The Researchers Habituation And Field Observations Thread "a Place To Discuss Your Activities, Thoughts, Observations, Methods And Results.

[CMBigfoot]

My curiosity bait for this particular spot would be live bait.

 

The timber is so thick at this spot it's the only thing I can think of to possibly have a bigfoot break cover long enough to get a decent thermal video of one.

[Gotta Know]

I was also curious about your curiosity bait. Sounds like a novel approach (guessing a trapped rabbit, ground squirrel, chipmunk, etc--possibly even an amphibian of some sort like a bullfrog--something large enough to warrant them taking a risk to get the calories), but you definitely should check your game regs. I imagine you'd have a hard time explaining to a game warden why you have a chipmunk in a small plexiglass box hanging from a tree 12' off the ground. Just sayin'...

 

Oh--and another idea just hit me. Why not film the surrounding areas (a back trail camera) while YOU are doing your bait gathering? My guess is that you will be raising their curiosity simply by your hunting/gathering activities alone.

 

Cool stuff. Good luck!

[CMBigfoot]

In the 20 years I've been bigfooting. I've never had a Game Warden or anybody stop in and ask me what are you doing? When I am wearing a bigfoot research t-shirt or camo and hitting a tree with a baseball bat as they drive by. They will stare as they slowly drive by, but never stop in.

[JKH]

I am just going through my audio from camping last weekend. It appears that I got one nice, although distant, vocal. It sounds like a five second siren-like howl that breaks in pitch a little. It doesn't sound canine to me. First time luck! I know, it's nothing new to most here, but I'm still excited.

[Bigtex]

Hey Nathan.......are you taking any pictures during your research? If so.......please post some:)

[SWWASAS]

CM not the case with me.     I have run into the Government scientists in the field and had a county sheriff deputy stop and ask me why I was standing in the bed of my truck looking into a clearcut.   (I thought I saw a stump move).     The scientists would not tell me why they were there and the license plate of the vehicle at the trailhead was US Government.         I have no proof but I think in my research area the government at both the state and national level knows what is out there.   One look at me and I think they know why I am there even without a T shirt.   But I am evasive and say I am into wildlife photography when asked.    That is true but at the same time evasive.      Randy

[NathanFooter]

 Bigtex, I will be soon uploading a ton of photos here, I am currently compiling a list and getting some additional information that relates to them finished up. 

I do have to wait for our data to refresh witch is several days from now.

[CMBigfoot]

Yesterday I tried out my plan (read post #43). The only things I changed were the curiosity bait, no trail camera, I had a campfire from 8:30pm to 10:30pm, and I did a call at 2:22am. The rest of the plan stayed the same except I'm a few months early.

 

The only things interesting that happened was after I did a call I got two separate triple wood knocks about 15 minutes after I called. Then around 3:30am my FLIR recorded a heat signature moving around the timber. The timber is so thick I'm not 100% sure what it is.

[Guest]

You FLIR guys are going to give that up within a few years, you know that right? I'm sure BF have a grapevine, and I'm sure news travels all over the place on it.

 

Overuse of the FLIR and careless use is going to end up being like antibiotics, over-prescribed and eventually almost useless.

 

All the toy-boys, yet, no BF protocol, just go out there and eventually have them figure it out.

 

Oh well, maybe for the best...

Here's one of my plans I've been thinking about for this summer. I'm going to go back to the last place I had possible bigfoot activity (power knocks and calls). This spot has a history of bigfoot activity, a water source, big timber, and plenty of food. Its elevation is around 4000ft, so it will be at least July or August for the huckleberries to ripen. Then I'll wait for clear/mostly clear and calm weather to go. On clear, calm, no moon nights I'll focus more on hearing calls. On clear, moonlit nights I'll focus more on possible camp visitations. Either way I'll still have my FLIR, parabolic mic and recorder set up at night only.

 

My plan is when I arrive at the camp site. I'll get out and walk around the camp site, lake, road, and trails looking and listening to see what is and what was around. When I get back to the camp site I'll change my clothes to camo or earthtone colors. Then I'll clean up the camp site if it needs it and then work on getting a curiosity bait. When I'm at the camp site I'll do a short single tone whistle around every 30 minutes or so and write in my field notes/journal ever so often. I won't have a campfire and I don't put food bait out. IMO the bigfoots don't need our food and are better without it.

 

Around dusk I'll set up the FLIR, parabolic mic, and recorder in a blind or tent and face them towards the area I heard the power knocks come from. Hopefully by now I'll have my curiosity bait and I'll set it up 6ft on a tree about 20 yards or less away in front of the FLIR. I'll put a trail camera on the opposite side of camp where I don't want a bigfoot to approach. Then I'll do one last check of the equipment to make sure everything is working well and in place. Before I crawl in the back of my truck, I'll do three tree knocks, wait then do one single tree knock only loud enough for something around 100 yards or less to hear it. Then I'll listen for about 10 minutes for a return knock or footfalls, hopefully coming my direction. If I hear something or not, I'll get in the back of my truck and get out of sight and have the canopy windows open so I can listen until I fall asleep.

 

In the morning I'll turn off all the equipment and check everything out. If I get anything good I'll adjust my plans accordingly. If I don't get anything it's no big deal. Then I'll repeat everything for the duration of my stay.

 

Now I just have to wait several more months to try this plan out at this location.

Uhm, and this doesn't 'feel' like a trap?

 

After contact has been made will try to gain their trust to the point where we can collect DNA , high definition footage and document behavior and habits.

 

LMAO, mutually opposed perspectives there N8! LoL!

 

Nate, why don't you stop the nonsense and just go ''Robert Morgan''? I mean, your just about there, just stop the nonsense. Get in touch with your inner hippie.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Wag

[SWWASAS]

Nathon:   I just reread this thread and had a couple of thoughts.       I have been in contact with two habitation situations and in both cases they are so anti science that they refuse to allow experimentation.     I have proposed to them a couple of experiments that would tell us a great deal about what we are dealing with.      BF like to examine human artifacts and I have suggested that one experiment be to leave out simple drawings and drawing materials and see if what if anything they would do with it.      If they can produce recognizable drawings of anything, even stick figure characters,  then we are dealing with a human or near human creature.   Apes will use drawing materials but just scribble.     The other part if this if they go along with drawing mimicry is to test for color blindness by using standard color blindness tests or simple variations of them.     If math is a universal language perhaps simple math should be attempted.      Like II+II=IIII   or   I+I= II They seem to use sticks as glyphs so something like that may be understandable to them given enough exposure.     Leave out several samples with the solutions, then introduce unsolved problems.     It could be done with sticks.      All it would take is a curious teen age BF that wants to play to get that sort of thing started.  That playing behavior has been reported to me in habitation situations.     But you have to have a stable, and for them safe, habitation environment to conduct experiments, it might be possible to do testing and start learning their capabilities.    

 

 Finally, and this would be a bit expensive,   I think the best ways to their heart would be to set up a veritable buffet once a week in some active area.     Lots of choices of food for them safe location.     I am not talking about a few apples in a bowl but an honest to goodness buffet line with a variety of food.     Set it up just before dark and leave the area.     Avoid cameras, recorders, or any gadgets at first until you gain their trust.      You would learn what they like, don't like, and if they appreciate it, eventually you might be able to get them to approach in daylight hours and use hidden cameras..    BF Golden Corral and hopefully the whole family would come.     This would have to be in some relatively accessible by vehicle location that they seem to frequent.     If anyone has such a situation location they might give it a try.     It if works,  it sure would be a lot easier than chasing them around the woods with cameras hoping for a good photograph.         Randy

Edited June 13, 2014 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Guest]

 Bigtex, I will be soon uploading a ton of photos here, I am currently compiling a list and getting some additional information that relates to them finished up. 

I do have to wait for our data to refresh witch is several days from now.

Enjoyed your Blog NathanFooter. Good luck with your research.

[Bigtex]

Hey Nathan.......can you give us the pros & cons of the thermal you bought recently? I will be getting one soon, and was thinking about the same model as yours.......what's your opinion?

[NathanFooter]

 Hey everyone, I have been very busy out in the field the past couple weeks and I will soon be back out again.  The best pros/features are 60 Hrtz video recording { not the super jumpy video recording witch often in most thermal monocular systems is around 9 frames per second }, rugged construction, manual focus, external power via 12 volt input, easy to use up against optical glasses, instant still photos at a touch of a button { very fast and easy with very little if any image smearing on a moving subject }, great resolution for the price range but it should be noted that it is a digital output to 320X240 but the senor has a native resolution of 160X120, 9 color pallets from white hot to color spectrum to instalert, ultra easy controls and very easy to use in complete darkness as there are no switches, knobs or clips to mess with, just 4 buttons and the battery door clip latch and a finally a tripod mount.

 

 Now the cons  > 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours on 4 AA's { not terrible but not as good as some of the newer FLIR models }, 15 to 20 second power up to image time, this can be critical for night operations where a subject is moving away but again not terrible but note worthy, external power cable plugin is in the front of the unit beside the lens and can be a bit cumbersome to move around with while rigged for external power { not a huge issue for me as I use this feature mostly on a tripod for DVR type use } and the unit is not water proof { though somewhat water resistant being wrapped in a silicone sleeve along with silicone plated buttons }.

 

 All of the cons are minor in my opinion and I am still very pleased with my purchase, I will be taking a deeper look into long term DVR recording capabilities it has as well as going over the manual to double check and see if there is a motion activated recording feature on the unit. I will update after more tests and informational reading.   Hope this helps.

[CMBigfoot]

Hi NathanFooter,

 

Check your email too read about my bigfoot sighting I just had in the Mt. Hood N.F.

[CMBigfoot]

For next year I'm going to make a few minor adjustments to my plan in post #43.

 

1) Instead of waiting on the huckleberries in August. I'm going to go in June/July when the water level is high and reaches the edge of the forest. And the waterfowl and their young are hiding in the brush.

 

2) Instead of aiming my FLIR in the direction of the power knocks I've heard before. I'm going to aim it at the meadow where I saw a bigfoot this past summer and use a different curiosity bait.

 

3) I'm not going to do any knocks, whistles, or calls. Just be quiet and watch the forest/waters edge during the day.

 

4) Keep my camera fully charged and with me from the time I wake up to the time I fall asleep.

 

5) If I see a bigfoot again I will not chase after it, especially at dusk. I will stay at my camp site and out of sight.