Cougar sighting in Champlin

[Muthagoose]

Geeeeze bobby

Your response seemed to fit a general consensus of cultured thought pattern regarding the uncommon.A disregard to the most important rule of nature..

There are NO rules or boundary's in nature.

If you look at the response on this subject there seems to be more doubters coming from the city,versus the open minded rural folks when it comes to things like this....

If your a country boy maybe ya'll been living down there to long. Sorry bout that....

Big cat's not on the unprotected species list???

I'll keep that in mind Appreciate ya pointing that out .

My back yard, your probably right never know whats out there.

You could paint away don't care.Proud to be a self sufficient,open minded redneck.....

Ill keep that porkchop in the freezer for ya..

[bobbymalone]

I guess I don't know what your talking about. Which of my city boy doubts do you take issue with?

1. I doubt there are a lot of them in state. I would expect more confirmed sightings, road kills, and trail cam pics if there were.

2. I doubt there is currently a significant public safety risk due to them.

3. I doubt the state is gonna let you take a crack at one anytime soon, unless it is attacking you, hence the meat suit idea.

[BobT]

The largest "city" I have ever lived is probably Eveleth. I grew up in Kinney and lived and worked on the Iron Range and in particular in the forest as a logger for more than half my life. I currently live on an 87 acre hobby farm in rural central MN so for all practical purposes, I am a country hick. I wouldn't have it any other way. Can't stand it just to go into Osakis during the summer due to the increased traffic and human crowds. Imagine how much I must enjoy driving in the Twin Cities metro area!

Thought I'd throw that out there for credibility sake. I have to say that I fully agree with you bobby on all three accounts.

[Muthagoose]

I agree with a couple of your points your totaly right with that fact.

Unlike wolves big cats are a little more recluse so the trail cam is only a percentage of possibility.. Your only seeing them because food base is lower.

bobT

A lot of people that live up here and have hardly ever if at all ever seen a wolf or a bear in the wild.Being a logger I would hope you have seen plenty.Again a lot of trail cams are hung and not all get picks of the above...

After the first thread,all the smart azz remarks to anyone who even stated they saw a cat, that it couldn't be cause DNR say's ect.To those people ... Eat Crow

Guys, stirring the pot back its been fun

.

[RumRiverRat]

So this thread has become a City person versus Rural Person thread?

There is at least one cougar that calls Northern Anoka and North Eastern Sherburne county home.

I have seen said cougar with my own eyes.

[Muthagoose]

Not my intent..Altho it might be fun...

[Surface Tension]

To get back to the topic.

We'll never know where it came from but we have the perfect opportunity to know where it is headed. That there should shed some light on this cats habits.

With snow on the ground and being in a populated area I would hope that there is an effort to monitor its movements and learn something before it disappears and is never seen again.

Wouldn't it be nice if this cat could be tranquilized, radio collared and released.

What we do know over the years of confirmed cougar sightings in MN is, they don't stay put.

[Michael8129]

maybe they aren't HEADED anywhere! They like it here and are going to stay. Why would a Cougar like it better east of here? Remember the Wolf the guy shot last year in Olmstead county down by Rochester when he was coyote hunting? No fines no big news . DNR said that the wolf probably wandered in from Wisco Why would they say that? What's between WI and Rochester? That's not important. What's between Rochester and northern MN? The Twin Cities. This whole Major predator thing has been a sham and a public relations gimmick.

Wolves live in MN and go where ever they want

Cougars live in MN and go where ever they want

I just emailed my niece on the cougar car thing she is getting me names

[Michael8129]

And we had a Cougar up by Outing MN 17 years ago used to leave its scat in our sand driveway (marking territory) never saw it. Saw prints, but our neighbor up there a full time resident saw it run across the road one day

[BobT]

Quote:

What we do know over the years of confirmed cougar sightings in MN is, they don't stay put.

That is true. From what I've learned and be told by DNR wildlife biologists is that a cougar's home range can be up to 400 square miles. I don't recall whether that applies to males, females, or both though.

[Dave S]

400 square miles isn't that big. An area that is 20 miles across and 20 miles high. So it really isn't out of the oridnary to see cats in the same area over the course of several months.

[BobT]

It may seem small when we are able to travel the distance so quickly as we are in our automobiles, etc. Consider placing oneself smack in the center of 400 sections and what are the odds we could survive to come out before starvation or the elements overtook the average citizen?

By comparison, doesn't an average whitetail deer have a home range of about 1 square mile or am I mistaken?

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

Last week there was a call into the cops here, stating that there was a cougar running around Burnsville. It ended up being a big bobcat. I think there is a lot of people misidentifying cats thinking they are one thing and really another. However I know from personal experience that there are cougars south of the minnesota, but don't believe that they are in high number. The federal game officer that I spoke with did say that they are finding more evidence of them in the state the past few years. So who knows how many there truly is here. As for in champlin or burnsville or any other town I wouldn't not believe it.

[Swill]

Originally Posted By: Swill

Is this a photo of the actual cougar spotted in Champlin? Is it from a game camera?

This cougar roams the big lake area, mostly comes out at night.. Other cougars are the more common MN "snow pig" variety that roams freely throughout the state, feeding on bar food, but makes an annual migration to the state fair each August. Not to be confused with the green and gold snow pigs of the Wisconsin land. Those are even worse, they will drink all your beer!