Caught on a homeowner's video surveillance camera in Elk River, MN apparently during last night, was a cougar. This took place near the Mississippi river. The DNR claims that many times people mistakenly identify cougars when it may have been a coyote, racoon, or even a large house cat. In the past, there have been actual photos that without a doubt show a cougar, though.

About 50 years ago, I was bow hunting in Camp Ripley, MN. My friend had hit a deer. We were tracking it. This was the late season that year and there was snow. We came to a large open area. We saw a cougar running on the other side of the open area about 300 yards away. It was broadside to us as it ran. It was about the same color of the deer at that time. We couldn't believe it. We reported it at the gate when we left. They dismissed it as a deer that we saw and said there were no cougars in the camp. We told them it was an unusual deer then because it had a very long tail. We concluded that these biologists were either stupid or liars.

Missouri Dept of Conservation lied to us for years about Mountain Lions. 1st one I saw was around 25 years ago at around 11pm next to the road. Stopped at sheriffs office to report and got the usual response from Game warden - it was a bobcat. They kept saying we didn't have any till more and more were road killed. Then in Ray county some guys were coon hunting and one came after them or their dogs - several witnesses and stand up guys - not poachers. They were forced to shoot it and had the Warden come out to verify. Couldn't deny that one!

There have been several lagit sightings in in this area over the past few years including one in a guys back yard. Dogs had it treed long enough for a reporter from the local paper to get some photos of it. DNR claimed it could have been "just passing through". Several people have caught them on trail cams recently. This spring I had an aquaintance tell me he and his wife witnessed one chaising thee deer across his field about 60-80 yards away. Said the tail was as long as the cat so knew it couldn't be anything other than a lion. Both are straight up people and where raised in a farm so they know their animals quite well. Never seen any signs but I'm waiting to catch one in one of my coyote sets one day......not!

Had to stop my truck,about 30 years ago,while trapping north of Askov.If I hadn't stopped,that cougar would have been hash.So with that close a look,there was no mistaking what it was.
I have also ran into them when trapping in northwestern MN.
They are also in the MN. river valley in the twin cities and one was even shot in a park in Bloomington.It was finally shot,because it wouldn,t leave.
So we have our share of the big cats in MN.,
Tom

MO DNR sounds like they took some lessons from the IL DNR - :"cougar...?? What's that?"
"But if you see one with a colored collar on it - please call the DNR with time of day, date. location and color of the collar..."

Shucks, I thought this was gonna be about Trap Stick Man's squeeze.

Zim

Look up the pictures they have. Looks like another feral cat reported as a cougar!

We have enough cougar's/Mt Lions we have a season. But there is a lot of sightings that are everything but. I got called by my neighbor and they said there was a Mt Lion in their barn. They had just seen it. I jump in the pickup and drive over about 6 miles. The first thing I notice is two of their horses are laying down in the pen that is hooked to the barn the lion is in. I go and talk to them get my 22 and flash light out of the pickup and walk the barn and all I find is barn cats. I go out and walk around the barn and don't see any lion tracks in the snow. I had my hope up, but another false sighting.

I don't know why people without lions are so dead set to prove they have healthy lion populations. It really makes me wonder when "trappers" start in with the conspiracy theories. With all the coyote trappers in eastern states there would be a lot more lions stuck in traps every season if they are in every township as many believe. Sure some wander through from time to time but I wouldn't believe every sighting that gets reported as the absolute truth.

I can't be why anyone would call the D.N.R over a sighting.
So what?


Probably gonna send out some uneducated/ book learned dweeb anyway.. for what?

I saw one several years ago. It was an extremely warm Dec or Jan day. After I realized what it was I needed to look for tracks for verification. I found them and took plaster casts. The casts were far from perfect due to the warm plaster melting the snow/mud. Still, they were perfectly identifiable.

I contacted the MN DNR. Their response was "yeah, sure, If you say so..".

I contacted the Elm Creek Park Reserve, which was from where the tracks emerged. They were a bunch more receptive, and told me about other recent sightings. They knew they came through on a sorta regular basis, but, did not believe there was a resident population.

So, yeah, cougar in Elk River, no surprise to me.

We have them in NY also in the southern tier.

Couple of years ago the year ND increased their take there was a South Dakota satalite collared radio on one of their animals. When it passed through to Manitoba we were informed and given the daily hook-up data to see where it went. There was 3 others caught axidently in Manitoba that year,9 I was busy skinning ). It came up from Theif River over to the Pansy area in Manitoba then to Sundown and north to WoodRidge, then after 10 days it went down to cross Warroad then headed east to almost Beaudette then into Ontario for three days then south 100 miles and dissipeared off tracking. I believe there was 4 hour read outs that we were looking at.

I do not know of a game department which does not lie when it comes to dangerous predators. Just west of me here in South Dakota, they have a black bear from Minnesota roaming around. The quote in the local paper from the CONsevation Officer was, "Yes we know of the bear, but it is has not harmed anyone or livestock". They knew this bear was loose and kept silent. This is the same group who has been busy transplanting mountain lions and then telling people they are nuts when they report them. The Odessa Bottoms in Minnesota had around 20 lions dumped there to kill the deer off. No reason to sell licenses to hunters, but instead dump dangerous predators in a populated area.
These cats ended up all over the place. Chicago police shot one of these cats there.

This is a coordinated policy across the nation on wolves, bears and cats. Minnesota is one of the introduction areas as is Wisconsin in the Midwest. If there are trees to hide things in, they hide things in them. The reality is, I did a bit of research on this, and numbers of these predators are tagged, and tracked by obscure groups, who never report their data to the public. This is a shepherded project which is a threat to the public and it operates way under the radar.

Had one walk up the street behind my house 3 years, it was caught on a security camera and reported in the county paper with pics

My house is 4 blocks off the Mississippi River

We have a lot of animals in and near town. Bear, fisher, bobcat and occasionally spotted cougar.

I will throw up a BS flag on the release to "kill deer off" Where do people come up with this? Did they dump rattlesnakes with parachutes out of a airplane, to kill the Mt Lions once the deer were thinned out? That often goes with the Mt Lion release story.

I thought of a legitimate reason for the DNR to refuse to acknowledge a resident breeding population. If there is one, they will have to be managed. I think we can all picture how that would work out here in MN. If they are just passing through the DNR doesn't have to do anything with them.

Star ( snow) Flakes..
I " heard" they also brought in a pair of breeding squatch

Sounds a lot like the "Catfish at the base of the dam are so big the divers refuse to go back down there" story the locals tell at every lake on the planet.

There are mountain lions in MN. I think there are very few knowledgeable sportsman who will argue that. That said, who cares!? I'm glad the DNR won't acknowledge them as a breeding population. We have enough trapping and hunting restrictions already in this state (because of another feline population, for example) and like others mentioned above, if it's admitted that we have a breeding population then they will have to be managed. You don't think that managing mountain lions in MN won't come with a whole new bag a special trapping restrictions? Yikes