Inquiry Into A Nw Oregon Field Plan

[joebeelart]

Was just informed a new retiree whom I have camped with intends to spend about a week a month from now through September in the NW Oregon Cascade Mountains.  And, another with access to a Flir unit is going to come out and stay a month.  That's a lot of time and investment. 

 

Am interested in your ideas for a good basic plan.  We will have plenty of experienced researchers to cycle through the project.  Should we stay in one area, say 10 to 20 square miles?  How should we use our day, dusk, dawn, night time?  What should we do in regard to standard offerings?  Should offerings be made outside of a search zone?  How often should they be checked?  Use of trail cams?  Night vision?    

 

I have some experience, but after reading the SWWASasqsuatch research thread, there is a lot to learn.  Joe Beelart, West Linn, Oregon

 

[SWWASAS]

Joe I hope you do not build your plan based on my experience since you have the advantage there.       I do have a couple of suggestions.     That if you use trail cams at all, hide them very well under natural materials.     Glue moss or something on them to make them very hard to notice.   Move them around, since  once found they are likely to be avoided.   Perhaps take them down for periods of time, then put them up again.    If your area is active without the cameras deployed,  and goes inactive when you put them up, that is valuable data.   Perhaps that could lead to learning how to disguise them or place them to get pictures.  

 

It could be that rather than develop a master plan,   you could be adaptive and use the ideas of the visiting researchers.    Certainly you should start with some sort of objectives for the summer.    With visiting researchers maybe one objective could be to see if different methods work or do not work with the BF in your research area..        Quite frankly, much has to depend on the local BF in the area and you probably have the most experience with that and what their behavior seems to be.  One thought I just had, was that continuous human presence in an area could be disruptive to the BF.     I think I had some of that going on in my area and the encounters got less friendly.    That can be a good or bad thing depending on your objectives.      A ticked off BF will let you know about it. 

Edited February 22, 2016 by SWWASASQUATCHPROJECT

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

Try to evaluate what food sources are in season and being exploited.

What are the groupings and travel patterns you can discern.

What are the mating strategies.

Are infants present with mothers and does a male or male control one or more females.

If extended over many years, how long do they use the area each year, how many years do they use the area..

What area do the populations trend to drift and what drives the drift, food cycles or exhaustion, mating, forestry and habitat loss, human activity?

What elevations do they move across seasonally, are they dormant in winter.

Thinks I would look for though I'm not a researcher.

I'm more interested in behavior rather than another PF film or howls caught on tape.

Classic animal studies in absence of a body.

Ideally cameras that can be panned and zoomed over wide terrains at tree line and along long river drainage's, ponds, etc. that natural proved a good range of view so as to study behavior (and you get the "proof" for free extra). 

[joebeelart]

I am going to type all this in, in brief, into the functional questions of the early plan.  Both SWWASasquatchProject and Cryptic Megafauna have made what seem to be "old & basic" questions but we know the "old & basic" have not brought them to us.

 

Concerning cameras:  I have seen a handful of startling photographs from game cams.  But none are conclusive.  It is one of those things to keep working at.  Two highly respected researchers working near Mt. Hood have eight or nine cameras in use now near snow line.  The USFS employed an associate for three summers to set and maintain sophisticated camera sets south of Mt. Hood in search of a specific type of weasel.  He was not allowed to see some photographs. 

 

If extended over many years, how long do they use the area each year, how many years do they use the area.. 

 

This is an excellent question and one that we have followed for many years.  They do seem to move up and down slope.  There are many notes of encounters or unseen activity along ridge lines, slopes generally from low to high and then in reverse in the fall, and on points.  USGS maps are your friend. 

 

Also, I thank the back note person very much.  Joe Beelart, West Linn, Oregon ....

[BobbyO]

IMVHO, do nothing but camp and do normal things.

These are inquisitive animals but seem to be generally pretty shy and reclusive.

My belief is that repetition and patterns in the human behaviour in the circumstances you've said would be key.

Repetition and predictable human behaviour may just lead to an animal feeling that it is in control, and if it feels that it is in control, I think that you may just have a chance of an encounter or sighting.

Forget the cameras, for whatever reason they don't work, I have no idea why but they clearly don't.

And don't try to be too clever ether or tricky, because in their environment you're not and it may just be perceived if they are watching you as untrustworthy or another negative type of word that I can't think of.

Predictability can lead to trust though and it's regular patterns that lead to predictability.

Unfortunately the SSR doesn't have enough NW Oregon Cascades data as of right now ( we do have some however if you'd like me to share, so just shout if you do ) but if you are interested in the data from the Cascades on the other side of the Columbia, then I'm your man.

Just shout Joe, good luck.

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

Very good advice.

[MIB]

I would hike, hunt, fish, camp ... whatever is in season.    I try to have bigfoot be my 2nd priority so that whatever does or doesn't happen, I have a good time doing the other stuff.  Helps for long term engagement, not giving up.   I generally buy a spring bear tag for SW Oregon and spend time roaming the bottom edge of snow ... good place to find tracks.    It will soon be trout season ... are their creeks up where they will camp?   If so .. heck of a reason to walk creek banks with an eye to the ground.    If you do stuff that makes a little noise it may draw attention ... cutting firewood, etc.  

 

I wouldn't over-think it.   Keep expectations reasonable.  Don't expect to be able to sway the odds much by what you do.

 

MIB

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

Bring along some salted fish and bacon fat...

[georgerm]

All really good posts. It's getting me in the camping mode.

 

If you begin camping in their territory and they let you know, be prepared to move. If in a nonbigfoot area, move again.

 

Question for all. How would one find the best hot spot in a huge area? Seems like bigfoot is a needle in a haystack.

[BobbyO]

I don't see any other way but by analysing sighting reports personally George.

[SWWASAS]

Heads up to Oregon people. Last night was staying at my place near Tillomook head. Heard an "Ohio" bigfoot vocalization about 1:30 in the morning. Second time I have heard one there. It woke me up, and honestly I thought it was the tsunami warning siren. The thing lasted long enough for me to get up and stand by my sliding door trying to figure out if I should head for high ground. There is no way in the world that a human can make a sound that loud and make it last that long. Takes a huge set of lungs. The RV park there as you come into Seaside reports that their guests frequently complain about the vocalizations or ask about them. The RV park used to close in the winter but now is open year around since the flooding problem on 101 has been nearly eliminated. The last one I heard was in summer so that means there is BF presence there for much of the year. Tillamook head does not seem very squatchy to me. I have not even seen deer footprints on it. But elk can be found North of there near the river. I watched a huge herd of elk day before yesterday. Probably two dozen and I think there were three bulls. I was wondering how that works having more than one bull. I didn't think the dominant one would allow others around.

[Gotta Know]

Cool! I'm headed to Manzanita this weekend to go steelheading in one of the local rivers--likely the Nehalem. Ever since I started reading about BF, my head is on a swivel now when I'm in such squatchy environs. The Oregon coast is just off-the-charts squatchy. Sadly, the guy I'm fishing with would be put off by such talk, so I have to ponder in silence about what might be around the next corner as we drift downstream in his boat. 

[SWWASAS]

Watch the banks. Offer one of the big fellows a fish and you might get a very close look. They have been known to accept fish.

[Gotta Know]

I'm strictly catch and release, unless it's a hatchery brat raised for the grill. However, should a 9' friend appear and "suggest" I make a gift of my catch should I be so fortunate, you can be sure he'd get it. And likely my Spey rod and reel as I jump in and swim to the opposite side of the river.

But yes, I'll be bank watching for sure.

[Explorer]

Joe,

 

I am interested in what you end up proposing to your fellow colleagues, both from a practical and intellectual POV.

 

From a practical POV, I will like to know what folks (with plenty of free time) are doing in the field that they think is productive.

Also, I will like to know what are the objectives of your friends (having an experience or collecting compelling evidence or other).

 

From an intellectual POV, I struggle with the idea that thousands of additional man-hours applied to this problem will yield anything new if we keep doing the same things done before.

The ideas offered above of just going camping, acting normally and enjoying the outdoors, could lead to an experience in a hot zone, but that is not the same as implementing an evidence collection plan that works.

 

Camera trap strategies by NAWAC, Olympic, and Bluff Creek Project have all failed. So not sure if your friends will do any better.

Last time I met you in Oregon, you gave me the impression that you are not in the camp of shooting one and bringing a specimen.

If you friends are not going to bring photos, videos or a specimen, what else is there in terms of bringing good evidence?

More foot-print casts and photos of stick structures do not offer much evidentiary weight.

 

The one area that could be fruitful is the use of thermal imagers with video placed inside tents around the campsite (a la NAWAC black tent, but without the guns). 

 

On a separate but related topic, I thought you were leaning towards the paranormal aspect of BF? 

If that is true, doesn't that give you cognitive dissonance - the attempt to collect evidence from a creature that is beyond our scientific ability to understand?