Long Range Sasquatch Hunting (With A Camera)

[Guest]

The St. Helens thread got me thinking about long range Squatch hunting. To me the vid below looks hoaxed, but it may be a way for someone with lots of patience to catch a glimpse or a quick vid clip of a Sasquatch.

We've spent a lot of time out riding and hiking along ridges and you can see for a long way. Often when we are out, we'll see a group of Elk, a wolf or other critter a few miles off and we'll get out our binoculars or spotting scopes and check them out.

If one were to sit up on a decent ridge and use a high powered zoom and carefully scanned miles and miles of valleys, you might get lucky. Of course you would need to know when would be the best time of the day to do it and maybe carefully pick your area to help better your chances.

I remember reading a Peter Byrnes book as a kid where they sat up the big open hills with night vision scanning for the big guy, with no luck (probably due to the night vision equipment they were using).

Not being a patient type, I couldn't do it for long. Has anybody played with this idea?

[Guest]

Not to burst your bubble, but at any such long range, how would you be absolutely certain it was not some hunter in a ghillie suit?

Not to mention, as to Sasquatch being human.

Edited June 14, 2011 by PragmaticTheorist

[Guest]

No bubble to burst here, I don't have the patience to sit all day and scan, I'd rather be out moving through the woods.

To clear up my initial post, this is NOT about hunting a Sas with a firearm, this about using a good zoom on a camera to get pics or video. Sorry, past the initial 20 mins, so can't change the OP.

Edited June 14, 2011 by Bogger

[Guest]

As far as the Sasquatch being human or not, that will only be proven when we have a body on a slab, a captured one, or good enough interaction with them on video to prove one way of the other.

[Guest]

Glad you cleared that up, you can understand how it could read that way when using the word 'hunting' in the title the way it is. I guess knowing whether Sas is human or not before pulling the trigger on a firearm, becomes less of a concern with a camera.

As for the technique, I can sit for hours when elk hunting. You can see many more animals that way as opposed to moving around. But yes, most people don't have the patience or skills for that matter. As for sasquatch, well I've learned it really doesn't pay trying to sneak around to find them, but one time while deer hunting I was on stand on a small ledge and did have a bigfoot cross a steep opening not far from me. That was a cool sighting.

[norseman]

I would shoot a Squatch in a heart beat, but I would never consider a long range shot, because of the risks involved in hoaxing or misidentification. You cannot call your bullet back.

But as stated this thread isn't about hunting with a rifle. So the question is, what are you hunting it with? If your interested in simply spotting game? Sure. This is a very effective way of doing so. But probably not some thing that is going to lead you to some sort of conclusive documentation. It's not an end but a means to an end, whether that be a rifle or camera.

[Guest CaptainMorgan]

I have 4 Sony board cams in housings and if anything were to ever walk in front of them, the resolution would be more favorable than standard def cameras.

However, at a distance, the object is only going to be so many pixels unless you have really good optics and optical zoom.

If you can't get anything of better quality than what we see on the Mt. St. Helens, film, then what's the point of it?

I have some cameras\spotting scope combinations I'm interested in, but never found an area that I felt was hot enough to just climb up somewhere and peruse a plateau.

[Guest]

Here are a few various large zoom vid cameras:

[Guest]

A couple more:

[Guest]

The reason I posted the St. Helens video is that it is a long distance, but not too good of quality, with a vid camera with a long range zoom, you could potentially see a Sas from a long way off with better quality than that in the MSH vid posted.

Will this be the final answer to the existence of the Sasquatch? Probably not, but could give us some better vids to view.

[Incorrigible1]

Some very high quality spotting scopes have optional camera adapters that allow SLR cameras to be attached, making for extreme long-range photography. For instance, the Vortex Razor spotting scope:

http://www.spottingscopes.com/spotting-scopes/bird-watching-spotting-scopes/vortex2060x85razorhdspottingscope.cfm

Has an optional camera adapter:

http://www.spottingscopes.com/spotting-scope-accessories/photography-accessories/vortexrazorhddigitalcameraadapter.cfm

In this latter link you can see an SLR camera attached to the Razor spotting scope. (Mouse over the smaller photos beneath the main photograph, you'll see the setup.) It's expensive but awesome.

Edited June 15, 2011 by Incorrigible1

[Guest CaptainMorgan]

I think you guys just reiterated what I posted last. If you have this type of zoom with this kind of picture then it will go a long ways further than the blobsqutches have have thus far.

We really don't need any more vague, shaky, indiscernible pics or videos.

Unfortunately I do not own this type of camera and lens or even a spotting scope yet.

[Guest ChrisBFRPKY]

Bogger, after reading your post above, I added (With a Camera) to your title. Hopefully that will clear up any misunderstandings.

You're thinking my friend and I'll agree with you that long distance is the best way to find them. But as far as collecting evidence, the initial cam shots you'll get the first time probably won't do the trick.

But, finding them, you're right on the money. IMO. And once you find them, and determine where they live, there's plenty of time to get closer. Chris B.

[Guest]

This is an intriguing idea, and one that I've thought about for some time. The technology to observe remotely over some pretty big distances has advanced in recent years making extreme telephotography/videography more possible, and I think a potentially fruitfull approach to observing landscapes and its denizens. The classic method of beating about the bushes looking for critters has the single major drawback of the beater's own conspicuous presence, which is likely conspicuous no matter how quiet and inconspicuous they may think they are, particularly when trying to approach what presumably is a very intelligent, crafty and capable quarry. Patience and the ability to observe a large landscape from a point where a suitable instrument can be positioned for a long time is important. The observable landscapes at least seem to exist in the west, as you are probably aware since you live in Centralia WA.

This would be a relatively new approach to studying wildlife in landscapes but it was through this sort of field observation that the modern understanding of wolves and their relationship to their prey, for instance, came about. Prior to the ground breaking work of Olaus and Adolf Murie in the early part of the previous century the common understanding was of their being elusive and solitary killers and are now seen as being the intensely social creatures that we now know how they behave by observing them in landscapes where they weren't being pursued and hunted (Denali National Park and Preserve, AK primarily). Cheers

[Guest]

Thanks for adding that to the title Chris.

But as far as collecting evidence, the initial cam shots you'll get the first time probably won't do the trick.

I agree, any pics taken won't convince the skoftics, but the skoftics really should just be ignored.

If you have this type of zoom with this kind of picture then it will go a long ways further than the blobsqutches have have thus far.

That is my thoughts exactly, we need less blobsquatches and more clear pics, even if they are very far away. It may not prove anything, but it will help get Sas hunting become a little more respect.

This could be a very viable way for those who want to hunt for Sas, but can't physically hike through the rough stuff or don't want to get too close to one. There are plenty of areas around the NW where you can drive up on large ridges and set up a view point to scan miles of ridges, valleys and forest land.

In my current physical condition, would rather be out beating the bush and trying to get a class A encounter and finally prove my personal belief that they are out there. Maybe in another 20 years I'll try something a little slower.