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Guy - Oh, I know what he's saying, he just doesn't know what he's talking about. He's a nice guy, I think, but ... being a nice guy does not validate his claims. Such unproven bears would not have 100% known bear DNA. Black bear DNA comes from black bears. Period. That's all we have from North America .. 100% known bear species. To date the unidentified DNA samples point to a primate nearer human than chimp or gorilla. Bears are completely off the playing field not even relevant to the discussion. Hiflier is a good guy but he does not have the foggiest idea what he's talking about when it comes to DNA, how it works, how testing works, what the results mean, nor, apparently, what the history of BF DNA testing has been to date. So far, what he's offered is a technical sounding smokescreen of word salad. Remember when it was said that Ketchum was "not even wrong" because there was no valid connection between the inputs offered and the conclusion drawn? Same thing here, hiflier is "not even wrong" because the dots he's trying to connect are not relevant to each other. He's ignoring what's inconvenient and connecting what's irrelevant. I don't know how to talk sense to him, at this point it's like trying to talk logic to a crazy person you can only talk sense to by bringing yourself into their crazy. He doesn't seem to have enough science to understand how screwed up his notion of science is ... and it's circular and self-perpetuating. I feel sorry for him but he can't be helped until he wants help. He doesn't want out of being wrong, he wants everyone else to join him in there. Can't. Won't. MIB

How does the imaginary bear account for the unknown primate DNA and unknown primate hairs? That DNA was about 1/10th of the way from ours towards chimp. That. Ain't. A. Freakin'. Bear. I don't know how to say that any more clearly. If you want to hang onto being wrong, I can't stop you. MIB

On livestock predation. I'm sure it is happening. What probably distinguishes a BF killing a calf, from a cat, bear or wolf is most likely how far they are willing/able to drag the kill to consume it. Too, there is a lot of blood spilled in the process, which gets noticed. If you can believe the accounts of witnesses on this point, BF kill by ambush and dead blows with the hands. As one witness said, "Like pounding on a table top with its fists." This is not going to leave a blood trail at the kill site. The ability to pick up the kill and transport it over long distances to where others might share in the kill is also likely. This is the difference between a rancher seeing a greasy spot and bones where his calf or ewe used to be, and having that awareness of a predator, or just having to wonder why he is down -1 on his head count because it seems to have up and disappeared. Big difference.

Red, Aim the mics down and have them stick out only a 1/8" or so out of the enclosure. I would cut holes in the bottom just wide enough so that the mic fits snug. That way, when it rains, the water will drip away. Placing the mic facing the ground will keep it dry and you won't miss anything. Realize that you are not going to be able to track an animal based on sound recordings, so stereo recording is useless. Use mono.