Cougar grooming himself after killing deer in Minnesota

From May: cougar grooming himself after feeding on a GPS-collared deer he killed. We have routinely captured this male on camera over the past 3 months now suggesting he has taken up residency in the area and is occupying a territory (i.e., not wandering like dispersing males typically do).

Note: we have had folks ask to see more of the footage we have captured of cougars over the past few months so we will try to share more footage in the coming weeks.

We captured many hours of footage at the kill where we documented the female with 3 kittens as well as at the kill in early May by this male. In addition, we have captured many videos of this male over the past few months just walking down roads and trails. All this to say, more footage to come!

Huge thanks to the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund for supporting the Voyageurs Wolf Project and the recent effort to understand deer survival in the area. Their support was critical to this observation—without it, we would never have captured this footage.

And huge thanks to the more than 10,600 donors who have supported our project and enabled us to purchase trail cameras supplies. The cameras (and batteries, SD cards, mounts) we set at this kill were purchased with funds from donations.

Written by Voyageurs Wolf Project