Field trips 2.0

[Patterson-Gimlin]

Thanks for sharing. Cedar swamp sounds promising.

[Explorer]

Thanks for sharing, wiiawiwb.

 

Neat to see where you backpack into.

 

Those cedar swamps certainly look dense.

The density explains why you need your thermal imager to have a higher angle of view (or shorter focal length). 

I kept my FLIR lens at 35 mm.

[wiiawiwb]

Thanks  PG and Explorer. It's an interesting area.  It's also the only place I've backpacked into where I am never at ease and always alert, and I've backpacked in a number of places around the country. There's something that's just not right there and I can't put my finger on it.  I get little sleep at night so I can listen carefully to my surroundings which I'm hoping works to my advantage.

 

The thick forest presents challenges but also offers opportunities. The going isn't easy so few people go there. That's a good thing. The endless number of small beaver ponds and cedar swamps, which increase and decrease in size depending on the season and amount of rainfall, redirect you in order to get around it. In some cases, not a good thing. We got a late start which didn't allow for any unforeseen delays. That won't happen next time.

 

I'm hoping that a sasquatch will know I'm in the area and will come to watch me at night from behind a tree across the beaver pond. That's where I'm betting the thermal imager is the my best chance to get a night-time sighting and hopefully be lucky enough to record it.

 

Explorer, you must be loving your FLIR. What options do you have for a lens?  Pulsar has (or had?) the option of buying and interchanging 30mm, 38mm, and 50mm lenses if you had an imager in the XP series. I can't do that as I have an XQ. Oh well, life does have it compromises.

[Explorer]

1 hour ago, wiiawiwb said:

I'm hoping that a sasquatch will know I'm in the area and will come to watch me at night from behind a tree across the beaver pond. That's where I'm betting the thermal imager is the my best chance to get a night-time sighting and hopefully be lucky enough to record it.

 

I always assume that a sasquatch (if present) knows that I am there.  

If I capture one on thermal imager, it probably will be because it allowed it or it made a mistake.

In August, I went to a hot spot in WA (known to have repeated encounters).  However, according to the local experts, the minute you bring out a thermal imager all activity ends. 

I spent 3 nights solo camping in the hotspot and had nothing to report.  The local field researchers will use that as further evidence of their belief that BFs avoid thermal imagers.  I am not there yet.    

The main utility for my thermal imager, is not to capture a BF but to identify the animals that are making noises around my tent at night.

 

1 hour ago, wiiawiwb said:

 

Explorer, you must be loving your FLIR. What options do you have for a lens?  Pulsar has (or had?) the option of buying and interchanging 30mm, 38mm, and 50mm lenses if you had an imager in the XP series. I can't do that as I have an XQ. Oh well, life does have it compromises.

 

My FLIR unit had 3 options: 35 mm, 65 mm and 100 mm.  I chose the 35 mm to get the maximum angle of view.   I only bought one lens because they were too expensive. 

[SWWASAS]

I agree with you about their mistakes.     They are very good at avoiding us, but just like us they make mistakes.    I think most visual encounters are mistakes on their part.    They do not know we are present or lose track of us and perhaps blunder into us when we have moved around.     I have often wondered why they get caught in sight for road crossings, but when out in the bush,   I will hear a vehicle, and sometimes it comes around the corner sooner than I expect it.     One of my tactics to try to get into their zone, is avoid humans.    Creepy i know but the practice allows me to understand how they do things,     I have heard people coming, step behind a tree,  and the people pass a few yards without any clue I am there.     I think any BF observing that would think it humerous.     My first encounter, had I done that when I heard the BF approching,  I would have got a very close look.    As it happened I, there were no large trees nearby to hide behind, and I stupidly stood in the middle of the trail, and was seen or smelled before I saw it. 

 

   I don't know if they know what cameras are.     I suspect, that they have seen enough hunters, peering through rifle scopes at deer, to be uncomfortable when we peer through something similar at them.    Our weapons are so different from each other, that they might not make any sense of what is what.     We see that with antigun humans, who do not know the difference between assault rifles and other weapons.   They just think some weapons look scarier than others.   

[Kiwakwe]

Good luck with the H3 BC Witness! Thanks for the reports @Explorer, @wiiawiwbJust back this am from Baxter State Park, mainly a hike up Katahdin and given the campground atmosphere I wasn't expecting any activity but kept me ears and eyes alert to the small possibility. There was a sighting on the other side of the mountain in 2003, throwing small rocks and a good visual of a hairy nighttime visitor in camp, multiple witnesses and well lit with flashlights as it raised its arm to block the light. No such luck for us. 

Beautiful nonetheless--

On the way up the Abol, a lot of real estate for the Sasquatch:

 

At the peak looking towards the Knife Edge:

And Katahdin from Daicy Pond:

Chilly morning pond smoke on the way out, a la wiiawiwb:

 

 

[norseman]

Archery season 2020
 

1st leg - Selkirks

 

Bear and Wolf tracks, heard Wolves in Harvey crick. Cut one set of fresh elk tracks on way out by Petit lake. :/ One weird 3 toed track too.

 

Pics 1-10

 

2nd Leg - William O Douglas Wilderness/Cascades

 

Pics 11-19

Only spent two days in there. Into bulls both days. Calling on ridge and something came in silent and spooked out. Made us jump. Had a hot bull at camp this morn at 5 am. But spike only area. Elk sign out of sight. Every step.

 

Wyatts GF Holly came with us over weekend. She hiked with Wyatt for Saturday morn hunt.

 

I also love, love, love my camper....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BC witness]

@Kiwakwe @norseman

Great pics, both of you. Great scenery, from both sides of your country, I love these reports!

[Explorer]

10 hours ago, norseman said:

2nd Leg - William O Douglas Wilderness/Cascades

 

Norseman, thanks for sharing.

 

I went into the William O. Douglas Wilderness for the first time last year and loved it.  No hunting, just camping and hiking.

 

Went there with others who claimed it was a BF hot-spot.  While we did not see/hear any BF sign during our visit, one guy saw an orb moving around in the forest.  

[wiiawiwb]

Kiwakwe - Great pictures. Looks very squatchy with lots of forests, cover, mountains, and especially thousands of ponds and lakes.  Beautiful country.  You're were up there in Maine. Above Moosehead Lake.  Kudos!

 

Norse -  Also beautiful country on the other side of the continent.  Very peaceful. I wouldn't want to leave.

[PNWexplorer]

Yep, elk archery season is in full swing in these parts.  Buddy of mine got a 5-point bull elk Friday, got lost packing it out in the dark, and ended up spending the night huddled next to his ATV and 400 lbs of fresh elk and was nearly hypothermic when the sun finally came up.  Turns out, he was 20 yards from the road when he gave up and committed to hunkering down for the night.

[wiiawiwb]

Wowser, 20 yards!  Defending his 400lbs of elk meat was a noble thing to do but a lot of shivering and shaking for no reason. 

 

Here's a classic example how having GAIA, downloaded with maps of the area you are going to be in, can be a game changer. He would definitely have seen the road either on the topo map he chose or on one of six different aerial maps you can choose with GAIA.

 

In the end, he got his elk meat and still has all his appendages free from frostbite. All's well that ends well !

 

 

[hiflier]

It may have also come down to how much fuel was left in the ATV.  If one thought they had lost their way at night then morning would be better if fuel was an issue. 20 yards or 200 yards may not look to much different on a map so I would say your friend made a good call even if the next day turned out a bit embarrassing. Staying the night in the cold woods near "bear/coyote bait" is not an easy decision to make so he must have been pretty convinced that daylight would be better and safer?

 

Most of us know how nighttime is in the woods with a light shining the way, everything can look the same (Blair Witch syndrome) which in and of itself can be disorienting. After a while one can begin questioning their true location and distance from home base. Who knows if pressing the truck's key fob may have caused the vehicle's horn to honk. Might have been worth a try? 

[SWWASAS]

Key fob would have been a good try.     I have used that in a large parking lot.  I have an app on my Iphone that tells me where my vehicle is parked.     I don't know how it works other than it tracks movement when it assumes I am driving then compares that with where the phone is.   .    But half the time it thinks I am someplace else.up to 70 miles away.  I sure would not want to trust it.    

[gigantor]

On 9/20/2020 at 10:12 PM, norseman said:

Archery season 2020

 

You lucky dog.

Enjoy it!!!