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Hi folks sorry for your concern. As the big male BF told me once in a dream, rumors of my extinction are very much exaggerated. Or maybe that was Mark Twain. I lost access (password) to the yahoo account that I use for the forum and due to that and a fussy password here have been unable to sign in. Just now figuring out how to get back in although logging in here was confusing and it took me several trys to get in. I did have a bad case of COVID in 2020 that took me out of field work. Have not fully recovered yet. In the mean time I have had a lot of time to think about field work in general. My encounter experience progressed from playful interaction at first and got more and more ounfriendly as time went on. I was dealing with a family group in a fairly small area who were apparently not nomadic in that they were there year round. Then clear cut logging started at the North end of their area and worked south wiping out most lanes of travel cover for them. I was present in the daytime three or more times a week. I had to have been a major problem for their food gathering and hunting. As you may remeber I cornered one against a ridgeline and advanced on it as fast as I could move through difficult down wood, trying to get it to break cover. That got me growled at and a tree broken off behind me. The final contact resulted in an infrasound attack from a very close distance. I cannot understand how I did not see the administrator of that attack because it was less than 10 feet away as evidenced by a large depression in the veggetation. It was painful, frightening, and kept me out of the woods for a couple of months. As I recovered from Covid I had a lot of time to think. The combination of my frequent presence and the clear cutting process had to put a lot of stress on that family group. I did not see or understand that I was a big part of their problem. They may have even thought I was part of the clear cut crew. I stopped seeing any footprints after a few months and stopped having any contact. Anyway I feel a lot of guilt for my part in disrupting their life and being part of the forces that made them move. The final concern I have about continuing with field work in some form is that along with the infrasound event, I had several instances where I heard something moving close by and should have seen it because of lack of cover, but did not see a thing. In one case something ran past behind me and hit my pack. I was in the middle of a logging road with no cover with ten yards or so. I cannot help but shake the feeling that they are capable of masking or going invisible somehow. Are we dealing with some predator type creature? tha Anyway that is were I am with regard to field work. I do not plan on staying out of the woods but my primary purpose for being there will be for some other reason. Maybe that is the best route to take anyway?

#1 - welcome back! That was a lot of information packaged into a single post. On the unfriendly interactions. On the Omaha Rez we preach over and over that it's about respect. When you go into their house, you need to respect the residents. That is about the reaction I'd expect to cornering one or being where they need you not to be. If it were me, I would go back and apologize. I know that will sound silly to some, but in my world it's the right thing to do. And I think it matters... On the hitting your backpack or being touched while obviously nobody is around you is unusual, and can challenge your world view. There are lots of instances like this on the Omaha Rez, and once I felt a touch on the back with nobody near me. One of my friends said something came out of a tree, hit the ground running and brushed him as it went by. He only heard it and felt it, but never saw it. He called it Counting Coup... On the "invisible" thing and "preditor" mode. I've heard this too many times to write it off. Just don't ask me to explain how it could possibly be true. I had an experience in Iowa last year that left me with the same feeling you have about it.... Can't shake it. Again... Welcome Back...

Welcome RolandJones , Spreek & Alan !

Now he tells us! At least we know @gigantor respects our confidentiality right until the subpoena is under his nose, lol!

I know they like trees, it was hiding behind one.