Coyotes will definitely hunt larger prey than their wiki inscriptions might imply and can be a serious pest. Locally, we have had a serious issue with cats, small dogs, old large dogs, sheep, calves, basically anything that two or three of them could drag down.
Farmers have countered by renewing the age old practice of keeping a donkey mixed in with the livestock. Donkeys kick coyote ass, literally. Lamas also became an odd but common sight as they seem to share a donkeys hatred for coyotes. Actually, now you see herds of lamas where before people would stop to take a picture of one.
I haven't owned a gun since high school but there is a continuous bounty on them here and if they keep getting this bold, I might invest in another.
That jives with my experience. There is a retired Police Officer that bought a farm just down the road from where I work. He raised exotic goats, cattle and sheep. To protect his herds he got a couple of Great Pyrenese dogs. Great Pyrenese were originally bred to protect sheep from wolves. He told me that since he got the dogs, he has stopped the coyote predation that was decimating his young animals.......Rob
