Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Rabies

I was out scouting this w/e when a coyote rushed behind me and bit me in the calf. I kicked it off and it ran a few feet away and just looked at me. I fortunately had a .22 Beretta 87 target pistol and I shot and killed it. It was very light and sick looking. I had three small puncture wounds in my right calf.
Wrapped the coyote up in a jacket, put it in my pack and drove straight to the Ft. Collins, Co emergency room.
They took the coyote and immediately prepared to ship tissue samples to Denver for rabies testing. The infectious disease doctor suggested I IMMEDIATLTY start getting Rabiese vaccine. I got 8 shots of Hemagoblin and 1 shot of vaccine. Will get 5 more shots over the next three weeks. The test results came back today positive for rabies!

The doctors were very positive on the vaccine. I am trying not to worry about it, but it aint easy!

be careful out there!

PS the area is really pretty "snakey" Coyotes were the last thing on my mind.

Lefty C

you did everything right, you shouldnt have any issues i dont think....

Prayers sent from here for successful treatment, but as far as I know, unless you're allergic to the vaccine, it works very reliably.

Damn Lefty, WTH? I'm rooting for you.

Though I am sure you will heal up quick, still scary stuff.

Where around Fort Collins were you?

You will be okay. But man that is a scary deal for sure. I was nearly bit by a raccoon that was just a little too far gone to get the job done. I don't know if it was rabies but it scarred the crap out me.

MadMooner,

North of Cherokee Park Road.

Lefty

Had a jackal get wonky and try that in Africa a couple years ago....but I saw him coming and it ended differently


Good luck with your vaccines. Sounds to me like you did exactly the right thing.

The vaccine is virtually 100% against the virus. In a case like this where you did it all as close to perfect as possible, it's hard to imagine a less than perfect outcome. I presume they also hit you with some antibiotics too?

Dayum, LC......

Holy Chit! praying for the best.

You'll be fine Lefty. The rabies virus slowly travels up the nerve sheath. It would probably take a month for it to get to your brain. What they gave you was RIG (rabies immune globulin) which confers active (right now) immunity to the virus. You are now recieving the vaccine which will confer passive (down the road) immunity.

the wife was saying she wasnt going to pack her 38 revolver while out bow hunting cause she was worried that someone might say she cheated and shot her elk with it....i showed her this thread and reminded her of the couple of skunks i killed that were likely rabid and she changed her mind and is back to packing....

Sounds like you were really on the ball there. The best of luck with your treatments.

Shazam! Good luck.

Montana is probably different than some other states, but packing a firearm while bowhunting used to be illegal in a lot of them.

Down here in southern New Mexico and southern Arizona, it's almost universal among bow hunters these days...

Here is how it reads in MN: "a person may not possess a firearm while bowhunting for deer. A person may take bear, elk and moose by archery while in possession of a firearm."

One can hunt deer with an archery license during the special archery season, the firearms season, and/or the muzzleloader season. Of course, there is no special archery season/license for bear, elk,, or moose. Just a few years ago, if you hunted bear during the any-weapons season with a bow, you couldn't carry a firearm at the same time, even though you could hunt with a firearm OR archery, just not both at the same time. How's that for stupid?

And of course there are so many damn rules in MN these days that even the folks writing the regulations books can't figure out how to write them for us. I sure can't keep up. I used to help edit the fishing regulations booklets; they never did get some things right; could point out a few in the newest edition.

I used to hunt Montana turkeys because you could use a rifle there. Can't beat that kind of fun for a good time.

Rabies? Water don't scare me!

Bill

Dam son but the good news is you did everything right and you will be okay. Went threw the shots years ago had a cow with rabies and we had been treating her with oral medicine, anyways we came out fine so did every one that I no who had the shots for rabies.

Standing Colorado DOW policy is for you to stand up, wave your arms and say something that won't hurt the animals feelings.

You certainly displayed a cool head, and steady aim. Well done, and let us know how this turns out.