http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../701270374/1003

Most recent article covering cougars in Michigan. You can't have a Michigan BF website without the generic Michigan Cougar thread.

No, you can't! :D

They're here, no doubt about that. Didn't the DNR finally admit that there was a breeding population here in the state?

One DNR guy who is now retired, said publicly that he saw one, and asked his superiors how to proceed and they told him not to panic the public.

But I haven't heard of the DNR admitting that there are cougars

There is 'some crazy rumor' that Jim had a close encounter in Michigan. Can you give me the approx. location?

Just so you all know, My neighbor up in Harrison, who is an avid hunter/fisher etc... and trustable saw two cougars last fall, "over by Lake George" which is south and west of Harrison, Clare County.

Totally believe that!

Remind me Drew, you have property yourself in Harrison? Land only, or do you have a house there? Just asking out of curiosity. It's a nice area.

Yeah, my retired in-laws live on Dodge lake in Harrison. I go up every weekend and whenever I have a week off.

My uncle claims to have seen a mother with two cubs walking along his driveway NW of Cadillac near Harietta and residents of Beulah were having frequent sightings when I was there a few years ago. Whether the bureaucrats at the DNR admit it or not, I believe they're around...my uncle is getting older, but I still trust his animal identification.

One story that I can't bring myself to believe comes from my neighbor who claims a cougar "was coming straight at her" right on the road we live on. I live in the downriver suburbs of Detroit. There are some foxes and coyotes around, but I'd have to see a mountain lion myself (or at least hear about other sightings) to believe they were around here.

Oh, I had almost forgotten...I lived in Davison (near Flint) about 18 years ago and there was a man who used to walk a young cougar down the block which, now that I think about it, really sticks in my craw. :angry:

It was interesting, and fairly humorous, the parallels that were made to BF in that article, Drew. That was in the Detroit News?

From http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../703020332/1006


Article published Mar 2, 2007
Good luck trying to find mountain lion

The federal government has joined the search for Michigan's mythical mountain lions.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will be at a disadvantage, though.

All it has going for it is a nationwide network of scientists and field personnel.

Groups such as the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy have something better than that: Faith. The group exists to prove there is a wild, reproducing population of the big cats in the Great Lakes state.

By disagreeing with the devotees of the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy, I'm painting a target on my back, but here goes anyway.

They're a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic.

When I wrote about mountain lions last fall, the worst thing they called me was a flat-lander. Some of you may not know this, but there are three classes of people in Michigan. God's people live above the bridge (the Mackinac Bridge, that is). Trolls live below the bridge. And south of the trolls live the flat-landers - anyone who lives on the smooth, featureless plain that is southern Michigan.

So, OK, I'm a flat-lander. But I used to be a troll. And while I was a troll, I used to hang out with the guys who ran dogs after bobcats. The only two-legged beings who spent more time in the Michigan woods than those guys were Mr. and Mrs. Sasquatch. Bobcat hunters go out to look for ghosts. Those guys brought them back.

They didn't bring back any mountain lions, or even any evidence of any. Likewise, anyone would have trouble explaining why a million or so deer, small game, turkey and waterfowl hunters never come across any cougar tracks during a winter walk in the woods.

But ignore my skepticism. I have been wrong before. If you've got evidence of a mountain lion nesting in the crawl space under your family room, the Fish & Wildlife Service wants to hear about it.

The agency put the "eastern" cougar on the endangered-species list in 1973, and is obligated by law to re-examine its status periodically. The agency is beginning one of those periodic reviews, examining scientific and, I suppose, nonscientific, evidence of the cat's status in 21 eastern states reaching from Maine to Michigan to Georgia.

The agency isn't quite sure there was ever a separate "eastern" species of mountain lion. But it's also reasonably sure that, if there had been, it was wiped out long ago.

If you have evidence mountain lions are running through your subdivision, thumbing their noses at the neighborhood house cats, you need to write the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and report your observations. The address for this review: Eastern Cougar Northeast Regional Office U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 300 Westgate Center Drive Hadley, MA 01035 or by e-mail to EasternCougar @fws.gov.

Information must be received by March 30, for the status review, although the Service will continue to accept new information about eastern cougars at any time.

Well. regardless...they are out there. Or at least one was in August of last year!

For Stacy, Jim, Nightwing.
I locked down the area of my Neighbors cougar sighting this weekend.

It is much closer to where I think you guys are up in Clare County than I originally thought.

He said it was 'Over by Temple' He has 80 Acres over there and was hunting. He saw two cougars 'six feet long'

If you don't know, Temple is right on 61 just west of where the Muskegon crosses it. I asked him if it was on the other side of the River, and he said 'Back behind it' which I took to be south of 61, across the river. I will get more info next time up. Keep your eyes peeled this spring if you go out there again. Wear Steel Neck Collars too.

Yeah, no kidding... I'm a bit more nervous up there now, KNOWING there's at least one that roams the property. At least we know he's already got a healthy food supply, so we shouldn't have to worry too much... right? :huh:

http://www.savethecougar.org/michigancougarsightings.htm

This is a good Michigan Cougar sighting site.....There are three sightings in my back yard, so to speak...Old 27, Higgins Lake area.

It's kind of scary.
1. Going for a hike in the woods, I am constantly looking for something about to jump on me.

2. If they will take down a horse, why not a 250 pound person?

3. My wife always says 'be careful' so if I got whacked by a Cougar, she'd be really mad.

We had cougars in Mio. They were seen by a family member and also left tracks. A mom and her two cubs. That was about two years ago so the cubs should be out and looking for their own territory to occupy , by now.

I thought MI already admitted to there being cougars here. Pretty sure I still have the article somewhere. Funny how they drag things on..... Now we have to have the "official" investigation, huh?

Take care all,
Ang

The DNR won't admit they are a breeding population. They will admit there might be an escaped pet.

The FEDS put signs up in the National lakeshore by Lake Michigan saying "Cougar Habitat" Cougars may live here.

Christ, look at all the recent sightings.

http://www.savethecougar.org/

Hooooooly crap! That's a bit scary, and some are getting pretty darn close to home here.