The average eastern coyote is 30-50 lbs on average, track size is oval aprox. 3-3.5 inches, and colors range from blonde to darker brown and black. The western coyote by contrast is 20-30 lbs, predominately grey in color with a light grey to cream under belly. The eastern variety can often be twice the size of its western cousins! As a result, the eastern coyote exhibits different behavior, habitat use, pelt coloration, prey preferences and home range sizes from its western cousin. They continue to evolve seperate than those in the west, quite an interesting topic in animal study really.
I wouldn't want to wander onto a feeding coyote, one with pups, or fool with a den, but by and large they don't want to fool with us. While they are opportunistic predators, eating fruit to meat, generally they like small rodent with the occasional deer if they get a shot at it. I think there were like 5 million dog bites in the U.S. last year and under a dozen coyote bites. Most bites seemed to stem from rabid animals or people who stumbled into the wrong situations.
Personally I love the semi encounters I've had in the Pines; seeing coyotes at a distance, or listening to that howl when backpacking....Reminds me of something humans have forgotten in the modern world.
