BOISE — Andrea’s sore arms were spasming as she recounted her harrowing morning.

An hour earlier, she was running down Hulls Gulch, her 30-pound dog in her arms and two more dogs in tow as they narrowly evaded a coyote attack.

Andrea’s close encounter was the latest in a string of hikers’ recent brushes with coyotes at Hulls Gulch, a heavily trafficked trail in the Boise Foothills.

The Boise woman, who requested anonymity, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are asking hikers to avoid the trail for the time being, while coyote pups are still young and mothers are aggressively protecting their dens.

On June 5, a dog was injured by a coyote during a hike at Hulls Gulch. The next day on the trail, a dog was killed by a coyote.

Andrea, who thought she and her pack of three dogs would dissuade a predator, not only feared for the pets’ safety, but her own.

About a mile and a half into her hike on lower Hulls Gulch, Andrea heard a coyote barking, located the animal across the stream and turned around to head back to the trailhead.

Coyotes bark at humans to keep them away from their den, Andrea said, and typically, retreating is enough to keep a coyote away.

But this coyote followed Andrea and the dogs along the ridgeline and eventually crossed the stream, coming within a few feet of Andrea and her dogs.

That’s when the coyote lunged at Andrea’s 30-pound terrier mix.

“The coyote tried to attack her and got about maybe four or five feet and was snarling at her and snapping her jaw and almost got her,” Andrea said. “I just reared up like a mama bear and just screamed at the top of my lungs and lunged back at her.”

Andrea scooped her dog into her arms and started to run down the trail. The other two dogs — 70-pound labs, who are owned by Andrea’s friends — instinctively followed. The coyote stayed within 40 feet of them, Andrea said, and at one point lunged at one of the labs.

“I screamed again and, at this point, I’m in this psychotic frenzy,” Andrea said. “I’m fearing for my life, I’m fearing for the dog’s life, I don’t know what this coyote’s capable of. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

A few minutes later, Andrea and the dogs encountered a fellow hiker. She and Andrea threw rocks at the coyote, which stayed in pursuit of the group even after it grew by one person.

Farther down the trail, the group met another hiker — a pregnant woman — and the three of them stayed together for the rest of their trek to Andrea’s car.

Andrea said that even when the group consisted of three people and three dogs, the coyote followed for another quarter of a mile.

Roger Phillips, public information supervisor for Idaho Fish and Game, said the coyote’s aggressive behavior was likely out of protection for newborn pups.

Part of it may have also been that coyotes are territorial, according to Jennifer Jackson, a spokeswoman for Idaho Fish and Game.

“They just perceive the dogs as a threat no matter what the size and they’re going to act defensively,” she said.

Even if the coyotes don’t have young with them they may still treat dogs as a threat.

And that’s also a good reason for people to avoid feeding turkeys and deer and other wild animals on their property.

“It sets you up for a whole host of problems,” she said.

That can include drawing wildlife across busy roadways and into neighbors’ yards.

“It’s no secret we live in this an urban-wildlife interface like the Johnny Creek area,” she said.

So even without feeding people will see animals have interactions.

“It’s just part of where we live,” Jackson said.

It’s been that way since the start of Pocatello and will continue that way for a long time, she said.

“We have beautiful surroundings and amazing wildlife, but they do come with challenges,” Jackson said.