Cougar kills a horse in Michigan...

Paschale · December 11, 2005, 11:32:54 AM

My brother told me about this--he lives a mile and a half away from the site of this attack. He's not letting any of his kids out alone after dark, or the dogs for that matter.

Check it out...

Cougar Attack

sawguy21 · December 11, 2005, 11:39:18 AM

Nasty. I notice the horse was 20. I wonder if a younger animal would have been more alert and been able to escape. Cougars tend to jump on their prey and go for the neck or throat.

solodan · December 11, 2005, 12:52:34 PM

lots of cougars in my neck of the woods. and from what i've witnessed and heard about these animals would lead me to believe that the cougar was in bad heath itself. a healthy adult cougar should be able to take an old horse, no problem. we just had a recent attack a few miles from where I live. the cat supposedly felt that one pig was not enough for dinner, so he killed like 5 or 6 and then after he drug these ones off to cover up for a later meal, he went after like three more that got away but they were already back at the house all scraped up. I once heard a cougar take down and choke out what seemed to be a large large animal. probably a mule deer, as I see the remains these cats leave behind my house near the creek. when I shined a light into the thick forest, a fairly small cat came out of the trees, maybe 40-60lbs, I was shocked because the sound of the scuffel in the trees was definately with a larger animal.

Frank_Pender · December 11, 2005, 01:44:00 PM

They are very prevelent around here at this tiime. I have had some right near the mill area and on the drive to the mill site. The Bobcat are very popular around here for me. They help keep the ground squirrel population in check along with the cats that folks like to haul to the rural areas 8) 8) 8) and leave in hopes somone will care for them. :'(

Paschale · December 12, 2005, 09:59:24 AM

So does anyway know if there are different species of cougars, or is a cougar a cougar the world around? I know sometimes they're called catamounts in other parts of the country, but I'm just wondering if these cougars in Michigan are the same as the pictures I've seen in, say, National Geographic. Apparently, there's been a raging debate as to whether or not cougar sitings in Michigan were simply escaped "pets" :

, or actually signs of a breeding population. From what I've read online, it sounds as if they're beginning to believe that there is a breeding population here. :P

crtreedude · December 12, 2005, 10:04:39 AM

Interesting - I have seen a mountain lion here (puma it is called) - thankfully there were bars between it and me! Looked just like the pictures I see up your way.

The Jaguars are something else.

solodan · December 12, 2005, 12:02:38 PM

Cougars, mountain lion, puma, whatever, their all the same cat.
Though they are actually fairly large, cougars are classified as a small cat.
I am one of those who believe that many species of animals are moving outside of their current native habitat. I say current, because humans have pushed so many species of animals into isolated geographic areas. eventually nature will take it's course and lots of species will return to their historical native habitat. some with the help of man, and some on their own. I think the problem here, is getting some of the biologists to realize that there is more to this picture than what they have learned. Just because the books tell you that cougars live in the western US, and Florida, does not mean that these cats won't wander beyond these areas in search of food. It took a long time for any biologists to acknowledge that the Wolverine still existed in California. Some will probably still disagree, they want to see one in the wild for themselves. Something that will never happen while writing books and giving lectures on a campus in the city.
Wolves, a less elusive animal than the Cougar, are being spotted all over the place, hundreds of miles outside the area that biologists believe they inhabit. When I asked a biologist about the several wolf sightings that were taking place throughout the eastern part of California, he responded with, "we know that people are seeing wolves, but they were someones pet and they let them go. We don't have wolves here."

Minnesota_boy · December 12, 2005, 12:23:05 PM

We heard the same story from our DNR about cougars, "Oh no, they aren't wild. They have to be an escaped pet." That was until one of the wild ones was radio-collared in the Black Hills of South Dakota and was tracked to northern Minnesota. Now the DNR has a much harder time convincing some of us that all the sightings are of escaped pets.

crtreedude · December 12, 2005, 12:43:45 PM

Since there is so much food available (like deer) wouldn't you think eventually the predators will start showing up? It isn't habitat that is the key element for predators - it is food.

Their prey needs habitat. The wild predators eventually figure out that suburbia is a great place for a snack. I have a really neat photo sent to me by a friend with a very large bobcat walking the sidewalk infront of his house - looking for a pet to munch...

Dakota · December 12, 2005, 01:51:24 PM

When I was about 16(many years ago), we had a mountain lion get trapped in a saddle storage room at the end of a pole shed. The rafters were only about 7' high. I took a saddle down there one evening to put it away for the day. I steped into the room and came face to face with the lion. She was crouched in the rafters. I dropped the saddle and bolted for the door. As I turned, I saw her coming. I fell and she lit right in the middle of my back, sprang around the corner of the shed, and was gone. She wasn't after me at all, just wanted out of the storage room.

P.S. she had bad breath
Dakota

sawguy21 · December 13, 2005, 07:54:05 AM

You are lucky to be here telling the story.

jon12345 · December 18, 2005, 01:26:55 AM

lucky for most of us in these eastern states there are no mountain lions :

Minnesota_boy · December 18, 2005, 11:52:52 AM

Quote from: jon12345 on December 18, 2005, 01:26:55 AM
lucky for most of us in these eastern states there are no mountain lions :

Yet. That you know of.

crtreedude · December 18, 2005, 01:47:19 PM

Nah, you only have black bear munching on the pet dog...

Paschale · December 20, 2005, 11:35:02 PM

So...the girlfriend and I did a day trip to Chicago to do a little shopping today. We were driving home late, and I saw some green eyes shining back at me on the highway ahead of me. Lit up the brights, and saw that what I was looking at was most certainly a cougar! Y'all will just think I have cougar on the brain, since it wasn't so long ago that I made this post--but both my girlfriend and I saw it, and it was DEFINITELY not a deer, and was way too big for a fox or a dog, and besides, it was long and low to the ground, and moved like the dickens once I flashed the brights at him! It definitely had the profile of a cat. My girlfriend and I were both pretty floored--it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. 8)

This was somewhere south of South Haven, MI, btw...off of 196.

Terry Dean · December 09, 2006, 11:24:38 PM

I live in North West Iowa and cougars are definatly on the move. I grew up in Montana and have seen them before but was pretty well dumbfounded when I saw on here. DNR says its cause of the Loese Hills and the close proximity of our farm/ranch to them. That was bout two years ago allready. Bout a month ago I get a call from the DNR askin if I'd seen her again, guess they think a momma cat is denned in a cave on our creek.
My daughter , of cource, keeps beggin me if we can track her down. Ha ha. Well, its definatly way past August so I guess I'll have to give in sometime. Better take the Winchester just in case tho.

Jeff · December 09, 2006, 11:47:04 PM

Something in Kelava, up past Ron Scotts, attacked and ate the ears off a steer this last week. There have been several reports of a cougar up by the cabin in Detour. One report came from 6 guys in the same vehicle coming from the Detour Dock company area I was told. They all saw the same thing.

Cedarman · December 10, 2006, 08:08:11 AM

This summer after a rain my son Aaron and his wife Jen went to the grinding site south of cushing Ok. Saw tracks in the dirt, big tracks. Jen knew how to make plaster casts so they got the stuff and made them. Claws out, too. Saw the casts last time I went to Ok. Plenty of deer, plenty of cover, plenty of area.

scgargoyle · December 10, 2006, 01:17:20 PM

Here in FL we have a handful of panthers still surviving. My brother actually saw one run across the interstate, which is a rare sighting indeed. Even the people that track them rarely see them. Around here, a gator is a lot more likely to eat Fifi- they are all over the place, even in the cities.

Don_Papenburg · December 10, 2006, 08:11:17 PM

Do bobcats and cougars dig a hole to take a dump? I saw a pile out in the corn field this fall that was in a dug out hole but not covered and it was to big for puddy to make . Bout the size of nasty coon crap ,and I know them coon would not bother to dig a hole to dump .

Burlkraft · December 14, 2006, 08:09:08 AM

DanG.....We don't have any cougars in Wisconsin.... >:( >:( ;) ;)

Minnesota_boy · December 14, 2006, 08:44:09 AM

Burlcraft, want me to send you some of the ones we don't have in Minnesota?

:D

Brian Beauchamp · January 01, 2007, 01:30:13 AM

Quote from: Don_Papenburg on December 10, 2006, 08:11:17 PM
Do bobcats and cougars dig a hole to take a dump? I saw a pile out in the corn field this fall that was in a dug out hole but not covered and it was to big for puddy to make . Bout the size of nasty coon crap ,and I know them coon would not bother to dig a hole to dump .

I think this is the first time I've written '

' and actually meant it...