Slow news day, me boyos?

The Associated Press has printed an article in which Texas Governor Rick Perry is revealed to have shot a coyote whilst on a morning jog in an “undeveloped area” near Austin three months ago.

Apparently, Governor Perry was being accompanied by his daughters’ Labrador puppy, and when the yodel dog made a run at the puppy, Perry pulled a laser-sighted Ruger .380 and thumped Wiley right skippy.

This is news?

The left-leaning side of Blogworld is — predictably enough — losing their tiny little minds.

Folks, a coyote out during the daytime, making a solo run at a man and a dog who not only outweigh the coyote — a Labrador retriever old enough to go for a jog is either about the same size as a coyote or a damned sight bigger than one — but also out-number him … well, that ain’t normal.

And by “ain’t normal” I mean that the coyote is either flat-barking bugnuts, or rabid.

Either way, that sort of behavior will get Mr. Brush-Tail punted right up to the top of the old smoke list around here. A fact, by-the-by, which is well-known by most of the coyote population in our fair State — which is why normal, sane, non-rabid yodel dogs don’t make thunder runs at people and their fuzzy running partners.

LawDog

The Peshawar Lancers
Another view

28 thoughts on “Slow news day, me boyos?”

  1. I'm a flaming liberal and, hell, I kinda like coyotes — had a dog once I swear was part coyote, you never saw such a sense of humor on a dog — and I would have done the same thing, if I was bright enough / it was legal where I live to run around armed.

  2. P.S.: Where are the people who are losing their minds? I spend big chunks of my day in the left-leaning blogosphere (not Kos or HuffPuff, though) and I haven't seen this story yet.

  3. Around here, a coyote tends to get shot and left for the buzzards if he's hanging around too close to certain areas. Like cattle pastures.

    Most folks will ignore a coyote if it's just passing through, but if coyotes are seen too often eyeballing the herd, they're done for.

    I also have a friend that killed a coyote that was stalking her small dogs (he was hanging around the house and yard, looking for a chance) with a golf club…. Now that's a good reason not to get her mad at you…

  4. Thunder running me and my pup would get singing dog smoked up here in Kansas also. I'm partial to 'yotes, hearing them singing lets me know that some wild is still around.
    But eye-ball my Maltese..depending on what day it is will determine the size of the exit wound.
    Cavtrooper

  5. It's the usual legacy media take on an ordinary, lawful use of a firearm: it's so far outside their experience and comfort zone that it's exotic and therefore newsworthy.
    Reminds me of Cheney's shotgun mishap four years ago. From the "Hey, lookey this! A-woo-woo!" reporting it garnered, you'd think The Veep had attended a cannibal cookout. Again, so far away from the reporters' experience that it just had to be breathlessly reported.

  6. I did read an article in the FW Star Telegram which did quote a few looneys talking about the coyote being a "song dog" and were quite upset Perry shot the coyote.
    Coyotes or for that matter any predator which will not run away immediately when encountering a human should be viewed with great concern.
    Under the conditions reported I would have shot the coyote without hesitation.
    Remember the young college student in Canada who was attacked and killed by coyotes. Rare but it happens.
    My wife and I had a small herd of cattle guarded by a jack and a jenny. No problems with losing any calves, but the ducks and geese on our tank were probably not considered worth saving by our jack and jenny and coyotes waged open warfare on them.
    The only solution was a .243 which after a few visits made the survivors wary. But you know what?
    They never quit trying. Coyotes are predators and have their place in this world, but not attacking me or mine.
    Paul in Texas

  7. eh one of the other bloggers[ a conservative] had this one on his blog..yesterday or day before. He's actually met Perry and fired that .380. Bloggers reaction? Eh.."while I don't like the .380 much..nice shot governor."

  8. I gotta say .. Dammed fine shot with a pocket rocket Guv .. Laser sighted or not , its no easy feat to drop a yote with a pocket pistol .

  9. Somebody posting on the Brady Campaign Facebook site was steamed up because the gov 1. ran armed
    2. Used "holopoints" and opined that coyotes 3. "Don't run in packs."

    With that much hysteria and misinformation in a few sentences he should go to work as a press aid for the Obama administration.

  10. I've seen one year old coyotes do some pretty stupid stuff … like getting on board the local commuter rail in Portland, and riding it to the next stop.

    A lot of coyotes get killed during the three years or so it takes one to get a clue. They breed fast though.

  11. Thanks for this. This is the first time I've seen the Lab reported as a "puppy". Every lab (or other 50+ lb dog) I've ever owned could make short work of one of a 'yote.

    With my old German shepherd I only had to pull out a firearm if there were more than 3 of them.

  12. And by "ain't normal" I mean that the coyote is either flat-barking bugnuts, or rabid.

    Uh-huh.

    This aspect of it didn't hit me until I actually read the news article. A single coyote acting aggressive toward a healthy, mobile adult man Just Doesn't Happen if the coyote is also normal and healthy. Coyotes aren't as wary of humans as wolves are, but in most places they still try to steer clear.

  13. Farmgirl:

    "I also have a friend that killed a coyote that was stalking her small dogs (he was hanging around the house and yard, looking for a chance) with a golf club…. Now that's a good reason not to get her mad at you…"

    Ooohh..introductions, please?

    cap'n chumbucket

  14. I lived in Fritzburg for about 10 years, and every year we had warnings about rabid coyotes, and it became standard to pretty much shoot on sight any seen in the daytime (outside city limits, of course-the local cops and SD claimed dibs on the ones in town…

  15. "This is news?" Yes, it is. How many shots did it take to put that critter down, how well were they placed, what kind of ammo was he using, and did he salvage the skin?

    Inquiring minds WANT TO KNOW.

  16. I'm no fan of the well-haired governor. But I chuckled when I read the news clip. I knew the anti-gun nutsos would have a field day.

    However, I had a good laugh with the former LEO that was teaching my CPR class the next day when we were wondering why in the Sam Hills the good gov'nr is carrying a LASER SIGHT on his CARRY GUN, piddling thing that it is, and where in the Sam Hills his protection detail was that *HE* had to get the shot off?

    We think it's actually augmented news fodder in an election cycle here in the Great State, as it's more likely to help than hurt him that he didn't miss according to the story, anyway, and saved his daughter's "puppy". Heh.

  17. Why sneer at a laser sight on a carry gun?

    I carry pretty much the same thing (Keltec vs the Ruger version) with Crimson Trace laser and it makes it possible to hit stuff past 15 feet. It doesn't add much to the size of the gun and all I had to do is buy a different pocket holster to accommodate the laser.

    Election puffery? Probably, but good job Gov.!

  18. Why put a laser sight on a carry gun you're likely only gonna shoot under 21 feet?

    Because a 21 foot sight plane would make it hard to conceal. . . {grin}

    And "holopoints"? Where can I buy me some of those? Can I use it to enact realistic fantasy worlds, like in Star Trek? Or is it just another illiterate Brady Buncher? {snicker}

  19. I sneer at laser sights on a carry gun because it implies more money than sense.

    I know so many people that pour tons of cash into their carry weapons. Yay, bully for them.

    The day you actually have to USE said weapon, it gets locked up, filthy, without any protection or cushioning, in a box in the evidence locker at the police station.

    **IF** you are lucky, you'll get said weapon back in a year or two, after the powder has had a lovely time eating its way through the bluing. **IF** that's the only damage done to it, you're also lucky.

    That's NOT to say you want some P.O.S. that's going to jam or otherwise fail you in your hour of need, but IMNSFHO, pouring a lot of cash into your carry weapon is not advisable.

    Of course, Gov. GoodHair probably doesn't have to worry about such mundane issues.

  20. $170 laser on a $300 gun, big whoop!

    In the very unlikely chance that I have to actually fire the thing is self defense it'd cost me far more than it's worth to pry it out of the hands of the Minneapolis police department.

    I'll consider the gun (and laser) money well spent.

    If it means that I actually have a gun on me if I need it and I have a better chance of hitting what I'm shooting at, I consider it worth it.

    My winter carry, a S&W 642, the worlds most perfect carry gun, has a $170 Crimson trace on it as well.

    Not a lot of money to improve the odds a bit.

    YMMV

  21. The local news has a "Viewer's Voice" segment. One of the recent incarnations included at least one caller whining and moaning because Perry was carrying a gun while jogging.

    Oh, heaven forbid people be prepared to defend themselves even when they're trying to get some exercise, right? Sigh.

  22. I live in Tucson AZ these days, and carry daily. We have 'yotes around here in spades. I've explained to my landlady that the ONLY time I'd consider shooting an animal such as a coyote inside city limits is if I suspected it was rabid based on it's behavior. At that point it's shoot on sight as long as the backstop is sane.

    At night we do indeed get whole packs of 'yotes on the property, no doubt hunting the abundant wild rabbits and/or quail which is fine by me. When I've encountered them they've backed off even when running in groups of 6+, so absolutely a solo 'yote charging a grown man is in dire need of gunfire.

  23. *blinks* Why accessorize your carry gun if you're going to lose it to the PD after a defensive shooting? Well, hell, why buy a nice pair of jeans when they'll only be sliced up by EMTs after a bad fall or car wreck?

    If it doesn't look nice, feel nice, and work nicely with my life, I'm either going to make it that way or not carry / wear / use it except on special occasions. And, like pants, a carry gun isn't useful if it's stuck in a drawer.

    We lost a teacher up here in Alaska recently because she went out jogging without a gun, and got taken out by wolves. Rare, but it happens – especially where hard winters cause starving predators, and rabies is a threat. We didn't lose another jogger last summer, because he took out a bear with his pocket cannon. If something with sharp teeth and ability to do harm is coming straight for you, it's no bad thing to be ready and able to respond with force.

    Good shooting, gov.

  24. The first thing that came to mind when I read that new article was "where the hell were the state troopers?"

    Personally, were I a high-profile politician I would be armed too rather than trusting my life entirely to other people, but still, shouldn't this guy be protected by a couple armed cops 24/7? The governor of Oklahoma had at least 4 highway patrolmen around him at all times when he was strolling the grounds of the gubernatorial mansion a few years ago, and he was way lower profile than Perry.

    So, I just thought that one of those professional bodyguard types who theoretically were alert and wearing quick-draw holsters should have gotten off the shot way, way before the governor drew a concealed mouse gun.

    The second thought was remembering the time Carter had to beat up a bunny rabbit with an oar. Still funny decades later.

  25. I have a CT laser on my carry gun because I am WELL into the bifocal years now. If my glasses get knocked off (or even seriously askew) having the blurry red point on the blurry goblin blob may (will) save my hide.

    Don't know if the Gov has that issue, but I'll take all the leveling of the playing field that I can legally get. Just saying…….

    WV=destrev (destroying relevant?)

  26. Dave, which governor? Keating I'd be surprised, somewhat surprised by the current gov, Henry, having four around all the time; Walters, on the other hand(just before Keating) was a dirtbag who I think liked having people around to prove how much a bigshot he was.

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