Anyone Interested In Starting A Maryland Group?

[Guest shoot1]

I don't have much free time to dedicate to "finding bigfoot", but I'm occasionally available on weekends. If anyone is interested in weekend expeditions, hikes, camping, or to follow up on sightings on our own, maybe we can organize something. I'm a vet and I'm pro-kill but I don't think that hunting one is an option in Maryland so I am interested in photographing, videotaping and documenting as much as possible. Once we see how many people are interested/available and what they're capable of, then we can organize something.

[gigantor]

hey shoot, welcome to the BFF.

I'm in Odenton (by Ft Meade) and it would be cool, only problem is that there are no BF in MD!

We would have to go to the WV border... and even then it's doubtful.

[Guest wudewasa]

But the BFRO says there are... http://bfro.net/GDB/state_listing.asp?state=md

[Guest shoot1]

Yeah, I'm inclined to believe there are several good spots and the BFRO reports back that up. I'm thinking a night time hike with infrared equipment might be fruitful. I'm also looking into buying a parrot drone and rigging it with IR. You could deploy something like that after hearing a vocalization or having an encounter. Not sure anyone has tried that yet. (A parrot wont work well at night, but an rc copter can.) I can't afford to do everything I'd like, but if we get a large enough group we can start a group equipment fund. See http://dronehacks.com/ for inspiration.

Edited May 13, 2012 by shoot1

[Guest]

...only problem is that there are no BF in MD!

I don't know how the area is *now*, but during the 1980's IIRC there was a lot of forested land in the area of Lexington Park, especially to the west and south of that city....

[Guest shoot1]

There are plenty of parks, refuges, lakes, reservoirs, the Patapsco river, and wildlife preserves connected by Greenways and/or waterways in Eastern Maryland, and enough reports to justify at least plotting the reports on a map before writing it off...

http://userpages.umb...BFSynopsis.html

http://naturalplane....-frederick.html

http://www.gcbro.com...legany0001.html

http://www.gcbro.com/MDcecilcty.html

This swamp sounds like it might be an area worth scouting out in a vehicle, even during the day:

http://www.gcbro.com...rundel0003.html

This night encounter describes the area well enough that we might be able to find and investigate it directly:

http://bfro.net/GDB/...rt.asp?id=30634

and of course (as mentioned already)

http://bfro.net/GDB/...ng.asp?state=md

... I'm a vet and I'm pro-kill but I don't think that hunting one is an option in Maryland...

I went to edit the original post but it's too late - just wanted to clarify that I'm a veteran, not a veterinarian - my original point being that I'm comfortable in the woods and hiking/staying awake all night if I need to. I'm hoping to get a group organized and start expeditions before the end of the summer. If it turns out to be something we'd like to do on a regular basis, we can set up some kind of legal arrangement so we can more easily pool our resources.

Edited May 13, 2012 by shoot1

[Guest]

I live in College Park and I would love to get out in the field for some research and scouting. I am convinced that Bigfoot can live in MD, despite what others say. Ive been wanting to link up with other 'footers for awhile but few seem interested.

[Guest shoot1]

I hesitate because I don't want to end up stuck with some strange Kook, but we can have a few meetups first to see if we are all on the same sheet of music. I'll be upfront about another thing, too - I need to do some hiking and drop some weight first so I don't end up on the receiving end of CPR/mouth-to-mouth from Patty's uglier sister. I think I can be completely back in shape by the end of the summer.

[gigantor]

Like I said, y'all best aim west, way west.

[Guest shoot1]

That's awesome - it'd be interesting to track the changes in that vs reported sightings, but the Eastern part of MD appears to be the darkest part of Maryland on your map. Specifically: Chesapeake Forest Lands, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Ellis Bay Wildlife Mgt Area, Deal Island Wildlife Mangement Area, & Janes Island State Park

I was thinking of referencing 3 other things - and correlating them with a map/timeline of reports, possibly using a (free) GIS...

Estimated Deer Population

http://dnr.maryland.gov/dnrnews/pressrelease2007/121707a.html

Construction permits

http://planning.maryland.gov/msdc/newhh/annual/2011/table2A_2011.PDF

and Livestock Predation Reports (which I can't seem to find, if that is even documented in MD).

Here's a starting point for anyone else who is so inclined: http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/

[gigantor]

That's awesome - it'd be interesting to track the changes in that vs reported sightings, but the Eastern part of MD appears to be the darkest part of Maryland on your map. Specifically: Chesapeake Forest Lands, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Ellis Bay Wildlife Mgt Area, Deal Island Wildlife Mangement Area, & Janes Island State Park

My problem with the eastern part of the state is that it's flat agricultural land and surrounded. If BF lives there, it is restricted to a small section of land.

I was thinking of referencing 3 other things - and correlating them with a map/timeline of reports

Check out our classification project which is still in it's infancy... it has Mangani's entire google earth dataset as a starting point and we are on our way to classifying all reports. We just started that phase last month. Note the option to search only classified reports... do a few searches and hopefully you'll see the value of it.

http://www.bigfootfo.../ssr/index.html

Edited May 14, 2012 by gigantor

[Guest shoot1]

My problem with the eastern part of the state is that it's flat agricultural land and surrounded. If BF lives there, it is restricted to a small section of land.

Check out our classification project which is still in it's infancy... it has Mangani's entire google earth dataset as a starting point and we are on our way to classifying all reports. We just started that phase last month. Note the option to search only classified reports... do a few searches and hopefully you'll see the value of it.

http://www.bigfootfo.../ssr/index.html

mangani?

[gigantor]

Mangani has done outstanding work for years, taking BFRO, TBRC and most other sighting reports and creating a google earth layer matching gps coordinates to each report.

We took that layer and added corresponding altitudes from NASA for our project. Now we're classifying the reports based on our own criteria. Did you search our database?

Edited May 14, 2012 by gigantor

[Guest shoot1]

Mangani has done outstanding work for years, taking BFRO, TBRC and most other sighting reports and creating a google earth layer matching gps coordinates to each report.

We took that layer and added corresponding altitudes from NASA for our project. Now we're classifying the reports based on our own criteria. Did you search our database?

WOW. Mangani did some incredible work - no, haven't logged in to search it. Will do so in the a.m. *But*I did dl his data to Google Earth. If there was a way to play back the appearance of reports over time I think we might see some kind of a general migration pattern because if you look at a few hotspots they seem to move inland / west. Being able to see towns grow/develop over time would also help.

Edited May 14, 2012 by shoot1

[Guest shoot1]

My problem with the eastern part of the state is that it's flat agricultural land and surrounded. If BF lives there, it is restricted to a small section of land.

Check out our classification project which is still in it's infancy... it has Mangani's entire google earth dataset as a starting point and we are on our way to classifying all reports. We just started that phase last month. Note the option to search only classified reports... do a few searches and hopefully you'll see the value of it.

http://www.bigfootfo.../ssr/index.html

That is pretty cool, I didn't try it last night because I thought I had to log in to use it. I also think Google earth is pretty powerful, with mangani's data plugged into it - I just need to become a "power user" to get it to do what I want it to.