A pair of Eastern coyotes killed a young female jogger in Nova Scotia a couple of years ago. One dragged a toddler off a swing set here in MA, but the kid's mother chased it off. Where I walk my dog there's a pack that regularly takes down full-grown whitetails and they don't scare easily. I usually carry a 9mm. with Speer 124 grain +P Gold Dots or a .38 with +P Gold Dots. I'll be reloading some more .38's, probably the 158 grain lead SWC and a generous helping of W231 or Unique.
The Eastern beasties are closer to wolf size, and indeed have a good bit of Canadian wolf along with dog and western coyote blood. They're an invasive species here in the last 50 years or so, and it looks like they're here to stay.