Suicidal Coyote

[Fox Body]

Last weekend, a coyote ran out in front of my GT.

You know when you here someone say "he just ran out in front of me, there was nothing I could do," you kinda think to yourself, "hmmm, I wonder" in a kinda unbelieving way?

Well, it actually happened to me. There was some really tall grass on the side of the hwy I was driving on and by the time I saw the stupid thing, it was like one frame flash in a movie where I saw a flash of a canine-like critter running in front of the car. 1/64th of a sec later, he had tasted the paint on my front bumper (WHAAAAAAM!). I was going about 60 mph, and he got the full impact. I didn't even have the time to get my foot on the brake. He was either possesed, or just wanted to die, he couldn't have timed it any better.

First time I've ever killed a mammal with a vehicle (well, at least to my knowledge...).

I looked in my rear view mirror a split sec after impact and saw him spinning around like a helicopter rotor.
Didn't know it was a coyote until I turned around to go make sure of what it was (some closure). I was like, "what? wait a minute, that ain't no dog, that's a ... what, fox?, no, to big to be a fox. A wolf? No, we don't have those around here. Aaaah, it's a coyote. Stupid coyote."

It smashed both my fog lights, took a little paint off the lower part of the bumper (air dam area), and broke part of the fiberglass piece that holds up the fog light on the passenger side so that the pass. fog light holder hangs about 1/4" low (but that'll be an easy fix). It's the paint (about a 3" oval-ish diameter) that's rubbed off (even though it's really not all that noticeable) that I'm annoyed about. My poor, poor GT.

Eeh, there's a lot of ways it could've been worse, or more damage, so I'm thankful that it wasn't. You know, like one of my friends pointed out, it's a good thing that it didn't come up over hood, smash through the windshield, and start biting me. Things probably turned out a lot differently then....

Well, thanks for letting me share my wack end (weekend) experience with you.

[tireburner163]

Stupid animals sucks.

I hit a armodillo in the notch the other night and got animal goo all over my new drag-lites. I was pissed.



-Josh, aka the tireburner

[Stang_Girl617]

Sorry to hear about your car... look at it this way... it was minimal damage right? I've hit a couple of bunnies... a few armadillos, 2 cats and thats about it. Nothing as big as you hit. I know how you feel... when i hit the armadillo it took some of the paint off of the left side skirt on my car. I was glad he was dead... stupid pests. oh well..

Hope everything goes well.

[Dark_5.0]

Are you sure it wa a coyote. They are about as big as a medium sized dog about 40 lbs.

[Rev]

40 lbs. is about right. And they aren't stupid, but they do panic. Wouldn't you if you had never seen a car before and one came screaming down on you at 60-70mph. It could have been a deer or a cow, then it would have been much more damage. Been through that, not fun.

Rev

[Crazy Horse GT]

that's why there is a unlimeted, open season on coyete's & skunk's in tn, but who want's to shoot a skunk??, glad it didnt hurt your car too bad, they are kinda big, shot one once at a full run, his hind end fell for a second & he kept hauling a---, hope you get the gt fixed back up.

[Rev]

Sounds like it was a gut shot. Not good even on a cayote. I have done it myself before, but I always felt bad about it.

Rev

[Fox Body]

Dang Jerri, you're brutal.... poor critters..

Glad we don't have any armadillos around, that would've done a little more damage, I assume.

About me being sure if it was a coyote, yeah, I'm 99% sure. I've heard people talk about having them around our county and I've seen 2 others run across one of the back country roads on 2 diff occasions. They ran with lightning speed, faster than I've ever seen any dog run. First time I saw one I was amazed at how fast it shot across the country road. But anyway, yeah and what you all discribed, "~40 lbs, medium sized dog". Yep. It was mostly grey with white highlights on the belly and lower area. When I went back to look at it, it's eyes were open (it was dead as a doornail<---- whatever that is) and it looked really wild. Its face was kinda thin and streamline. Too large and grey to be a fox.

What surprised me is that a coyote would do something stupid like that. Someone suggested that it could've been rabid and gone insane...

Anyways, I think I can probably get the foglights, fix the fiberglass part behind the bumper cover, and paint for under $200. We'll see. ....

[Crazy Horse GT]

Originally posted by Fox Body
Dang Jerri, you're brutal.... poor critters..

Glad we don't have any armadillos around, that would've done a little more damage, I assume.

About me being sure if it was a coyote, yeah, I'm 99% sure. I've heard people talk about having them around our county and I've seen 2 others run across one of the back country roads on 2 diff occasions. They ran with lightning speed, faster than I've ever seen any dog run. First time I saw one I was amazed at how fast it shot across the country road. But anyway, yeah and what you all discribed, "~40 lbs, medium sized dog". Yep. It was mostly grey with white highlights on the belly and lower area. When I went back to look at it, it's eyes were open (it was dead as a doornail<---- whatever that is) and it looked really wild. Its face was kinda thin and streamline. Too large and grey to be a fox.

What surprised me is that a coyote would do something stupid like that. Someone suggested that it could've been rabid and gone insane...

Anyways, I think I can probably get the foglights, fix the fiberglass part behind the bumper cover, and paint for under $200. We'll see. ....

yeah they have moved in our area, for the last few year's, indian's call the the trickster's, shape shifter's, etc. they are a lot smarter than dog's, anyway, good luck with the car , but those day-um so called dog's are fast, real fast. almost a running illusion.

[Capri306]

Damn, I feel your pain, bro. I only WISH I'd ever hit something that small so I guess you could say you were lucky in that respect...?

I think I have y'all beat. I've smoked 3 deer and a goat. Worst one was a deer with me going 60 in a 1980 Chrysler Newport (yes, it's an f-ing BOAT). Hit the right side of the front end, sucker went airborne and like *hovered* over the hood of my car as the brakes were locked...like was said above, as if single movie frames. I left skidmarks for about 80 feet, maybe more. Dang cop took like an hour to get there, but that deer was DOA anyhoo. I just thank gOD I wasn't in the Mustang then, I would've cried.

[goracen]

My new GT had less than 700 miles when two turkeys just missed getting hit by the truck next to me. I managed to only hit one. They were big suckers. I saw it go flying over the breakdown lane and into the ditch. It broke my headlight bracket and cracked my bumper. Since then I have not had good luck with animals. Or I should say animals have not had good luck with my cars. I was on the Mass Pike a few months later with cars on each side and behind me and ran over a family of ducks trying to get across. A pheasant hit the windshield on a back road (it lived), and a bunch of chipmunks met their end. Friends found a gave me a bumper sticker that says something along the lines of: Squirrils natures speed bumps. The one bit of good luck for me was going to work early one morning, I was stopped at a traffic light. It turned green but I knew the van coming from the right was going to run his light so I waited. Sure enough he ran it and turned in front of me. Just down the road a bit a deer came running across the road and the van hit it. If the van had not been coming it would probably have been me.