When they from bigger packs and get really brazen, where I hunted Yotes, was mostly due to the food supply. They'd avoid the suburbs except in the late fall, Cats and small dogs were at peril-. Gets dry in So:Cal in the fall, the rodent population goes way down, also the pups are out of the den and hunting which also lowers the food supply. When it is a choice between taking a chance and starving they are gonna take a chance.
That and some of it has to do with conditioning. Yotes or Fox that are used to humans (that aren't shooting at them) tend to be less shy.
Story about Yotes, I was at a famous desert spring where most of the desert wildlife could be seen. Signs up telling people to stay at least a hundred yards away from the spring and to use binoculars. A female Yote with her teets hanging came to drink, some foolish woman thought it would be a good idea to offer the Yote some food. And then made a really dumb mistake tried to feed the Mamma Yote by hand. That Yote took the Pork Chop and pieces of most of her fingers.
Last edited by MudderChuck; 01-03-2020 at 08:06 AM.