Field trips 2.0

[norseman]

Just got back from driving my son in law out to his buddies Turkey camp by Trout Lake. I snapped a pic! He works at the local lumber mill and gets fri-sat off.

[mooseman]

Cool looking area norseman. 

 

Here's a glmpse of where I hang out in the fall.

 

Well, last fall anyway.

 

https://imgur.com/a/hAcaMVn

Edited April 16, 2021 by mooseman

[BC witness]

Hello there, mooseman. We've been chatting recently on Sasquatch BC (I'm Sawone over there), so it's nice to see you over here, too.

[wiiawiwb]

First time out this Spring and many more to come. It was cool today (mid 40s) and raining and my mission was to look for prints in wet areas. Went to an area where last year I found a 17" footprint in a wet area.

 

Creeks are all around several of which flow into this pond. I decided to follow several upstream to look for spillage areas that might hold footprints. Didn't find any but it felt fantastic to get out.

 

[hiflier]

Good luck to you, w. I'm glad for you and everyone else who is beginning to get themselves out there. I'm going tomorrow for the third time this early Spring season. If I find any prints they're going into a labeled Nalgene sample jar  

Edited April 17, 2021 by hiflier

[wiiawiwb]

hiflier, this time of year are you looking for prints specifically, signs that something has come through, or what?  what type of areas do you go to in Spring?  Mountains, ponds, creeks, lowlands, marshy areas, other? 

[hiflier]

I got myself set up too late for snow prints or trackways, but yes, prints in mud or other substrates as long as they're definites and not bear. If I find enough I may cast a couple but my primary focus in on collecting the material any prints might be pressed into in order to get them tested for DNA. Not mountains but more bogs, creeks, and marshy areas with nearby wooded areas not unlike the photos you posted. I try to locate and zero in on conveniently dry pinch points that animals may prefer to travel on rather than get themselves wet?

 

But the wetter edges make better sense for track impressions because animals drink water, too. In truth, I don't care if I see a Sasquatch or not because finding and submitting physical evidence to a lab is now true the reason I'm out there. AAAAAND to enjoy the natural surroundings. If I find a couple of prints? There will be documentation and photos/videos but the prints themselves will essentially be destroyed afterwards by the soil collection process. The result will be no castings.

Edited April 17, 2021 by hiflier

[Catmandoo]

wiiawiwib, is there a beaver dam in the wide image?  If yes, do you find beaver carrion that has been ripped to shreds?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Catmandoo
text

[wiiawiwb]

2 hours ago, hiflier said:

I got myself set up too late for snow prints or trackways, but yes, prints in mud or other substrates as long as they're definites and not bear. If I find enough I may cast a couple but my primary focus in on collecting the material any prints might be pressed into in order to get them tested for DNA. Not mountains but more bogs, creeks, and marshy areas with nearby wooded areas not unlike the photos you posted. I try to locate and zero in on conveniently dry pinch points that animals may prefer to travel on rather than get themselves wet?

 

But the wetter edges make better sense for track impressions because animals drink water, too. In truth, I don't care if I see a Sasquatch or not because finding and submitting physical evidence to a lab is now true the reason I'm out there. AAAAAND to enjoy the natural surroundings. If I find a couple of prints? There will be documentation and photos/videos but the prints themselves will essentially be destroyed afterwards by the soil collection process. The result will be no castings.

 

In a recent episode of Expedition X, with Josh Gates, they found prints and rather than cast them they used a laptop that had a certain technology that would scan the footprint and provide incredible 3D detail. Are you familiar with that technology and how much would something like cost?

 

1 hour ago, Catmandoo said:

wiiawiwib, is there a beaver dam in the wide image?  If yes, do you find beaver carrion that has been ripped to shreds?

 

 

Catmandoo - there was a beaver lodge but no deaver dam that I could see. I never got any closer than what you see in the picture because the lodge was in the middle of the pond. By the way, was is beaver carrion? Is that a luggage they use when in airports? Kidding of course. What is beaver carrion, I've never heard of that before.

Edited April 18, 2021 by wiiawiwb

[hiflier]

1 hour ago, wiiawiwb said:

In a recent episode of Expedition X, with Josh Gates, they found prints and rather than cast them they used a laptop that had a certain technology that would scan the footprint and provide incredible 3D detail. Are you familiar with that technology and how much would something like cost?

 

Have no idea but it would be a good thing to ask him about? Thanks, sounds interesting. I wonder if it could result in seeing details after capturing the image better than say, our normal face-to-foot observations? Maybe be able to enhance things like outlines/toes that might be hard to make out in situ? BTW, carrion is basically dead animal or dead animal tissue before a carcass is reduced to just bones. Like what bears or turkey vultures feed on.

Edited April 18, 2021 by hiflier

[BC witness]

I managed to "almost" finish the route I failed to complete last Sunday.

 

Today was a beautiful warm spring day, so I headed out to try the Silver Skagit route again.

 

 The roadblock at km 26 was gone, and just beyond it, the after effects of what must have been a killer windstorm were evident, with not dozens, but hundreds of tree stubs along each side of the road where work crews had removed all the trees blocking the route, and many hundreds more were down in the forest.  

 

A campsite that our group has used in the past is blocked by trees down just yards off the main road, so I continued to the alternate that we used a few times  about 10 km. further along. About 2 sq.km. around it are charred by a forest fire, and it looks like a war zone. Just a short 100 m or so down the road on the other side I did find a trail into a nice clearing that's big enough for 3 or 4 trucks to park and camp. I found bones there, most looked deer size, but there were 2 oddballs, large ribs that had been cut at one end.

 

I carried on into the Provincial Park, and saw another large burn, starting at the east side of the road and going right up the side of the mountain. The road was gated just before the large campsite at Ross Lake, so I had to turn around there. Before heading back, I walked across a cable supported footbridge across the Skagit River to a meadow area some 700 yards into the forest on the other side to stretch my legs from the bumpy drive. There was a fair bit of traffic, and most roadside clear spots had campers or day trippers in them.

 

Burned campsite

 

Possible new campsite, where bones were found

 

Bones

 

Oversize ribs, cut at one end

 

Footbribge across the Skagit, just upstream from Ross L

 

View downstream

[wiiawiwb]

On 4/17/2021 at 11:06 PM, hiflier said:

 

Have no idea but it would be a good thing to ask him about? Thanks, sounds interesting. I wonder if it could result in seeing details after capturing the image better than say, our normal face-to-foot observations? Maybe be able to enhance things like outlines/toes that might be hard to make out in situ? BTW, carrion is basically dead animal or dead animal tissue before a carcass is reduced to just bones. Like what bears or turkey vultures feed on.

 

I think it is the same technology seen in Expedition Bigfoot where Mayor sprayed a substance on a footprint and Ronny used some device to scan the print. The end result was a 3D image much better than the human eye.

[hiflier]

5 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

 

I think it is the same technology seen in Expedition Bigfoot where Mayor sprayed a substance on a footprint and Ronny used some device to scan the print. The end result was a 3D image much better than the human eye.

 

https://www.laserdesign.com/3d-scan-spray/ and other products https://www.amazon.com/s?k=HELLING+3D+Scanning+Spray&ref=nb_sb_noss from what I briefly ran across elsewhere is that there's a phone app now that can do the job of imaging https://www.3dnatives.com/en/top-3d-scanner-apps-050820204/#!

but I don't know if it's for footprints- more like for CAD stuff?

[JustCurious]

The iPhone 12 Pro has built in lidar for doing 3d pictures/scans for around $1000.  I can't find any demo video showing it used for tracks though.  If anyone has one, it would be interesting to test it out and see what the results are.

[norseman]

Went out yesterday with a bunch of old HS buddies. Good times! Couldn't get to the top of little Boulder. Too much snow. So we came down to a old gravel pit and ate lunch and started a fire. 
 

The Roxor did good, but would like a lift, better tires and lockers. That little diesel just chugs along and sips fuel.