norseman Posted November 16, 2017 Admin Share Posted November 16, 2017 (edited) I dont know how much people follow my sub forum in the researcher section. So I decided to ressurrect this thread. Anybody have anything to report? Any close calls and near misses? I have nothing to report. No sightings and no trackways. Although I do believe I'm home for good from the oilfield (after 7 years). Which will allow me more time to pack in the mountains and look around. I have also resolved myself to limit my fetish with the Rocky Mtns and turn west to go look around the Cascades and Olympics. I have spent very little time in them. And other than one Elk hunting trip and a few salmon trips, most of that time was trucking over its passes to Seattle and Portland. I still carry a .45-70 or/and a .44 mag with me almost always when home. I was successful calling in another black bear this year for a friend. And still feel this may hold some promise to call in a hungry omnivore like Bigfoot. Edited November 16, 2017 by norseman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiflier Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Glad you're finally home to stay, Norseman. Nothing to report here either although my 9 week trip put a large dent in anything I may have done around here. The leaves are pretty much gone now so visibility is better. It's also been busy around here with the various hunting seasons so I'm just planning on some road trips to re-familiarize myself now that I a bit fresher from being so much on the road. Sometime in early December I'll try to get out there. Need to do some research and nail down some likely places to cruise around in. I'll keep a video cam on the dash too just in case. Welcome home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted November 16, 2017 Admin Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC witness Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Glad to hear that you'll be spending more time at the homestead, Norse. I look forward to your reports from new areas We've had a fairly busy year here in the Harrison region, keeping Thomas on his toes chasing witnesses. Keep us posted on your proposed summer get together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWASAS Posted November 16, 2017 BFF Patron Share Posted November 16, 2017 Norseman: I had a discussion with a woman that rides horses in Skamania county. Your picture and the bear reminded me of the conversation. Anyway her horse has seen both cougars and bear more than once and while it is wary of them and reacts it stays under control. But now and then something unseen really spooks the horse to the point where she has nearly been bucked off. Knowing my background she wondered if it might be BF. Have you had something similar happen with your horse or mule that you cannot explain? Additionally when they were camping near Mount Adams, she and her daughter went out into a meadow with blankets and just lay down to watch the stars on a moonless night. They heard something large move towards them that stayed some distance away that must have just watched them for a long time. Whatever it was seemed quite large from the foot falls. Freaked them out and they went back to camp.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted November 16, 2017 Admin Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 Horses are like humans, they all have their own personality. I have an Appy gelding that has thrown me when we bumped a Bull Moose. And he will jump over a grouse or a chipmunk. I have another big bay gelding that is bomb proof. I dont think I have ever had a blow up I did not understand the cause of. Hornets are the worst by far when you consider the likelyhood of an encounter. And hurt! My buddy and wife were charged by a grizzly bear and the horses just stood there. So did the dog. So did he....he never drew his pistol. He said they were all in shock. The bear was bluffing and ran off. You just never know. Bumps in the night happen all the time. Dog growling, horses and mules restless on highline. You go out with yer rifle and shine a light around....nothing. Could have been a doe, a coyote or a bear. Never had an attack in camp by an animal, knock on wood. 40 minutes ago, BC witness said: Glad to hear that you'll be spending more time at the homestead, Norse. I look forward to your reports from new areas We've had a fairly busy year here in the Harrison region, keeping Thomas on his toes chasing witnesses. Keep us posted on your proposed summer get together. Will do bud! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB Posted November 18, 2017 Moderator Share Posted November 18, 2017 This year I drew a blank, first time since 2009 or 2010. No tracks, no sounds, no smells. I found exactly one oddity: I found two turds I couldn't identify. Ginormous, dried but still charcoal black, a color that usually means berries or meat here, but there were neither seeds nor hair visible. I can't think of any other plants we have that wind up that color and if it was meat, that would suggest the hide was peeled back, not eaten through. Diameter varied up to probably 1.5 inches (dried). That eliminates (play on words?) all known local animals but the very, very largest of bears. They were arranged in coils. Straightened out ... I've said 18 inches minimum trying not to exaggerate, but 30 inches is probably more likely. The coils were open, not stacked or laid over top of each other, never less than an inch of gap between successive coils. Total, maybe 10" by 14" oval area covered. Weird. I have two trail cams nearby and hope to add a couple next summer. Best I can do there. It is too buggy for a prolonged visit and too far to drive to very often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiflier Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 1 hour ago, MIB said: That eliminates (play on words?) all known local animals but the very, very largest of bears. HAH! Good one, MIB. Seriously though that is one unusual description. I've seen the mass a bear leaves and other than that I couldn't even begin to say what it could have been. Not Horse for sure, and definitely not Moose berries either. If it was a BF it was a well fed specimen indeed. Also if it was meat as you say, with no fur? I can only imagine the look on your or anyone's face (including my own!) if that carcass is ever discovered. Makes me wonder how many may have been removed and disposed of by FS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfjewel Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Just a thought on that long, dark and fur-less scat: Any possibility it came from a large animal that was ill? Black equals intestinal blood sometimes and the lack of fur could mean the creature couldn't capture anything moving fast and at a lot of something soft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB Posted November 19, 2017 Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2017 Possibly, but not probably. Our only candidates large enough here are black bear (and then only the very very largest, bigger than I've seen in person) or elk. We don't have any other 500+ pound critters. This doesn't appear to be herbivore ... not just color, but texture / consistency are wrong, even for a sick one. I think we're still stuck with a truly enormous bear (for this area) or bigfoot. There are occasional reports of people seeing a bear with a hump on it's back, suggestive of a grizzly, but I find them unlikely. Track-back attempts all stop at 2nd or 3rd hand anonymous sources. However, the nature of the turd speaks for itself: there's something pretty extraordinary in there even if it's merely the biggest black bear in state history. Worthy of a bit of caution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted November 19, 2017 Admin Author Share Posted November 19, 2017 Did you take a picture? Ive never seen a 30 inch turd in the woods! Impressive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB Posted November 19, 2017 Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2017 I didn't. I should have measured instead of eyeballing it. I should have straightened it out. Should have photographed it. Should have torn into it with a stick rather than just doing an external examination. What can I say, it was a weird day. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7.62 Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 I guess this is a good of thread as any to post this since you asked anything new to report. I know this is going to sound crazy and that's why I didn't post this when it happened but here go's. My friend and fellow researcher have been going to the same forest he use to live at but since sold his home and moved closer to his work. All right here goes. We were driving in to the spot that has many miles of dirt roads all through the forest , some you won't make it through without a 4X4 It was about 10:00 AM on a cloudy day. We were maybe 1/2 mile down one of the dirt roads when we came around a bend in the road and about 100 to 120 yards ahead of us I think I see a horse walking down the side of the dirt road with no rider . I say Mark there;s a horse in the road . Okay this is when it gets strange because it wasn't a horse . At that exact second I said that he hit the brakes , we were only going about 10 or 15 miles an hour . Now we are both staring at this thing and not saying anything . I snap us out of it and I yell go go get up there . He hits the gas but it moves into the woods. When we get up to spot I go what the h#ll was that thing . I'm sort of shaking and so is he . We get out of the truck and just keep staring into the woods . I said Mark what did you see because I wanted to see if he saw what I saw , I gave no description to him at that time. He saw exactly what I saw. This is what I saw . I saw what appeared to be four legs walking but it was almost walking like a crab walks . The legs were shaped weird . The color of it was like a dark brown with the white fur or hair down the legs . We couldn't see a head on it even though it was walking towards us . The only thing we were of different opinion of was how it walked in the woods. To me it looked like it just sidestep very quickly but my friend which I found odd said it melted into the woods . Time line wise all this happened in around 4 seconds . It wasn't something we saw from the corner of our eye of in the shadows of the woods it was in the road. I can tell you this wasn't a deer or a bear or a moose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB Posted November 19, 2017 Moderator Share Posted November 19, 2017 How big ... height, and if possible, a weight guess? Was it sideways enough you could get a sense of the shape of the torso? If so, how much did the belly sag? What about the shape / location / direction of the leg joints? MIB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7.62 Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 (edited) 31 minutes ago, MIB said: How big ... height, and if possible, a weight guess? Was it sideways enough you could get a sense of the shape of the torso? If so, how much did the belly sag? What about the shape / location / direction of the leg joints? MIB Size wise it was the size a smaller adult horse if you were to see a horse walking towards you. The height looked to be about maybe 5 1/2 to 6 feet high but what it was was wide . I wish I could describe the legs better but picture a leg almost bowing out then turning back in . It just moved and walked like no animal I have ever seen before . I also forgot to mention my friend thought he saw some gray but I thought it just a darker white or the fur or hair was just dirty . Weight wise man it's just a shot in the dark but I would say 400 to 450 pounds maybe , just a guess . The torso almost oblong just that it was wider at the top than the bottom but we saw no head on this thing and we should have been able to because it was walking towards us not away. We talked about this for hours later that day and now every time we go there I have the camcorder out as soon as turn into the forest roads . We keep saying now over and over that we wish we would have been recording the drive in but it's always been uneventful so the camcorder was still in my back pack. Edited November 19, 2017 by 7.62 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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