# Are there cougars in Michigan???



## Huntinforfun

Sounds like my kind of girl. Ha Ha


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## toto

Seems we are getting a little off track here. As for Cougars, there probably are some in Michigan, never seen one myself, but I find it hard to believe that all these reports are imagination.

If you talk to any of the rangers at Sleeping Bear Dunes, they will all say yes, as for the DNR, they can't take a stand on the issue except to say no, there aren't any. If they did, they would have to protect them, and we all know they don't have the money for that. Would like to see one though.


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## GIDEON

Huntinforfun said:


> I have seen cougars in some bars in Jackson. HA Ha


 Ive seen some of them, defiently dieseased sp


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## fathom this

I have talked to several very reputable people in the Ludington area that have seen Cougars.


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## ArchersDreamSeason

a few years ago while hunting in the UP i heard something screeching about 100 yards through the woods i never ended up getting a look at it but i know what i heard and it was a cat and a very large cat ive never heard anything quite like it in all my years of hunting to this day it still makes the hair on my back stand up. im a believer they are here.


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## Linda G.

a baby being murdered? That was a bobcat on a kill. Very common.


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## jimmy johans

cougar sighted while driving near torch lake-elk lake area.


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## Brown duck

Dick Kleinhardt said:


> night photos shot on their property for cougar-black panther-badger , bear and coyotes


Don't care to weigh-in on the issue of whether there are cougars in MI, but there certainly are not "wild" big black cats - no large black cats are native to North America. "Black panthers" are a melanistic color phase of leopards, which are found in Africa and Asia. No doubt, some could be brought into NA, but I find it hard to believe that there are so many escapees that people all around the country are seeing them.


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## Linda G.

running all over the place this time of the year. In fact, one of them, who owns a $6 million plus house, threw a heck of a fireworks show last weekend, we could see it 15 miles east of there, and just about everyone in the county heard it. Heck of a show. LOL


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## ridgewalker

As any outdoor reporter/journalist should know, Michigan is a state with a large amount of varied habitat. Many things could or can happen in the wild portions or even not so wild that much of our population would not believe. That does not make it untruthful. The more that ridicule and laughter is brought to a subject and about good folks the less chance there is that evidence will come out about that subject. Noone wants to willingly become an object of scorn or ridicule, and so they will simply learn to stop sharing which will result in a loss of knowlege to the general public. That's worth laughing at, isn't it--------not!


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## benster

ridgewalker said:


> As any outdoor reporter/journalist should know, Michigan is a state with a large amount of varied habitat. Many things could or can happen in the wild portions or even not so wild that much of our population would not believe. That does not make it untruthful. The more that ridicule and laughter is brought to a subject and about good folks the less chance there is that evidence will come out about that subject. Noone wants to willingly become an object of scorn or ridicule, and so they will simply learn to stop sharing which will result in a loss of knowlege to the general public. That's worth laughing at, isn't it--------not!


 Evidence is the key word in your post. I have read post about people that have trail cam photos of lions but will not post them? If I get a pic I think I could prove it by getting the DNR involved and showing them the area where the cam was set up so they could match it with the picture. Weird but I have seen pictures of a wolverine in the thumb area that I think dog hunters discovered but yet no dog hunters have ever treed a lion that I know of in Michigan? Seems like someone would have found tracks in the snow but the only one I have read about was in the UP with no snow on the ground. I'm sure someone will take a mounted lion and put it in front of a trail cam now that I posted it so I want full credit for it when it happens:lol: Now that I think about it does someone have one I can borrow?:evil:


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## fathom this

A friend and classmate of my sons at Lake Superior State about ten years ago showed a DNR biologst a picture of a cougar that was taken in his back yard in the UP. The DNR biologist was giving a lecture at school about predators in Michigan and was asked the question do cougars existed in the state. He was not willing to admit that they do.


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## NickAdams

well said ridgewalker

seems to me that when people ridicule something unfamilliar to them (weather it be cougars, ufo's, other religions, etc.) It's because the idea of these things scares them or makes them uneasy.


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## Waders65

NickAdams said:


> this site is updated fairly regularly with MI cougar sighting reports and photos
> 
> www.savethecougar.org


lol that site has more cougar sightings listed then there are people left in Michigan :lol:.

All funniness aside, I think there are cougars in Michigan. One night I was fishing in my canoe while my friend was sleeping in the tent.

I was anchored up jigging for rainbow trout as I listened to a large animal move closer and closer to the tent.

I thought it was quite comical because my friend was hungover and made me fish alone :lol:.

That animal got extremely close to the tent (50 yards) and started screaming, omg.

I finally yelled out "He's coming to get ya" and burst out into laughter. 

I'm telling ya though, it made the hair stand on the back of my neck and I wasn't nearly as close to the screaming creature as he was.

He tries to act tough bout the whole thing but I know full well he was scared sh**less.

I thought the animal was a small bear, a wolf or possibly a coyote until it screamed. I too have heard many animals in the forest, but none ever screamed like that thing. I heard it breaking an occasional branch while it was sneaking into camp, it was a large animal. :yikes:


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## russfim

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy has an article, "More Cougar Evidence Verified" on p. 6 of their Sep/Oct 08 issue. Check it out. Thanks to all who have responded to the initial question. Had no idea what might be uncovered when this project began. Sure are a lot of cougar sightings and stoires out there!


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