Sw Washington Field Work 2016

[LeafTalker]

Yes, sometimes the behavior of ravens and crows is governed by an interest in what predators might leave for them.  

 

And sometimes it's not. 

[SWWASAS]

This talk about ravens and crows got me thinking that  someone with a trained hawk would be valuable in the field.    I wonder if you could train a hawk to locate BF and somehow guide you there?.     I am not saying that the ravens or crows actually are intentionally working together,  I think each of them simply read or understand the others behaviors.    The raven announces my presence in its territory because that is what it does.    BF knows raven behavior well enough to know that particular raven announces intruders like that.     It is just a matter of reading behavior in other animals.    Since I have noticed the raven behavior when I enter their territory then I am reading behavior too.   200 years ago, my Native American ancestors living in the woods could probably read all sorts of animal behavior that we simply are not aware of now.   That sort of knowledge has been lost to most of us.    While I think the woods going silent when BF is around is a myth,  certainly presence of BF has to have some change in animal behavior.   Especially if you are prey that BF might eat. 

[SWWASAS]

It must have been carried from somewhere else and placed recently or it would have been covered with moss and forest duff.

I am still trying to figure out why I did not take a picture of that rock.    I examined it and left it exactly as it was laying.    Next time I am in the area I will take a picture of it.    It was clean and had no debris of any kind on it.   Which probably is why I noticed it in the first place.       This BF group, seems to use sticks and rocks as markers.     Three rock groupings on stumps are common in the area.    In one area the rocks on stumps seemed to define a trail.     It was only a half mile from this large rotting stump with the stick in it,   artesian  spring,  that I had a glyph placed on a  stump when I was present.          I just don't see tree snap offs and twist offs like others report in other areas.    This group of BF seems to use rocks and sticks as markers.  

 

Glyph placed behind me when I was present.  

 

 

[LeafTalker]

Beautiful glyph! 

 

And a beautiful illustration of the fact that you don't need a hawk to locate a BF for you. The BF locates YOU. 

 

What people need, more than hawks, electronics, maps, or any other kind of "technology", is 1) the patience (and courage) to sit in one spot for long periods of time, many times; and 2) the willingness to speak out loud to their surroundings, both when the noises start happening and before. 

[BigTreeWalker]

SWWSP, that glyph was definitely placed there. Interesting one too.

I liked your insight into understanding animal, and in this case bird behavior. Last September I went out of camp early one morning and heard a noise above me. At first I thought it was a grouse in a small fir tree. But I looked a little closer and it turned out to be a hawk. (I think I posted a picture of it in my spending time in the GPNF thread.) Anyway, this hawk followed me for quite some distance and landed in other trees along the road I was walking down. It seemed very interested in me, just observing not being aggressive or anything. I guess it finally lost interest and flew off. The funny thing was about three days later I was sitting under a tree. It flew into the one next to me and sat there and watched me again, no aggression. I was beginning to think it might be someone's trained hawk the way it was interested in me. My hunting partner mentioned that he was at a bird of prey demonstration down in Stevenson when a hawk escaped. So I guess it was a possibility.

[SWWASAS]

I wonder if you had held out your arm if the hawk would have flown down and landed on it?    Then again you might not want to find a bird you have to take care of.   

 

LT,  While the BF can find you, you have to put yourself where they can do that.    There is a lot of woods out there, and they are not everywhere.     The trick is finding where they might hang out.              

[BigTreeWalker]

With the hawk I did start to put my arm up toward it. But decided that wasn't a good idea without a leather glove.

[daveedoe]

I had a Great Horned Owl fly straight at me one time.  I had to duck as it flew at me to avoid being hit. Not sure why it did that but seeing those big eyes coming at me was kinda scarey. We were pheasant hunting down around Vancouver lake at the time.

 

Great report Randy. 

[SWWASAS]

Like I said, what is really spooky about that logging road is that the same thing has happened there twice and neither time I saw the offending bird.   I have also had something hit my pack.    Oh I know something fell from a tree.    Good theory if it was not for the fact it is a fairly wide logging road with no overhanging trees.     Clear cut on one side and about a 10 year reforestation grow on the other side of the road at the location where the incidents happened.     Nothing anywhere near high enough or overhanging to drop anything on me walking down the road.    I guess what ever bird is playing with me could also drop things too.   I can see a raven doing that.    They seem to be a bird with an attitude. 

With the hawk I did start to put my arm up toward it. But decided that wasn't a good idea without a leather glove.

I wonder how it did in the wild?  

[MIB]

Hit your pack .. yeah. 

 

I had a little piece of stick about 5-6 inches long and about 3/4 to 1 inch thick hit me in the back last fall.   Not hard, not hard at all.  Couldn't have traveled more than a couple feet or it would have hit a lot harder.  I didn't know what it was.   I spun around in time to see it hit the ground and bounce a little.   I looked up ... no trees overhead.    The nearby trees' trunks weren't big enough for anyone / anything to hide behind.   So ... where DID it come from?   I don't know, but it hit traveling horizontally, not vertically.   "Hmmm."

 

Some people dismiss what they don't immediately understand.   Not me.   Stuff like that makes me curious.  

 

I put up a trail cam about 25-30 feet away on a small tree ... can't get to it now because of snow.  Wonder if I got anything interesting?  Waiting for melt-out is like waiting for Christmas. 

 

MIB

[LeafTalker]

The bird flew past me so close that I could hear the individual wing flap strokes. Low in frequency like a larger bird like a raven or owl. Strange that it has happened twice in the same area now and neither time I have seen the bird. It did not touch me but flew past very close. Seems pretty early for nesting and hatching but territorial makes sense. 

 

 

I wonder if you had held out your arm if the hawk would have flown down and landed on it?    Then again you might not want to find a bird you have to take care of.   

 

LT,  While the BF can find you, you have to put yourself where they can do that.    There is a lot of woods out there, and they are not everywhere.     The trick is finding where they might hang out.              

Not nesting season? Or hatching season? Or mating season? No sign of aggression? Just the low-pitched sound of wings?

 

That bird was a big clue, Randy. 

 

Good luck!

[BigTreeWalker]

MIB, I try not to dismiss anything even though at times it might be hard to understand. As you stated, you are investigating it.

Randy, That hawk, if it was domesticated at one time looked healthy, to me. But in most instances, unless they are from a zoo, they are trained to hunt.

[SWWASAS]

Field work yesterday. Not raining so got into the field. I went out further East than I normally work. Wanted to see if a logging side road was closed off for the winter. It was open and I wanted to walk along a large creek drainage in the area. I was about 500 feet below the snow line. Cold but not raining is a good thing. The first place I stopped there were shooters someplace nearby. Sort of wrecks your concentration and I was close enough that I was concerned about where they were shooting. Sounded like an AR 15 and those bullets can go a long way. So I backtracked and stopped about a mile further away, got out, and went down into the creek drainage to explore. A clear cut led down to the forested area near the creek. I was delighted to lots of elk and deer tracks and scat. They were all over the place. Got down near the creek and heard some thumps right at the bottom end of my hearing range. Nearly infrasound. Before that sort of thing has indicated BF but normally when it is BF they happen in groups of two or three where it moves from one tree to the next to peek. Something big was moving back in the trees. I heard some brush thrashing at one point which probably points to an elk being the source of the thumps. No footprints other than deer and elk. Because of the elk, deer, and water the area has promise so I will go back.

While I was in the area, I decided to go back to my zapping encounter location and the collapsed lava tube which was a few miles away. Primarily to see if the stick was still in the log, and photograph the stone I mentioned. The stick was still where I left it and I pushed it all the way in, so if it is moved, I can tell it has been moved. The stone was there but strangely the one I mentioned seemed to be 180 degrees rotated from what I remembered. The large sharper end from my memory used to be pointed South, along the collapsed lava tube. Memories can fail you so I photographed the rock and left three small pebbles on it so I could tell if it was messed with when I go back the next time. I do not recall the second rock nearby from my previous visit. Strangely it seems to have the same North South orientation as the larger stone. Neither stone seem to have similar type rock in the immediate area. Anyway if the pebbles disturbed next time, I will know something has moved them. Probably nothing to it at all. Part of my thing in the field is to look at something strange or out of place. Those rocks are not local. I hiked out on the road and was not buzzed by any birds.

The stones along the trail at the point where the trail crosses the collapsed lava tube.

The two stones. I remember the one on the left being rotated 180 degrees from what this picture shows. I do not remember the stone on the right being there. They are shale which is not found in the area.

Another picture looking down the collapsed lava tube towards the artesian spring.

As I walked out I was thinking. I have multiple encounters in this area. I file two BFRO reports specifying the locations. After that the logging road leading down to the encounter locations has the gate locked. Two deep ditches are dug across the road and trees and large rocks are placed to make sure no one can get around the blockage. Signs designating a Special Forest Management area suddenly show up. Another road is cut in down into the day use area with a trail head for a popular hiking trail and the campground. This new road bypasses the encounter locations. There was nothing wrong with the old road because it is in wider and in better shape than the new road they built. The State campground was closed and was not open last year at all. The day use area at the trail head stayed open for about a year with a sign on the main road to get there. Yesterday that sign, which was there the last time I was there was gone. Not knocked down but completely gone. I may be slow on the uptake but it would appear to me that the state is very interested in keeping people out of that area. Now why would that be?

Edited February 1, 2016 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Gotta Know]

Great stuff, Randy. It sure seems like someone might be paying attention to your posts. I can't decide if BFRO's reticence to post your reports (and others) is intended to help prevent the State from getting information they could use to make area closures like this, or if they might instead be informally working together. Who knows?! All MIB stuff, but it seems a bit beyond coincidental.

 

I take it you never got a reply regarding what a, "Special Forest Management" area actually means?

[SWWASAS]

I have sent the DNR an email but not gotten a response yet. I cannot really believe BFRO and DNR would have any association. Some BFRO members have privately told me several excuses for why my reports are not in the data base. I am not sure which one to believe. One is that investigators withhold good ones until they can investigate the area on their own. One would think they would at least talk to me first. One is that "Finding Bigfoot" pulls interesting ones for use on the show. This is plausible because I have been contacted by a Finding Bigfoot producer. One is that there are no BFRO investigators in SW WA to investigate reports. If that is true, why not? Or I guess someone culls reports they do not believe. Considering mine are pretty vanilla with no inkling of paranormal I don't think this last one is the reason. I have also been told there is a turf war of sorts within the BFRO in Washington. The details of this they do not go into. But the bottom line is that I know my reports have never been investigated and are not in their data base. And finally I no longer submit reports. If others have similar experiences in other areas, the BFRO data base sure would not be very representative of actual BF contact.

Edited February 2, 2016 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT