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There is nothing wrong with excercising caution. But people overreact, and children pick up on that. Pennsylvania has similar wildlife to Ohio. Certainly the possibility of larger predators exists, but, again, generally they will not bother people. If it was a deer and coyotes, the coyotes are gonna concentrate on deer, most likely. I say, if you're worried, establish a safely system by all means; I don't know how old your kids are but when we went to the Smokies all our kids carried bear spray... they were old enough and responsible enough to be trusted with it; but no one should be terrified of nature, which needs us to protect it. As I said, we have heard lots of sounds like that in our woods, even bobcat sounds and tracks, several years ago. It didn't stop me from letting our kids play, and still wouldn't.