Suburban coyote...

[Archie]

I was out shooting tonight with a friend, a guy that wanted to learn how to shoot a longbow.  

We had just finished shooting a few arrows apiece, and I walked up to the bale to pull the arrows, and suddenly saw a coyote come running through the neighborhood right into the yard behind mine.  There is no fence, and the nearest house was about 200 feet away.  The 'yote ran up about 20 yards from me and stopped, looking right at me.  I walked towards him with my bow and an arrow in hand, but he showed absolutely no fear.  

I wanted to plug him right then and there.  I mean, how often is it that a guy finds himself with a bow in hand, a broadhead in his bow quiver, all warmed up, and then a nuisance coyote runs into up and stands there broadside for about 45 seconds?

But I couldn't take the shot, because I didn't want to launch an arrow into the neighbor's yard without their permission.  When he finally ran off, he was clearly nosing around, looking for rabbits or some other tasty morsel.  There were robins dive-bombing him as he trotted through the back ends of all of all of the yards on our block.

And I have a 3-year old and a 6-year old that play in that yard of mine, with no fence to keep them critters out.  

I don't like bold coyotes that don't fear man, thumbing their noses at me and running through my yard in suburbia in broad daylight.  One of my neighbors was watching the whole thing, and said that there are a bunch of coyotes hanging around the woods around the bike path that goes through the neighborhood, and this is likely one of them.

[Richie]

Would be hard not to have taken the shot , you are the man sir.  

[ericmerg]

id talk to your nieghbor and see if he can give you permission for one shot if you go and get arrow right away then id set bait and wait

[stujay]

Man that is a bummer!  

[Thumper Dunker]

Out looking for cats and small dogs.

[Jake Diebolt]

I think you made the right call. If you'd have missed and lost the arrow somehow, there's a broadhead sitting in someone's yard waiting for someone to step on. Darn tempting, though.

[Bill Skinner]

You made the correct call.  I think I would be knocking on a few doors and asking permission, also.

[WRV]

I agree, you made the right call.....

[Mark 507]

Dose your town have an animal control officer? If so, contact them and explain your observations and concerns to them. They may be able to help (live trap, ect).

[GRAYBEARD]

Very ethical decision on your part. I, too, would be knocking on doors. As you cite, I would be concerned about a coyote that has no fear of humans.

[Frank V]

My neighbor has three small "yappers" that bark, snarl, & yap at me any time I go into my own backyard. They even bark at me through the window in our garage when they see me in the garage.

Send that yote to me, I'll see if he can't find some dinner here & quit bothering you.      
Frank

[stickandstring]

I would have taken the shot. My neighbors know me.

[Archie]

All my neighbors know me... except this one.  Too bad!  We stood and watched that coyote trot from yard to yard for several minutes, going deeper into the populated area and further from the 'woods'.  It was pretty big, too.

[snakebit40]

You did the right thing but DANG! I'm not so sure I could've held back, but I don't have a clue what it's like to live in suburbia either.

[moththerlode]

The cats are around the houses not in the woods LOL
My dogs and a Coyote were verbaly fighting through the feild fence last night. It was pretty comical other than waking me up.

[Archie]

The reason for the coyote in our neighborhood has got to be the rabbits.  They are all over the place.  I'll go outside at dusk and sometimes there are four or five of them in my yard alone.

[moththerlode]

Exactly Archie .. around here they come in for the cats and smaller livestock. Even lost some Barbados sheep to them.
We get big cats doing the same , they like dog on the menue also. Nothing but a food trough around here for the preds.

[Roy Steele]

I can tell you don't live in WV.

[SELFBOW19953]

You did right, Archie.  If it was my sister-in-law living next to you and you even thought of hurting an animal in her yard, she'd have called the law, PETA, HSUS, etc.

[gringol]

good call not dropping the string on that yote.  They're a nuisance, but they aren't worth going to court.  My dogs got hold of a possum a while back and I put it down with a quick whack from a shovel.  I found out later that that is considered "cruelty to animals" under the law and in the future I should attempt to cage the animal and wait for animal control to pick it up in the morning so they can kill it.  Crazy times we live in...