Wild Encounters

I'm a huge animal lover, have been all my life. When I was really young I wanted to be a veterinarian & one of my young sons wants to be a zookeeper. Over the Thanksgiving holiday our family took a trip to Michigan where we were greeted not only by snow (!) but also hunting season. My thoughts on hunting are a little complicated. When I see deer walking in the woods, I slow down to look at them or let the kids take a photo. I certainly don't feel like shooting them. That being said, I understand that deer can be pests & I'm definitely a meat eater. During our vacation I saw something that I've never seen before. After eating lunch at McDonald's (thank goodness we'd already eaten!) I saw an SUV at the drive-thru with a dead deer strapped to the roof (not something you're likely to see in Southern California). Try explaining that to your kids!
When we arrived home, we found that a coyote had moved into our yard. We have a large yard that's totally fenced & somehow he's gotten in & can't get back out. I've called animal control, department of fish & game, etc & no one can seem to tell us how to get rid of him (although their voicemail system did tell me how to get a hunting license). The coyote doesn't seem too afraid of me & comes right up to our backdoor & looks in. Of course, I'm nervous about our dogs & kids (although he's probably more interested in all the ground squirrels & bunnies). If any of you have coyote advice, I'd love to hear it!