I just killed a coyote!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

…With my car. Just last night, actually.

I was driving down the highway at around 9:00PM - it was dark, raining, and just a little bit foggy. As I rounded a gentle curve at about 55MPH, I noticed a car maybe a hundred yards in front of me pulling over to the side with its hazard blinkers on. I started to slow down, and my attention was focused on the other car. It was only as I approached it that I saw what the blinkers must’ve been about - a pack of large coyotes, milling about in the other lane, just barely visible on the edge of my headlight beams.

Maybe half a second after I saw them, one of the coyotes decided to dash right in front of my car - I hit the brakes, but there was no way I could stop in time. I was probably going about 35MPH when I hit it, sending it tumbling through the air in an impressively long arc. It was a surprisingly hard impact; the car shuddered, but thankfully the airbag didn’t deploy. As for the coyote, it flopped onto the shoulder like a ragdoll about fifteen yards away. There was no way it lived through that one, though on the plus side it probably didn’t suffer much. :frowning:

I judged that it was too dangerous to stop and inspect that damage by the side of the highway in the dark, so I just continued on home. There it was revealed that the coyote had torn off the license plate, and left a surprisingly deep dent in the front corner of the hood, just above the grill. Ah well, that’s what insurance is for. At least it wasn’t a moose.

Now, here’s the weird part: after discovering that the front license plate was missing, my dad and I drove out again to see if maybe it was still lying by or on the road. However, we had a hard time finding the location of the collision, because the coyote was gone. Only about half an hour had elapsed, and I’m pretty darn sure nobody would’ve stopped in the dark and the driving rain to push a dead coyote off the shoulder, when it wasn’t obstructing traffic as it was. D’you think his packmates dragged him off and ate him? Do coyotes do that? :dubious:

One way or another, that’s the largest animal I’ve had the dubious honor of adding to my roadkill tally so far. It joins a rabbit, a squirrel, and a couple of suicidal birds. No deer yet, fortunately.

2

Was he holding a ridiculously small umbrella and a tiny sign that said “Yikes!” when you hit him?

3

I’m not sure about the packmates dragging him off part, but I think it is in most animals instinct to hide when injured. Possibly he came to and dragged himself under a bush or something?

4

Did it accordionate?

5

Don’t tell Flea.

6

They often do that. In about a month you’ll be receiving notices of unpaid parking tickets at locations near meat markets.

7

Zombie coyotes. They are a menace of the west.

8

Bad luck (for both of you). I’ve always been amazed at how, well, wily the coyotes are out here. While dogs tend to rush across a road without paying attention to traffic, many times I’ve seen a pack by the side of the road, just waiting.

When I pass and look in the rear-view mirror, I see them run across the road.

And, in some 12 years in Arizona, only once have I seen a dead one by the road.

They’re pretty tough guys, so it is possible he was just stunned, later recovered, and went back to his pack to regale them with the story of what happened to him. Let’s hope so.

9

You seem kind of happy about this. glares

10

Well, if it makes it any better, I was this close to killing a roadrunner. Thing ran out in front of the car into the street bordering the golf course.

11

Maybe the guy in the car that was pulling over got rid of it.

Did you try beeping to get their attention? Because if you beeped twice, the one you hit is most certainly not dead, he’s just waiting for his latest ACME product. When you head to work tomorrow, he’ll be following you on roller skates attached to a rocket.

12

[Wile E.] "Why must they always do it the hard way…?! [/Wile E.]

13

Methinks the coyote needed your license plate for some elaborate road runner deathtrap.

14

Hm, I dunno; I hit him pretty hard. At the time I was sure he was a goner. Then again, I’ve been surprised by the resilience of animals before.

…If I see another one wearing roller skates, though, I’ll be sure to do the job thoroughly.

15

What kind of car were you driving? ::crosses fingers::

16

I don’t know, but I suspect that it was from the Acme Corporation.

17

Stealth, you amateur! My wife bagged a full-grown mule deer with her Chevy a few weeks ago (headline: “Impala destroys mule deer in death match!”) and the damn deer sure didn’t drag itself off.

On the other hand, we here in Colorado don’t generally hunt coyotes with car bumpers. I find that a .30-30 at about 150 yards does the trick nicely. Personally, I like to mutter “Beep beep, motherfucker” under my breath just before squeezing the trigger.

18

It was a Volvo 850.

…Why? :dubious:
Sunrazor: Yeah, well, there’s a herd of elk that lives around here. Maybe I’ll go for one of those some time. You’ll probably see it on the news.

19

I dunno, are you sure the Volvo 850 is a big enough “calber”? Buckle up!

20

I think Mr. Moto is saying you’re not a real man.