If you're like most web surfers, you receive "forwards" from friends and acquaintances - jokes, picture, stock tip, etc. These shots came my way from several sources... and before the snow is completely gone, I thought it would be good to get one last glimpse of winter life in the Keweenaw. This one comes through the eyes of Jan Gustafson. Jan, if you tuned in to this day's Pasty Cam, thanks for sharing these by way of the U.P.-word-of-mouth network. I hope you'll be able to tell us more about this sighting.

Where is this picture near Gay????

Wow! What a prize shot. I've been in the U.P. for
twenty-plus years and have seen bobcats only
twice. Way to go, Jan!

Cougars and bobcats and bears?
Oh my, Keweenaw!
Great shot!

He's "Looking" for some ketchup to go with his a Pasty!!

Don't know for sure about that sighting, but if it was truly by Gay, I envy the person who took it. Wildlife pictures like that are very rare. I grew up in the area in the '50's, spent many,many hours in the woods with my father, who was a forester for Michigan Tech, and never saw something as awsome as this beautiful picture.

WOW!! That is an AWSOME PIC,ANY MORE?

I've been in North Carolina for a few years(not by choice) but I live in Mohawk. I really appreciate pictures like this. It keeps me going. Also it keeps my day dreams of coming back home strong. I'm in the Marine Corps for another year and can't wait to get back to the good old U.P. Thank you.

well if Dan U. thinks it's an awesome shot, then that is a very high complement because I have seen much of his work and that is truly awesome..he really captures some very fine nature shots. I am particularly fond of some of his lightning captures. I saw them on display at the Best Western in Silver City....I used to live there Dan, that is why I am partial to the area!

well here at rice lake we had a bob cat in the yard. we hung a piece of venison in the tree and he came by every day to eat. really nice looking cat.

awesome sight when you can catch it with film, and pass it around for all to admire. i sure love livin' in da UP, ya sure, eh! to those of you out there, lonesome/homesick and anxious to get back to da UP, keep your chin up. It will be here with plenty of pristine places that yous can visit, plus the addition of new tourist traps which help keep da yoopers working. this comes from a neighbor to all the wonderful people who call Rice Lake home, year round! soooo, ya'll come back now, hear!

Now "downstate" you'd never see wildlife like that beautiful kitty kat. We got sewer rats bigger than that though....(sic)

BEAUTIFUL SHOTS !!!!

Hi all! Jan and I ran into each other one morning in late March at Slim's Cafe. My husband and I were in town looking to buy property then. She was showing the photos she had taken of the bobcat, but was lamenting that she hadn't had a zoom lens on hand at the time. I offered to run a selection of the pics through Adobe Photoshop to enhance the images. I then emailed them to her to enjoy. You can now see the results, and they are awesome! I was delighted to do them for her and I'm also very glad they are making the rounds up there. The Yoop still holds its magic because of the wild things that live there. May it always be so!!!

By the way, Jan told me that the pics were taken outside her kitchen window in Gay. From these images, I estimate that it is an adult male bobcat, probably weighing in at about 40 to 45 pounds. If anyone sees a cat like this with a kill, bear in mind they are bad tempered cats and can be likened to a furry chainsaw. They are very defensive of their food.

Someday, we hope to live up there again. It's like being a salmon. You don't know why you have to go back, you just do. I sure don't mind.

Not only did you catch a picture of one ELUSIVE animal, it happened that the sun was shining?!?! You's Yoopers have all the luck! Great Pic!

Stop by Duke's Barber Shop in Laurium, MI to view
a nice trophy on display.

If it's a stuffed bobcat, I'll pass. Such a thing is no comparison to what Jan caught on film. MUCH better, IMHO.

Really enjoyed the Bob-Cat pics, always enjoy that kind of E-mail. Greenland,Mi

Now thats an impressive photo. I also lived in "DA UP", Toivola area, but the Army wants me to be other places just a bit warmer like Georgia for now. Now, how can I find pics on the web like this to remind me of home? If someone can e-mail me and let me know where to look, that would be great.

That is a great picture. I grew up in da yoop and currently reside in the ghetto (Detroit). I didn't even know Bobcats were still around! Can't wait for my next visit home. Downstaters just don't get it (and I hope they never will).

We now live in cougar country, eastern Washington State. It's a fine place to live and the Idaho panhandle reminds us of trees and lakes back home in the eastern UP plus mountains. Thank you for sharing the great pictures. We've never seen a wild cat on our ventures into the woods in the west or back home.

To Jan; you just gave me one more reason to add to my list of reasons why I moved my family up here to the UP. I was raised in the city and joined military soon after high school, even livingall over the world I never saw anything so majestic. To Robert, the marine in NC Semper Fi bro. keep up the good work. Hubby and I both prior military, and you are so right, NOTHING in NC is worth a second glance.

Impressive pic!! I've never seen a bobcat in da UP before. I'm from Trimountain, born and raised.
I live in Montana right now, In the Air Force!!
Can't wait to come home to da UP.......eh!!

A once in a lifetime shot. Great photo!! I should be so lucky to get a shot like that. Good job.

Dollar Bay

Wow! This is a great picture. We have a camp up near Big Bay and have seen baby Bobcats, but none this big! You are very lucky to have seen this up there, it's a once in a lifetime shot!

I have heard it is not a bobcat, I heard in the Gay Bar that it was a Canadian Lynx, I guess it is a new species to the Keweenaw?

That is a great picture of the bobcat. Good Job on the pic.

This is for Jason two messages ago... This is indeed a bobcat. A lynx would be about 50% larger and have huge (!) paws. Not only that, a lynx has very few if any stripes on the face and legs. This cat is clearly striped in both places. Trust me, as a wildlife artist, I have to know....

Currently in Oxford, England...

My family is from the U.P. and I've hear story's of all the cats in the Great U.P., but never had gotten a chance to live up there very long nor seen a bobcat. That's a Great shot! The only thing harder to get a glimps of is a wolverine.

Awesome picture for those who don't get to see them in real life even living up there. It is pictures like this that keep the someplace special in Upper Michigan. I am originally from Painesdale but live in Green Bay, WI. Thanks for sharing.

Hi - I am Jan Gustafson, the guilty person responsible for the pictures. However, the quality and upclose view is thanks to Mary Lynn Johnson and her incredible talent in zooming in our prize. I just discovered this incredible web site and I thank you all for you wonderful comments.

The pictures were taken on St. Patrick's Day in our back yard in "downtown" Gay. Our yard backs up to acres and acres of swamp and directly behind our house is a clearing where deer come in and out of and sleep. I had seen a very small bobcat earlier in the week walking down the middle of the street (you can bet that didn't happen in St. Clair Shores from which we recently returned!) and it stopped under the streetlight out in front of the house and stretched. I told my husband about it and then on Saturday, he woke me to tell me my bobcat had a deer down in our backyard and that I should get up and see it before it finished its "breakfast". I grabbed the camera and started shooting pictures out of my kitchen window. I was so afraid that they wouldn't turn out that I stepped out onto my side porch (with my husband, Chuck, holding the door open, and took some shots outside from the porch. As you can see, I did not intimidate her one iota! It was an incredibly beautiful site and thanks to Mary Lynn Johnson scanning her terrific work and sending back, this beautiful creature could be shared with everyone!

We lived in Gay from 1979 to 1996 (owned the Gay Bar from 1983-1996) and then went back downstate until this past November when we decided we had enough of the "city life". Those of you who know me well will understand what a big deal it was for me to say that. I came to Gay, agreeing to a two-year stint and stayed eighteen. I am now back for good and I am so happy to so many familiar faces (the Ahmeek Celebration was like a family reunion for me yesterday!)

Thanks again for your nice comments but the credit truly goes to Mary Lynn Johnson and her incredible work with my photos!

thanks for the pics. Do yo uhave any more info??? I am doign a project in school on Gay. WE CAN'T FIND ANYTHING!

Nothing like the U.P. I repeat...nothing

nice pic but dont let it get to your guys' heads eh!

I too grew up in the northern, up in Manistique,Me,my brother and Uncle spent a lot of time in the woods and never seen a bobcat only bears and deer.Until me and my husband went hunting last year, up in Rose City area,we seen that bobcat sitting on our table I told him it was a bobcat but he said no way I said yes way,now that We've seen your pic he knows now for sure it was one.

More Pictures please!!

hi!
I have never seen a bobcat like that before. I love how they look.
The bloody body was gross though. haha*