cougar sighting (trail cam pic)

[jonny_redhorse]

I got this image of this cougar from a guy at work earlier this week...he had it sent to him by his brother who works for the DNR...the cougar (stated in the e-mail )was one of the first in the area caught on a camera in over 27 years...this was taken near floodwood lake a couple weeks ago in the "Cedar Valley" area which is southwest of Hibbing about 20 miles or so(floodwood cutoff)...not the best or clearest photo but still shows it's a cougar and a pretty good sized one at that! ...geesh!...maybe I better start takin a sidearm when I go on a week-end photo hike ...

[Steve Foss]

No doubt they are out there, Jonny. Wouldn't want one to think I was a deer. Too much in the way of fangs and claws to suit me.

[jonny_redhorse]

Hee! Hee!...guess I could throw my "Fuji" at him as he's about to bat me along side the head! ... ....never thought about a mountain lion crossing my path on one of my week-end photo outings

[mmeyer]

Johnny I thought I was seeing things. I thought you posted this the other day but when I went back a couple minutes later it was gone.

I hope to never bump into one of those on the trail!

Mike

[Steve Foss]

Jonny, I've spent a fair amount of time in winter up here in full white camo calling predators in to the camera with the screaming rabbit calls. I've often wondered whether a mountain lion would come in, but I've read widely what lion hunters have written, and it's VERY difficult to get the big cats in with calls like that. Of course, it does happen once in awhile, and all it takes is one time to prove that I'm one BIG dummy for doing this.

Guess all I could hope for is the Canon Al servo focus mode is fast enough so the cat charging right at me will be sharp. That'll at least give my wife a dramatic photo to license after the cat is finished with me. And, well, she is a cat lover anyway.

[jonny_redhorse]

lol!...nope you weren't seing things!...I got rid of that photo because some of the text from the e-mail was under the pic and names were mentioned...after giving it some thought,I figured might be better not to put names on the net without permission from each individual...2 DNR personale, one person who actually took the photo and the guy(from work) who allowed me to post the photo...

[Steve Foss]

Good thinking, Jonny.

[fisherking01]

I bet there are more roaming the state than you think. In 1981, I saw a cougar, was called a liar and so forth. I saw tracks on land I was hunting in the late 80's, and in 89, I saw another while bowhunting. I don't spend all my life in the woods, so I think they travel the area quite a bit. I definitely wouldn't want to tangle with a 120 lb ball of muscle and fury!!! ND passed a handgun cary law for bowhunters for personal protection. SE ND saw the harvest of a young cat this fall. A domestic cat will travel miles, guessing their large counterparts will travel hundreds. My thoughts, Brent

[maros91]

Very cool pic. Those animals are around. Very rarely seen.

[fishermn]

Not too surprising. I grew up south of Pengilly and personally have seen cougars twice in that area. Its weird, even though they are known to have quite large ranges, the ones I know of have stayed in a quite small area for many years, probably less than 4 sq. miles. I did find a very fresh track once on a snowy day while deer hunting. That kinda spooked me... When I was very young, we used to occasionally hear them scream at night. Now that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!

[Alex Walleye Fan]

A few years ago myself and a few others were walking in the woods that we have have owned for the past 40 years in the Cass Lake/Walker area. I had this odd feeling that "something" was watching us. To our surprise, a cougar was perched in a tree about 20 feet off the trail about 15 feet in the tree.

Needless to say it changed my opinion real quick. I will always carry a sidearm with me. I for one would not like to wrestle with a over grown cat!

[JayinMN]

Cool, a lady I worked with told me about these pictures from floodwood, its nice to see them finally. It has already been blamed for attacks on livestock from floodwood to the cherry area. It has allegedly killed a dog and attacked some horses and a pony. I suppose the more it gets out that there is one in the area the more complaints about cougars are going to be generated. There is a picture of a horse cut up at the Thirsty Moose, which was said to be done by a cougar. Looks more like a barbed wire fence to me, but thats just my opinion. It will definetly make the woods seem alot more wild. I have 3 cameras out up here in cherry, I know I would fall out of my chair if I donwloaded a picture of one on my camera.

[Steve Foss]

A couple years ago a cougar attacked a horse between Ely and Winton at a horse boarding facility. One of the couple had heard the cat scream, too. It's in the Winton/Farm Lake deer yard area, where deer habitually gather during winter. No surprise.

The infection from the cat's scratches and bites advanced so quickly that the local vet couldn't administer enough anitbiotics fast enough to save the horse, which died a few days after the attack.

The DNR in this area (and I'll bet in quite a few others) gets reports of cougars off and on.

[Slothin'02]

I've heard there's one hanging around Two Harbors. We're down in Knife River and, stopping to chat with a neighbor yesterday, he said he swears he saw one slinking into the woods a few nights ago. Couldn't be 100% sure, but tanish, sleek fur and a long slender tail...sounds about right.

[Ely Lake Expert]

Now thats a big kitty.

I actually ran into someone that deer hunts near us this weekend, he was telling my dad and I that he thinks there is a family of cougars living near his hunting shack. He was walking around by his shack and found what he called a "pile of 4 deer". He said the reason he thinks it was from cougars and not Timberwolves(which there are lots of out there) is all the meat was eaten but the bones ribs and all were intact and he said wolves would chew up the bones(which is correct because I have seen moose and deer that timbers got) and cats leave the bones alone. Anyone that knows their big cats, is this info about leaving the bones alone correct? If so,

[Steve Foss]

The mountain lion has strong jaws but not as strong as the wolf's, according to my reading. An adult wolf can commonly exert 1,500 pounds per square inch. I can't find reports of the crushing ability of the mountain lion, except to say it's less than that of a wolf.

And it's well documented that wolves can and do crush bones to get to the marrow. I have no doubt, however, that a mountain lion can crush some bones to get at the marrow.

Do wolves always crush bones? Do mountain lions never crush bones? I doubt it's that simple. Even if a lion doesn't have quite the crush pressure, I'm sure it would munch bone as hard as possible to get marrow if there weren't any other food sources around, just as I doubt wolves will crush bones each and every time for marrow, especially when prey is abundant.

Also, because your buddy found four deer in a little area with bones cleaned of meat but no bone crushing wouldn't necessarily mean a mountain lion had done it. Might be wolves. Might not be a wild predator at all, but a poacher who boned out his kills and dumped the bones in one spot. Could be a lot of things, including a family of lions.

[Ely Lake Expert]

Quote:

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Also, because your buddy found four deer in a little area with bones cleaned of meat but no bone crushing wouldn't necessarily mean a mountain lion had done it. Might be wolves. Might not be a wild predator at all, but a poacher who boned out his kills and dumped the bones in one spot. Could be a lot of things, including a family of lions.

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STF,

Thanks for the reply. I really doubt it was a poacher just because this place is waaay out in the woods down a 4x4 trail only where you have to cross private property to get to and where the bones were was on gated off private property only 300 yards from the hunting shack not near any trail, he just happened to be walking the woods. Also he is there every weekend and some weekdays. So it just doesn't make sense that someone would go that far even for poaching.

As far as being from a wolf or a cat, my experience from wolf kills is they tend so spread the kill/bones around the area and the way he described it, the bones where all in one spot. Either way, I am not walking around those woods anymore without a gun.

ELE

[chaffmj]

Seeing that picture of the cougar makes me think about packing some heat when I'm in the woods more than else ever has.