Bobcats and cougars and bears in Glen Arbor? Oh my!

Photo of bobcat by John Peppler

By Linda Alice Dewey
Sun contributor

It’s the last in a row of private properties along M-109. To the immediate east lies the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Behind looms Alligator Hill. The Fourth of July had come and gone, and things were relatively quiet; the doors to the house were left open to allow the breeze to pass through. An old retriever lay sound asleep in the front of the house. Near him, a pet bunny was safely caged in another room.

For several days prior, however, the rabbit had been caged on the back screened porch. Maybe that’s why, just around noon, a medium-sized bobcat slinked past two downed trees—victims of the August 2, 2015, storm on National Park land to the west. Slowly and stealthy, it moved onto the family property, headed for the house.

Inside, the three alert adults gathered to watch. One of them, Shay Hunter of Minneapolis, described what happened. “When he first came across, he may have seen us. It didn’t act aggressively or like it was bothered by the fact that we were watching it. My husband went out on the (screened-in) back porch, and it never gave him a second look.”

Hunter knew it was a bobcat and grabbed her phone for a shot. “It had a short little tail,” she said. “It wasn’t real big, maybe three feet tall and three and a half feet from nose to tail. It looked younger and was pretty thin.”

It wasn’t three feet away now as it slinked down low, looking, hunting, following a scent along the back of the house, then moved east to the next property. The dog never woke.

Hunter had seen a fox do the same thing three days earlier. “The fox came across from the exact same spot” and took the identical route along the back of the house.

What were they after, she wondered? “The rabbit was inside. Could they smell it?”

Jeremy Tobin of Tobin Tree Service works regularly in Glen Arbor. He’s also seen bobcats in the area. “I saw tracks and put a trail camera up off Forest Haven Road—where the bike trail is—on some private property,” he said. “I (photographed) a bobcat last fall several times. This spring, I saw a female near M-22, behind the last house before the Park starts as you’re leaving Glen Arbor.”

Realtor John Peppler lives on that road. “I’ve been watching a bobcat in my backyard for almost two years now,” he acknowledged. “Not every day. Sometimes they’re gone for a couple of months, then come back.”

Tobin has experienced other sightings. “In my deer hunting last year, I saw two other bobcats—one in the Palmer Reserve and another over by Maple City. Seems to be more of them around than in the past. There’s no doubt that they’re bobcats.

“To see them in Glen Arbor is pretty interesting to me, because they’re pretty timid,” added Tobin.

Peppler, whose family was among the area’s first settlers, doesn’t believe bobcats are unusual. “I’ve seen bobcats here for 25 years,” he said. “They’ve always been around.”

“Bobcats in Michigan are pretty common,” agreed Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife Communications Coordinator Katy Keen. “They’re elusive, and travel typically by themselves at dusk and dawn but can be seen during the day, too. They tend not to be seen. We have a decent population, especially in northern Michigan.”

In fact, bobcats are so plentiful here, said Keen, they’re allowed to be trapped and hunted in northern Michigan, but only “to protect the wildlife population and keep them healthy. We want them around. We may want to reduce the numbers but always for the good of the population.”

People sometimes confuse a bobcat with the larger cougar (also called a “mountain lion”). But where a bobcat has pointy ears and a bobbed tail, a cougar has small round ears and a long tail.

Many believe they have seen a cougar in the Lower Peninsula (and in Leelanau County). However, the DNR has confirmed only one sighting so far, and that was down in the greater Lansing area.

Where coyotes are numerous and foxes have always been around, according to Keen and Peppler, bears are a different story. “I don’t remember seeing bears,” Peppler said, “and (recently), I have.”

Keen confirmed this. “We do feel the bear population in some areas of the state—specifically the Northwest Lower Peninsula—has risen from what it was a decade ago. We use regulated hunting to control population and distribution of bear and have increased our quotas the last several years as a response to the higher population and the public/social concerns that are heard.”

Bear sightings are more frequent in Peppler’s neighborhood. Every once in a while, Facebook feeds light up with nocturnal photographs of bears caught robbing bird feeders.

Tobin saw his “first Leelanau County bear” this year, across M-22 from The Homestead resort entrance, on the hill behind Westman Road. “It came out behind me into open land, and it got into the lane behind me. Then it started to walk toward me. I don’t think it knew what I was. I wasn’t scared, but I yelled. I don’t think the bear was interested in me. It took off on a full dead run when I yelled at it.”

“There are thousands of black bear in the northern Lower Peninsula,” said Keen. “Bears are ‘omnivores;’ they eat everything—meat and plants. A bear can find food most everywhere. They are where the food is.” Animal prey for bears and bobcats include “mice, chipmunks, birds at a bird feeder, critters near homes for bobcats.”

That brings us back to Shay Hunter’s bobcat. Maybe it was trailing the fox, which in turn had picked up the rabbit’s scent a few days earlier. Or maybe it was just after critters like mice that like run along the edges of buildings for shelter.

On top of all this, there may be another large predator in town. At least, there are rumors of one.

Over a dozen years ago, a local resident and her husband, who wish to remain anonymous, were walking up Alligator Hill when they saw a very large canine.

“The dogs were with us,” the woman said. “That’s partly how we knew. (Their late lab) was a friend of all nature; she never chased anything.” This time was different. “Her hair got on end, and she started down that path,” she explains. “He was far away. ‘Wow!’ I thought. ‘That thing is bigger than (my dog).’” And her dog was larger than most coyotes.

“It was nothing like a cat,” she observed. “It had a big furry tail and was standing in the middle of the trail, the area where the trees arch over you. He was up a ways away, but we were like, ‘Wow!’”

As far as Peppler is concerned, there aren’t any wolves here. Keen isn’t so sure. “Wolves are plentiful in the UP,” she pointed out. “They will cross large expansions of ice and snow. There’s kind of a history of here-and-there sightings of pups of wolves in the northern lower (peninsula),” she said, then qualified her statement, “or hybrids of coyotes and wolves.”

There are no official DNR-confirmed wolf sightings in the Lower Peninsula, said Keen. “This is not to say they wouldn’t be here. That wouldn’t be out of the question. They travel long distances and have crossed the Straits of Mackinac.” She suggested the couple on Alligator Hill might have seen a wolf/coyote mix.

However common these animals may be, you don’t see one very often. When you do, it makes an impression.

This is true for Tobin. “Those are all accurate and true stories,” he declared. “They’re experiences I’ll never forget.”

Reporting a wildlife sighting to DNR

If you see a large, unusual animal, you might want to document the sighting and send it to the Michigan DNR. Here are some useful how-to’s on reporting a wildlife sighting.

First, let’s define what we’re talking about. There are “sightings,” and then there are “confirmed sightings.” According to Michigan DNR’s Katie Keen, a “sighting” would be an incident you hear about via word of mouth. For the DNR to officially pronounce a “confirmed” sighting, however, they take things a step further.

“To confirm a sighting,” Keen explained, “we need evidence that can be viewed by a panel—a picture or video of a track, a pile of scat, a carcass or a picture or video (of the animal itself). When submitting, it would be good to have something next to it that would indicate size, like a driver’s license next to it, or a ruler if you happen to have a ruler.”

Generally, you would report a sighting of an animal that is uncommon or is acting odd. Should we report a bobcat if we see one? Only if you feel it’s acting odd or looks different, said Keen. “We know they’re found in our northern Michigan counties.”

If you think you have seen a wolf, on the other hand, report it to the DNR. “That is something we would be interested in,” she said. Same goes for a cougar.

To report a sighting, call the Michigan DNR office in Cadillac at 231-745-4651. Or visit MI.gov/wildlife, then go to “Report your Observation—eyes in the field.” Here you can submit online information and pictures. In some cases, the DNR may contact you with follow-up questions.

“We take sighting information seriously,” said Keen. “It’s important for us to realize what’s out there.”

Stand your ground

What to do if you see one (Rule #1—Grab your pets and kids but Don’t run!)

Here is some safety advice from the Michigan DNR’s Katie Keen.

Should I make noise when a predatory animal comes near my house?

Yes, when you have wildlife around, don’t encourage it. You are training them to be in an area frequented by humans (human smell, human noise, human habitat). Make noise, clap your hands, hit the car alarm, holler at it, blow a marine air horn, etc. This is all from a safe distance or within your home.

With coyote, fox, bobcat and bear sightings so common in our area, should I be afraid for my pets?

In regard to pets, coyotes are the first thing people like to think about. In general, coyotes are afraid of people. Typically, unless there’s a food source around you, they take off when they see you. They have a natural fear of humans. But with that said, any wild animal is a wild animal. They’re unpredictable.” That includes our pets, she emphasizes. There’s no telling what a pet will do if it sees a fox, chipmunk or squirrel. “So, it’s best to accompany your small pets, especially small dogs. A larger dog typically is not going to tangle up with an animal. But if it’s a small dog,” the danger is there from coyotes, she continues, “or even hawks and eagles. Owls can prey on small dogs, because—again—it’s a food source. So again, accompany them outside. If it’s at night, maybe you want to go out with them, put the lights on. Maybe you want to put them on a leash as they run out into the bushes.”

What about humans? Are we safe outside?

When you think of all the wildlife and all the pets and humans that are out there, incidents with wild animals are rare. And that’s how we want to keep that; so, don’t attract animals to your property with food, garbage. Think about your property; try and keep that clean, because animals will get trained. If they can visit your yard and get a food source, and nothing’s really bothering them, then it just trains them that your area is a safe place to be, which is not want we want. We want wildlife to have that natural fear of humans.

Is it inadvisable to hike the park trails alone?

You don’t want to keep yourself from doing the things you love and why we all live “UP-NORTH.” So, hiking or being outdoors, make noise whistle, sing, have a bell on you, etc. Just be aware of your surroundings, and have a plan of what you’d do, just like any other safety situation (dark mall parking lot at night, you think about what you’d do right.) It’s a very low chance you would have any type of encounter. Think of the thousands of people who live, play and work in the woods daily in Michigan.

What should I do if I encounter a large predatory animal?

• Face the animal and do not act submissive. Stand tall, wave your arms, and talk in a loud voice.

• Never run from a cougar or other large carnivore. If children are present, pick them up so they cannot run.

• If attacked, fight back with whatever is available. DO NOT play dead.

• Report the encounter to local authorities and the DNR as soon as possible.