Hunt Of The Century

[VAfooter]

A couple of articles on the issues of seeing in the IR/UV spectrums...

 

 

http://io9.com/superpower-vision-lets-cats-and-dogs-see-in-ultraviolet-1525842007


https://hplusbiopolitics.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/therma-vision/

[BobbyO]

Hello BobbyO,In following up on the idea of BF being on the move, along with bears, deer, elk, and other animals both large and small a question comes to mind. Would the SSR benefit at all with having the sightings database expanded to include recent wildfire occurring during or before a specific area's sighting event? An example would be say a sighting reported in the Southern region of the Colville Forest during or after the current fire there? Not saying there will be a sighting of course but searching the archived logs of wildfire dates and seeing if there's a correlation to any BF sightings in the database might show something of interest?

I think that can be done as a project by someone really who had some time on their hands, I can't really see us incorporating anything specifically into the database regarding fires.

It could show something of interest, you're right, but I think we're talking about approx ( off the top of my head ) 5 visual reports per year from WA over the last 30 years or so, it's such a small number set that we'd struggle to find anything conclusive or really of note IMO.

Another one to think about is 411 books.

I initially had a little look about a year or so back and kind of gulped at what I found initially if I remember right, but then got sidetracked with life as happens so often and haven't got round to following it up again yet,

Edited August 14, 2015 by BobbyO

[Shelly]

Of course this is all hypothetical, but I guess I would take a traditional big game hunting approach to some extent.  

 

1) Where will you go? What area in north America gives you the best shot at proving the creatures existence?

 

Florida.  I live here. There are a lot of sightings.  I am generally familiar with Florida terrain,weather, animal life, etc.  I live in a wetlands preserve and hike in a pine barren. I would be totally out of my element, say, in Washington state, etc.  

2) What gear will you be taking and what strategies will you be deploying?

 

The nice thing is that Florida is not vastly vast. It may be possible to find a house on a good lot of property to use as a base camp or to embark out of.  Other than that, in the fall and spring months, Florida weather is nice and you don't need as much gear as you would climbing mountains or hiking 50 miles into a forest.  The main piece of gear would be one of my high powered rifles. Normally I do not use a scope, but I would rig up one for the hunt. I would put more time into researching a location and studying the best possible area ahead of time, rather than just picking a spot and looking blindly. I would use the day to pursue the hunt, and at night, wait and see if anything approached the camp. I don't think I would just pick one spot and sit there and wait. 

 

3) How costly will it be?

 

Aside from food and provisions, there would be time off work, transportation (negligible within state), etc. It would depend on if I had to pay people to accompany me.

4) How long will it take?

 

Who knows.  

5) How many people will you be bringing with you and what positions will they fill?

I would want a tracker and/or experienced hunter.  I would want someone with some knowledge of the area if possible.  For example, if someone had a lot of activity on their property over time, I would want them to come with me. I am not a hunter, so this is all hypothetical.  But, I am a good marksman and can handle high power hunting type rifles. I would have to rely on others to get me close for the big shot.

 

I guess there would be something like myself, a hunter/tracker, local expert/guide, and two people to carry ammunition and supplies. So five-ish people? 

 

[ShadowBorn]

I wonder this, but can't find info on it anywhere so I'm just asking it here. And I'm not allowed to start a thread yet (insert self-pitying sad face here).  There are enough sightings of BF in the daytime to make me believe that they simply are not nocturnal. They may not follow the human circadian rhythm of sleep/awake, but I think searching for them at night only increases the gap between our senses and theirs. So, if anything, BF see us better in the night, so we have pretty much no chance of detecting them at night before they detect us. From evolution, they likely hear and detect scent better than we do. I hypothesize that the reason they are so successfully elusive to humans is that they can sense us in ways we can't imagine...sight, sound, smell, electromagnetically?

 

Plus, those red eyes so many report may have qualities on the ultra-violet spectrum that we can't even imagine.

Certainsum1

It does not matter at what time of day you go looking for them, they are there when they want to watch you. The electromagnetically I am not sure , but believe that this would only work for navigation. I am sure that their senses are way more a tune in the forest then ours. When they are around people they do not move much since their movement is what will catch the eye of others. I have crept up on plenty deer while stalking with my bow by moving slow and stopping every so many feet.. It is also this thought process that I do not understand that they use on us, or how they are able to know who we are as individuals. They put a X on a trail and I will walk through it to test it.

 

See this thread is hypothetical right! yes I have a hypothetical plan on bagging one of these creatures. Now my thing has always been on killing a aggressive creature that was whacked out of it's mind. weapon of choice would be a 30.06 or bigger like a 308cal. have it set up with two scopes if possible. one scope would be a regular close quarter scope and the other scope a thermo scope. The objective would be to have the creature come to me. I would what ever it takes to bring that creature in for a shot. See if you are hunting a rouge creature you will be hunting a specific animal . You will be looking for it's tracks ,figuring out it stumping grounds and try to set up on a ambush. Now since you will be funded by some one who has unlimited funding you be able to hire a helo  crew under contract with a confidentiality agreement their job would be to extract the creature and ground crew. The creature would be flown to a specific site where a large freezer will be waiting where there will be a lab set up for biopsy and DNA extracted and sent to labs with out their knowledge of where the DNA came from. This whole event will be documented on video and downloaded to external hard drive where they will be kept in a safe deposit box where the presence of three people have to be present in order to pull the safe deposit. All handling of the DNA must be documented so that there can be control.. Now since There is a investor involved it would be up to the investor to tell the world of the results if he /she choose so. 

 

The area to choose of where to hunt this creature would depend on where the most aggressive report comes in from a well made web site . It would also depend on how frequent this creature is in this area and how fast one is able to get into an area and begin to hunt. All this would depend on the witnesses and how true they are on what the have seen, a voice analyst or video interpreter would help since money would not be a prob..

 

Recruitment , would include a sniper with a partner  possibly two snipers with  partners who work good together. Some one who can navigate real good, two good shooters for back up and a radio person all who can think on their own. This would be the ground crew, then we would have our helo crew and a back up crew so if and when SITF we can fall back on. The hard part would be placing the shot and this would take time, since their senses are so in tune. we would all have to wear the latest stealth clothing available in order to keep ourselves from detection. We would all have become like ninjas and be invisible in order to dispatch a creature and extract. Silencers would be needed. If this was real world silencer would be way too expensive to get the licenses so the next best thing would be a cross bow. One good placed shot and the creature will go down in time.

[Guest JiggyPotamus]

I saw this thread the day it was posted, and have been thinking about the problem ever since. I finally reached a decision today. First of all, there are multiple approaches that I considered, all of which depend upon whether this is a mission to find and kill a sasquatch, to capture one alive, or to capture one on video. Since everyone will have differing opinions on this matter, and since the method I envision will involve many people, it is only natural to go with a "documentation" approach. This way the no-kill proponents can participate, while the pro-kill proponents should not feel offended and thus refuse to participate.

 

 

1) Where will you go? What area in north America gives you the best shot at proving the creatures existence?

 

Due to the specifications given in this case I believe that the area with the most sighting reports is the best choice. My entire approach is based upon the numbers, and increasing the odds of a successful search, thus this choice is obvious. Washington state is the location with the most sighting reports, and thus the place for my expedition. I would really have to study the areas within the state to reach a conclusion on the exact search area, but initially I would choose the county with the most sightings.

2) What gear will you be taking and what strategies will you be deploying?

 

My expedition will by no means be "covert." However, I have developed a contingency that may or may not be used, in which stationary cameras will be placed over an area of about 50,000 acres, or 78 square miles, which are numbers I will explain shortly. The main plan only consists of arming all search members with video cameras, but the optional method can be applied in tandem. If stationary cameras are to be placed, they should be installed at least one month prior to S-Day, or Search Day, which will be a huge undertaking.

 

I am going to eliminate some of the questions included in the original post and just include that information in a single description. Okay, the main plan is quite simple, and essentially boils down to a large number of people arranging themselves in a huge circle, creating a "human fence" that surrounds a large area. The area chosen if of great importance since a sasquatch must be within the search area for this plan to succeed. The searchers will spread themselves out at a set distance, with an even distance between them, and each member of the search team is responsible for searching and scanning the areas to their front, left, and right. This works out to each person having an extra set of eyes on their left and right targets, while the area directly in front of them is only covered by them alone. Although the smaller the circumference happens to be, or the greater the number of search members, the more likely it is that adjacent individuals can easily see into the search area of another.

 

To understand how many people will be needed, and just how much area can be covered, we will need to introduce a bit of math. I've created some images for this purpose, as well as some variables.

 

 

 

So if you can imagine lots of people arranged in a circle, essentially we are dealing with geometry. I think a reasonable place to start is to have a radius of 5 miles. This means that the diameter of the search area is 10 miles. Thus there will be 10 miles between an individual and another individual directly across from them. The results we get when calculating with these numbers is:

 

 

 

So the search area will be about 80 square miles. This is 50,259 acres. You may easily think of the much larger areas that accompany search and rescue missions and the like, and realize that 80 square miles is not a very big area in comparison. While this may be true we must remember that the search I envision will be a THOROUGH search, as opposed to simply glancing over an area. It must be this way when the animal you are looking for does not wish to be found. Even with this relatively small search area, the number of individuals that will be needed is very large. For instance, let's say that our search team consists of 500 individuals.

 

How far will these individuals be spread apart along the circumference of the search circle? Using the formulas I've created above, there will be 15.9 people for every mile along the circumference, or outer edge, of the circle, when that circumference is 31.41 miles in length. To get a better understanding of what this means, we need to break it down into feet. The equations tell us that there will be 332 feet between each search member, around the entire search circumference. Obviously we can see that 500 people will not be sufficient, since a person cannot thoroughly or sufficiently cover 332 feet by themselves.

 

It should be noted however that the further the search team moves inward, essentially "closing the circle fence," the smaller the number of individuals that will be needed to sufficiently cover the remaining distance. So what will happen is that the coverage will get better and better the farther the team moves towards the center of the circle, where all individuals should meet. To give an example of how the coverage area per person decreases with distance, let's say that the team has moved half the distance to the center of the circle. This means the radius shrinks from 5 miles to 2.5 miles. It works out to 500 people being separated by only 165.82 feet, as opposed to 332 feet. Still not sufficient, but you get the idea.

 

What if we start the search with 1,000 people? This works out to an initial distance between searchers of 168 feet, a distance which, again, would decrease as the search party moves inward, thus increasing the quality of coverage. 168 feet is still a bit much for an individual to cover by themselves, and a sasquatch could easily slip through one of these gaps. The idea is to leave the animal no place to go except either further towards the center of the circle, or into a tree or other hiding place.

 

Let's say we have 2,000 volunteers to search with the expedition. The distance between individuals would be 82.92 feet. Not good enough. What about 10,000 individuals? The distance between people would be 16.58 feet. This is much more manageable, but to ensure that any sasquatch do not escape, I think we would need to shorten even this distance. 15,000 people would be a distance of 11 feet. To get to a number that would be acceptable, the expedition would need at least 20,000 individuals to act as search party members.

 

This number of people presents its own problems, from recruiting them to managing their arrangement, the speed at which they move (which must be consistent between all individuals,) etc...The good news is that such a large number of people would only be needed for a short duration. The average human walking speed is about 3 miles per hour. So just walking the distance to the center of the circle would take a bit over 3 hours. Once you include that fact that a thorough search of a small area by one team member will take time, as will starting and stopping the entire group, plus the fact that a slow pace will be necessary, then it becomes obvious that 1 mile per hour would be a pressing goal. The idea is to complete the search in a single day. A good piece of news is that only a fraction of the original number of people will be needed as the day goes on. This means the pace should actually increase with time, as members of the search party are no longer needed and vacate the area. I think that such an expedition, if properly organized and managed, could be accomplished within a single day.

There are many other factors that I have considered, but I just wanted to present the bare bones of the proposal.

3) How costly will it be?

 

There are going to be a certain number of people who will volunteer for such an expedition, but many of these people will have to have their travel expenses paid for them to get there. This could get expensive. A better solution could be to simply pay people in the local area, people who would not have volunteered. The work will not be strenuous, and many of these people will only be needed for a matter of hours. By combining these various methods of attracting people to the expedition I think the goal could be reached. It is going to cost money to purchase enough 2-way radios for so many people, as every single individual will need one. If every so many people were broken into a team, and a team leader was the only person with a radio, he/she would have to yell down the line at other team members, which would not be as easy as every member being able to immediately receive commands. Another potential cost is to hire people with experience in managing such a large number of individuals. I can foresee so many potential problems to be honest, but I do find solace in the fact that we are only talking about a single day. Such an expedition, were it to go over more than a single day, would have compounding problems. I honestly do not know how costly this expedition would be, especially considering the hidden expenses, spending the time to get permission to cross private property, as well as a host of other factors, but I do know that it will cost a lot.
 

[norseman]

First of all, there are multiple approaches that I considered, all of which depend upon whether this is a mission to find and kill a sasquatch, to capture one alive, or to capture one on video. Since everyone will have differing opinions on this matter, and since the method I envision will involve many people, it is only natural to go with a "documentation" approach. This way the no-kill proponents can participate, while the pro-kill proponents should not feel offended and thus refuse to participate.

-------------------------------------------

Mr. Gates will only pay for physical evidence. He doesnt care if its a body or the creatures DNA. How will your plan provide that?

[BobbyO]

The more people involved, the less realistic any "plan" gets IMO.

[Trogluddite]

*Hypothetical, lets have some fun with this*

Bill Gates being the Pacific NW Billionaire entreprenuer that he is has just decided to fund the biggest Sasquatch hunt of the century. And he has called you to lead the expedition! He wants to know the following things before he writes the check to fund you and he asks for physical proof of the creature existence (Dna, bone, tissue) Anything short of that will be considered a failure.

1) Where will you go? Based on the last 20 years in the northeast, the area between northern Lake George and Whitehall. 

2) What gear will you be taking and what strategies will you be deploying?

 

10 2-man teams able to be in the field 3 (unsupplied) to 6 (resupplied) weeks at a time, equipped w/VHF radios/sat phones, pluggers (GPS), and hi-powered spotting scopes.  Any weapons they carry will primarily be for self-defense. 

 

3 light helicopters (Hueys) w/sufficient aircrews f/round-the-clock operations - insertion, exfiltration, resupply, and eventually targetting.

 

4-6 aerial sharpshooters to be on the Hueys

 

The necessarily logistical and operational footprint (cooks, fuel handlers, loadmasters, medical detachment, commo, and C2) to support and control operations. 

3) How costly will it be? Pretty costly. 

4) How long will it take? Depends how long it takes to get an initial fix on a target ... after that, aircrews insert the 2-man LRRPs to establish a perimeter and maintain a 24-hour aerial overwatch. Continue shrinking the area the target has to operate in by bringing the perimeter teams until the aerial marksmen have a shot.  Alternatively, if the Bigfoot is moving, 1 aircraft leapfrogs teams to keep the movement constrained until the aerial crews have a clean shot. 

5) How many people will you be bringing with you and what positions will they fill?  More than 20; I ran out of fingers and toes.

6) Whom will you be bringing with you? One or two "liaisons" with big suitcases of Bill Gates magic pixie dust to soothe out problems w/local legislators...

Discuss!

[daveedoe]

1) Where will you go? What area in north America gives you the best shot at proving the creatures existence?

 

I would want to do a couple different areas, most likely the Siouxon Creek drainage south of Swift creek Reservoir east to dry creek drainage, and just north of the blast zone of Mt. Saint Helens, south of Riffe Lake. The other area if nothing panned out in those locations would be the Siskiyou Mountain on the California Oregon border.    
 

2) What gear will you be taking and what strategies will you be deploying?

 

The gear would be normal search and rescue gear, plus cameras mounted to helmets, handgun or rifle if anyone wanted to carry.

 I would want a grid search covering each area looking for any signs of Bigfoot activity or actual Bigfoots. No calling or tree knocking.  
 

3) How costly will it be?

 

open checkbook, for equipment and payroll. Maybe a finders fee if Bigfoot is proven to exist. 
 

4) How long will it take?

 

probably a couple years to cover those areas.

5) How many people will you be bringing with you and what positions will they fill?

 

 Not sure what it would take to do a good grid search with a command post with air support. Also a good search and rescue dog team. 

6) Whom will you be bringing with you?

 Wildlife biologist, experienced outdoorsmen, Bill if he wanted to tag along 

[Guest]

Would you hunt primarily during the day or night?

[daveedoe]

day time only. 

[Guest]

Would you hunt primarily during the day or night?

 

After reviewing over 9,000 reports it would appear activity steadily increases at around mid-day peaking at around 11:00P through 2:00A and falls off markedly 4:00A through 1:00P.

[JDL]

1) Where will you go? What area in north America gives you the best shot at proving the creatures existence?

 

I would go to the location in the Sierras where I encountered the pregnant female, was stalked by the three individuals immediately after, and had an adult male reaching into our tent trying to catch our puppy two nights later.  I haven't been to this area for more than three decades, but from internet investigation and satellite images it remains virtually unchanged.  It is an area not far below the tree line sprinkled with dozens of small lakes between low hills (relative to the fact that they are above 6,000 ft elevation).  The lakes are stocked with fish, but I'm not sure what impact the drought has had on water levels.  The drought may actually help to keep the bigfoot fairly close to these water sources.  The only real change to the area I see is that the old dam between two of the lake has been replaced with a new one, maybe two decades ago, and what was once two lakes is now one.

4) How long will it take?

 

I'd start in mid-May and be prepared to operate through the end of September.  I'm not sure what their migratory pattern is, but I've encountered them there there from early June through mid-summer.

 

5) How many people will you be bringing with you and what positions will they fill?

 

No more than six at a time.  Four to six adults at a time  for the first two phases of the operation (at least two women), and intermittently a couple of children for the second and third phases (not as bait, but to appear to be just a couple of families camping - see strategy below).

 

Positions would include a study coordinator (perhaps myself, need someone who can adapt to an opportunity if it presents itself, or in case the plan goes to heck), a technology and network communications technician (going to be a busy guy), a drone operator, three special operations veterans (one of whom will be second in command, and all three cross trained with the technical guys), a woman who is in charge of the camp and preparation of food (to both further the appearance of a camping family and to prepare a key component of the strategy), a woman who is a medical specialist with some experience in radiological medicine.  And an on-call extraction team (pilot and one crew member, preferably also with special ops background, to be supplemented by one of the main team special ops guys upon extraction).

6) Whom will you be bringing with you?

 

Megan Fox.

 

2) What gear will you be taking and what strategies will you be deploying?

 

Obviously we're talking about picking a spot where they are known to be, establishing a passive relationship in the second phase, and then culminating in a capture in the fourth phase.

 

Technology:  We'll instrument the area with solar-recharging,water resistant or waterproofed cell phones (small recharging packs with battery arrays sufficient for at least 72 hours of non-recharging operation) equipped with apps combining GPS, 1980's Position Locating and Reporting System (PLRS) technology, and radiological detection (gamma - bet you didn't know that the cameras in your phones can detect this).  Each phone/sensor, will communicate with the others through the PLRS technology, and be networked with a camp base station that is connected to GPS by satellite phone (no reliance on cell towers).  The PLRS technology will enable each of the phones to communicate with each other and with the base station, providing position and, if moved, direction and rate of travel.  It may also be possible to use each phone as a remote camera and it is possible to equip them with thermal capabilities.  Otherwise standard equipment (rifles, tranquilizer rifles, thermal night vision optics, etc) will be kept at the camp and not brought out into the open until needed in the last phase of the operation.  Team members leaving camp will carry concealed handguns only in the earlier phases.

 

Phase I:  Off-site preparation.

 

This involves getting the most recent satellite and other imagery of the study area (30 miles by 30 miles), getting the best topographical maps available, and performing a full scale terrain analysis.  Where are the best sites for a bigfoot group to stay, where are the places of interest to them (food sources of all types, vantage points, and concealed travel routes between each and throughout the area, etc.).  This will determine where sensor packages will be placed.  During this phase the technology will also be prepared (apps written to integrate the technology capabilities described above and off-site testing of the integrated tech).  Also, planning will be refined and personnel will be trained and cross trained.

 

Phase II:  Establishment.

 

Mid-May two families set up camp at the study site and go about the business of having a good time.  Fishing, hiking, good food, savory cooking smells, campfire gatherings, etc.  Nothing rowdy.  Just new neighbors moving in.  During day trips for fishing and hiking, the sensor packs can be emplaced.  There will probably be visitations during this time.  After a couple of weeks, the drone can be introduced, with the drone operator using it to "play" with the kids, sending it out over the lake, up the slopes, high into the air, etc.  It will be introduced irregularly over the next two weeks to allow the bigfoot to become at least a little less wary of it.  At the end of this phase, the drone can be used to emplace sensor packs in "No Go" areas (those believed to harbor the bigfoot family group).  The drone can also carry a radiological compound in the final portion of this phase to test the coverage of the radiological sensors and determine any blind spots where other sensors may be required.  Finally, during this phase savory cooking of bacon, grilled cheese, fish in butter and herbs will be a regular aspect of camp life.  Once the bigfoot visitations start (predicted within the first two weeks by experience), some of this food will be left where the bigfoot can obtain it, either by stealth, or as a perceived offering.  This is a crucial part of the pattern that needs to be established.

 

Phase III:  Baiting.

 

In this phase, the daily activity pattern is maintained, but the children (who have always come and gone for a few days at a time) will not be present.  The bait consists of the same food that the bigfoot have had access to, but it will now be dosed with small amounts of a radiological compound used in medical imaging (8 day half life).  Consumed by at least one bigfoot, it makes that individual trackable by the emplaced sensors and by hand held sensors.  Shared with others, they each become trackable.  For the first several days of this phase, once the dosed bait is accepted, the individual(s) will be tracked to determine their activity patterns.  Based on this activity pattern, a fully fledged capture strategy will be developed.

 

Phase IV:  Capture and Extraction.

 

Not a lot new here.  The intent is to use a non-lethal tranquilizer followed by aerial extraction.  Lethal means can be used as a fall back.  A target individual should be easy to locate and track using the radiological marker.  Drones with optics and sensors integrated into the network can be used to encourage the individual into a capture zone, where it can be tranquilized.  The extraction helicopter will be in the air and over the horizon when the capture phase begins.  The special ops crew member can be prepared to target the capture subject from the air as needed.  A facility to contain the specimen, alive or dead, will be required off-site.

 

3) How costly will it be?

 

How much is Mr. Gates willing to pay?  I'm sure we can do it for less, but will accept the full amount, the unused portion of which will be disbursed to team members as incentive pay.  The amount may be different for a live or dead specimen.  In the event of failure, Mr. Gates would only pay actual costs on the plan to which he has signed off.

Edited August 25, 2015 by JDL

[norseman]

Good plans! Keep em coming!

[FarArcher]

*Hypothetical, lets have some fun with this*

Bill Gates being the Pacific NW Billionaire entreprenuer that he is has just decided to fund the biggest Sasquatch hunt of the century. And he has called you to lead the expedition! He wants to know the following things before he writes the check to fund you and he asks for physical proof of the creature existence (Dna, bone, tissue) Anything short of that will be considered a failure.

1) Where will you go? What area in north America gives you the best shot at proving the creatures existence?

2) What gear will you be taking and what strategies will you be deploying?

3) How costly will it be?

4) How long will it take?

5) How many people will you be bringing with you and what positions will they fill?

6) Whom will you be bringing with you?

Discuss!

I'd go to a remote mountain top where I know a clan lives.  Not migrates through, not passes through - lives.  Don't have to look for them, don't have to guess, don't have to do any searching at all.  That sure saves a lot of time and effort.

 

The gear would be very task-specific, and lots of the junk I see used in these hunts are crap. 

 

Technically, in my misspent youth, I was a manhunter.  I was to find those men and groups who wanted to hide, and to find those men and groups looking for us - first.  I was never an enthusiast.  I approached it as a job.  Enthusiasm will get you detected prematurely - and in our case - killed.

 

So I would approach this as a task.  No enthusiasm, no emotional investment.  Just follow millennia-proven principles, and you always get your prey.

 

My strategy would again, be task specific.  Geared toward not just getting a sighting - but getting hours of active video of these things.  Scores and scores of encounters - each one captured on multiple technologies - from multiple angles.  With these things, that will require very detailed preparation and skillful misdirection.

 

I put a pencil to a long-term expedition designed for the sole purpose of getting HOURS of video of these things - up close, in high resolution, and came up with a pretty good figure of $345-350K.  And I don't get a penny.

 

It would require a five-man team - allowing one man to rotate down for a bed and hot shower, switching up during the daily resupply.  Four remain on station, monitoring monitors and sound recorders 24/7.

 

This would take at least three months total - two months on station, two weeks in prep and two weeks packup and egress.

 

The men I would take are very disciplined - skilled outdoorsmen not given to emotion, and have proven themselves to focus on the task first, with everything else taking a back seat.  And every man if called to, can shoot the eyes out of a blackbird at 300 meters.  But most important - everyone works together like fingers on a hand - every many gets along well with every other team member, even when conditions are harsh and restrictive.  Even temperaments are a must.