40% of the American population believe in bigfoot but Minnesota DNR don't believe in cougars?

They denied cougars were in upper Michigan for years.
Finally 2-3 years ago the DNR said their are cougars in upper Michigan.
Have not come out and said they are breeding here though.

Back in the 60s, my friend and I were hunting the December bow season in Camp Ripley, MN. He hit a decent buck which I helped him trail. We came to a large open field about 200 or so acres. On the far side of the field, running broadside to us was a tan colored animal with a long tail.

When we checked out of camp we informed a couple DNR people at the gate that we were quite certain we had seen a mountain lion. They laughed at us and said there are no mountain lions in MN and that it had to have been a deer. A deer with a 5 foot tail????

lol few years back there was a horse killed.... huge claw marks ... dnr said coons

Well sure, coon have been known to take down a horse occasionally when there's a shortage of frogs.

A local resident said both he and his wife seen a large cat chasing deer across their field. He was raised on the farm so has a good idea now what animals look like under different conditions. Said the animal chasing the deer was brown and about as large as the deer. Also said the tail was as long as the cat. No farm cat that I know of matches that description.