Mountain Lions...No way!

[bmc]

A couple springs ago a lady that lives just south of Deer River has one on video tape walking across a plowed field. I saw the video as did the local CO. There's no doubt it is a mountain lion. Now whether it's an escapee from a game farm or private owner or a wild one, who knows. I've lived and hunted/fished/ camp my whole life, 33 years, here in Itasca County and have never seen a mountain lion, but I know for a fact they are here. Now Bigfoot, that's another story and I'll say I'm a skeptic, until I see one in the back of someone's pick up truck!

Brian

Brian

[CSP]

I've seen two different mountain lions in my life.....both were 100% wild. The first one i saw fall of 97, me and a high school friend were walking back to the truck after i shot a small doe (my first bow kill btw), when a cougar jumped out of the woods about 100 yards away and ran into the next woods.

Four years ago during rifle season i was on post and while they were nearing the end of the drive another cougar bolted from the woods and disappeared into the swamp.

Where i live/hunt we are pretty much in canada. I'm not asking anyone to believe it, but to say that there's none in mn. is ignorant. I swear on my life i've seen those two, and there's not a chance in hell it was a bobcat or lynx. I've spent plenty of time outdoors to know the differece.

I just have to laugh when i see things like this posted.....i argued with a stranger in walmart for about a half hour the other day that there was a wild elk herd in mn besides the ones near grygla..... it's funny the experts you find who really don't know squat.

[lungslicer]

CSP,

I would just think that if so many people claim to be seeing these creatures why is their 'almost' no photo evidence. I understand they are extremely elusive, but so are wolves and new photos of timber wolves were all over even when we had a very small population and no trail cameras. If so many people are seeing them their should be quite a few more of them captured on film.

[CSP]

look man, i'm not trying to be a (Contact Us Please) here, but you gotta understand. i've lived in this area my whole life, and spent 1000's of hours in the woods, and in my 28 years i've seen two.....that's all. Trust me, i understand you being skeptical, but there are cougars in mn. whether they are just moving though, or residents is completly up to debate from me, but i promise that i have witnessed those two with my own eyes, and there no way i was mistaken. I'm just guessing here, but given there's not more sightings, i'm guessing the numbers in mn would be at the max 50 or so at any time. -- given their solitary nature, and for the simple fact there's probably not alot of people where the cougars live, i think it's understandable why there's not more pictures of them. --come to think of it, i haven't seen many trail cam pictures of cougar from out west either.........it sure doesn't mean there not there

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Lung, you sure are stirring the pot here! What's your story? Where are you from? Why are you in such denial?

If you want proof you should go visit the Ely vet clinic and talk to the vets there and they can tell you about the horse outside Winton that got mauled by an extremly large cat a few years back. I'm pretty sure a bobcat nor a lynx could take down and maul a full grown horse.

Accept it, their around. I don't think any have really established a home range here in MN, but they definatly pass through and hang out for a spell.

[bwtrout]

lungslicer, Here's some info on Minnesota Cougar sitings.

Wilmar, Mn cougar;

Savage, Mn cougar;

Quote:

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Cougars are so rare in Minnesota that population estimates are hard to come by, but one DNR biologist guessed that there are about 10 wild cougars in Minnesota. In the wild, cougars maintain home ranges of 100 square miles or more, depending on their food source.

But wild cougars aren’t the only ones that people could be seeing in the area.

Ely Timberjay artical;

“There could be as many as 300 ‘pet’ cougars in Minnesota,” said Rusch. “When someone gets tired of their pet or if it has too many kittens, sometimes they illegally set them loose.”

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Ely Timberjay link

The Cougar Network link

Quote:

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Minnesota:

A female cougar was shot and killed near Big Sandy Lake in Aitkin County, in August 2001. The guy shot the cougar because it was fighting with his pet dog. The carcass was picked up by the Dept. Of Natural Resources. The next day, 2 cougar kittens were seen in the same area, and they were trapped. They were the 16 week old kittens of the female that was killed. The kittens were taken to the Minnesota Zoo. It was the first confirmed killing of a cougar in the state in more than 100 years. See this cougar: Minnesota Cougar

April 2002 a cougar was photographed at a deer's carcass in the Minnesota River Valley around Savage. The pictures clearly show, it is an adult cougar. An article with one of the pictures can be seen at at the Pioneer Press

HSOforum

.

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Cougar Confirmations link

Ely Timber Jay- Horse dies after cougar attack near Ely link

City Pages- The Cougar Files link

[Kyle]

Post deleted by hunter4life

[boatfixer]

I saw one west of Deer River in 1999, but sorry L.S., I didnt get a picture of it, so it doesn't count right?. . Just because nobody is posting pictures here that you approve of, doesn't mean they don't roam here. sorry, but there are many credible sightings AND pictures to prove it.

[Nate McVey]

Check this one out too.......No way these things could EVER be in MN, eh?

Cougar info Pioneer Press

Lungslicer, take a look at this as well, and next time you're in the woods and see the neighbors cat tracks, you can verify them

Tracks

[Steve Foss]

Brule and shiner, thanks for compiling so much information. That oughta settle that.

[fishermn]

Well slicer, I have lived here forty years and have personally seen these big cats twice. Not to mention the occasionaly tracks in the snow...

[Nate McVey]

I hope it helps, at least. Lot's of good stories, infomation and discussion. I want to keep it going, but it wasn't/isn't heading in that direction.

[Shack]

Quote:

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With so many Trail cams, why are their not more cayote pics, bob cat picks and other animals! Because people are not targeting those animals!

Your chances are better getting a shot of Big Foot, than a moutain lion if you are not set up right to get the animal to come to area!

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Does anyone think this is true?

I bought a trail cam and set it up on a part of my land I figured deer traveled. I went a half of week with no pics of deer. I baited for deer and with in two days, I have pics of deer. If I threw meat out their, I would have pics of coyotes!

How does anyone think they are going to get a trail cam pic of a cougar, unless you set up for one! How many people are setting trail cams for cougars?

[BobT]

Okay, lungslicer. How about this. I spent nearly 15 years of my life working on a logging crew in northern MN near Mt. Iron, Kinney, Virginia, and Eveleth. Aside from my logging period I grew up in Kinney, MN spending just about every waking moment in the forest from the time I was 10 years old, hunting grouse, snowshoes, deer, you name it. In all that time I can only recall sighting two timber wolves while afield. In fact, just last year I saw my first timber wolf ever while deer hunting in over 35 years of hunting. When you consider the numbers of timberwolves vs. the numbers of cougars, I can easily imagine why I never saw a cougar while I was in the field. Besides the fact that they are rare they are also extremely smart and wary and also loners. Far more so than any timber wolf could ever be. Cougars, except when mating, rarely spend time with any other cat than themselves and they don't stay in any one area for very long being nomadic as they.

The fact that there aren't very many photos is clearly obvious...there aren't very many cougars!

Bob

[cribbageboy]

Hunter4life,

Lets try and keep things a little less personal. Calling someone "Ignorant" and a "Fool" isnt exactly what people are looking for on here. People are intitled to there own opinions, and even though i agree with yours, doesnt mean im going to treat people with opposing opinions like mud.

-crib

[harvey lee]

I have a buddy that saw one in eastern ND last season and there is no reason why one cannot be running in Minnesota. Years ago we never has possum in SC Minnesota but have plenty now right along with coyotes.

They are here. I talked with another guy a few years ago that shot one in southern Minnesota and had pictures and it was in the local paper.

[Shack]

All right now!

Tom has said it!

I have no doubt in my mind there are Cougars in MN!

Good point about the yotes and the possums! Those things are growing like wild fire around here!

I tell ya, its the rail way that brings this vermon into our area's.

[livintofish]

Well I tell ya, I have never seen a stealth bomber either, and they are pretty illusive, but I know they are out there, and they could have very well flown over MN at some point. Personally IF I didn't believe cougars were in MN despite the compelling evidence brought to the table by professonals in the DNR and the combined expierience of the avid outdoorsmen on this site......I think rather then sit and talk about it I would try to find one, I mean we all love being out in the woods anyway right? So you learn the tracks and look for those, animal tracks are very distinctive if you find a good one. And if I still didn't believe they were legit, like some guy made a mold of a print and went around sticking it in the mud for fun.....then I guess maybe I would put out some cams and bait to attract them (if thats legal). I've always found that if you can't believe other legitimate sources, go find out first hand. Come to think of it I'm still not sure about this whole earth being round thing, I believe I will set sail and go check it out(not sure my 16' will hold up), might be a couple years before I get back to you guys. I'm getting a little carried away, just thought we could all use the entertainment. Very good pics and stories guys, thanks for sharing.

[BFT]

There was one hit last yar south of Motley on Hwy 10 , Also , some friends have pics of them on their bear baits by Leader !! so belive if you want , but don;t be so naive to think their cant be !!

[Kyle]

I stated that it wasnt meant to be personal. Lungslicer, I apologize that I didnt specify more, you are not a fool. But, I do think that your mentality is a bit foolish, and ignorant considering the numerous posts by these experienced people on this site. Those are two words depicting something of state of mind about a specific subject, not a persons overall personality.

Crib-

The definition of ignorant can be summed up in many ways, dictionary.com lists these

uninformed; unaware

lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned: an ignorant man.

due to or showing lack of knowledge or training: an ignorant statement

useing the word ignorant toward another person is not a derragatory statement, it is simply a fact that they they dont know something, and even more, they dont even know that they dont know. My apologies if anyone took this as a "Dis".

[R. Miller]

Great point BobT. Of all the years grouse hunting in northern MN, I hear t-wolves howling at night, but have never seen one out stomping around in the woods. And their pop. is much larger than the rare cougar in MN. They exist. My dad saw one in the late 90's while sitting in a tree stand deer hunting in the Chaska river bottoms. May have been the same one that others spotted around that area. Who knows? He didn't tell many people because he thought they'd think he was full of talk. It was true though. And back in the early 80's, my fiance's grandpa saw one outside of Luverne, MN, in the extreme SW part of the state. They're rare, but what an experience to anyone who's actually seen one in this great state!

[Scott K]

For what it is worth, I have seen tracks in NW Wisconsin. I am no expert, but they were what I believe to be cougar tracks. I looked at the ones on the internet and compared they looked the same as the ones I seen. I have talked to locals in the area, they said that they have been spotted once in awhile.

[big drift]

Up here one was killed on Hwy. 2 west of Bemidj by the theater this summer and the former director for MN BCA saw on in his driveway south of town, they have been filmed around Northhome, Waskish, Blackduck, and around Lake Plantaganette more common then folks think. Although there is some questions how many are wild over privately raised and released after getting to big. Another mother and cubs was also sighted this summer just south of town.

bd

[BobT]

The worst part is that if there is a significant number of tame or semi-tame cougars being released, it is not only illegal and foolish but adds an extreme level of danger to any human being that might encounter one because they are familiar with us and therefore less prone to avoid us.

Bob

[northerndave]

I'm not sure if it was a news chopper or sherif, border patrol... can't remember who's chopper it was but someone filmed one of these cats from a chopper along the red river over by grand forks.