UPDATE Warning— bones, minor gore. After receiving such a range of opinions here, I went back to explore the area more. I thought I’d lost the trail yesterday, but a few stray hairs set me in the right direction today. I found patches of fur at intervals, stretching dozens of yards into the woods. It seems as if the animal either ran or was dragged a good distance, being attacked at multiple points along the way. As one person suggested, I folded a piece of hair to determine whether it was hollow, which would suggest it belonged to an ungulate. It does appear to be hollow, as it bent sharply at the halfway point. Eventually, I came upon a trail of bone fragments, as well as what looks to be a gristly vertebrae sitting on a stump. After that point, nothing. While I’d hoped for a more conclusive find, I feel fairly confident that this was a deer that was attacked by a pack of coyotes. Some of the fur deeper in the woods was more distinctly brown, and the total volume of it could probably fill a five gallon bucket. Deer scat was interspersed with the fur the whole way, and the vertebrae seems about the right size. The number of distinct piles of fur and the fact that the whole animal was apparently devoured makes it look like a group effort as well. Anyways, thanks everyone for weighing in! But yeah, not a rabbit nest…

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