I am just across the river from you in Monky County, and we have them here, too. I have been stalked in broad daylight while riding a 17.2 Irish horse, and as big as he is, he did not appreciate it. In the woods near my house, which is at the edge of the suburbs, I found a deer who had been brought down by something large. The creature who broke her pelvis had jaws big enough to reach all the way across her hips from ilium to ilium, but a very well-informed park ranger I brought in for his opinion agreed with me that those were not cat teeth-marks. I cannot imagine an ordinary domestic dog who had jaws like that. We agreed it was a coy-dog.
I wish I too could wear a gun when riding or when out in the woods on foot, but I live in the Freak State.
Carry anyway.
Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
For decades, I’ve gotten around it by carrying a long rifle into the woods.
I know people who carry lighter all the time.
You gotta do what you gotta do.
Bear spray http://counterassault.com/