[trisham]

I live in Massachusetts, and I could hear the coyotes last night at about 2:00-3:00. There is a den about 1/4 mile or less from our house and the owner of the land is reputed to put out sides of beef for them. The last time we saw them, which was about four years or so ago, the largest appeared to weigh at least 50 pounds, but they were moving rather quickly through our yard. Since we have lived here, our woods have become increasingly more wild.

From Wikipedia:

Eastern Coyotes

The eastern coyote is a coywolf, a canid hybrid, which, despite having a majority of coyote (Canis latrans) ancestry, also descends from wolves, either the Gray wolf (Canis lupus) or the Red wolf (Canis rufus), which is on balance more coyote than wolf. They come from a constantly evolving gene pool and are viewed by some scientists as an emerging species.[2] The genetic composition of these animals is debated amongst scientists.[3] [4]

A study showed that of 100 coyotes collected in Maine, 22 had half or more wolf ancestry, and one was 89 percent wolf. A theory has been proposed that the large eastern coyotes in Canada are actually hybrids of the smaller western coyotes and wolves that met and mated decades ago as the coyotes moved toward New England from their earlier western ranges. [5]

[kneehurts]

We have lots of the Coywolves here in NW Connecticut. Unattended dogs are often snatched away and eaten. My next door neighbors dog was a recent victim. They are very large. I walked up to one that had been hit by a car on a side road. It was quite impressive. You can hear the packs at night, which is kind of spooky. I would not walk alone in the woods without my trusty P40, escpecially at night when they are hunting. We have Mountain Lions and Black Bears as well.