Coati

[tman308]

Wasn't sure where to post this. Do any of you guys down south run into these Coati? What do the dogs do when they find them? How bad do these critters like to fight? I read that they like to band together have you seen this? Just curious. I am heading down to the desert in a couple of weeks to a ranch that is supposedly infested with Coati and has had several lion killed cows.

Thanks

[TomJr]

They are nasty little critters! For thier size they can do some damage to a dog thats not used to fighting them. They do try to stay away from the dogs, run up trees ect. Problem is they are not all that fast and some don't like to stay treed. I have never seen them gang up to attack a dog or anything. But I have seen big troops up to 30 including young. Bigger groups tend to stay treed better, its the solo big males that tend to bail out of a tree.

A "fight" between a coati and a dog usualy goes like this: Dog catches it on the ground and grabs it. If dog is smart he has caught the coati on top of its neck and is holding it against the ground so that it can't get its claws into play and its over in seconds. If dog has no clue then more than likly he is getting raked by 4 sets of 1 inch claws and will end up with a bunch of 1-2inch cuts. I have never lost a dog to one but did have a close call once, dog was only 6 months old though and he learned from that and kills them without getting a scratch now.

[tman308]

Hey Thanks TomJr. I was hoping you would reply to this since you have these little critters all over down there. I had heard both sides of the story so I just wanted to check. Thanks again.

[Mike Leonard]

I have only limited expereince with Chulos or as they call them way down south Tejons. My friends who jaguar hunt south of the border say they are a pest, and as Tom Jr. said can cut a dog up but most of all they just mess up your hunt. If I wasn't going to coon hunt my dog I would break them off them. I would guess they smell a good deal like a coon however to a coon dog.

I have heard the stories about them ( Little Shark) because of their teeth and banding together but most of the guys that had dogs killed found out it was their dogs baying a bunch of Javelina rather than coati. Now them little stink pigs can tear hell out of thing.

[tman308]

Hey Thanks Mike,

I got a Pm that said that they stink real bad.

Thanks for the replies