Gifford Pinchot Encounter April 21, 2015

[SWWASAS]

By display do you mean the chuffing?     If so I am guessing a 100 yards or so.  Might be more because it really was not all that loud.      The tree density there is not normal density but less than normal density of trees.   So I think the chuffer stayed far enough away to stay out of sight of me.         There are charred down trees all over the place so it is part of a large forest fire at some point in time.     The trees now are 30 to 50 feet tall.    When the one chuffed I was on the passenger side, and got very interested in leaving, thinking about the one I had heard earlier that had approached me from behind.    I half expected it to be on the other side of the truck someplace. Ready to grab me.

Edited April 22, 2015 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[gigantor]

  When the one chuffed I was on the passenger side, and got very interested in leaving, thinking about the one I had heard earlier that had approached me from behind.    I half expected it to be on the other side of the truck someplace.    

 

 

:lol: 

 

We did too in our experience. I was like "let's get back to the truck and get the...   out of here!"

 

The difference is there was two of us, you were by yourself and that is a huge. (Unless you're Huntster)

[SWWASAS]

I am not at all sure in retrospect that it was what I have experienced before that I have called zapping. This was audible, lasted two to three seconds. The previous zapping experience over a year ago, the only thing audible was my gut buzzing and it was non directional. I could not tell where it was coming from. It seemed to surround me. Yesterday it was audible and very directional. I knew exactly where it was coming from and right before it happened I heard the low foot fall thumps I feel are from BF moving around coming from that exact location. This yesterday was more like a drumming chest beating thing I have heard before. That was directional too. The second one was from behind me, relative to the first one, and further away but I could determine the direction. I did and still have pain in my gut but it seems more related to a case of diverticulitis that flared up last night. Most likely nothing to do with the experience yesterday. My feeling at the time that it was that either it was a warning to me, or it was a warning to other BF that I was in the area, or perhaps both. It seemed like the one that got in behind me must have been off to the North, and returned to the area when it heard the first thumping. I am still trying to find that on my recording, but it may be that it was too low a frequency and not in the form of pressure waves. The chuffing was different than I remembered. Really makes a difference when you have a recording. That place could be very interesting at night, but the drive out of there in the dark would be very dangerous. Can only go about 5 to 10 MPH because of the huge potholes, ruts, and in some places a 1000 cliff to drive off.

Edited April 22, 2015 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[BobbyO]

It sounds like you are describing something different from what the other Guy experienced that I spoke about, kind of.

The fear kicking in is still there though.

[gigantor]

It could take days for you to settle down your emotions and start objectively looking back at what happened...

 

Don't be too gung-ho to try to explain everything right now. Take a break. Just my 2 cents.

[Airdale]

Thanks for the report SW. WRT silent vs. audible "zapping", I'm not certain it would make a difference whether there was an audible component or not. The ultrasound that a tiger uses to immobilize its prey is a component of the audible roar. Bagpipes also produce ultrasound, one of the reasons they were such a success in helping overcome resistance on the battlefield. Jeff Meldrum in "Sasquatch - Legend Meets Science" talks about the air sacs many of the great apes have connected to their respiratory system that might produce the same effect as the bagpipe, as well as allowing the long, drawn out calls often reported and recorded.

[norseman]

Did it sound anything like this?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pSif5MR9nq8

[Airdale]

Just realized that in my post at the top of this page I used ultrasound when I meant infrasound. Mea culpa. Great video link Norse. I noted near the end the popping noise that is often reported in BF vocalizations.

[WSA]

Interesting sounds.  It almost sounds like to me (although not) like a bullroarer, if you know what that is, because of the oscillation I detect. Hard to tell though. The impression I get is definitely of something disturbing the air with a low frequency vibration. This time of year I assume you are going to have ruffed grouse drumming in your area, and I know you know enought to distinguish those. This  doesn't sound like a grouse to me. To my ears, grouse always sound like a Tecumseh or B&S lawnmower engine trying to turn over and dying before it gets fully up to speed. In fact, as a  kid, I was once convinced myself  that somebody had a lawn they were mowing out in the middle of the mountains, and the plug was fouled! Couldn't understand how that sound could be anything else, until I flushed one (AND had a heart attack), realized what it was and remembered grouse drumming from some deep recess of my adolescent brain. Life is for learning..

[SWWASAS]

Did it sound anything like this?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pSif5MR9nq8

If you extrapolate the chest beating the gorilla does and apply the same thing to a much larger creature with a much larger chest volume, I can see how deeper and more drum like could be the same thing. Actually the vocals the gorilla is making before the beating chest is somewhat similar to what I recorded too. The chest beating, if that what it was started slow and rapidly ramped un in beats per second just like the gorilla.

I was thinking about the BF motivation before. This area is remote. Far more remote than the place I had contact before which is within miles of a house here and there. So these BF are true back country BF and probably do not deal with interlopers the same way. I apparently did place myself between at least two of them. Possibly that was the issue. One was off chasing elk or something and I come along and get between it and its mountain home.

Anyway the important thing is that I have established contact and know where to go. This area is prime for hidden game cameras. These BF were moving around in the day and will continue to do so when humans are not around. The less dense trees makes a passive interval camera more likely to catch something moving. I also have a volunteer member here who wants to go back with me. He can identify himself or not as he wishes. Like I said, right now, the aggressive nature of my first contact, makes me believe I need to get them used to me before I go back alone. I need to figure out something interesting to do so they will want to come watch rather that try to get me to leave.

[WSA]

How long can you stand on your head? I'm serious.

[CMBigfoot]

Hi SWWASQUATCH,

If you go back to the same spot with a partner and hear the drumming sound again. Set up a videocamera on a tripod then have your partner run towards the drumming sound. If it's a ruffed grouse it will fly away. If it's a booger then you'll have some great video to share with us.

[Guest]

Thank you for taking the time to put this together for us. I can appreciate what you must be thinking and feeling at this point and hope you continue to research the area...but please don't go back solo.

And honestly, a .44 mag is a nice piece, but I'd have a long gun with me too.

[SWWASAS]

Thanks for the concern Northfork.     I will go back with someone for a while until I can assess how aggressive they really are.    I keep saying to myself that I want to provoke one into a full visual bluff charge but after this experience not sure my ticker could take that.   The gun thing is a quandary for me.    The two that did the chest beating thing, or whatever it was,  were probably too far away to see that I was wearing one.  Once it started raining before the second thing, I had my fleece shirt over the gun to keep it from getting wet.    By the time the one did the chuffing thing,   I was in the go home mode, it was raining hard, and I had taken the gun off and put it in my truck.   I was just standing around hoping to get some audio with the recorder in the truck and unarmed at that point.     So maybe that is why the chuffer thought it safe to do his thing.    Who knows.  But if a gun is displayed will anything happen?   I don't know.   

 

I just went through the entire audio tape.   Where I think the first chest beating thing, infrasound attempt, or whatever it was, happened the wind was picking up as the rain storm was coming in and the wind noise in the recorder totally covers up anything that happened right then.     The rain hit shortly after that, and I covered the recorder up with a baggy to keep it from getting wet.    From that point on, you hear a lot of rain on the bag, my footsteps and not much else until I got back to the truck.   I may have been walking and not stopped soon enough when the second one happened too.     If I am walking my foot steps pretty much cover up anything else.    That second one scared me more than the first because it was in behind me and on my way out.   I had one flank me one time and know if they are doing that, they using tactics humans used to trap or attack an enemy.     It is not passive behavior but something used in an aggressive manner that could be part of an attack.   Distract in one direction and while one comes up behind.    I did not really plan to do a lot of hiking that day because of a previous knee injury and just wanted to scope out this area more.      Normally I would not even go with a chance of ran like that.     I carry around about a 1000 worth of camera and recording gear and do not want it to get wet.   

 

Are people hearing the chuffing?     My computer has a special audio card so not sure a garden variety computer can play like it does.    One guy said it sounds like a crow to him.    Sure does not to me.    Sounds more like the chuffing thing that Norseman posted with the gorilla.    Notice how the pitch goes up and down for each chuff?   Sounds sort of like a saw sawing wood only different size pieces of wood with each saw stroke.   That sort of rules out bird to me.   For me the chuffing experience pretty well nails down ape.   That and the chest thumping thing, just does not seem like any human behavior I know of in any primitive culture.    Of course what do we know about Neanderthal behavior?    They could have beat chest and done all manner of vocalizations to intimidate a stranger. 

[CMBigfoot]

Here's a  video of what I was talking about. If you have time check it out and start it at the 2:37 mark. The raven wing woosh sound sounds the same as your ape chuffing sound, at least on my laptop it does.