coyotes on the lawn

Nice weather here today so let the Lab stay out in the yard. Was just a bout to go get her 9pm, when I heard her "Woof" really loud and serious. I grabbed the 3 million CP light and went out the front door. The yard light was also on and the first thing I saw was a coyote about 15 feet from me and then further out my yellow Lab and then about 10 yards past her two large male yotes.
I screamed at them and ran towards the Lab (Sparks) She saw me and headed for the door and Did a Ronstadt into the house. The closest yote took off south taking one more with her. One big male stood his ground for about 30 seconds before nonchalantly loping off. And my fully loaded Colt 45 1911, in the top desk drawer 6 inches from where I was when I heard Sparks bark. He doesn't have a lot of fear of humans and should be easy to kill tomorrow evening.
I just can't believe that Sparks would wait until those three yotes were 30 feet from the house before barking. She barks at deer 200 yards away that she sees in the daylight. But nighttime and dog size animal must have tricked her. As fast as she bolted in the door I think she will sound off earlier next time. Only there ain't gonna be a next time.
I'm still shaking.

If you can borrow a young pup that will whin and yelp they will come after it. Naturly you should have the pup in a kennel and on top off a building out of reach or they might get it quicker than you emagined. A vocal cat is even better. The recorded cat and pup calls work near urban population better than rabbit destress calls.
The most brazen attempt to grab a dog I ever witnessed was while driving near a small town. A couple was carrying items from their car into the house while a little Yorkie ran around watching. When I saw the coyote was within 150 yards of the house. I made a u-turn and stopped to see if he was stalking the dog. He was indeed closing in eventhough the couple was moving between the car and house. When I went to warn the people,they said everyone around them thought dognappers were stealing pets to sell on the black market.
I assume when people started keeping better watch the coyote had to become more risky to snatch a meal.

It is not always an adversarial relationship with dogs and coyotes. When I was a teenager we had a pretty good female stock dog (about 40 lbs) that chased every coyote she saw. When she got older, one spring there was a coyote that would come pretty close to the house and give short howls early in the morning. Dad would let her out of the garage and she would run the coyote off. One morning I decided to follow and when they got the other side of some trees about a quarter mile from the house, the dog and coyote started running in circles and playing like pups. And no, she was not in season. It went on for a few minutes until they saw me and then the coyote walked off and she went back to he house with me.

another possibility is that they got close before she saw them, and were advancing on her. In that situation, a dog will do its best to face them, drop its haunches and get ready to fight for its life.
A fierce growl would be the reaction right then.
If they stopped their advance she then might have time for the thought of barking a warning to you.
They did frighten her badly, by the way she ran to the house.
A normal pet dogs instinct would have been to jump into battle when you entered the 'danger' zone.

it's hard to have pets and coyotes , seems you can't kill them all either . they're smart after you kill one it will be even harder . bring your pets in at night and trap the coyotes .

about 2 a/m a pack woke me up going down the hollar behind the house. strange sounds a hunting pack makes, kinda like a pack of hyenas.

Very, very few dogs can hold their own in a fight with a coyote. The dog that can survive an attack by multiple 'yotes is even rarer. Many moons ago we had a neighbors 100 lb. + Siberian Husky who hung around the farm like it was his home. He got jumped by three coyotes one night and the resulting fight was pretty wild. He survived it, but he looked like he had been the guest of honor at an Apache scalping party. We literally used lawn rakes to clean up all the hair and hide in the yard. Took that dog nearly a week to leave his bed and over a month before he was himself again.

I watched two little coyotes (well, "little" for Wisconsin) playing like pups on my front lawn. Running around an evergreen bush. Just having fun. About 20 minutes after they trotted off, a big old rabbit came out from under the bush. These coyotes we have in Wis and the whole eastern part of the country are a good bit larger than the coyotes I remember out in Arizona. They say it was caused by cross-breeding with Canadian wolves when they came across "over the top". I used to chase the ones in Arizona with a helicopter just for the fun of it.

Did a Ronstadt?

google "eden valley chasing fox with snowmobiles". Locals got in trouble min 1969.

The female was killed at 66 yards out the living room door. Also killed a juvenile 20 yards off the kitchen stoop with a 22.

They became too brazen, so I've started a reduction program. The rifle is a borrowed BLR. I'm working up 243 Winchester loads now.

Coyotes are smart and quick learners. Kill a few and they'll stay away. That's been my experience, anyway.

It's happening more frequently around here too.

http://wnep.com/2014/04/04/coyote-bites-man-and-dog/

(quoted from post at 07:47:59 04/05/14) Did a Ronstadt?

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BLEW BAYOU

We had some local jerks in Wis chase down deer on snowmobiles. They ran over them, etc. Not pretty. Long legal battles. State (stupidly) charged them with hunting out of season. Well, that got them off the "cruelty to animals" charge the county was bringing about because under Wis State statutes, one cannot be charged with cruelty to animals when hunting. But I was just "having fun". A 4 or 5 mile chase is good for a coyote, and, I did it while getting back to "whence" I had came.

Here in central Va, coyotes are bountiful, sometimes they will wake you up at nighttime. I have a hounddog and she is out some nights, although she is a (house dog), she seems to keep them away from animals on farm, I"ve never had a calf killed by one, and my dog is a killin machine, no raccons or opossums live very long around the barns.