Last Friday evening around 7pm, my 15 year old grandson and I were heading in to town to fill some gas cans when a cougar crossed the road in front of me, stopped on the side of the road to give us a good look at him. This is the 2nd cougar I have seen in Michigan. Saw one 20 years ago when my dad and I were baiting bear in the U.P. That one stopped in front of my truck at 3pm in the afternoon.

Our DNR has denied for many years that they do not exist in Michigan but just recently decided to admit it as so many people are seeing them and they are showing up on trail cams.

It was exciting for me and my grandson. He just couldn't stop talking about it.

Very cool. I saw one in 2016 only one I've seen in the wild, sometimes I see them around town but different species than you're talking about...

Yup, they have been there along time! I saw one back in 1987 in Iron County.

John, what town was it near?

Lots of "cougars" here in PA. I can confirm and had several run ins with them in my youth.

I also believe there is a population of 4 legged cougars in PA as well even if the game commission denies it.

Very Cool Jon. Something your grandson will never forget.

We saw 2 Cougars in Floodwood MN last summer and there have been a couple killed in the Twin Cities in the past few years. The Minnesota DNR says they aren’t in Minnesota and when a friend of mine reported one had partially eaten a deer he had shot and it was explained as a “Bad job of field dressing!” We didn’t give him much sympathy on that one!!! Cotton

They deny cougars existing in a lot of states but people see them. They were once native to Alabama..I think there are some still around

Very cool Jon, I have always hoped to get a glimpse of one. That would be unforgettable.

We've had them for at least 10 years in southern Wisconsin/ northern Illinois. There was one in Antioch IL. In a wooded part of a backyard. The owner call the DNR, they came out and confirmed it was a cougar, then asked if they could install cameras. The DNR told her they follow the rivers eating deer. I was there a week later taking measurements and photos when something started moving in the wooded area of the 1/3 acre lot...I told her a deer or something was back there. That's when she told me..no, it's a mountain Lion. ??

Saw one in iron county outside of crystal falls almost 10 years ago. Pretty cool experience.

A number of years ago the Game and Fish sad there were no lions in ND after getting numerous reports , now there is a season on cats and they have a quota and it is generally filled as soon as it snows.

I saw a cougar about 15 years ago in Vermont. I advised the Fish & Game Dept. and at first they said I was probably "wrong", but later they admitted that there was a population here.

Im scared on NJ black bears. The day I see them I dont know what I ll do! And yes they are in NJ despite F&G saying no!

I saw a large one south of our cottage in NE lower Michigan about 25 years ago. I was heading home with my Dad on a bright afternoon and saw something moving to the side of the road as I approached a downhill pine plantation and at first thought it was turkeys, but it then walked out and turned to look at us. I swear the thing with its tail took up well more than one lane of the road; it looked huge. It then did a cat lope off to the other side & into the pines. We stopped and stared in there but it of course didn’t stick around.

I thought I’d caught a glimpse of a small one years earlier but this was no glimpse, and my Dad was as amazed as me. He even called our small town newspaper when home and the outdoor writer then called me to get more details on location and printed a small story in the sports section. This was back when the DNR—who I actually respect & appreciate—hadn’t confirmed their presence in my part of the state.

Approximately one year later the northern paper had a story about a woman who nearly hit a mountain lion driving at night in the same spot, and that surprised me because I figured it was roaming afar. Some time after that I was scouting land north of that spot and another hunter mentioned how they didn’t like to venture to far south of there because of the “cougar” that he knew was there by it’s screams. I didn’t quite buy that one!

Keep them on your side of the state Jon.

Up by camp, Jon? Yikes!

They are confirmed in Ontario now but evidence seems to indicate that all of the recent sightings in the central part of the continent are dispersing individuals from the west.

Lots of people saying they have always seen them in the East but actual evidence is scanty to non-existent.

Nobody shoots one by accident or hits one with a car and provides concrete evidence.

shortdraw: South of Custer about 3 miles on Custer road near Chauvez road.

My thoughts on why some states including Michigan are denying their existence is if they are there then the DNR has to manage them and that would cost money. I just can't think of any other reason to deny them being around.

Oh and it is in the Michigan hunting rules that you can't shoot one even though they don't exist, lol

wooddammon: you are safe. lol That's 20 miles from your place. But he was heading east.!!!!

That is awesome today me and my 2 grandsons we’re headed to the gun club and very young fawn jumped in front of us and won’t get out of the way they thought that was the the coolest thing ever

Though not as large as a cougar , seen two black panthers up real close in sw Fla on the edge of the Everglades on two different occasions . Yet they will tell you they don't exist .

Here in western Washington, "Huskies" are used very effectively in keeping "Cougars" pushed to the extreme eastern part of the state!

Good one skookum. Bet not msny got that one.

Good one Fred!!!

Cotton,

I don’t live far from Floodwood and was talking to a guy at work tonight that saw a Cougar today on the other side of Grand Rapids/Ball club area…..

same in WV. Lots have been on trail camera's but they deny it. I guess they figure the cougars know their boundaries. LOL

Must have been a sight! I know a guy that saw in a forest preserve west of Chicago, he didn't want to call the DNR becuase he wanted to leave it alone. That was not the first one sighted near Chicago.

"Though not as large as a cougar , seen two black panthers up real close in sw Fla on the edge of the Everglades on two different occasions . Yet they will tell you they don't exist ."

Florida panthers are cougars and no black cougar has ever been documented.

Exactly however some have been spotted . There was one actually killed by a car down here on I75 and exit 116 Bonita Beach road and all of a sudden info swept under the rug (hush/hush). Btw I referred to my sightings as "black panthers " , which in reality a sow called black panther is actually a jaguer , " go fiqure " ? .... However since seeing maybe eight panthers down here in thirty years I refered to them as black panthers , not black jaguer's . Even more difficult to believe . Yes I know "genetic's".

I see. Jaguars are generally as large or larger than Cougars.

The UP get's a half dozen very clear trail cam pics a year which the DNR is able to go, investigate and also find DNA evidence at those trail cam locations.

Seems there are probably 100x more trail cams in the LP and a larger percentage of those going cellular for less human intervention....not to mention much higher resolution with nice fast shutter speed for less blur.

Just surprised there hasn't been any documented pics from the LP yet.

I remember someone showing me a trailcam pic of a cougar. The pic was taken at night and showed the cat chasing a deer. This pic was supposedly taken in SW lower Michigan. When I took a close look at it I could definitely tell that the deer in the pic was a muley.

MP

There's probably Mule Deer in Michigan but the DNR does not admit it. lol

Florida is thought to have a population of Jaguarundi that resulted from escapee “pets” sort of like the pythons. They are smaller than a cougar and black is one of the color phases. They also have a long tail.

They have been in northern Wisconsin so I'm sure they are in MI too. I saw one in boulder junction wi years ago, , no one believed me but it was a cat. Hell, we've had two in the Chicagoland area lol , they like to follow rivers down from the north.

We have elk in WV too. LOL

My uncle and I saw a lion in the UP in 1961.

I've seen two and my daughter saw one here in SE Ks. and like you our F&G says they don't exist but you can't shoot one.

House cats from Plum Island

cat told me

Greg then thanks probably what I saw . Just like I seen down here a Komodo dragon and a good size wolf but they were obieously escapee's from Hurricane Andrew imo (1992) .

Supernaut X 2....!!!!

DEC in NY denies them but there have been many reliable sightings upstate.

Really ? https://shywolfsanctuary.org/

Get trail cam photos or cell phone photos and the DNR etc can NOT refute the evidence!

They can if the pics and videos have no authentication.

So many of these online are the same pics and video attributed to 10 different locations.

Recently a video was posted from a Northern Ontario park with authentication and it took a year or so for the DNR to verify it. I think it was their trailcam too.

Cougar Killer!!!

I saw one here in Somerset Co PA back in the late 80's. A friend saw one here while glassing fields for turkeys around 2005. We did not report either sighting.

What benefit does a DNR get by denying their existence? Panic prevention?

Red Beastmaster I think that panic is one reason and financial would be the other. If the Michigan DNR admits we have them then they would have to manage them and that could cost money. The DNR has a habit of saying, no photo's then they don't exist which is false.

Again it is against the law to kill one in Michigan even though they don't exist.

I know what I saw both times and so did the two people that was with me.

Jon, you are EXACTLY correct. There have been cases in Maine(which also denies their existence)of actual fur being found. The samples were allegedly sent to a lab in a VERY artful way...only to labs capable of determining that the samples were feline. And CERTAINLY not sent to a Federal lab, which would have been decisively definitive. If found to be mountain lion, there is a Federal Law on the books which says that the State MUST establish a management program. Maine does not have a ton of money hanging about, especially when our governor spent even our rainy day fund! So...even if one was documented, it would likely "still not exist."

Why would they have to manage them? They are not managing them now and it doesn't seem to matter.

Your right Runner. It was a mute point.

Tennessee finally admitted they are here after several trail camera photos came to light. They have been in many different areas of the state.

Murray

If Jon Stewart says He saw one, He saw one. Jon would Die before He would tell a Lie. A long time Friend.

I believe Jon and it sounds like you're a great friend Rooster. Good stuff.

Thanks guys. I don't think many doubt my sighting. I know after seeing the 1st one in the U.P. many years ago I stopped to a yard sale later in the week which was put on by a Lt from the DNR. I told him about it and he laughed and said no pictures it didn't happen. For some reason the State just didn't like the idea that cougars were roaming around.

Got to give Rooster a shout out. He is one of a couple guys that heads up Fred Bear Days in March and is also in the process of raising funds for the $100,000 memorial statue to be made and placed in Grayling. Tom (Rooster) and his wife Sharron have been working tirelessly at raising these funds.

Cougars live in Los Angeles, one of the most populated places in the country...where automobiles are their primary threat. They are adaptable, diurnal, can cover a lot of ground and mostly silent, so certain to be small populations or individuals in MANY states that don't recognize them as residents. We have many sightings in NC.

Nocturnal, not Diurnal.

Jon is someone whose word I would take. Glad you had that moment with your grandson. If you’re getting to spend enough time with him that you could see a mountain lion together, then you’re obviously doing this Grandfather thing the right way!

It’s pretty funny to me, though…

On the BowSite CT page, we have this long running argument about whether there are lions here or not. I am firmly in the camp that says that if there were an actual population, we would have plenty of trail cam evidence to prove it, and there just Isn’t. We did have one wander through some years ago, and it got hit by a car after being recorded in places all the way across the country.

The point about there a legal requirement to manage them, though… That really makes sense to me that the DNR would not want to acknowledge them if that is going to create an additional burden when they’re already probably as strapped for cash as everything and everybody else, so it’s a good idea to have a law prohibiting people from shooting them… because if somebody shoots one, then there’s proof that they’re there, at which point if they’re legally obligated to do something about it…. it’s going to get expensive in a hurry.

So I guess I would file that one under Little White Lies I Can Live With….

Crepuscular as well as nocturnal. Still, people catch pics and video of cougars hunting during the day.

No cat seems to pass up opportunity when hungry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeOWbPBNYPE

Yeah, well any predator that wants to eat is going to be active when there’s prey to be had. ;)

That’s impressive video. No tidy bite to the back of the head for that one!!

I guess there’s a difference, too, between natural behavior and human-interaction- habituated behavior. I’ve been razzed generously and often by people who don’t believe that suburban deer have us pretty well patterned and on one of my spots they would move around the school-bus schedule. Lord only knows what those deer are up to all day long while we’re at work!

I’ve seen coyotes ambling through the neighborhood mid-day when everybody was either indoors or not home at all.

They refute it here Batman. They have been shown photos but say they were not taken in our state

Most cell-phone pics have gps coordinates stored in the file. Don’t know about trail cams these days….

quote:" DEC in NY denies them but there have been many reliable sightings upstate."

I've heard these "reports" for years. Everytime (several dozen at least)I have asked for verifiable confirmation. DNA, trail cam, anything that can be reasonably verified. Best so far is something like "my neighbor has the pics - I will get them" - never to be heard from again. Seems NY has more cougar sighting than the states where they have hunting seasons.

Not a reflection of the OP post - Michigan UP is a lot further west of NY and much closer to the western populations.

dude i know got this on trail cam and thought it might be a michigan cougar. sent it to the dnr and they told him it was a wild hog.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Its always looked good too me its just the attitude and mindset I cound'nt deal with .....

I would like to see one, but it would be a rare sight.... However I saw a 50 inch plus bull moose, back on a seepage lake, wish I had a camera....................

lol vaquero

:^)

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