My thoughts on knives as poor defensive weapons is well documented. That being said I often carry a knife for self-defense.
I live in a neighborhood where packs of large dogs are often roaming around unleashed. On top of that, I frequently take my young kids out for walks. Carrying a large stick is impractical most of the time, so I carry a knife just in case.
Fortunately, I’ve never had to use the knife for such a purpose (though I came alarmingly close one time). A Georgian hiker named Nate Edmund wasn’t so lucky.
On the last Saturday of May, Edmund had gone to a demonstration forest in Jones County for a hike. However, he noticed a creature ahead of him.
“I saw something moving through the woods,” Edmund told Georgia Outdoor News. “I saw what looked like a dog, but by the time it finally got out into the trail, I could clearly see it was a coyote.”
The two stared at each other, unmoving.
“This isn’t good because I have never seen a coyote that close in daytime,” he said. “Well, I’ve never seen a coyote that close period. I’m sure I’ve passed them many times in the woods, but their first inclination is to get away from you. It seemed like this one just found me out.”
He yelled and clapped his hands but got no reaction from the coyote. So he decided to make a wide berth around it to get back to his truck. That’s when the coyote growled and lunged at him. It got his boot, which caused him to fall to the ground.
“It let go of my boot and re-latched onto my shin,” said Nate. “That’s when it actually tore my pants and broke the skin. I was able to kick it off with my right foot though and somehow pin its head between both of my feet. That’s when I was able to get my knife out of my pocket and was able to stab it once between its shoulders and its back.”
Here is the aftermath:
Yes, Edmund took his Benchmade Barrage and finished off the coyote. He called it in, so someone could report it and get the coyote tested for rabies.
As a precaution, he got his rabies shots. He ended up having a bad reaction and had to be hospitalized through his second round of vaccinations.
It was lucky for him because a few days later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the coyote had been rabid.
Ironically, his actual injury from the attack was less painful and complicated than his reaction to the rabies vaccinations. Take a look at his leg.
Let this be a gentle reminder to always carry a knife on you. Not only does it come in handy doing hundreds of tasks but it can also save your life in unforeseen ways.
June 12, 2018 at 3:44 pm
A knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man.
June 13, 2018 at 12:27 am
In our modern day existence, the eventuallity is a car accident will occur. To myself, someone I know, maybe, maybe not. But in that circumstance where a seatbelt doesn’t release, and waiting for some sort of aided evacuation may not be an option. When I can be assured that cars won’t crash ever again and or a fortune teller could accurately tell mine that I’ll never have to knaw through a seatbelt with my teeth. I’ll always carry. Won’t bet anyone’s life on one of those plastic pieces o junk they sell with the seatbelt cutter, glass breaker and so on built in. I’m in agreement, there’s a million reasons you could “need” an edged cutting tool, it’d be the one reason you could never fathom that’ll bite the unprepared in the derier or in this case, shin…
June 13, 2018 at 9:17 am
Took a knife or what should have been a gun fight! No doubt guns are prohibited there for our “safety”.
June 14, 2018 at 3:38 am
I read about a man and his dog who were trapped in an older model Corvette because the thing opened by battery and it had gone dead. The man and his dog died from heat because they could not get out. I think a knife might have helped, maybe, break a window. I just never forgot this incident.
Also I walk my dog here in New Mexico; every walk puts us at risk from coyotes, loose dogs (pit bulls, shepherds, res’ dogs, etc.), and criminals.
June 14, 2018 at 10:48 am
Wow. That’s crazy. I always keep a pocket knife with a window breaker and seatbelt cutter in the car, just in case.
September 12, 2023 at 3:17 pm
Imo, part of being a man is carrying that all-purpose tool commonly known as a pocketknife. No knife? That renders you an incompetent man—unable to easily deal with many of life’s little situations. In the case of the man in the article, a not-so-little situation.
But beyond that, we no longer expect a woman to hide behind a man at the sign of trouble. I am adjusting my thinking. A competent woman also needs a blade on or near her person. Teach your daughters to be self-reliant. Carrying a knife is a useful part of that.
By the way, generally my pocketknife is not the only “tool” I keep available. 😁