Take care and be careful if you are in an area where there could be large predators. Black bears have spread into our area over the last few years. I have had a couple close encounters with them and did not know they were there until I heard it in the wooded area right by our garden, or when one came down from a tree about twenty feet from me. Your mystery critter could also be a coyote. They are very plentiful and can be in closer proximity to houses and people than most are aware of. Over the winter I frequently saw one watching our cattle. Sometimes it was out in the open and other times after I had chased away a few times, I would see it just across the fence line in the grown up wooded area that is an abandoned railroad. It is dense enough that if I had not been looking for it I wouldn’t have seen it over there.