Gov. Rick Perry Shoots 'Wily' Coyote While on Jog

Gov. Rick Perry carries a pistol when he does trail runs in places where there are predators. On this particular sunrise run, a coyote was coming after his dog. I'll just reproduce the quotes, which make me wish I lived in Texas, where this is just plain talk from a politician:

"Don't attack my dog or you might get shot ... if you're a coyote,"

"They're very wily creatures."

"I holler and the coyote stopped. I holler again. By this time I had taken my weapon out and charged it. It is now staring dead at me. Either me or the dog are in imminent danger. I did the appropriate thing and sent it to where coyotes go."

"It was not in a lot of pain," he said. "It pretty much went down at that particular juncture."

Also, please take a moment to relish the admirable lack of bureaucracy surrounding a coyote kill:

Perry's security detail was not required to file a report about the governor discharging a weapon, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange.

"People shoot coyotes all the time, snakes all the time," Mange said. "We don't write reports."

The governor left the coyote where it fell.

"He became mulch," Perry said.

Nice shot, Governor.