Crossword Genius

Evasive characters in motel could be US hunters (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

coyote

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'be us hunters' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.

'evasive characters in motel' is the wordplay.
'evasive' becomes 'coy' (coy can mean shy or evasive).
'characters in' means to look at the middle letters (the letters inside the word).
The central letters of 'motel' are 'ote'.
'coy'+'ote'='COYOTE'

'could' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for coyote that I've seen before include "Confines" , "Wolf-like wild dog" , "Beast" , "Small wild dog" , "howler" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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