U.P. Cougars ?

[Spruce Ridge Beagler]

This is an email that was forwarded to me from a friend, Michigan Outdoor news also had a photo of one taken by the DNR a few issues back, that one was out of Alpena in the lower. You be the judge!

Subject: Fw: Michigan Upper Peninsula
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:40:41 -0400



Subject: Michigan Upper Peninsula





Remember the DNR denying there are any cougars in Michigan ? Check this out...
lw



Michigan UP

Highway 13 south of Munising 20 miles at highway 440 near Skeels lake ,Dana lake, highway 7 is about 3 miles south of a deer camp

Think about this the next time you're trout fishing, ambling thru the woods or walking to your deer blind in the dark,or just running your dogs and hear a twig break behind you..

The attached pictures were taken with a motion sensored trail cam near a camp on Forest Highway 13 near Camp 7 and Gooseneck Lakes in the UP.









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[B-man]

Remember the DNR denying there are any cougars in Michigan ?

Those are obviously bobcats in their summer phase

Here kitty kitty

[Big River Beagles S]

Saw same pictures in Jan. said they were taken in northern iowa. Then another friend emailed them to me said they were taken in Missouri. They have been floating around

[sgc]

I believe they're in Michigan (especailly the U.P.) I've talked to locals who've seen them. Last year I picked up a book on Cougar problems across the United States. I hope I never run into one, they can be real nasty. There have been many attacks in California that we never hear of. I would rather run into a bear or wolves rather than a Cougar. Cougars will stalk you also. When I'm by myself up north in the wild, I always carry a side-arm. I don't know if I could get to it quick enough, though.

[Gary A]

Some info I found on the net.

http://www.michigancougar.com/

[Buckeye Blues]

Back in the late 1980's when I was stationed down in Valdosta, Ga. I read where there were no confirmed incidents/ sightings of cougers, or pumas as they are called down there sometimes, in Ga. But driving through the swamps near the bombing range one night I had one jump the entire road in front of my cars headlights.

I'll never forget that. Its prolly the only one I'll ever see in the wild. I never reported it. I remember thinking to myself, "If they want to refuse the notion they are around, then I'm not gonna report the sighting."

Those dirt roads winding through the swamps showed this Ohio farm country boy alot of animals I would have not had the chance to see here at home.

[klrconcrete]

I have never seen that picture or heard anything about that incident, last fall they did have a story on the local news about a DNR "validated" cougar incident around Escanaba- they found tracks in the snow and tracked it for quite a long distance- I believe to a deer carcass. They interviewed a state biologist and he confirmed it was indeed a cougar.

[Steve Mikkelson]

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[big mike 50]

So if they are here are they going to open a season on em because I want to be on the list.

[MasonsBeagles]

dont feel bad they are sighting them here in KY near us too.

[SMytyk]

I keep hearing of sightings closer to town all the time. A buddy came back from my favorite night fishing spot with pics of one. It definitely makes you think when you're out there in the dark. I make sure to take my male with me because he'll raise a ruckus. People hunt lions with hounds around here, so they know a barking hound means trouble.

[Done Gone Beagles]

My wife and myself saw one a couple of years ago crossing hwy 67 in mark twain Na forest on are way home I should of reported it but didn't In the Missouri Conservationist says there never been a reported case yeah right it tail was as long as it body close to the ground when crossing the hwy it had a box like head I would say about 5 foot long not counting the tail long with a little cruve at the end of it went under the rail on the other side of the hwy should of made the call but didn't

[bucks better beagles]

Someone tell me what the DNR or any government agency has to gain by denying that there are or are not cougars in any state. Especially, if they are using tracking collars on them. It makes no sense from a safety to profitable enterprise. Does Loch Ness Monster, crop drawings, or big monkey-human characters in the great northwest come to mind? I too have seen these pictures on other sites. It seems people are more apt to believe that which is improbable than that which is logical and fact based.

Bob-Michigan

[Steve Mikkelson]

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[wvduece]

steve you just described dnr officers here in wv too i have never met one that wastheir first priorty to give someone a ticket or if nothing else give you a hard time i am friends with one havent seen him for a few years but im shure he would ticket his own mother or his own children i know they have a dangerous job as they never know who they are talking too but they dont have to be such big azz holes about everything i have asked several where the best deer hunting is or where they seem to be most populated and get a smart azz answer everytime i dont know if they are born such a big azz hole or jusy work hard at it every day