Scavengers

[mnbwhtr]

Last Sunday evening I shot a button buck right at dark. My shot was a little back but he only went 20 yards and laid down, I waited an hour and snuck out as quietly as I could. It was going to get down to 20 degrees so I waited til morning to recover. When I went in I couldn't believe what I found, picture below, the buck was buried! What do you think did this?

[Bisch]

Looks like something a cat would do; either bobcat or lion. Don’t know what predators y’all have up there, but some sort of cat would be my guess.

Bisch

[Yooper-traveler]

Bobcat.  Up here if a bobcat got to it before the wolves, they cover like that.

[MnFn]

I hunted a little SW of Bemidji this year, and saw my first bobcat, so I know they are around, and friends have seen them on the same property a couple of times. My friend saw a mtn. lion two  years ago. A neighbor of the property I was hunting said he found a hind quarter of a deer wedged way up in a fork of a hardwood tree.  But I think Yooper is probably right.

[Cory Mattson]

Yes I have had this happen. Bobcats always cover the deer like this. If it was coyotes there would be nothing but bones.
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[mnbwhtr]

My first thoughts were a bobcat, not many around but I saw one 2 years ago about 30 miles from here. I hadn't seen a fox in a few years but lately there have been a couple around but a lot of coyotes. I have a friend who traps and he said it would be fox, they cover up kills so coyotes won't find them. Put up a trail cam and lo and behold lots of crows, coyotes and a fox. Never thought fox would do this.

[KentuckyWolf]

My bet is on a Mountain lion. Get periodic and sporadic reports of mountain lions in Minnesota. Study was done on mountain lions in the black hills of South Dakota….they tracked (gps colllars) a few young males all the way to Minnesota and a few other states. They also did genetic testing on road killed or otherwise recovered animals. Lion population was at capacity….young …especially males left the black hills as the only way to get a territory was to have an older cat die, or fight them for it.

FYI….first hand knowledge. I went to SDSU (many years ago). Even found some lion dropping while pheasant hunting out side of Arlington, South Dakota (not far from Minnesota, confirmed by lab).

[woodchucker]

My guess is a cat....

Coyotes, pack would come in... you'd have only bones left.

[Redfeathers]

Bobcat or Lion

[Broken Arrows]

Lion

[Gun]

Yup. Cat of some kind.
Funny story. Years ago my buddy and I had access to a very good deer property. One afternoon when after I parked the truck the landowner came out and wanted to show me something. They had some walking paths along the edge of the fields just inside the bush. We walked downhill from the house and there was a deer covered w brush and grass.

He asked me what did that? I told him one of two things. I said, either a Cougar or a Grizzly. I wish I had a picture of his face when he said, GRIZZLY?!

It was a Cougar kill as we were a ways from regular Grizzly travel. (only 20 miles or so tho)

[SS Snuffer]

Randy don't know what part of Minnesota your from but I'm from west central by Wadena and two years ago I had one that looked just like that so I put a trail camera on it. It was a fisher!
 Last year I had a mountain lion on a camera. I talked to a game warden and he said I should have reported it to the DNR.