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Friday, March 09, 2012

Fel's mangy coyote

Fel sent this in as a comment to an earlier post. This wasn't a sport shooting, this was a predation shoot, the coyote had been killing his chickens.
Notice how mangy this rascal is. Bald patches on his side and no hair on the tail. He was actually doing this dog a favor when he shot and killed it. Once they're manged up that bad, they won't make through another winter.
Fully 90% of the coyotes I've shot have been mangy. I shot one a couple of years ago that had some mange visible when I walked up, but when I flipped him over, he had no hair at all on the other side, nothing but scabs and festering sores.
As a side note, I've been told by folks that know that mange is not natural in coyotes, that it's spread by domesticated dogs. I find that curious as most of the coyotes I've shot have had mange, yet I can't remember the last time I saw a domesticated dog with the disease, even farm dogs.
Mange is caused by tiny little mites that burrow into the skin, so if you ever do run across something like this, do not touch it. Don't take the chance of taking that shit home with you., hiding in your clothes. If you want to check your exit wound, flip it with a stick.

9 comments:

  1. So Cutter, just leave the coyote there? Or burn it maybe? Bury it?

    Mange is still a skin disease that is very hard to treat on domestics.

    So what to do with the corpse?

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  2. How do you dispose of one like that? Just bury it in place?

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  3. Bury it if you can.
    Leave it if you have to - it'll continue to be contagious for a little while, but the mites are parasites and will leave the corpse as soon as the body temperature starts to drop, just like ticks and fleas.

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  4. Wild critters, Wirecutter, wild critters. If I didn't(or you either)spend big money on dog meds to keep 'em alive and well for 10+ years, yours and my dog would only live maybe 3-5 years just like they always did back home in OK/AR. I don't remember ever having a dog on the old farm that wasn't wormy and soon to die...Coyotes are our domestic Dingoes just like Australia. What do you think about this Kenny?

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  5. Demodectic or sarcoptic mange are two different species of mite that do different things. A carcass infested probably can't support a population much beyond 24 hours. Just a stupid biologist opinion.

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  6. Oh hell yeah, thanks for your input!

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  7. I normally drag them off in a wash somewhere. The last one I shot is down wind from the house. Every time the Mrs. goes outside and gets a whiff if it, I catch hell. Thanks for posting wiorecutter.

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  8. Good call on flippin it with a stick...you know I gotta check out the exit wound

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  9. Ya wanna see mangy dogs? Look no further than the Navajo reservation. You'll see plenty of them there as is I think near enough every 'Rez dog' has mange. But you know what? Just about every fuckin' rez dog is just as friendly and wanting love as any other dog I've ever met. Despite their sores and open wounds, they come running with tails wagging and friendly eyes, least in most rez towns anyway.

    Out in the boonies on the rez, it's often a different matter, 'specially when they hunt as a pack. Out calling 'yotes, you best be ready to shoot every dog that comes in or be bit. A lot.

    Still, the way the town dogs are treated breaks my fuckin' heart and there is NOTHING we can do about it without being called racist against American Indians. Common decency for their animals is not a trait most of them possess.

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