Don't know about you, but a laser-sighted .380 Ruger pistol is not something I take with me on runs. Cytomax? Yup. GU? Of course. Identification? Sure.
But Texas Gov. Rick Perry reportedly lugs a concealed weapon in his shorts -- the aforementioned high-powered gun. Ah, Texas. Gotta love it.
Anyway, a coyote that threatened Perry and his dog while they were out on a morning run in February near Austin was on the wrong end of the gun. Talk about hitting the wall. That coyote literally died on the course.
Read all about it below.
Personally, I've seen Coyotes while running on the American River Parkway Trail in Sacramento and never felt the need or even slightly compelled to blow it away and, to quote Perry, "send it where coyotes go." Mostly, the coyotes I've encountered skitter away when they see you.
But those must be mellow, Califorinia coyotes. In Texas, they must be really bad ass.
AUSTIN, Texas - Pistol-packing Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a message for wily coyotes out there: Don't mess with my dog.
Perry told The Associated Press on Tuesday he needed just one shot from the laser-sighted pistol he sometimes carries while jogging to take down a coyote that menaced his puppy during a February run near Austin.
Perry said he will carry his .380 Ruger -- loaded with hollow-point bullets -- when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. He'd also seen coyotes in the undeveloped area.
When one came out of the brush toward his daughter's Labrador retriever, Perry charged.
"Don't attack my dog or you might get shot ... if you're a coyote," he said Tuesday.
Perry, a Republican running for a third full term against Democrat Bill White, is living in a private house in a hilly area southwest of downtown Austin while the Governor's Mansion is being repaired after a 2008 fire. A concealed handgun permit holder, Perry carries the pistol in a belt.
"I knew there were a lot of predators out there. You'll hear a pack of coyotes. People are losing small cats and dogs all the time out there in that community," Perry said.
"They're very wily creatures."
On this particular morning, Perry said, he was jogging without his security detail shortly after sunrise.
"I'm enjoying the run when something catches my eye and it's this coyote. I know he knows I'm there. He never looks at me, he is laser-locked on that dog," Perry said.
"I holler and the coyote stopped. I holler again. By this time I had taken my weapon out and charged it. It is now staring dead at me. Either me or the dog are in imminent danger. I did the appropriate thing and sent it to where coyotes go," he said.
Perry said the laser-pointer helped make a quick, clean kill.
"It was not in a lot of pain," he said. "It pretty much went down at that particular juncture."
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