We have those in Western MA. If you are bigger than a cat or yappy dog…they run away from you before you can see them.
The bears around here stay away from people. Not picnic baskets…but people.
Again, little yappy dogs should carry. Ha ha.
I’ve had the coyotes size me up while I was hiking. I’m 6’2” and about 200 lbs. I and my similarly sized buddy were hiking and two of those eastern coyote hybrids literally crossed out path. They stopped, sized us up and then slowly moved off. Had they outnumbered us it might have been different.
You’re right the bears are not a problem unless you find yourself between them and their Cubs or their lunch.