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Thread: The Michigan DNR has verified 65 reports of cougars in the state

  1. #1

    The Michigan DNR has verified 65 reports of cougars in the state

    Hey FB...they finally admit they do exist.


    -In the 13 years that the state's cougar team has been searching, they have verified at least 65 reports of a cougar traversing the Michigan wilderness.

    In a state where animals like deer dominate the landscape so pervasively, they can be found the official flag, even the thought of running across a large cat can terrify residents and visitors. But based on the advice from the Department of Natural Resources, there's really no reason to be concerned.

    After similar fears took hold of people centuries ago, the cougar population in the U.S. was virtually wiped out by systematic hunting. The aggressive killing combined with the wholesale logging of forests meant the big cats would have little chance of surviving the wave of development that rolled over the country.

    But evidence of cougars didn't stop entirely. And in the last decade, the state has fine-tuned its detection methods as sightings became more frequent.

    "The team is made up of wildlife biologists for the DNR who have received specialized training in how to identify cougars from photos, as well as from tracks, scat and other physical evidence they may leave behind," said Brian Roell, a DNR wildlife biologist in a DNR press release. "It's important that we're able to identify these animals correctly, not just for conservation purposes but also so that residents can be informed about the wildlife living around them and take commonsense precautions...

    The Michigan DNR has verified 65 reports of cougars in the state

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    diakonos777 (03-07-2021)

  3. #2
    Our deer hunting team came face to face with a cougar the first week we hunted last October. It was a thrilling novelty to have the multiple sightings. Yet, this is the Lower Peninsula where the DNR vehemently denies the cougar existence the past 100 years. It took some hard data and much persistence for us to get an acknowledgement in the Upper. Now, here in the Lower it's same ole same ole. First they said "no way, you are seeing a bobcat" and other condescending disrespectful treatment. Strange how the DNR says we are imagining things all the while hanging warning signs in Sleeping Bear Dunes park to warn visitors.

    Hunters do not believe the DNR to be representing outdoors folks or respecting us. We went around this mountain on the wolf issue.

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  5. #3
    There are reports of Coyotes and Rattlesnakes in Delaware.
    I think it is the encroachment of people on their hunting grounds. Here hundred and even thousands of acre farms are being sold to HOA communities, micro-communism. Kit houses! Brought in on trucks and built as quickly as 2 days. Three if the buyer wants a basement.

    Thank God for the government Land Bank or we'd be finished in a generation for lack of land to cultivate for our own food.
    "Sometimes the devil allows people to live a life free of trouble because he doesn't want people turning to God. Their sin is like a jail cell, except it is all nice and comfy and there doesn't seem to be any reason to leave. The door's wide open. Till one day time runs out and the door slams shut and suddenly it's too late to get out."
    (Lenore Banks ~ "God's Not Dead")

  6. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Biblemouse View Post
    There are reports of Coyotes and Rattlesnakes in Delaware.
    I think it is the encroachment of people on their hunting grounds. Here hundred and even thousands of acre farms are being sold to HOA communities, micro-communism. Kit houses! Brought in on trucks and built as quickly as 2 days. Three if the buyer wants a basement.

    Thank God for the government Land Bank or we'd be finished in a generation for lack of land to cultivate for our own food.
    The city of Detroit has coyotes roaming alleys and vacant lots. Perfect environment for them. Coyotes are just about everywhere.

  7. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by FireBrand View Post
    The city of Detroit has coyotes roaming alleys and vacant lots. Perfect environment for them. Coyotes are just about everywhere.
    I feel so sorry for the homeless.
    I just found out today that cougars are also in Pennsylvania and Delaware. I also feel sorry for tent campers given that.
    "Sometimes the devil allows people to live a life free of trouble because he doesn't want people turning to God. Their sin is like a jail cell, except it is all nice and comfy and there doesn't seem to be any reason to leave. The door's wide open. Till one day time runs out and the door slams shut and suddenly it's too late to get out."
    (Lenore Banks ~ "God's Not Dead")

  8. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Biblemouse View Post
    I feel so sorry for the homeless.
    I just found out today that cougars are also in Pennsylvania and Delaware. I also feel sorry for tent campers given that.
    It all comes down to food supply for top tier predators, deer being their favorite food source. I've had close encounters with wolves and cougars and they didn't like me being there. They smelled deer blood from a recent kill and wanted in on the action. Cougars bother me more than wolves. Coyotes? They won't bother adults except when they walk little dogs. Coyotes will attack children. My brother and I hunt coyotes, they are quite the challenge.

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  10. #7
    Senior Member Highly Favoured's Avatar
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    Suburban Detroit here. A couple of people on our street have 1 acre - 2 acre lots. Some wooded areas nearby. We are less than a mile from a major freeway. But I am seeing coyotes regularly, along with foxes, wild turkeys, groundhogs (destructive!), raccoons, skunks, and our overpopulated deer. One thing I have noticed in the past couple of years is a lot less fawns. When we first moved here, there was a bumper crop - maybe about 10 or so. This past year I've only seen about 3-5. You do get to the point where you can tell deer apart by various characteristics - eye rings, ears, and slight differences in head and body shape.

  11. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Highly Favoured View Post
    Suburban Detroit here. A couple of people on our street have 1 acre - 2 acre lots. Some wooded areas nearby. We are less than a mile from a major freeway. But I am seeing coyotes regularly, along with foxes, wild turkeys, groundhogs (destructive!), raccoons, skunks, and our overpopulated deer. One thing I have noticed in the past couple of years is a lot less fawns. When we first moved here, there was a bumper crop - maybe about 10 or so. This past year I've only seen about 3-5. You do get to the point where you can tell deer apart by various characteristics - eye rings, ears, and slight differences in head and body shape.
    Coyotes favorite dish is fawns. A close second is a cat.

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  13. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by FireBrand View Post
    Coyotes favorite dish is fawns. A close second is a cat.
    Thank goodness for the population control. I hate the death of animals, but starving deer, deer limping around with a broken leg is just heartbreak. We had another dead deer on our property recently. Coyote got it. Thankfully this time it was near enough to the road that they city came for it.

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  15. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Highly Favoured View Post
    Thank goodness for the population control. I hate the death of animals, but starving deer, deer limping around with a broken leg is just heartbreak. We had another dead deer on our property recently. Coyote got it. Thankfully this time it was near enough to the road that they city came for it.
    Our deer hunters (me included) exterminate coyotes with extreme prejudice.

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    diakonos777 (03-08-2021), Highly Favoured (03-09-2021)

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