ONTONAGON COUNTY, MI — Two cougar cubs found this spring in the Upper Peninsula remain alive and traveling with their mother, a confirmation that Michigan wildlife officials say represents a historic milestone for natural reproduction.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said Thursday, Dec. 18 that a trail camera photo taken this month shows an adult female cougar walking down a snowy trail in central Ontonagon County followed by two juvenile cougars estimated to be roughly a year old.

The same cubs were first documented in early March when motorists photographed two small kittens along a western U.P. road.

“This is a historic confirmation for Michigan since it is the first time in over 100 years that verified cougar reproduction has occurred east of the Mississippi River and possibly even east of the Missouri River,” said Brian Roell, DNR large carnivore specialist

Until this year, genetic testing and other evidence indicated that nearly all confirmed cougars in Michigan were transient adult males believed to have traveled east from established populations in the western states.

The presence of cubs confirms at least one breeding female is now on the landscape, though officials say that doesn’t mean Michigan has an established breeding population.

Cougars are native to Michigan but were essentially hunted out of the state by the early 1900s. The DNR has confirmed about 168 cougar sightings since 2008, although it says most of them are of the same animal being reported by multiple sources.

All confirmed sightings have been in the Upper Peninsula.

Cougar sightings have been increasing in recent years alongside the proliferation of trail cameras. This marked the third consecutive year of record-high cougar sightings in Michigan. As of late November, the DNR had confirmed 26 sightings statewide in 2025.

The state verified the first confirmed vehicle collision with a male cougar on Nov. 15 in northern Houghton County.

The DNR said it verified the new cubs sighting image after a private landowner submitted a trail camera photo taken Dec. 6. Biologists enhanced the nighttime image and confirmed the presence of three cougars. The sex of the cubs is unknown.

Cougar cubs typically stay with their mother for up to two years and Roell said their chances of survival are relatively high because female cougars invest heavily in raising their young. The absence of an adult cougar in March had raised concerns about their survival. He is surprised the kittens weren’t seen on any other trail cameras since this spring.

“These kittens will stay with their mom through this winter and possibly even into next winter,” Roell said.

State officials did not release the exact location of the latest sighting. Cougars are listed as endangered in Michigan. It is illegal to hunt or harass them or attempt to locate dens.

Anyone who encounters evidence of a cougar should keep their distance, avoid disturbing the area and report sightings to the DNR.

The DNR said other states, including Nebraska, have also reported increases in cougar sightings.

Cougars need large territories because they are solitary ambush predators that rely on deer and other large prey, which leads to low population densities. Even states with the largest cougar populations generally have just a few thousand of the animals.

“This isn’t an animal that is ever going to become very numerous,” Roell said. “They’re going to remain rare on the landscape regardless of whatever happens with them here in Michigan.”

On Tuesday, multiple reports began to surface about Washington coach Jedd Fisch no longer being considered by the Wolverines as a candidate for the open head football coaching position at Michigan.

Although it’s still unclear as to why Michigan is seemingly moving off of him as a consideration, college football analyst Josh Pate seemed to confirm the reports on his show that Fisch is unlikely to be a factor in the Wolverines’ search moving forward.

“There’s been some sentiment about Jedd Fisch,” Pate said. “There’s been some though this week—and granted, it’s only Tuesday (at the time of his show). But there’s been some thought this week that Jedd Fisch’s name may be climbing. And that’s because Michigan was taking a hard look at him.

“There’s been some sentiment today that maybe Jedd Fisch’s name has cooled. I think that’s accurate. And I think they’ve done a fairly good job, especially if you’re on The Fort (On3’s The Wolverine) on the message boards over there, I think they’ve done a fairly good job of detailing that. Not necessarily details that I think it’s important for us to dive into—it’s more minutiae based.

“The critical take home points here are—I don’t know that Jedd Fisch is going to be a factor in the Michigan search moving forward. He’s got himself a good job at Washington. It’s one of the better jobs in the Big Ten. In fact, Jedd Fisch may have one of the more underrated jobs in the country. So, it’s not like he needs to be desperate to leave Washington. But I think his name was a factor, I’m not so sure it’s going to be a factor moving forward.”

Fisch’s history at Michigan and where Wolverines go from here

Fisch was considered a quality candidate for the job due to his extensive background in coaching, which includes four different NFL stops and coaching at seven different college programs.

He was the head coach at Arizona from 2021-23 and led a turnaround for the Wildcats under his watch before becoming the head coach of the Huskies in 2024.

In the 2015-16 season, Fisch served as Michigan’s passing game coordinator while also helping with the quarterbacks and wide receivers in his only year with the Wolverines under former head coach Jim Harbaugh.

With Fisch apparently now likely off the board, it looks like the Wolverines will turn to other names of interest.

Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer still seem to be the names that are being thrown around the most during Michigan’s search.

During his show, Pate discussed Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz as a name that is involved.

Former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who is now in the same role with Harbaugh’s LA Chargers, also seems like a possibility, but the NFL Chargers likely making the playoffs could make things tricky timeline wise to make that happen. Plus, Minter is very likely to be considered for an NFL job in the near future, meaning the Wolverines would likely have to compete against other NFL teams to hire him.

The clock is ticking with the winter transfer portal window beginning on Jan. 2, so whoever Michigan hires, ideally it would be done before that date comes up.

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