Big cats

[Seamus]

i was wondering if there are getting to be a lot of them around because i might have saw one last weekend when i was grouse hunting

[picksbigwagon]

officially, I am not sure if the DNR acknowledges the existence of cougars/mountain lions in MN. I have always heard if you see a MT. Lion, it is probably stalking you.....

Where were you hunting Seamus? There have been many reports on here over the past few years and I am not surprised that you might have seen one........

[Seamus]

i was hunting out on my familys 220 acre farm up in the moose lake area

[Spearing Machine]

http://wcco.com/local/cougar.killed.Bemidji.2.1197584.html

[titelines]

Rumors abound north of Duluth. I have never personally seen one, but have spoken to people that assume it's common knowledge that they're around.

Snowshoeing last winter, I came across some very large cat tracks in the snow...thought they were probably bobcat until I noticed a periodic "swoosh" in between the tracks...possibly from a long tail being dipped into the snow??

[Dave S]

The cats do exist in MN. They've been around for some time. Channel 9 had a story of a horse in Shakopee that was allegedly attacked by a cougar.

The Vet who tended to the horse was the one who made the claim of a cougar. The DNR says it was more likely something from the canine family.

The horse did have a couple scratches on the hind quarters, but didn't appear to have any puncture wounds.

My best guess is if it were a cougar, they're not going to go for the lower part of the leg. Where the scratches were, there would have most likely been puncture wounds from the claws or teeth if it were a cougar.

IMO, the DNR is right on this one. It was more than likely a canine.

[bogwalker]

I shot a nice buck about 6 years ago. He had a large chunk taken out of his back between his shoulders. I sent photos to Deer and Deer Hunting Magazine. Their biologist thought it looked like a cougar had tried to take the buck down.

[RumRiverRat]

I have seen a Cougar twice in the last year.

Once at the Bethel WMA and another time in Nowthen between Elk River and Oak Grove.

Several years ago myself and a buddy had one come into our call when we were coyote hunting Near Aitkin.

I see tracks quite often in the Bethel WMA.

[mrklean]

more and more sitings each year, have a buddy who has video on their trail cam, poor quality but no doubt cougar

[bogwalker]

My wife saw a cougar run across Highway 6 north of Deer River last week. She said it crossed the highway in 2 jumps. It crossed right in front of her.

[CrowRiverRat83]

Yeah, I know the one around Nowthen made the news maybe a year ago. They interviewed a farmer who claimed to have seen it a few times. Thats getting pretty close to civilization.

[bobbymalone]

officially, I am not sure if the DNR acknowledges the existence of cougars/mountain lions in MN.

I am not sure why so many people think there is some sort of DNR conspiracy.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/cougar/index.html

[fishroger]

Unbelievable as it sounds people mistake bobcats for cougars. A person swore he had a trail camera pic of of a cougar. He shows it to a DNR CO who determined the pics show the same bobcat going by the camera twice. Plus alot of the sightings near the city have been determined to be pet cougars who been let go, their declawed. There are probably some wild ones around. The one near Bemidji that was hit had a full set of claws.