# Strange sighting this weekend



## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

I debated on whether I was gonna post about this or not. I guess I'll put my flame proof suit in and blab away.

Saturday morning, hunting near Charlotte, I just bagged a rabbit and the dog was on another one. He was on him for about 3-4 minutes when I saw movement in the brush. I readied my gun because it was headed for an opening. As it entered the opening, I saw that it was too big to be a rabbit and it stopped in the opening for 5 seconds. It in the shadows so I got no color but it was approximately 20+ inches tall, didn't have a tail and didn't moved like any canine that I've seen. The animal was moving away from the dog (thankfully) and after it left I went to look for tracks. The snow was still frozen 9:30 am, so no tracks and it went on another property, .....oh, and I hadn't been drinking.


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## Bow Hunter Brandon (Jan 15, 2003)

Bobcat?


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## orion (Apr 8, 2002)

Badger?

There are more of them around than most people think.


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## FSUhunter (Jan 23, 2004)

i was just wondering were you all see most of your badgers? i have always wanted to see one of them.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

orion, I have seen badger and this one was taller and moved more fluid than the badger I've seen. 

I've seen badger in Jackson County for a couple of years now. From what I've heard they are primarily a nocturnal animal, which jivees with me seeing them at sunrise and sunset. I have also seen several that have been hit by cars.

I'm quite sure it was a bobcat, which also coincides with my belief that I'm a few cards shy of a full deck


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## perry l. rankin (Sep 7, 2003)

my father recalls trapping bobcats right here in s.w. mi. when he was a youngster. like wolves, wolverines and bigfoot who are we to say they don't exist simply because we have never seen one. (sorry about the bigfoot, just trying to make a point). i have had plenty of people tell me that there are no rattlers in mi. until i produce a collection of rattles. so freepop don't waste your money at the eye doctors just yet buddy.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Thanks Perry. Sometimes people will flame you here for very little reason. I am 95% sure it was a bobcat. I probably won't find out as I have never hunted that area and it'll probably be a long time if I ever get back there.

As far as Rattle Snakes, there are many around here. Every spring they used to have a Rattle Snake round-up and they would get quite a few. The biggest one I have found was on a wagon, after unloading the hay. Four rattles and we killed it with a hay fork.


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## RIP (Jun 4, 2002)

I've seen one in Ottawa and one in Muskegon county in my lifetime and those counties aren't as far south, but they aren't known for having many (any) bobcat that I know of. After an accidental catch, my freind asked a natural resources person why the open hunting area was so limited and the person made a comment that there are at least some bobcat in every county in the state but there will probobly never be hunting / trapping in most of the rest of the state for social (emotional reason). This person didn't go into any detail and it might have just been his opinion, but, that was how he felt about it. This person also felt the otter tags in LP could probably be bumped to 2 per season without much impact so he obviuosly was expressing his personal opinions to a degree.


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## HipShot (Feb 7, 2004)

FREEPOP,

Where were you hunting? Just curious.


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## unregistered55 (Mar 12, 2000)

I think it was the elusive WOLVERINE! 

Talk about neat sightings...when I was Steelhead fishing SUnday Morning I had a Mink walk by 3 feet behind me and stop and look at me for about 20 seconds!


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Hipshot, between Charlotte and Eaton Rapids of from M-50.

I talked to a **** hunter this weekend that treed a bobcat near Albion in Calhoun County. I feel a little better now.


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## fishing addict (Mar 15, 2003)

FREEPOP,Ilive 7miles north of Charlotte,and have heard one before,back in the late 1960's.You could hear it screaming at night,almost like a baby crying.
My neighbor **** hunts and swears he has heard one in the last couple years.
While trapping this winter I saw some tracks in the snow that were way to big to be domestic or ferrel cat???

About 6 years ago my dog was barking out my back sliding glass door at daybreak.I,told my kids to see what it was.They came to me all excited saying it was a big black cat, and held there hands about deer heighth.I,tried to convince them they mistook a deer hunched down crossing the ridge.They told me that deer aren't that black and don't have tails as long as there body.The next week there was reports of cougar/panther sightings in both Jackson and near Dewitt.That was about the same time they reported finding scat near Pentwater.


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## Swamp Monster (Jan 11, 2002)

I believe ya Freepop. I hunt in northwest Barry county, near Lake Odessa and I have heard a cat on one occasion. Thought I was hearing things until a few local farmers comfirmed that they had heard one on more than one occasion also. Where I hunt in Mecosta, there are plenty of them. The local biologist out of Paris has said that there will never be a season in that part of that state.....his opinion though he felt strongly about it. Lots of trappers up that way are catching them regularly (well maybe not regularly, but enough thats its not that big of a deal anymore) and are pushing for a season, atleast a one animal limit.
A doe on our property was left overnight and a family of cats got to it.....pretty cool scene. Luckly they didn't eat much so most of the animal was saved.


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## mich buckmaster (Nov 20, 2001)

Freepop, I know of quite a few trappers that have trapped bobcats down this south, but they are suppose to let them go. Also They are suppose to report it to the DNR, I THINK. 


I bet you saw a bobcat, I am just glad you didnt say Cougar, or Bigfoot!!!!!!


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## dajumboman (Feb 29, 2004)

MY buddy was pushing a section of little pines to me and something jumped out of the pines which i swore was a bobcat until it jumped into the river? still convinced it was a bobcat, o btw we were in benzie county on the betise river.


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## fishing addict (Mar 15, 2003)

Freepop;
You probably saw a bobcat,but there are some Badgers around here too.Ratty looking suckers,but badgers none-the-less.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

fishing addict, yes I saw a badger last summer. I thought it was a Boone and Crocket woodchuck  I jumped out of the car and followed it. Then I noticed it stopped running through the grass and was sitting there watching me. I then decided, since I had no weapon, that maybe I should come back another day.


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## fishing addict (Mar 15, 2003)

I,saw one at one last summer but I didn't know what it a couple months.Looked like a opossum with no self respect except it had fur on its tail.Wasn't till I started helping my 76 year old neighbor trap this winter,that I found out what it was.
Same thing I saw it while leaving a fishing hole,and it wasn't shy at all.Just meandered into the brush paying no attention to me.They sure aren't as pretty around here as the pictures you see of the western ones.Looked like a **** that had been in a fire and fell into some peroxide(bleach).
It's kind of neat,as they were about extinct around here when I was young.


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## timbergsp (Feb 10, 2003)

freepop

I live in branch and have ran and treed Bobcats here many a times. I had one **** hound loved them show much I had to sell the to a cat hunter in the U.P


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Hi timber, how's the new baby doing? are you getting enough sleep?


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