Interesting Behavior
 

Just around sunset our Border Collie started a low alert "woof", while looking out the front window. The wife looked out and called to our grand daughter to look at the coyotes! Eventually seven came up with off the river ice and were walking along the hay field in a group of three and two pair. I went out to advise them it wasn't safe for them here. As soon as they heard the door open, they were down over the bank and onto the ice. They then split up and spread out with about 100 yards between each animal and the next as they crossed the river, which is about 1/4 mile wide here.
I couldn't help but wonder if they did so the pack was less vulnerable to gun fire.
Interesting to watch.
From scat and tracks I know they are around almost every night, but I make it a point to let them know they must not be seen here in daylight.
Best
Les

We have not seen coyotes here in a few years - I keep game cameras up.

Lots of foxes which are not remotely comparable but still a threat to smaller dogs and my new city-raised dog...I still keep the new dog on a leash until I clear the sight lines and she never goes out at night alone. They are coming in close due to the cold.

So far this year I have picked up two fawn/young deer carcasses. I let everybody pick it over before I remove the remains. I bagged one today after the buzzards finished with it and it looked like a surgeon had gone over it.

Sorry for the visual!

Very interesting. My first thought reading your description was the same, they split up because it makes each one less likely to go down.

Yep, my game camera mostly catches deer. I've seen at least half a dozen different deer in various photos, and likely many more since all of the does basically look the same. But I've also seen coyotes and foxes (pretty sure gray foxes) as well as other critters.

Yep, our dog is old (16), small (11#), with a bad back and poor eyesight. He never goes out alone, and when he is out I follow him around. He doesn't generally have any desire to venture far anyway.

We have them in our neighborhood. You can hear them "yip-yapping" at night and I occasionally see one trotting down the middle of the street when I leave early.

They will send out a female, sometimes in heat to try to entice a dog to play and chase them, then the pack will pounce and devour the poor pooch. Smart, wily animals.

I worry about bald eagles here for small dogs and cats. We do have some 'yotes and fox around as well as wolves, but they stay mostly unseen.

The eagles come unseen, the rest have to come across some open fields.

Last summer there was a huge lab-sized fox that decided to sit on the sidewalk across from my house and screech for half an hour, at 2am, a couple nights in a row. It must have been in heat or something. Kitty occasionally stayed out and that was not going to fly for long. Plus I needed my sleep. I had to go out and chase it away a few times.

A few years ago, I was at my mother's place in FL. I was looking out her back window towards the man-made lake behind her place. I saw something swoop down 2-3 times but didn't really see it. The last time, it grabbed a duck out of the water (full grown duck) and landed on the shore 15-20 feet from my mom's back door. It was a juvenile bald eagle. It grabbed a pretty big duck. Sat there for a few mins with us staring from her back porch. The duck would try to move every once in a while, but it was solidly pinned. After a few mins of standing there, it flew off and took the duck with it.

Impressive animals.

The eagles like to drop the neighbors cats on the road here.

We got lots.

Feed on suburban cats. Do pretty well on that diet. Also eat small dogs. Had a collar defecated on my front lawn a while back.

Had a coyote chase my 50# Black Mouth Cur within 10 feet of me and the house.

They bring out my kill instinct.

About a Month ago my cat was in our sunroom standing on its back paws, standing up looking out the glass on the door. From the corner of my eye I saw this flash of black hit the glass with a loud thud. Cat took off and I ran over to the door. Looked out to see a huge hawk standing on the ground shaking it’s head. It saw me and launched.
I had one last year nose dive into a tightly packed bush next to my bird feeder. It was like an explosion of sparrows and chickadees. It came out the other side and flew off. Don’t think it caught anything.

The thing about coyotes and wolves. They're way smarter than any domestic cat or dog. They have the benefit of natural selection. We dumb down our pets so they're easier to manage.