Loud popper

[kickin_on1]

Last Saturday, I was walking the dogs down our lane about 9pm when I saw a pair or bright green eyes staring at us as my Greek Dog was going nuts—my Mastiff cross was on alert but calm. I shouted and shouted and tossed every rock I could find, but the coyote skittered only a few feet back and continued to stalk us from between 15 and 5 yards away. Far too close for comfort. We ran about 1/4 mile back to the house, the coyote watched us from the berm as we opened the house door.

I have dug out my shrill boating rescue whistle and purchased a new lash for my hunt whip, but i want a loud, loud loud popper on it. I’ve searched Google and ebay. Any suggestions for a favorite source for poppers that bring the fear of God with them… Thanks

[alicen]

Firecrackers have been recommended to me to scare away bears; might terrify the dogs though.

[kickin_on1]

@alicen

Firecrackers have been recommended to me to scare away bears; might terrify the dogs though.

I’m so sorry, I’m uncertain of your intent. Are you offering serious advice or making fun…? If it’s the first, I’ll decline; if the second, I’m sorry for you that you are finding humor in a situation that might have killed at least one, if not both of my dogs.

[Equibrit]

My place (for 25 yrs) has a constant coyote population, and I own 4 small terriers. They have their own enclosure. the only time I have had a problem with the coyotes was when a bitch was in heat. She was spayed and we haven’t had a problem since. You CANNOT rid yourself of them, but YOU can learn to co-habit - quietly. We have a resident black bear too, but have no trouble there either. They tend to follow you when you behave like a nutter !

[alicen]

@kickin'on

I’m so sorry, I’m uncertain of your intent. Are you offering serious advice or making fun…? If it’s the first, I’ll decline; if the second, I’m sorry for you that you are finding humor in a situation that might have killed at least one, if not both of my dogs.

Ooh la la! No intent what so ever. Just passing on what someone in the know said about scaring away bears.

[xeroxchick]

I thought that how loud the popper is depends on how well you master the whip?

[ecileh]

I bought some poppers from Horse Country a few years ago and they are LOUD.

That said, I am not sure that a whip is the best choice, as it might also scare your dogs and if they are loose they might bolt and now you have a coyote able to chase them where you may or may not be able to intervene.

My experience with our local coyote population is that they watch, but do not engage when humans are around or when they are alone. I think I would carry a stout walking stick in your place–and be prepared to use it. Where are you in the world? Are these the big Eastern Coyote, or the smaller ones out west?

[Mulligan314]

My brother lives in bear country and has also used fire crackers to ‘deter’ their presence. So, that’s not a joke…but might be kind of hard to carry that around and light them if something is coming after you. He just does it from time to time around his house.

For actual use he has a bear gun. The first 3 or so rounds are noise rounds. Loud pops, as your title suggests. The next few rounds are rubber pellets, and then the live fire is after that. His resident is a more docile Black Bear, and while she seems like a sweet bear, he still would rather her not be on his front porch trying to open the door. He has been able to make more of a presence this year because of quarantine, hoping to maybe change her check-in path. Last year he mostly caught her on camera, so there wasn’t much he was able to do other than hope she never actually got into the house.

The coyotes we have here have yet to purposefully come too close to humans, but are very comfortable with city life…It’s a tad unsettling. I do not walk or run after dark over here anymore. I’ve seen them individually in the pasture next to us during the day, but they seem to pack up at night with all their friends. I don’t take the risk, even though they typically won’t come after people…I’d rather not find out.

You could maybe find a child’s cap gun. Or, what they would do on my college’s campus to scare birds away, take two pieces of 2x4 and hit them together. Makes a sound kind of like a gunshot.

[ladyj79]

@alicen

Firecrackers have been recommended to me to scare away bears; might terrify the dogs though.

I literally thought she was asking about poppers, which is a type of firework…

[endlessclimb]

Is it legal to shoot them where you live?

[Equibrit]

@xeroxchick

I thought that how loud the popper is depends on how well you master the whip?

It’s not actually the popper that makes the sound, it is the loop in the thong that does it when you reverse your arm movement, and it travels down the whip…

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11315556_Shape_of_a_Cracking_Whip

[Kimstar]

OK, no expert here, but something in the back of my mind remembers that silk poppers were supposed to give a loud report when cracking a hunting whip. (In a previous life, several decades ago, I used to manage a tack shop that sold hunting equipment including whips, thongs and lashes.)

[SuzieQNutter]

The end of a stock whip I presume has the same thing you are talking about. You can make them by plaiting baling twine.

[jawa]

https://youtu.be/cklZW87Dsc0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np3d…ature=youtu.be

I watched these videos several years ago and finally found them again. ( I bookmarked them so I can reference them when needed.)

The popper itself doesn’t make the noise, it just directs the sound. A cleanly frayed popper will work better than a popper that is full of non popper material. The longer the handle on your whip, the less umph needed to get it to crack. I have found keeping my thong well conditioned creates a better crack. Also the thong itself is important to the crack in the way it graduates from fat to thin, the resistance lessens as it goes from fat to thin causing the whip to speed up, thereby breaking the sound barrier.

I’m wondering it the silk poppers held onto less stuff due to their slick tendency which would make them have a louder crack.

[Jenerationx]

And I just fell down a rabbit hole of whip cracking videos on youtube. Thanks! LOL

[gypsymare]

Eleanor Hartwell, Bridlespur huntsman makes some of the best. https://ephwhips.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fwhip-poppers