http://www.miwildlife.org/c_ai_education.asp

DNA evidence of cougars in seven MI counties. Do they need to walk up and purr in your lap to believe it's at least possible?

Cougars are secretive, solitary predators and rarely seen when they don't want to be. They are undoubtedly a LOT more common out West yet I know people that live and hunt out there that have gone 30 years without seeing one that had not been first treed by dogs.

I'm not sure why the idea that cougars may be moving east is received with such hostility by individuals who have no proof that they haven't, either. Either way, I had one in my backyard only 40 miles north of Toledo in suburban Detroit when I backed up on an undeveloped area, spotted in the same timeframe as a number of sightings by others. The officer who responded to my call told me that the DNR had set up several traps in the area in an attempt to capture it. As a trained biologist who spotted the animal from less than 50 feet and observed it for a good couple minutes, I'll respectfully chuckle at the internet doubters.

It's possible,just very highly unlikely.We had a moose cross the Pa border from new England one time.Thing is,it was confirmed and someone ended up killing it just over the border in NY

I've hunted out west myself.I've never seen a cat but have seen tracks.The guides I hunted with lived in those areas their entire lives and between 3 of them,only ever saw one.They are secretive.Why is that thousand of sightings are reported in Pa,many of which are black?I'll tell you why,people see what they want to see.They see these cats all the time but never any confirmed sign.

Unless your a biologist working with mountain lions,your observations are no more valid than anyone elses's.I have to respectfully chuckle at what you think you saw.

So the only person on earth who can identify a mountain lion is a dedicated mountain lion biologist? Can you not see the stupidity of that statement? So why are people hunting mountain lions not regularly shooting poodles and coyotes instead and checking them in as mountain lions if we're so dumb? Moron suburbanites claiming to see black cats are one thing. To lump experienced outdoorsmen and biologists who don't specialize in mountain lions into the same group with them is just retarded.

What if there were tracks? Only a trained mountain lion biologist can be trusted to identify mountain lion tracks. Apparently DNA evidence from scat is not good enough for you, which indicates you're not interested in rationally approaching the issue.

Some moron suburbanite may see what they want to see, but I have no dog (cat?) in this fight. For two months, sightings started popping up around me. I thought same as you, moron suburbanites seeing things. No video, nothing in the DNR traps. Then I let my dog out one morning, and the darn thing is relaxing in my backyard just inside the brush, twitching that long, thick, tan tail. After awhile I yelled to the dog to get back before he saw it, and it was up and moving like no dog waving a tail like you see on no bobcat.

I take it you wouldn't believe your own eyes if you saw one, since you are not a trained mountain lion biologist?

I don't believe DougE can spaniel. You should see some of the stupidity in alot of his statements on the east forum. So in his defense I will have to vouch for him and say no,he can not see it.

Because you can't prove a negative. The fact no dna or credible photographic evidence has ever been posted for NY or Pa, or to support the claims of this thread puts the burdan of proof on those claiming ml are there. Hint - "they could be" or "why not" is not proof.

Apparently Mi now has some evidence - something these states do not.

My point is that you're no more qualified to identify a mountain lion than anyone else.I've seen dozens of pictures supposed tracks and the animal that many "experienced"outdoorsman posted.None were even close to valid proof.

Wild,elusive mountain lions are just hanging out and relaxing in your backyard?Ok.LOL

Show me an example of one post where your brilliance proved me wrong.

Exactly. There have been sightings that Elvis is living in Oh. And with those sightings, its about as credible as these mountain lion stories.

For all we know, Elvis is alive and living in Ohio since none of us saw his dead body firsthand

So there are only two buckets of people....trained mountain lion biologists and everyone else? C'mon, you can't be THAT obtuse...or can you?

Yes, actually, it was right after dawn and it was lying down within 20 feet of the brush near the back of my yard. All this in a state with documented DNA evidence of mountain lions. Of course DNA evidence is not visual confirmation by a trained mountain lion biologist so I guess it doesn't count, huh?

Tell me this...so if one was killed by a car in Ohio, and you saw a picture of it, would you believe it? Or would you still deny it since you are not a trained mountain lion biologist and not believe it until a trained mountain lion biologist actually saw it and told you it was a mountain lion? Or are you above everyone else except trained mountain lion biologists and worthy to make the call? You conveniently side-stepped the question of how people huntingn mountain lions usually shoot mountain lions and not something else since by your standard even trained outdoorsman don't know what they look like.

You can't prove a negative, but you also cannot eliminate the possibility that they are there and affimatively say everyone who claims to see one is seeing things...which you are doing. MI is called the Wolverine state yet one had never been seen there, it was simply where the pelts from Canada where shipped through. Then a couple years ago one was found there. To my knowledge they are still tracking its movements. Everyone thought cougar sightings in Illinois were bunk, now there have been at least 2 firmly documented ones.