Wild cougar in Michigan's U.P. caught on trail camera hunting deer, dragging carcass away
(FOX 2) - A trail camera placed deep in the wilderness in Michigan's Upper Peninsula caught a captivating moment when a cougar wrestled a deer to the ground.
The trail camera was set up by Eli Schaefer, who lives in Houghton in the U.P. Two videos were taken, one with the cougar pinning the deer to the ground and the other showing the cougar dragging the deer away from the scene and off-screen.
Schaefer sets up trail cameras in spots he uses for hunting. Bow-hunting season had ended, and he went to collect a trail camera he had placed in Toivola, which is located off of M-26 in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
He was flipping through the images taken by the camera when he saw one with the cougar that had been taken Dec. 30.
"I was looking through the frames and saw that it was a video and thought ‘oh my god’," Schaefer said. "I played it and I didn't believe it."
Big cats are rare in Michigan, but they do exist. For more than a century, officials believed cougars had been extirpated by humans. However, the Department of Natural Resources says confirmed cougar sightings since 2008 mean their population numbers may be rebounding.
According to data posted by the DNR, the most recent sighting was a photograph taken in Ontonagon in the U.P. in 2022. Why sightings are becoming more frequent is a matter of debate, but the DNR has said previous genetic research indicates the cougars are traveling from more western states.
There is no evidence of the animals breeding.
Photo of cougar hunting deer in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Courtesy of Eli Schaefer.
Many of the confirmed cougar sightings happen at night, when they like to hunt. The DNR posts images of sightings that are frequently in black and white. Schaefer's trail camera caught a video during the daytime, providing clear footage of a big cat.
MORE: Rare white black bear caught on Michigan trail camera
It's not clear how big the cougar or its prey was, but Schaefer guessed the deer may have been on the younger side, weighing about 100 pounds.
Despite the scarcity of cougars in Michigan, this isn't even Schaefer's first time filming a wild cat.
About two years ago, he came upon spots of blood on the road and decided to follow them into the forest. He eventually saw tracks left by a big cat. His original assumption was that a large bobcat had successfully hunted a deer.
The carcass was found buried under leaves and dirt, which is common for cougars that plan on returning to their kill.
"That was the first encounter. I can't say what it was, but now seeing these videos, I would assume it was a cougar. It was definitely a big cat," he said.
Eli Schaefer uses his hand for reference after discovering a large cat's paw print in the snow. Photo courtesy of Eli Schaefer.
Then last October, a different trail camera he had put up filmed a cougar prowling through the forest. Normally, when his trail camera is triggered by movement, it will notify his phone with an image. But at the time, no image was sent.
It was uploaded to an SD drive and when he started looking through the images, that's when he saw the cat in a crisp fall setting.
"That's what happened here. It never got on my phone, but I looked at the card and was just going through them and then ‘woah. Are you kidding me?’" he recalled.
A trail camera shot of a cougar taken in October. Photo courtesy of Eli Schaefer.
His cameras have filmed other large species before, from big bucks and bears, to wolves. But the big cat sightings are new.
For the lucky observer that happens to spot a cougar, the DNR has a survey that's open for people to fill out. You can find it here.
Michigan DNR confirms cougar sighting in Upper Peninsula
The DNR reported this year's 10th confirmed cougar sighting in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.