A friend of mine was scratching around a fence corner looking for a property corner (monument) a few years ago, and tripped an M44. It was nasty, and he spent spent some time in the emergency ward. It was close, but he was standing up using a shovel and not close to the ground at the time. In any case, it was a very close call.
@loyal?ÿ ?ÿYeah... those things are nasty.?ÿ ?ÿ I remember seeing feathers tied to them and asked my grandpa what it was.?ÿ ?ÿI was sternly warned not to ever touch a feather next to a fence.?ÿ ?ÿAlways remembered that.?ÿ Glad your friend survived.
@loyal Wow, I have never seen these, but scary to think how many times I could?ÿ have encountered one.?ÿ Thanks for the heads up.?ÿ What does it look like at ground level installed?
@loyal In 1966 one man in a party of 3 land surveyors touched a privately-set CG, which exploded and hit him in the hand. The injured man saw a doctor approximately 1 hour after the accident, but was not treated for cyanide poisoning as neither the victim nor witnesses realized that the exploding device was a cyanide gun. The victim died in a Fort Stockton motel room about 3 hours after the accident.
As far as I can find that's the only accredited human death, except for the death of Dennis Slaugh who died in 2018 at age 76 who was permanently disabled by a CG in 2003.?ÿ His death certificate listed cyanide poisoning as a significant cause for his death of coronary problems.
They're nasty devices and have injured many but fatalities are extremely rare.?ÿ Their toll on unintended by-kill is a concern and their use has been banned in many areas but in an interim decision in June 2019, the EPA decided to keep the M-44 devices approved (noting that without them producers of sheep, goats, and cattle would likely incur higher costs and/or more livestock loss), but added some restrictions e.g. about use near public roads or private land.
Assuming coyotes can't read, substantial and semi-permanent signage should be required near such a device, such that when approached from any direction a sign could be seen.?ÿ Apparently this doesn't always happen or there would be no injuries to unsuspecting people.
Role playing persons like to make things as real as possible. Likely the person that made this is into Anime and CosPlay and seen regularly at the Comicons.
AS many thousand of miles ive walked across the open areas of the Western US im shocked and glad I never encountered these, esp because i was alone most of the time.?ÿ wow.?ÿ
We need to concede that we lost the war with coyotes.?ÿ Dan Flores wrote an incredibly detailed history of the coyote, Coyote America, that among many other things, outlines our attempts to kill all of them and the subsequent dispersal of coyotes from West to East to South.?ÿ Basically, the more you try to kill them, the more they break apart from big packs and spread out.?ÿ Also, their litter sizes seem to increase when pressured (their yipping is partly a roll call).?ÿ ?ÿ
Chasing them with hounds on a frequent basis could limit their numbers in areas where their population is already established, but should be avoided near the fringes of their range (South Carolina are you listening?).?ÿ
I haven't looked at any studies concerning CGs but it seems unlikely that they would have any lasting impact unless large quantities were set and continually moved around.?ÿ It seems lazy and dangerous to me.?ÿ If you know coyotes are crossing in a certain spot, just sit a there a few nights with a red light or infrared scope and shoot them or use a snare or better yet, get some donkeys.
The ??JoyfulNomad? had to be associated with land surveying or something closely related. Did a nice job with the punch set. I wonder how long before a surveyor, with a blown project budget, uses it as a controlling corner.
@loyal - are those things available to the public? Cripes, I hope not.
