Hi.

I often hike in mountains that are host to a fair amount of wildcats, coyotes, and the odd wild boar. (My question is about the first two, however. The boars tend to shy away from the mountains, in favor of flat ground.)

The cats and coyotes usually keep to themselves, provided the hikers show them the same courtesy, but it never hurts to be prepared for the odd occurence of an aggressive encounter with one.

They're usually only medium/medium-large mountain lions, and medium-small coyotes, and my family and I have since been lucky enough to avoid direct trouble with them whenever we go out to the mountains, but we still bring a firearm to protect ourselves.

My question is to those of you on the site who know enough about firearms and animal life in the South-Western deserts. (I'm in Western Arizona.)

Is a .38 Special a potent enough round to stop an adult mountain lion, or an adult coyote? I'm not a hunter myself, and I'm not particularly keen on the idea of killing animals, but I speak only in the instance that there is no other option but to shoot it.

I don't use .38 +P loads, just standard. I use a Smith & Wesson 64-3, and having never tried firing .38 +P loads through it, I'm not sure if it could handle them. I also considered simply using jacketed hollow point rounds, but I still have my doubts about the velocity being high enough.

Input appreciated.