A Colorado man is nursing too many bites and scratches to count after he survived a brutal attack from three coyotes using only a flashlight as weapon to defend himself.

Andrew Dickehage was having car troubles when he decided to walk from his Longmont, Colo., home early Monday morning when the teeth-baring trio came charging out of the darkness.

"You feel the initial impact and soon as you felt it you could then react, and go to shove," Dickehage told TV station KCNC Wednesday.

Dickehage was initially using his flashlight to navigate the dark roads when he decided that it was probably his best bet to fight off the coyotes.

"I took my flashlight and I hit it over the side of the head to get it to let go," he told KCNC. "As soon as I got it to let go, then another went to lunge at me and all I could think to do was swing to get it not to lunge at me."

ABC News

Dickehage said the coyotes gave up their attack a short time later and retreated back into the woods.

Wildlife officials killed two of the coyotes and are tracking the third. They worry rare attacks like this are becoming more common place among coyotes because they've lost their fear of people.

"This is what can happen when they get so comfortable that they consider a certain territory theirs. We need coyotes to have a healthy, natural fear of people so we can co-exist," Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill told ABC News.

Dickehage managed to get himself to the hospital for a set of rabies shots.

"That's the one that hurt the most," Dickehage said, pointing to one of the many marks on his face and arms.

Dickehage says from now on, he's catching a ride to work so he can avoid any more run-ins with coyotes.