A couple of years ago now, I was on the telephone, in the house with a client and the wife was still in her pajamas. I looked out our double glass doors in the back and saw a large alpha male coyote working his way across our tank (farm pond) dam and heading towards a newly born calf. The entire herd was at the opposite end of our place, and with the strong wind that morning blowing away from the herd, they could not hear that little calf screaming, and screaming he was!!
The wife threw on her bathrobe and slippers and ran out to that baby calf, about 200 yds from our house, where the wife stood, unarmed, and hollaring at the coyote. That alpha male paid no attention to the wife being there and kept coming right at her and that calf. I told the client I had an emergency and had to go. I grabbed the rifle I keep loaded, right by the door, and headed out the back door too. When I got outside that alpha male saw me and stopped, dead in his tracks!! At this point, he was only about 40 yds from the wife and that calf. I raised the rifle up and put the scope on that alpha male. At the same time, that coyote did an about face and ran into the woods as fast as he could. He KNEW what that rifle was!!
The calf was saved, and so was the wife!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I guess my point is that if a coyote is hungry enough or just plain aggressive, they don't necessarily have to be rabid to come at a human. This alpha male was huge, and appeared perfectly normal looking. He was old and smart enough to sense that both the calf and the wife were defenseless, but also knew what that rifle was too!!
That was the only time something like that has happened on our place, but it was enough for the wife to remember to grab a shotgun on her way out to help a calf, from that point on!!