azredhawk44
Moderator
I've got a pack of Coyotes in north Scottsdale here, near the 101 and Cactus. My neighborhood has been here for about 25 years, it's not like it's a new neighborhood.
There's one particular chunk of land with a condemned house on it, inaccessible from the road... it has about 2-3 acres around it. What once was a nice little micro-ranch. Now, surrounded by little 60'x60' parcels of land, but the 2-3 acres there haven't been developed for some reason or other, and the house there is now shuttered up and ramshackle.
Coyotes have a little den back there.
Last week, 2 or 3 of them tried to snatch my neighbor's terrier right off the leash.
I just drove home and saw one freely walking the sidewalk. I chased it with my truck, and it felt SAFE running into an apartment and condo complex to evade me. They are completely de-sensitized to people and there are a lot of children in these apartments and condos. I routinely see 5-6 year old children running around and they are unsupervised for the most part. Yummy snacks.
I called the Scottsdale Police Department on the non-emergency number and got a lady on the line.
She didn't want to know where the animals were.
She didn't want my address or contact info.
She suggested I call Arizona Game and Fish Department, and prepared to hang up on me.
I told her I already HAD a hunting license, and that type of solution probably wouldn't be looked favorably upon by the Scottsdale PD.
She got very sharp with me.
"What exactly do you mean, sir?"
"Well, a basic hunting license allows me to shoot all the coyotes I want in the state of Arizona," I responded. "But obviously," I continued after a meaningful pause, "discharging a firearm within city limits is not allowed unless in defense of myself or others." :barf:
Sigh. She still doesn't care... All she wants to do is find some crazy guy to report to her shift supervisor... not actually protect the public. :barf:
So, I look up game and fish department. No number for stray predators, so I call "operation game thief" since all the other numbers are for 9-5 offices, and it's near 6 o'clock.
What is it with "enforcement first, protection later?" There's no focus any more on actually protecting the population... just want to boost those arrest and fine numbers. Argh.
The gal I got on Game and Fish was very attentive to the problem, in spite of the department she worked for. I do have to credit her for that. I told her about the 2 year history of these coyotes and how in the last week they have gotten very flagrant, and she said she probably wouldn't have an officer out there today, but probably by tomorrow. I gave contact info, offered to show the game warden or officer the den where the coyotes live, and thanked her for her attention.
So, I'll be open-carrying the 1911 on dog walks in a city of 200K people, in a metro center with 5+ million people, because Scottsdale PD won't do their job and come out and shoot some coyotes with the M4 poodleshooters they have in their cruisers.
Seriously, if any place were to be an in-city open-air rifle range, this abandoned ranch would be it. It's surrounded on 3 sides by concrete walls, has rolling berms all through it, and an abandoned house to also act as a bullet trap or backstop. Coyotes can't run much anywhere, and the bullets aren't going anywhere but into the dirt.
There's one particular chunk of land with a condemned house on it, inaccessible from the road... it has about 2-3 acres around it. What once was a nice little micro-ranch. Now, surrounded by little 60'x60' parcels of land, but the 2-3 acres there haven't been developed for some reason or other, and the house there is now shuttered up and ramshackle.
Coyotes have a little den back there.
Last week, 2 or 3 of them tried to snatch my neighbor's terrier right off the leash.
I just drove home and saw one freely walking the sidewalk. I chased it with my truck, and it felt SAFE running into an apartment and condo complex to evade me. They are completely de-sensitized to people and there are a lot of children in these apartments and condos. I routinely see 5-6 year old children running around and they are unsupervised for the most part. Yummy snacks.
I called the Scottsdale Police Department on the non-emergency number and got a lady on the line.
She didn't want to know where the animals were.
She didn't want my address or contact info.
She suggested I call Arizona Game and Fish Department, and prepared to hang up on me.
I told her I already HAD a hunting license, and that type of solution probably wouldn't be looked favorably upon by the Scottsdale PD.
She got very sharp with me.
"What exactly do you mean, sir?"
"Well, a basic hunting license allows me to shoot all the coyotes I want in the state of Arizona," I responded. "But obviously," I continued after a meaningful pause, "discharging a firearm within city limits is not allowed unless in defense of myself or others." :barf:
Sigh. She still doesn't care... All she wants to do is find some crazy guy to report to her shift supervisor... not actually protect the public. :barf:
So, I look up game and fish department. No number for stray predators, so I call "operation game thief" since all the other numbers are for 9-5 offices, and it's near 6 o'clock.
What is it with "enforcement first, protection later?" There's no focus any more on actually protecting the population... just want to boost those arrest and fine numbers. Argh.
The gal I got on Game and Fish was very attentive to the problem, in spite of the department she worked for. I do have to credit her for that. I told her about the 2 year history of these coyotes and how in the last week they have gotten very flagrant, and she said she probably wouldn't have an officer out there today, but probably by tomorrow. I gave contact info, offered to show the game warden or officer the den where the coyotes live, and thanked her for her attention.
So, I'll be open-carrying the 1911 on dog walks in a city of 200K people, in a metro center with 5+ million people, because Scottsdale PD won't do their job and come out and shoot some coyotes with the M4 poodleshooters they have in their cruisers.
Seriously, if any place were to be an in-city open-air rifle range, this abandoned ranch would be it. It's surrounded on 3 sides by concrete walls, has rolling berms all through it, and an abandoned house to also act as a bullet trap or backstop. Coyotes can't run much anywhere, and the bullets aren't going anywhere but into the dirt.