On 2/9/2016 5:35 PM, Justan Olphart wrote:
On 2/9/2016 12:29 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:

This was a little unnerving ....

Our horse barn is about 175 feet down the driveway from our house.
It has a small, two car garage attached to it where I keep the tractor
in the winter.

I had finished up plowing the driveway with the truck and decided to
walk down to the barn to get the tractor and do a little clean up work.

Got halfway down to the barn when suddenly a coyote came trotting out of
the woods beside the house. I stopped. It stopped ... about 20 feet
away and we just stared at each other. It showed absolutely no fear of
me. It kept looking at me, then in the direction it had been going
(towards the barn and garage) and then back at me again. I just stood
there. It finally started moving slowly towards the garage but then
stopped, turned and started walking back directly towards me. My first
thought was that my gun was back in the house. It stopped again about
20 feet away and we stared at each other again for about 30 seconds then
it moved on towards the garage. So, I slowly followed it, around the
corner and then realized that one of the garage doors was open. (I had
been in there earlier).

My thought was that it had gone in the garage. Walked up slowly and
looked around ... no coyote. Turned around and there he was again,
standing behind me, again about 20, maybe 30 feet away. I booked it
into the garage, pulled the door down fast and watched him through one
of the door windows. He finally lost interest and trotted off towards
my neighbor's house. They raise chickens. I think they will need to
do a head count tonight.

Made me think about what would happen if I had a gun and I was forced to
shoot it if it had attacked or become more threatening. Need to check
up on the laws about that.



Coyotes are a protected species in your state even if it eats your dog
or baby.


I don't think they are protected, even in MA. They have become a
nuisance. The laws I checked said it's legal to shoot them *if* you
have a hunting license *and* discharging the firearm does not violate
any residential area laws. Basically that means firing it within 150
feet of a roadway or firing it within 500 feet of any abutter's property
unless you have their permission to do so.

Don't think the coyote would be willing to just sit and wait until I
go buy the license and then check with a couple of neighbors. :-)

Unless the above requirements are met, I think what would happen is
the LEO would say "nice shot" and then hit me up with illegal discharge
of a firearm and shooting a coyote without a hunting license.

Bottom line is: If I had a gun on me and the damn thing attacked, I'd
shoot and deal with the details later.