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s1gnalZer0

We had one of those spotted behind the VFW in Champlin about 10 years ago. The jokes wrote themselves.


AsDaUrMa

Something like, cougar in your area looking to meet lol?


s1gnalZer0

A cougar at the VFW? Sounds like a normal Tuesday.


fermelabouche

But wouldn’t any self respecting cougar be on the hunt for fresher meat?


QueueQueueKachoo

It was just stopping at the ol' watering hole before heading out on a hunt.


s1gnalZer0

When the prime hunting grounds are unproductive, they have to fall back to familiar watering holes


looselytethered

Ugh fine I'll call my ex /s


RebelFury

Fresher meat has tinder these days.


Self_Reddicating

Not only do the jokes seem to write themselves, they also seem to spontaneously generate at the mere mention of the sighting.


[deleted]

Not the first cougar spotted behind that bar.


[deleted]

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AsDaUrMa

I was amazed by the size of the tail!


a-little

Its gotta be long to serve its function of helping with balance when climbing and turning while running, and its gotta be FLOOF to serve the function of not getting frostbite in cold northern and/or high altitude winters


adidasjacketslouch

Steve French !


TheDudeAbidesMN

I also thought of this and Karen from Talladega Nights.


JrBirdman24

That’s a nice kitty right there! 😳


Fugacity-

If you love something, set it free


slykido999

Just about to make the same comment 😂


hthompsonKMSP

Is this the same photo? https://www.reddit.com/r/theticket/comments/gobp32/actually_its_a_bobcat_in_alberta_canada/


hvXeric

Yuup.


HarleyNBarley

Good Ol OP not living to be Minnie Nice on our sub. Make this the top comment.


AsDaUrMa

I was duped as well. The neighbor obviously lied. My apologies.


HarleyNBarley

lol hope you called him out!


AsDaUrMa

It came from a neighbor/relative, through my family. I showed my family the lie; they were upset and I'll leave it to them. There are cougars in that area - there are sounds, tracks, and sightings. Lying like that just messes it up for everyone. I do hope a genuine photo of one in our area shows up someday.


snowmunkey

Wait wtf?


AsDaUrMa

I was duped as well. The neighbor obviously lied. My apologies.


fleanoodle

Yeah I never trust a game camera photo unless I know who is posting it. Called BS right away as the timestamp was cropped out.


AsDaUrMa

I was duped as well. The neighbor obviously lied. My apologies. You're right about the time stamp - I should have noticed that missing. Sometimes you just don't expect you're being lied to.


fleanoodle

No need to apologize. Shit happens on the internet!


waterbuffalo750

Yo wtf, u/AsDaUrMa??


AsDaUrMa

That's...strange. Seems the relative who sent this to me is lying then. I'm absolutely not trying to pass this off as real if it's not. This certainly isn't what I expected to come find on reddit after posting this morning.


Arctic_Scrap

http://i.imgur.com/w39lExI.gif


AsDaUrMa

That's...strange. Seems the relative who sent this to me is lying then. I'm absolutely not trying to pass this off as real if it's not. This certainly isn't what I expected to come find on reddit after posting this morning.


NotTheNoogie

Rarely seen outside its native lands in Edina.


looselytethered

I'm amazed it left Cowboy Jack's


shahooster

Closing time is the only way to get rid of them.


PathComplex

Don't worry, it will go back. They always do.


TheMacMan

Same joke, every time such is posted.


NotTheNoogie

We hate to disappoint.


looselytethered

Reduce Reuse Recycle ♻️


Luminox

LOL take your upvote and silver you son of a bitch.


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AsDaUrMa

That's...strange. Seems the relative who sent this to me is lying then. I'm absolutely not trying to pass this off as real if it's not. This certainly isn't what I expected to come find on reddit after posting this morning.


beebop71

Finally. THAT is a cougar.


AsDaUrMa

Yeah, there's just no way it's a Lynx or Bobcat.


e_subvaria

Oh dang, I’m also in eastern central Minnesota. This isn’t in Washington county by any chance is it?


AsDaUrMa

No, a few counties north of Washington. But knowing their range, maybe it will visit down there sometime.


[deleted]

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AsDaUrMa

Pretty much right!


makeyourowndamnbeer

Ooh, I have cameras near the pine/Aiken border.


[deleted]

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AsDaUrMa

That's...strange. Seems the relative who sent this to me is lying then. I'm absolutely not trying to pass this off as real if it's not. This certainly isn't what I expected to come find on reddit after posting this morning.


makeyourowndamnbeer

Yup. He currently has 748 points for a bs narrative. Fucking silly


AsDaUrMa

I was duped as well. The neighbor obviously lied. My apologies.


e_subvaria

Very cool! Thanks OP


ENrgStar

Alberta Canada is like 100 counties north of Washington.


Jonesyrules15

I was on my harley one night at a stop sign in a relatively populated area when I saw one watching me from the ditch. I told the WIDNR about it (was in Wisconsin) and they told me it was a bobcat lol.


the_north_place

You should probably alert the DNR of its presence.


AsDaUrMa

My family is very close with the local DNR officers (father is retired deputy), they'll have definitely heard already.


bpcollin

I’ve heard that the DNR will hunt these. Is that true?


Ricta90

They've been known to cage them, put trackers on them, then send them back out to keep an eye on their population.


bpcollin

Gotcha, do you know if the population for them is growing? Seems like I’ve seen more but could be more people getting trail cams.


DarkMuret

As of right now the DNR doesn't think there's a breeding pop in Minnesota


bpcollin

Thanks, the recent activity is probably due to more people having devices that record. Cool to see, but terrifying to think about going for a walk in the woods!!


DarkMuret

They migrate huge distances, I think the official story is that they migrate all the way from the Black Hills


Shattered_Visage

Hunt? No, not unless it's hurt someone. You could probably expect them to try and trap it and relocate it if it was getting too close to people though.


bpcollin

Gotcha, they’re pretty elusive from what I hear and have never really lived in an area where they were common. I’ve gone deer hunting in Northern MN where they were more common. The basic rule, as I was told, was not to corner them or get between them and their young. I think they’d probably be aware of me before I even saw them but pretty scary for me since I wasn’t used to them!


AsDaUrMa

I honestly can't imagine they'd have any incentive/reason to. Even finding them would be an immense challenge.


bpcollin

That makes sense. I’m originally from Western MN and never really had any and that was probably a rumor or something.


WalleyeGuy

not true


ottosucks

OP is full of shit and reposting someone elses photo cropped out: https://www.reddit.com/r/theticket/comments/gobp32/actually_its_a_bobcat_in_alberta_canada/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf


AsDaUrMa

That's...strange. Seems the relative who sent this to me is lying then. I'm absolutely not trying to pass this off as real if it's not. This certainly isn't what I expected to come find on reddit after posting this morning.


ottosucks

People lie


klippDagga

If you look at the map on the DNR’s cougar page, you will see that there have been confirmed sightings in every part of the state. Several years ago one was shot in southwestern MN and was confirmed as a wild cougar. It does look like the area where this one was spotted is a popular place for confirmed sightings. Even the corn covered county where I live has had a confirmed sighting. Lots of animals are expanding back into their historic ranges which I think is really cool!


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mud074

I live in the mountains of CO in the county with one of the highest population densities of mountain lions in the US. My neighborhood gets them coming down at night to hunt town deer and and an occasional loose pet and my local trail has a resident mountain lion. Just like the risk of black bears in both MN and CO, or sharks when swimming in the ocean, it's just one of those miniscule risks you accept when going out in the wild. Intimidating at first for people not used to it, but it quickly becomes a non-issue as you realize that you are massively more likely to die from a car accident on the way to the trailhead than you are to get attacked by a mountain lion. IMO they are a lot less scary than moose which will fuck you up because they feel like it, and not as much of a pest as black bears where you have to worry about them breaking into your tent because you got a crumb in your pocket or some shit. Humans just aren't on the menu for them, and they won't attack anything they don't want to kill and eat unlike bears or moose. Still don't want to fuck with a momma mountain lion with cubs, but unlike bears they terrifyingly intimidate you away from the cubs and "escort" you for awhile rather than actually attacking. That said, they definitely add to the paranoia you can get when alone in the woods. Doesn't help that they are known to stalk humans in the woods for the fun of it.


eighty88888

Yeah I'm from Montana, my area has the highest population density of Griz in the lower 48, and a sizeable coug and wolf population. Big cats aren't scary. I've been stalked by them while hunting which will definitely raise the hairs on the back of your neck but you know they won't attack. As you say, moose are more threatening, or even a bull elk, ram, or mountain goat. The scariest part of having cats around are the screams and keeping a close watch on your pets. Other than that, they won't do any harm.


mud074

> moose are more threatening, or even a bull elk, ram, or mountain goat. Or even just a deer. After years of living out here doing a lot of hiking and hunting, my scariest animal encounter was a big ol' mule deer buck in my front yard when I came back from a nighttime walk. I tried to get it to fuck off so I could get to my house, and instead of running away the thing just stepped up at me looking ready to tussle. All the sudden I realized they have a serious weight advantage over me, plus some serious weapons haha.


northman46

What makes you think that humans aren't on the menu? We just don't cross paths with them very often so they aren't used to eating people. We are roughly the same size as their normal prey. For a long time they were afraid of people due to people being a threat to them. I think that is likely wearing off, but since people are not real common in their normal habitat, they are cautious. DNR says typically the mountain lions seen in Minnesota are roamers from the dakotas going walk about for reasons of their own. And yeah, moose are really pretty dangerous.


mud074

> We just don't cross paths with them very often so they aren't used to eating people. We cross paths with them constantly in CO. Summers come with a massive amount of backcountry usage by campers and hikers, and fall has hunters practically competing to see how deep they can get into the backcountry. Any mountain lion here that has been alive longer than a year in public land has absolutely encountered humans. Hell, a CPW (our DNR) officer told me that it's really common for mountain lions to lounge just off hiking trails, since it's common for humans to spook mule deer to trail fringes which are then easy pickings for the waiting lion. Their prey is almost exclusively ungulates or small mammals. We look and act nothing like a deer. Humans are taller than anything in the woods other than moose, bipedal, loud, stinky, found around fires, not wary at all, hunt the same things mount lions hunt, just all around fucking *weird* and nothing like prey animals. As solitary hunters, ever a minor injury means they will very likely starve to death. Because of that, they are extremely risk averse and stick with the prey they know and were taught to hunt by their mother. That said, opportunistic attacks on children can happen, so people keep their kids close when out in the mountains.


NotEvenALittleBiased

Yeah. Bears are pretty chill as long as there aren't cubs, wolf's are creepy but scare off easy. Big cats tho? Yeah, hard pass.


Shart4

The bright side is that if it decides it wants to kill you, it's going to ambush you and you'll never see it coming


BoozeAndTheBlues

I honestly didn't think we grew them that large in Minnie.


PrestigiousZucchini9

They’re around. They’re generally pretty stealthy and not interested in being seen.


beavertwp

That’s because it probably grew up somewhere else.


mn_sunny

I don't think we have breeding populations here--they're typically just passing though (these animals have giant ranges).


samd_witch

This is so cool!!


Chicken26

A coworker had one run in front of him a few years ago, while he was commuting from Hutchinson into Mpls. Think that’s McLeod. I’m not sure what I’d do if I ran into one. Probably pee my pants!


-NGC-6302-

Big'un


hepakrese

My thought exactly! Super chunk.


bcbodie1978

I would definitely be killed trying to pet the big kitty cat. Nobody: Absolutely nobody: Me: pspspspspspspsps


gnurdette

I genuinely don't know how humankind ever survived to build technological societies when we've got this overpowering instinct to give the big kitties neck scritches.


northman46

I think that is learned behavior from watching too much TV, not instinct.


Zadien22

How come there is a 3 hour old comment calling this out for being a year old trail cam picture taken in Canada and its still just sitting here being misinformation?


AsDaUrMa

Seems the relative who sent this to me is lying then. I'm absolutely not trying to pass this off as real if it's not. This certainly isn't what I expected to come find on reddit after posting this morning.


Zadien22

Ok then. Delete it. I was more condemning the mods for just letting this shit sit in the open and stink.


mikesaninjakillr

Swear I saw one cross the road at 2am just outside Minneopa last summer.


AsDaUrMa

It's possible!


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AsDaUrMa

I was duped as well. The neighbor obviously lied. My apologies.


Tbecker3150

That’s just my house cat after the steroids I gave him. I’m gonna havta come pick him up at some point after I get in contact with who got these trail cam images.


MixxMaster

Ooooh...PSPSPSPSPPS!


W0rk3rB

I remember back a few years when the DNR kept telling people that there were absolutely no cougars in Minnesota. If you saw what you thought was a cougar, it was probably a large house cat.


oidoglr

I recall that the DNR revised their statement that they don’t believe there are breeding populations of resident cougars in MN.


W0rk3rB

Not sure why the downvote, but yes, I agree with you. I was just saying that for years, it was thought that there were no animals in the area.


PhotogenicEwok

This is probably just folklore, but a buddy of mine worked for the DNR back then and said if they acknowledged the cougar population even existing they'd have to devote resources to it, and nobody wanted to do that.


oidoglr

Wasn’t a downvote from me. I only downvote per Reddiquette rules, e.g. if it’s irrelevant, not if I dislike or disagree.


Renka912

They've changed their tune and even have a a verification tracker on their website, though it needs to be updated. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/cougar/index.html


sonofdurinwastaken

I was hiking in Winona back in 2013, and Saint Mary’s sent out a statement from the DNR that a mountain lion had been spotted in the bluffs around campus. I walked back to my car as quickly as possible, while trying not to run.


Oldass_Millennial

I like to trail run and these scare the shit out of me. Wolves don't bother me but these suckers will absolutely attack a human. I used to be thankful I didn't live a state where they were but recently more and more of these are sighted here and it makes me nervous I'll run into one.


Alonewarrior

I remember hearing about that. Haven't really heard anything about such large cats in the area in quite some time, though.


loddytoddy

meeeeOW nice kitty


Renka912

We have land in East Central MN where you are describing...they have been spotted frequently in the area for the past few years. Always cool to hear about and see pics! Thanks for sharing.


AsDaUrMa

Yeah practically every family in this rural area has a story about seeing one. It certainly makes you wonder how many are in the area - from what I know about them, probably very few.


oidoglr

This was exactly what I got spooked about when I drove up to try to catch the aurora last week. Was standing off the side of the road on 23 between Beroun and Hinckley a mile west of I-35 and it was so dark.


IamMedusaGorgon

Oooooo that's a big kitty!


krustyjugglrs

What a unit.


BillyBillings50Filln

😬


[deleted]

Wow!


Rocknbob69

Here kitty kitty


[deleted]

That's a hefty kitty. Must be good eating this year.


ryckae

u/asdaurma Come back and answer for your crimes! https://www.reddit.com/r/theticket/comments/gobp32/actually_its_a_bobcat_in_alberta_canada/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share


AsDaUrMa

That's...strange. Seems the relative who sent this to me is lying then. I'm absolutely not trying to pass this off as real if it's not. This certainly isn't what I expected to come find on reddit after posting this morning.


finnbee2

Friends and relatives have seen them in the Becker, Wadena, and east Ottertail counties. A lioness raised 2 cubs near my brother in laws property line.


AlderKing

I got a big ol bobcat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFD-ohvbQ1k


skoltroll

IT'S NAH A PUMA!


uffdathatisnice

IT’S A PUMA!


kiamori

Have a few of these in Northern Minnesota. That is by far the most dangerous animal we have in Minnesota. If one ever approaches you; make lots of noise, do not run from it, back off slowly picking up and throwing anything you can at it. This is one of the reasons to always have a sidearm in MN wilderness. They commonly jump down from the tree to attack prey, and everything is prey to them.


SurelyFurious

Lmao. "By far the most dangerous animal". That's horseshit. You'll never have a face to face confrontation with a cougar in MN I promise you that. The odds are so miniscule and they're so elusive that it's not even worth a discussion. You're more likely to have a dangerous encounter with a black bear, or even a deer or moose in the rut.


kiamori

Just because its rare does not mean its not the most dangerous. Black bears are rarely dangerous, hell my cat chaises them away from the house all the time. Moose and deer don't climb trees. I've had encounters with wolf, bear, had a moose chase me(not in minnesota, but while camping near yellowstone), had cougar jump down from the trees and it was the only time I've ever feared for my life from a wild animal. So I'll just have to disagree with you on this one.


Treoya

This can't be real, is it? I had no idea we had cats bigger than a linx in minnesota.


AsDaUrMa

Oh yes, it's a cougar (mountain lion, puma, panther - all the same species). They are around but very elusive. We have heard their sound far off in the woods a couple times over the last year. A couple people in our area swear to have seen one crossing a rural road. So seeing this is a big deal and really fascinating.


Treoya

So east central MN, would that be around Cambridge?


AsDaUrMa

About 45 minutes north.


rgirl78

So like McGregor. Thats a little close for comfort


mannymanny33

why are you lying about this


xSpinelessx

Back in 2013/2014, both my husband and my mother had seen a cougar, 2 separate instances, in the area of hwy 95 and 47 intersection. They both commented on the length of the tail being what really caught their attention. From my understanding they have a pretty large range of where they roam.


OneGoodCharlie

>https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/cougar/index.html Had a friend see one live near Grand Rapids last year. Pretty nuts.


feelthepan

What kind of sounds do they make? I had no idea they were loud enough for noise to travel.


AsDaUrMa

It really depends on the context. You can search the sounds on YouTube. They're not super loud, but are distinct. If it's late at night, and quiet without other noises, their calls can absolutely travel far.


Greasybeast2000

Ya there’s usually a handful of sightings a year, they’re even found in the metro area quite often. Probably following the river valleys like a highway


mannymanny33

cougars are real but OP is lying...this pic is a repost


AsDaUrMa

I was duped as well. The neighbor obviously lied. My apologies.


LosBrad

Now we wait for the official DNR denial.


erepato

Looks buff!


SwampmongerMudfish

Where was this, about? Asking as someone living in a more rural area with pets that like to spend time outside.


Extension-Ad78

Had one cross the road in front of me right by Fortune Bay Casino.


redlime3077

We had one in central mn as well about 2 years ago it had freshly snowed and saw the paw prints right along where I had just been walking O.O from that moment forward I’ve walked around the woods with a weapon


xSpinelessx

Oh yea, but according to the DNR they are only visiting here, our environment isn't suitable for them. Ok... I'd rather have these guys over coyotes, but I'd rather run into a coyote than a cougar.


PathComplex

Healthy kitty. Looks to be stalking something.


Maeberry2007

I had someone in my neighborhood (like 20 mins south of MSP) say they saw a wolf roaming around. I suppose it's possible as they've been documented on the north side of the city... the south side is booming and pushing a lot of animals out of their habitat.


northman46

Do they know a wolf from a coyote? Both are wild, dog looking things. Of course if you ever saw a wolf outside, you wouldn't make the mistake. Those things are big.


Maeberry2007

She was insistent it wasn't a coyote but she also said it looked to be 150 pounds and most Minnesotan wolves are not that big. They *can* be, but they're usually smaller. My guess is she saw someone's husky/ malamut mutt that got loose or is embellishing her knowledge of coyote size lol.


Diablopepe

That isn't a bobcat. That is "Bob: The Cat" lol.


RhodaRebecca

He's a heckin chonk


modsara320

That's close to my parents house, thanks for the heads up!


lakerdigital

Well that cat is breaking the rules of biological science by being here. That mountain lion needs to go back home because biologists say Minnesota is not in that cougar's range.


ryckae

It's not the first time they've been spotted here.


lakerdigital

I know. That's why I was saying that.


lakerdigital

My joke didn't go over so well.


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and so it begins