Second wolverine in 101 years seen in California
Spotted near a chair lift. (southeast of Yosemite)
I see Wolverines every day in California but they are the two footed variety and definitely not endangered.
Could this be an omen for what the Trojans and Bruins can expect? Wolverines taking over California…
If nothing else, 1 Wolverine in California is one more than the 0 Grizzly Bears living in California. The animal on the state flag doesn't even live here any more!
I'm kind of surprised more wolverines don't live around Tahoe. The environment is favorable for them.
Michigan Wolverines and Nittany Lions fans probably shouldnt throw stones in this situation.
If nothing else, 1 Wolverine in California is one more than the 0 Grizzly Bears living in California. The animal on the state flag doesn't even live here any more!
I've named it Huge Ackman. And that's official.
Not as furry as I imagined.
While Huge Ackman will go to Michigan, Hugh Jass will likely go to Notre Dame.
I believe that coach is heading up the football program at D1 upstart Franklin University of Pennsylvania (FUPA)
The advent of game cams has changed (most) everything, except the acceptance that what we thought we knew about wildlife was misplaced.
In Central Southern Michigan, there ARE mountain lions (pumas / panthers), bears, bobcats, wolverines, etc. If you argue this, you are flatly wrong, because we have seen them on our (or our neighbor's) cams within a mile of our home.
I know it's brutal for myriad academics to accept their convictions may have been wrong, but sadly, sometimes reality conflicts with what we thought was true.
the DNR recently admitted to mountain lions in michigan after denying it for decades. my favorite story about that though, years before the DNR became truthful, comes from a fishing guide buddy of ours. he is a drift/fly fishing guide on the manistee river, and his cryptic quote was:
"i'm not saying there are mountain lions. i'm not saying there aren't mountain lions. i'm just saying i saw a deer carcass 20' up in a tree...."
Recently?
2008 is recently?
I'm not saying there are mountain lions in Michigan but...I used to deer hunt south of Watervliet a few miles. In 2005, one of the nearby farms lost a horse to a predator that wasn't a pack of coyotes. The Berrien County sheriff said it was a mountain lion but the DNR refused to acknowledge there was anything amiss. I think their stance was if it was a mountain lion, it was a released pet.
https://www.leaderpub.com/2005/12/21/berrien-site-of-second-cougar-attack-on-horse/
Then a few years later, I talked to a prominent retired law enforcement officer from Coloma (the next town over) who investigated reports of, and heard himself, a women screaming in the woods, you know, like a mountain lion in heat?
Cougar….?
Cougar? Why I hardly know her!
Officer LaVanway (senior)?
I lived in Watervliet from '90- '96 and again from '99--'19 and know several officers from both Coloma and Watervliet. Officer LaVanway retired quite a few years ago from the department, wonderful guy, as is his son.
My buddy who lives in Ludington sent me these off of his trail cam a couple years back. The thing is massive.
I'm 99% sure that right there is a bobcat. Cougars have long tails, bob cats have short tails.
That was my first thought with the tail also. I don't know how likely it is for a cougar to lose a portion of it's tail but when you scale it against deer in photos from the same trail cam...that would be a massive bobcat.
They don’t believe that there is a breeding population as all the ones they have seen are males. I am almost certain that will change as it seems unlikely that only males have made the trek from Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin to the UP to now it appears southern Michigan.
Apparently one was seen in Lenawee a few years back. Which is cool and eep!
Crazy how such a strong animal (survival wise) is endangered but that’s mostly from hunting them. I have a taxidermied one (really well done) and the fur is exquisite. I get it back in the day (demand for fur); but now that we’ve left them alone, I’m a little surprised they haven’t bounced back but that’s likely climate related. Still, an awesome animal and great mascot for football.
Breeding to keep the numbers up isn't what Wolverines do. That's more of a South Dakota State Jackrabbits thing.
I think they probably hate each other only slightly less than they hate everything else, and that's only certain times of the year.
Destruction of habitat is why they struggle to rebuild their numbers.
There were several Wolverine sightings as far south as columbus ohio last fall.... they left a path of total devistation there as well, not quite to the degree of the Donner Party, but not far from it.
“It’s believed the animal that ransacked the Donner Party’s survival supply in 1847 was a hungry wolverine.”
I split my time between Reno/Truckee. This is the first I've heard of a wolverine messing up the Donner Party. I still blame Lansford Hastings.
that exactly what ransacked cj stroud's sending off party as well....
Winning fixes everything. I can understand them wanting to keep a low profile.
It was probably waiting for an empty chairlift. Wolverines don't like company.
Pretty excited to hear this! I may have to put out some Wolverine food at our places in Reno and Truckee.
According to Marty Stouffer you can use road kill deer to attract them. It worked for him in AK, as seen on the Wild America broadcast.
I hear buckeyes are their favorite snack!
Poor guy probably has the MgoBluest balls in whole state of California, too!
The report didnt say anything about him being married.