Dramatic trail cam video shows cougar attack deer in Michigan woods. ‘This is insane’

A cougar is shown attacking and dragging away a deer in a rare trail cam video of the predatory animal.

Eli Schaefer shared video on Facebook on Jan. 7 of the attack, which he said happened Dec. 30 in Toivola, Michigan.

The 10-second video shows the cougar topple the deer and lock its jaw around the deer’s neck. A second video shows the mountain lion drag the carcass away.

“This is insane,” one woman commented.

But Schaefer, who set up the trail cam about 100 yards from his deer stand, told Outdoor Life the attack almost went unnoticed. He said he was about to delete video but checked to see if any impressive deer survived hunting season.

“So, I played it, and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” he told Outdoor Life. “I got chills instantly, just thinking about how easily I could have been standing there, and that thing could’ve jumped on me.”

It’s not the first time Schaefer has captured footage of what appears to be a cougar. In October, he shared a still image of one from his trail cam.

The video, officials said, offers a rare look into predatory behavior of mountain lions.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen that actually occurring, where you actually captured a deer,” Brian Roell, a wildlife biologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, told MLive.com. “I just thought it was really neat because biologically, we know they are killing deer. There’s no new insight there or anything like that.”

Cougars have mostly been wiped out of Michigan since the early 1900s, the state’s DNR office said. But there have been dozens of confirmed sightings since 2008 through tracks, photographs and video.

There is not believed to be a breeding problem of cougars in Michigan. Some cougars spotted in the state likely dispersed from the Dakotas, officials said.

Toivola is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and includes the Keweenaw Peninsula Forest.

This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 9:31 AM with the headline "Dramatic trail cam video shows cougar attack deer in Michigan woods. ‘This is insane’."