy your ride.

Read the article and it doesn't make the points that you do, unless I
missed a second page. The danger of being bitten was in conjunction
with the comments about coyotes begging. IOW, when you give food to a
hungry animal, there will be mistakes. I had a 30 pound mutt that left
teeth marks on me all the time once her eyesight started to fail. She
figured correctly that the treat was somewhere in the vicinity of the
hand and it was up to me to let go quickly enough.

I saw no comments about throats being ripped out - to the contrary,
the comments at several points made it clear that there is relatively
little danger to man and the increased fearlessness of the coyote is
leading to increased risk to the coyote.

50 pound predators will rarely attack 120-240 pound omnivores when
there are so many smaller animals closer in size to their natural prey
in any area with humans. Small dogs in yards with electronic fences
are a good source of food - after all, the electronic fence only keeps
the dog in. It doesn't keep other dogs or coyotes out.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Paul Cassel wrote:


Where are you? No point in posting for info and then leaving out any
info that may help you.

Anyway, the coyote is now a danger to humans. The mountain variety goes
50lbs so it can rip your throat out just like any dog can. Here is a
good article including the warning that you may be killed by these dogs
at any moment.

http://www.desertusa.com/june96/du_cycot.html

HEre is one line:

"Children and adults being bitten by coyotes in California, Arizona and
other states."

Enjoy your ride.


I'm near San Francisco in the East Bay - I ride mostly on Mt. Diablo (a
state park); as much as I love it here I didn't think that was relevant
to the topic. The recent news story is from the Silicon Valley area -
large estates for wealthy people built in areas that were until recently
undeveloped. Apparently a lot of the folks there put out food for feral
cats and deer and that of course attracts the coyotes too. Lots of
controversy over whether they should deal with the coyotes or the idiots.

I'm pretty sure no one is feeding the coyotes on Diablo though, and I
haven't heard about them raiding camp sites, but they're getting bolder
and more numerous anyway. I see at least one almost every ride, but not
always near the road.

I have no doubt one could rip my throat out given the opportunity and
desire, and I can find plenty of coyote web sites on my own. I was
interested in personal stories. Since I often see them dart across the
road I figure someone must have hit one or had some other close call.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

"Diablo Scott" wrote in message
news:1097692590.Pg+hlVjIN1Er/iLVUjnLcA@teranews...
I've always seen coyotes on my rides around here. They usually just
watch you go by, they usually aren't frightened, they usually don't run
away, they usually hold their ground even though you come pretty close
to them. Sometimes they'll run alongside you for a while, hoping you'll
scare up a squirrel for them to catch. I've seen them easily chase down
and catch jack rabbits. I've never been scared of them but their
numbers are increasing and news stories from nearby say they're getting
more aggressive too… feeding on cats and dogs, stalking children. I
wonder what would happen in a bike-coyote collision - would the coyote
run away in a panic? or attack in defense?

I've seen cayotes, mostly around dawn near the "undeveloped park" near my
house. Like you report, they just watch you go by. I suppose there could
more more lurking in the bushes, but who knows. They've never bothered me,
I've never bothered them.

When I was in college, I used to hike out from the campus out to a foothill
of the San Gabriels for meditation at dawn. Sometimes a pack of cayotes
would come by. I was pretty dull to them -- just a human sitting there --
and again, the "I don't bother you, you don't bother me" attitude was
something we shared.


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
please substitute yahoo for mousepotato to reply
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

psycholist wrote:
"Diablo Scott" wrote in message
news:1097692590.Pg+hlVjIN1Er/iLVUjnLcA@teranews...

I've always seen coyotes on my rides around here. They usually just
watch you go by, they usually aren't frightened, they usually don't run
away, they usually hold their ground even though you come pretty close
to them. Sometimes they'll run alongside you for a while, hoping you'll
scare up a squirrel for them to catch. I've seen them easily chase down
and catch jack rabbits. I've never been scared of them but their
numbers are increasing and news stories from nearby say they're getting
more aggressive too… feeding on cats and dogs, stalking children. I
wonder what would happen in a bike-coyote collision - would the coyote
run away in a panic? or attack in defense?

Well, at least they're not mountain lions.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/


Where is "around here?"

We have coyotes galore here in rural western South Carolina.

Coyotes have invaded the entire eastern US. What I heard was that they
couldn't cross the Mississippi River in any real numbers, so they
drifted north and east through Canada and then south. We have plenty of
them in upstate NY -- when I had sheep, I shot a number of coyotes and I
had to keep a flock guardian dog (130 lb Great Pyrenees bitch -- she was
impressive).

Hate the buggers. Them and deer. Lots of people think deer are just
cute little bambis, but farmers are more practical -- deer = rats with
hooves.

-km

--
Only cowards fight kids -- unidentified Moscow protester

http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts
proud to be owned by a yorkie

the black rose wrote:
|| psycholist wrote:
||| "Diablo Scott" wrote in message
||| news:1097692590.Pg+hlVjIN1Er/iLVUjnLcA@teranews...
|||
|||| I've always seen coyotes on my rides around here. They usually
|||| just watch you go by, they usually aren't frightened, they usually
|||| don't run away, they usually hold their ground even though you
|||| come pretty close to them. Sometimes they'll run alongside you
|||| for a while, hoping you'll scare up a squirrel for them to catch.
|||| I've seen them easily chase down and catch jack rabbits. I've
|||| never been scared of them but their numbers are increasing and
|||| news stories from nearby say they're getting more aggressive too…
|||| feeding on cats and dogs, stalking children. I wonder what would
|||| happen in a bike-coyote collision - would the coyote run away in a
|||| panic? or attack in defense?
||||
|||| Well, at least they're not mountain lions.
||||
|||| --
|||| My bike blog:
|||| http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/
|||
|||
||| Where is "around here?"
|||
||| We have coyotes galore here in rural western South Carolina.
||
|| Coyotes have invaded the entire eastern US. What I heard was that
|| they couldn't cross the Mississippi River in any real numbers, so
|| they
|| drifted north and east through Canada and then south. We have
|| plenty of them in upstate NY -- when I had sheep, I shot a number of
|| coyotes and I had to keep a flock guardian dog (130 lb Great
|| Pyrenees bitch -- she was impressive).
||
|| Hate the buggers. Them and deer. Lots of people think deer are just
|| cute little bambis, but farmers are more practical -- deer = rats
|| with hooves.

Well, I can't see eating a rat, but I'd be happy to have deer for supper, I
think.




||
|| -km
||
|| --
|| Only cowards fight kids -- unidentified Moscow protester
||
|| http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts
|| proud to be owned by a yorkie

I see coyotes occasionally in upstate NY. They have never been aggressive.

My biggest animal fear is having some stupid deer cross the road in front of me
while I'm descending at 40 mph.


Mike Yankee

(Address is munged to thwart spammers.
To reply, delete everything after "com".)

Diablo Scott wrote:
The recent news story is from the Silicon Valley area -
large estates for wealthy people built in areas that were until recently
undeveloped. Apparently a lot of the folks there put out food for feral
cats and deer and that of course attracts the coyotes too. Lots of
controversy over whether they should deal with the coyotes or the idiots.

god, california. out here in idaho we have the same problem. they're
building expensive homes for rich folk into the foothills around boise
which had been completely undeveloped.

the coyotes keep killing their precious cats & dogs.

much to idaho's credit the police won't do anything about it. of course you
can shoot the coyotes if you're so inclined this being idaho and all.

but for the most part people no longer leave their pets outside after dark.

way ot, it is a little unnerving taking the telescope up into the foothills.
i've taken to leaving the car stereo on fairly loud since i can't leave the
lights on. but you can "feel" them all around you. it is truly eery.
--
david reuteler