Cougar Spotting?

**Boo Stinking Boo** · June-22-10, 09:10 AM

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100622/METRO/6220382

Wow!

**Detroitej72** · June-22-10, 09:18 AM

I thought Courtney Cox was in town.

Seriously though, there have been reports from credible sources for years, yet the DNR still refused to acknowledge their presence. Maybe now they will finally confirm the cougar population and put them on the protection list.

**Sstashmoo** · June-22-10, 09:35 AM

That would make one think twice about tent camping. Man I'd hate to meet up with one of those..

**gibran** · June-22-10, 09:39 AM

Better not tell Sarah,,,that is more than cool...I remember hearing the sound like a baby crying while hiking the porkies....[[bobcat)....but it was so shrill...[[Like Sarah opps- had to slip that in)....this would be great... I know in Oklahoma a friend of mine sited one in the woods while deer hunting..now he carries a side arm for protection...this would be great for Michigan though.

**Zacha341** · June-22-10, 09:55 AM

LOL! Tent camping is of no interest to me under any circumstances! Now you have big cats and bears and two-legged creeps that may happen upon you. Not!

Originally Posted by Sstashmoo

That would make one think twice about tent camping. Man I'd hate to meet up with one of those..

**jiminnm** · June-22-10, 10:05 AM

They're becoming more common here in NM urban areas. Last year, one was treed and darted in an Albuquerque back yard. In May of this year, one was cornered and darted in Santa Fe. Add that to the regular coyote and bear sightings and it seems to be getting more wild here.

**gazhekwe** · June-22-10, 10:44 AM

My brother spotted a cougar running across US 2 south of the Soo in the 50s. Of course, no proof. They have been sighted many times throughout the state over the years, and this past year, for the first time, DNR acknowledged they are alive and well here. As their habitat decreases from all the building and logging that has been done, the wild ones have to adapt and get used to living closer to humans. It is time for humans to adapt as well. Keep Fluffy and Fido indoors at night!

**gibran** · June-22-10, 10:53 AM

Make the UP a national park...[[i wish)...I was told by a farmer in Traverse City that he spotted a Wolverine once [[1970's) and this was from an avid Spartan fan...but he was really convinced he saw a one...I heard stories of bears near Lake Ann also...if anyone ever saw pictures of teh forests early in the last century [[before clear cutting) ...one cold imagine all the critters running around then...My grand dad found elk antlers in the TC area..and in the sixties they were on display in the TC Museum....we thought that was way cool.

**rb336** · June-22-10, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by Detroitej72

I thought Courtney Cox was in town.

Seriously though, there have been reports from credible sources for years, yet the DNR still refused to acknowledge their presence. Maybe now they will finally confirm the cougar population and put them on the protection list.

The DNR has had good evidence - not just photos, but scat, hair, etc. that clearly showed mothers and babies in several places - berrien county, clare county, allegan county to name a few, but they refuse to budge from the "released pet" argument

**Ray1936** · June-22-10, 06:52 PM

Wildlife doesn't bother me a bit when 'up north'. But the friggin' poison ivy has my attention.

**Patrick** · June-22-10, 07:04 PM

They mentioned several spottings in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area but the rangers were denying the whole thing. However, this was the lower peninsula so I have no idea how a cougar wound up in the area.

**Detroitej72** · June-22-10, 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by Patrick

They mentioned several spottings in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area but the rangers were denying the whole thing. However, this was the lower peninsula so I have no idea how a cougar wound up in the area.

As Rb pointed out, there is much evidence to support their existence. And this also includes, rangers in Sleeping Bear Dunes who are aware of the presence as well.

**Detroitej72** · June-22-10, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by Sstashmoo

That would make one think twice about tent camping. Man I'd hate to meet up with one of those..

That's an Old County Myth, just like wolves stealing babies and children from their parent's arms.

Cats, by nature, shun human contact, and stay as far from humans as possible.[[hence why you rarely see bobcats, cougars, pumas, etc.) The only time a cat will attack is if it's a mother and she feels your threatening her young.

I myself have seen bobcats on two occasions, one while sitting on a chair across from Lake Superior, in the Porcupine Mountains, and one while fishing in Roger's City, and never felt threatened. Quite the contrary, I felt privileged to witness such a magnificent creation of God, in their habitat.

**oladub** · June-22-10, 10:15 PM

Cougars are in Wisconsin too. Here are two articles I've come across in the last month. They might be the work of the same cougar.

May 19- DNR Searching For Cougar That Attacked Heifer
A hunter is attracted to noises sounding like an atteck. He witnesses a cougar on a heifer's back eaing away at it's face. It showed up the next day with "stuff hanging down from its face" as the farmer put it. He had to kill it.

June 18- Horse Attacked On Neck
""We got up and opened the patio door. The large, white horse came running up the valley just fast, turned around, whinnied for the other horse, and that one never came," said Jones.

She said she found Chief, her elderly, arthritic 1,200-pound horse, bleeding from the neck.

She said the horse is slow and an easy target for a cougar. She said the horse has been attacked twice in the last three months."

**gibran** · June-22-10, 10:30 PM

Det72----I knew there was a reason we were bonded...The porkies is where i heard my first bobcat...what an erie cry

**Detroitej72** · June-22-10, 10:57 PM

Originally Posted by gibran

Det72----I knew there was a reason we were bonded...The porkies is where i heard my first bobcat...what an erie cry

Thanks Gibran, I've been going there since my parents first took me, in the summer of 1978.

Since my youth, I've gone there, both in person, and in Spirit every year since...

**gibran** · June-22-10, 11:02 PM

the whole UP is a spiritual place for me as well...I fell in love with it one summer as a teenager and ended up at school in Marquette...today the UP and New Mexico hold a special place..and now as i expand into the Ozarks it is starting to become a destination of choice and the location of my final schooling experience...and they are starting to regaina bear population as well as sightings of mountain lions....how cool is that

Michigan · June-22-10, 11:13 PM

**qweek** · June-23-10, 03:44 PM

Last fall at our place in Leota I took an early morning walk through the woods to the river to take some pics and enjoy the solitude. Everyone was still asleep at the cottage and for that matter the whole neighborhood was quiet. Just me and my camera after a storm had just passed. Everything was glistening from the rainfall, the trail was new, clear of the weekend footprints. I was the first traveler down the path. I walked the usual 20 minutes to where the path starts descending down towards the Muskegon and stopped abruptly when I saw the large clawed footprints of a bear. These were not dog prints, this was absolutely a bear. I took some pics and turned around to head home to the cottage. I walked [[quickly) back, I heard stories of bear sightings in the area but never expected to actually see one nor did I wish to. So as I scurried to safety I saw my husband and dog rounding the bend ahead. Just then I looked down at my own footprints on the wet trail and noticed I wasn't alone on my journey to the river. Big cat prints followed my prints. I walked to my husband and called for him to get the dog off the trail. I wanted to preserve what I was seeing. When he joined me I pointed down and showed him what I had discovered and asked" what kind of animal do you think made these tracks?". He replied "A cat, a really big cat". We decided to investigate a little further, I wanted him to see the bear tracks anyway. That "cat" followed me until I turned around to head back I guess. We walked to the river and saw that the bear had swam across the river and came across the beach and followed the trail up with it's two babies. I have to say that I got very lucky that day, twice, maybe three times in a row!

**gazhekwe** · June-23-10, 04:47 PM

Wow, Qweek! On the one hand you were really lucky! But doesn't it make the hair on your neck stand up to think of that cat following you, and watching while you looked at the tracks? eeeK!

**qweek** · June-23-10, 05:29 PM

I was nervous walking back to the river. I think I was more worried about my dog than myself or my husband. If she spotted the cat or the bear who knows what she would have done, she is a "lion hunter" after all, a Rhodesian Ridgeback. It has changed the way I behave up there, I carry a large knife now. Still would have to be too close for comfort for a knife to do me any good but at least I feel a bit more secure! It's a wild life.

**gibran** · June-23-10, 06:58 PM

Attachment 6512

yikes

**Bigb23** · June-25-10, 02:41 PM

I've never seen a cougar on any of my camping forays in the State/Federal forests, but on the Au Sable one time, a noticable lack of small game in the area worried me. About a year later, a photograph from that same area was published that made me think twice, as I camp alone.

Attachment 6530

Now, I check out this Michigan website as much as possible. You can maybe discount half of the postings - but the others ?

http://www.savethecougar.org/

**Bigb23** · June-25-10, 02:44 PM

Also, the DNR does not want to admit that Michigan has breeding populations of cougar, as that would be an additional financial burden on them to follow Federal species guidelines.