Many folks in the Keweenaw know John Kaleita as the editor of "Hear Ye", a sort of modern-day town crier here in the northwoods. Today John shows us some wild cranberries beside the road, probably somewhere near Lac La Belle. Maybe Doug Smith could give us a more specific location... or maybe they would prefer to keep it a secret :o)

I know where he is..I recognize that little tree behind him........maybe

Hey, isnt that little tree behind him a tamarack? I think it may also be known as a larch?

Looks like the Gay/Mohawk Road... I'd like to know if I'm right about that!

Alex

Sure looks like a Tamarack to me too

Yup, Larix laricina!

Can anyone tell me what town John Dee lives in? When he talks about hiking "behind the village", I don't have a clue where he is. Reading his journal is a nice way to relax.

When are the wild cranberries ripe? Maybe the gentleman would put a mark on the side of his bucket so we could all find the wild cranberries!?

John is in Lake Linden- The best little town on earth. Not to mention the best 4th of July celebration.

Taken on the road out of Lac LaBelle near SouthPointe. I guess it won't hurt if I let out the secret :o)

They're also out by Rice Lake, heading towards Big Traverse.

Cranberries are ripe from late Sept (south edge of range)through Oct (northern MN, WI & MI). My favorite time to pick is after the first couple of hard frosts. I've also picked berries in the spring. Then they are packets of pure juice, if the critters have left any.

Do you also have the high bush cranberries up there? I remember many years ago my Dad picking them somewhere south of the Munising area

Lucky you all to be picking berried in that wonderful Yooper scrubby brush! The backdrop isn't bad, either, Doug! Of course, this sunny day will lead into snowy ones, and I don't envy any of you any of that, so I'll be happy and content to still have my summer garden going here in CA. Fall is on its way here, too, but no wild cranberries...

oops! ... berries

I'm curious about all of the couger sightings in the Copper Country. Anyone run into one lately? How about all you berry pickers and hikers and photographers? I hope that one of you gets a shot at one soon. Camera shot that is! I'm a little nervious about hiking in the woods by myself these days.

I thought I was losing my mind when I came up last April and saw, what I thought was, a mountain lion alongside Hwy 41 between Chassel and Lanse. It was a huge cat and had huge paws and was just coming up to the edge of the highway when I scared it away as I approached. Wish I'd had my camera handy then! Just a few months before that, I came across a huge eagle trying to pick up a deer carcass alongside the road in the same general area. It's not enough that I have to dodge all the deer on my trips and glimpse the occasional bear, but now I have to watch for cougars and eagles too! Sure makes the trip up to Calumet exciting. Can't wait until Thanksgiving to do it all again!

The only cougar occasionally sighted in the area that I'm concerned about used to drive a red and white Mustang about 25 years ago. It can be pretty frightening running into him, too! ;)

cranberries and starbuck coffee for me please..

I've talked to so many people in the last few years that have spotted cougars or mountain lions, it is hard to believe they don't exist here. I've heard that joggers are prey for them because of the challange of running after them. I guess if you see one you should just back away slowly. Any feedback on this?

My Grandfather had some stories about hearing cougars while out in the bush around Madison Gap. That was in the pre WWI era. If they have indeed returned to the Copper Country, it would be interesting to know how they got accross the lake or through all the civilization between their known ranges and the Keweenaw. I believe the closest wild population is probably in the Rockies. If there is someting more than a well fed lynx about, he or she probably had to have human help on the trip to the Copper Country. Not unthinkable, we had a loose tiger here in central Illinois about two weeks ago - someone's "pet" escaped his cage at a truck stop in Bloomington. Since it was in town, the poor thing was cornered and eventually shot after nine hours of trying to save him.
Changing the subject, anyone remember the fellow who kept a pet bear in his house in Centennial Heights back in the '50's. That didn't end so well either.

i have seen a cougar on the back street in kearsarge. not long ago. everyone thought i was nuts when i was trying to explain what i seen.

To all of the out of area people. It was on our front page of the Gazzette that Houghton County Prosecuter Douglas Edwards spotted a mountain lion outside of Lake Linden on October 1st. Then a few days before a woman spotted one at the top of Elevation Street in Hancock near the Old Apostolic Church. That was also in the newspaper. There is a woman who is studying them in our area. I'll get her name later. INTERESTING?

Out in our corner of California the cougars have
moved right in our back yards, and our little town
is surrounded by about a million acres of National Forest.The cougarsats are eating our dogs, cats, and goats with little fear of challenge. The game warden has opted to dispatch the big cats that are found right in the back yards. My guess is that the cougar population has grown so much their range of hunting has slowly deminished.There are plenty of deer around so it isn't a lack of food.

Last fall my boyfriend thought he saw one crossing M26 a mile or two south of Painesdale. Of course, I was looking the other way and missed it. We don't doubt that there are cougars up there.

Nancy Gagnon at MTU is/was conducting a cougar study in the area. There's probably some information about it on the MTU website.

There have been reports of a cougar or cougars down here below the bridge as well. There were a couple of horses attacked near Kalkaska two or three months ago. From the looks of the claw marks on one of the horses rump it was something big. My naighbor has a pet cougar named Nina. Yes he has a permit. Not a pet I would want, they're never really tame. He has a twelve foot fence all the way around his house. Guess he doesn't have to worry about break-ins.

Maybe some of the tree experts can answer a question. Some years ago working in a paper mill in Green Bay some of the old timers called one of the supervisors Tamarack.When I asked why that name they said because a Tamarack tree is not good for pulp, not good for lumber,or even firewood its not good for nothing. to this day I don't know if thats true or not.

The old timers here in northern lower Michigan used Tamarack for barn beams because they grow stright and tall and are quite strong as long as they are kept out of the weather.

The man who had the bear in Centennial Heights was Matt North. I don't know how it ended.

as for the location of the cranberries i remember my father and i found them on the roadside out by the betsy on the side opposite the lake.

When I was a kid I heard that Gentle Ben (the bear from the TV series in the 60's?)hybernated in his trainer's home here in the Copper Country. Have no idea if that is true.

Also, the guy who I was told trained Lobo the Wolf (Disney, 60's?) had three above-ground swimming pools in the 70's north of Quincy Hill. For at least one or two summers he would put on shows with sea lions for the locals. That was before cable made its way into the Copper Country. It was pretty good entertainment for up here.

A large cougar ran across the road in front of our car between L'Anse and Three Lakes. As it ran it nearly stretched across one lane from its nose to the tip of its tail. Friends of ours have also seen a cougar in the Traprock Valley area on more than one occasion. I believe they are definitely in this area.

seen one 150 ft behind my house a month and a half ago at 1 a.m. in the morning.

OK. Cougars add a whole new dimension to quiet walks in the woods! I'm thinking about the hours I was out in the bush while up there this Spring, meeting a cougar would have been a major surprise. I've met a few bears over the years, and they were fairly accomodating about going their own way once they knew where I was. Sounds like learning to deal with large kitty cats might be in order before the next trip.

I have heard of the big cats wandering the yoop.
My aren't we all up a bit too late???? Great photos all this week. Thank you so much Charlie and Co. for all you do for us. Pasty.com is so many peoples start of the day. Also the goodnight call too. I wish all of the posters and web browsers of pasty.com PEACE.
Goodnight from Richmond Michigan.

What is the latest on the the wild boar running around on the Abbaye Peninsula?

The guy with the lobos, and who trained them for the Disney movie was Aldrich Niemela (sp?). He and his wife, Ingrid, traveled around with them and did put on shows in the area.

I remember seeing Ingrid's leg healed over after a chunk had been taken out of it when she was bitten by one of the wolves.

Somewhere around here I might even have an old picture of the show area and pools, but I can't imagine that I would be able to find it. My mom and dad sent me a picture of it. They were good friends of the Niemela's.

OH, and it's not too late out here, it is only after 9 p.m.!

COUGAR SIGHTING. While visiting the UP
during mid-August, I saw a large cougar in the
middle of HWY 141 near the BARAGA/IRON
COUNTY borders. TIme was about an hour
before sunset. When I hit the brakes to grab
my camera, it bolted off the road and deep into
the forest. Was a heart-pounding experience
for sure. Spoke to life-long yoopers who have
yet to see one. The skeptical treated my
account with the same derision as a Yeti
sighting -- all in good humor though.

If you have been a Pasty Cam-Watcher for awhile, you may recall a bobcat sighting which appeared on these pages. Jan Gustafson, former owner of the Gay Bar, took this shot right in her back yard.

Cougar sighting on my property several miles north of Baraga by the neighbor boys a month or so ago. Right where I pick thimbleberries. Looking forward to next summer. I should have enough time to grow eyes in the back of my head by then...

I asked my brother about Matt North's bear this AM. He said that Matt had it right in the house for about 3 years. The DNR (or whatever they were called then) took it and brought it away from this area because they were afraid that the bear might turn on him. Matt's son, also called Matt lives in the Dollar Bay area. Maybe Mr. Wetton knows him and could get more details.

Check out the Friday Daily Mining Gazette online (http://www.mininggazette.com/loclnews.html#topstory) for more on the cougar situation in the Yoop. Timing is everything...

Matt North was Mimi's uncle. She told us about
the 'pet' bear he had. He had sold it to a circus I thought but missed the bear so bad, he bought it back. I guess the bear attacked him so he had to shoot it. She said it was SO cute as a cub. Hey, RCW, have you seen Matt and Gloria lately? Spose he would know about his Dad's bear. Hei, Lowell/Missouri, there are high-bush c'berries up here in da UP. Between Randville and Foster City on M 69, at least. Tamarack wood burns so hot, it'll burn the grates out of your stove. Tamarack is very dense, heavy. A friend gave us some, his Dad had put in the woodshed many years before, for our youth-group bonfire. That stuff burned so hot the kids couldn't even get near to roast the hot dogs and marshmallows. I love the tamarack when they're losing the needles (leaves), and when the needles are growing in the spring. It's a different color green than the rest. But like gold in the fall.

Ken and all,
My mother encountered Mr, North in one of Calumet's grocery stores with a cart load of old bread. She asked him what all the bread was for and he replied it was for his bear. We went to see the bear. He had 2 or 3 kitchen chairs across the archway between the living room and dining room. He let the bear out of the kitchen and to my very young eyes, the bear didn't seem all that happy to see us. He stayed between us and the bear, but I wasn't convinced this was such a fun thing and vacated the house, waited in the car, fully expecting to be an orphan once the bear had eaten my parents. All was well that day, but we did hear that the bear turned on him later that year. I believe he had found her as very young orphaned cub in the bush.

hey thats my uncle johnie, picking berries thanks doug great shot is he gonna make wine?

I would appreciate hearing more detailed accounts of area cougar sightings. I have been documenting reports since 1998 when I experienced a sighting in Houghton County. If anyone would like to share their cougar encounters/locations with me so I can plot them on an area map, please contact me at nancygagnon@wildmail.com

We have been gathering sighting reports of both TAN and BLACK Cougars in Michigan & adjoining states since 1965...which is turned into statisical data that will eventually lead to determining if the "native" cougar is alive and well in eastern North America.
With our National Center in West Virginia, we have collected over 200 big cat sightings & 20 of cubs.
If anyone has reports over the last 12 months or those dating back to the 1800s to early 1900s, please contact: Eastern Puma Research Network, HC 30 Box 2233, Maysville, WV 26833 or call: 304-749-7778 or E-mail: epuma@beaconnet.net

The EPRNetwork is NOT associated with Eastern Cougar Foundation nor Eastern Cougar Network.

I TOO SAW A COUGAR ON RT.53 RICE LAKE WI.EATING A DEER CARCASS IN THE MEDIAN IN BRUSH AREA,I CALLED RIGHT AWAY TO THE DNR AS TO WHERE THE CAT WAS BUT NO ONE RESPONDED UNTIL 3MONTHS LATER WHEN ONE WAS KILLED IN EASTERN MI.BUT BY THEN I COULDN'T EXACTLY GIVE THEM THE LOCATION EXCEPT RICE LAKE AREA RT 53 FEB,15 2002

My son and I saw a black cougar crossing the road on the road from 41 to Eagle Harbor in July of 2002. It was BIG!

The post about the guy with the pet cougar and the 12 foot high fence is pretty funny since they can do a vertical leap of 15 feet. And trying to "watch out for them", is also useless as they can leap 45 feet(!!) from a crouch and from a 60 foot height and land on their feeet runnning. The state gaming commissions (MI, PA, et al) will never admit they exist and claim we'd see them as road kill, etc. ---another joke. They're solitary animals with a teritory that ranges from 40 sq miles(females) to 100 sq miles (males). They can cover 100 miles overnight and can run 45 mph. Seeing one, let alone hitting one with a car, is a rarity. Apparently, the plan is to take private property by eminent domain to create more national parks, wildlife preserves, etc. using the rationale that the cats and other animals like them (wolves) are endangered. Nevermind that more cougars exist now (31,000+) than when this country was first settled by Europeans. (Just more New World Order junk.)