Expedition Bigfoot :Travel Channel

[SWWASAS]

We will never know.    I still cannot figure out the role of the guy in the cabin other than he is the producer.      It could be as simple as he hates camping.     

[MIB]

18 minutes ago, BobbyO said:

Oh and i'd like to know where and how they determined their "hot spot" to be a "hot spot" as, as per 7,000+ public reports in every database and book of Reports from across the North American Continent, it isn't.

 

There is a concentration of reports in the general area that matches the time of year they filmed.    I'm not sure where they got their info, though, because the way Matt Moneymaker went after Russell Acord on facebook, it was not BFRO and I do not think the other group in the area wants anything to do with TV.   Their advanced algorithm is somewhat a laugh, though, because it is exactly what we have been doing for years.    If you are constrained in WHERE you research, you find the time that has the most reports either there or in similar locations.   If you are constrained in WHEN you research, you go to the location that has the most reports at that time.    Advanced .. advanced to whom?

 

There are better places ... not too far away ... but they are active at a different time of  year.   This leads me to speculate that the expedition timing was driven by availability of the Travel Channel film crew more than any other factors.

 

MIB

[georgerm]

The area they picked was more forested than many areas of eastern Oregon and looked good to me.

 

When I saw Dr. Mayor walking around in the deep woods alone, I cringed. She probably was not armed with a pistol since some BFs are not friendly. A 357 may be used to scare off a mean bigfoot and is better than nothing. 

 

As others have said, the trail cameras were not hidden with leaves and twigs. Their system of connecting the cameras together is a good feature. They also picked up the device that pin pointed where a sound came from that needs to be added for BF research. 

 

Sometimes just tent camping and waiting for bigfoot to come to you may be the best research method. 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by georgerm

[SWWASAS]

I cannot recall if they said the forest was National, State, or Private.    Permits may have been involved too as they seem to have a definite ending date.  .    They went from hoofing it everywhere to driving an ATV to get around on the last episode.   Was that a cast request or simply because they are running out of time?    

 

 I fully expect the most active areas in the country my not correlate with sighting reports.      There are places in Washington State that have to be excellent habitat but I have no idea how to get into them other than bush whacking 20 or 30 miles through heavy timber because of lack of vehicle access.    These areas could have dense BF presence but no one can get there to see them.      My gut feeling is that there are actual  BF villages in some very remote places.   

Edited January 6, 2020 by SWWASAS

[Airdale]

I've been watching the entire series, recording on DVR to FF through commercials and back up if something catches my eye. Last week I caught a camera man partially concealed behind a tree at the edge of a drone shot. I think what Ronny saw on thermal last night was a similar issue. I just brought up the recorded show from last night and found the part with the thermal image and took a photo with my phone which I'm posting below (the four lights and light rectangles to the upper right of the subject are reflections from my kitchen lights and window). The color fringed white blob to the right is Dr. Mayor and the figure on the left that appears to be partially hidden by a tree is what Ronny is describing to her via walkie talkie. That image appears much hotter on top and cooler yellow below and appears fairly slim. Dr. Mayor is wearing an unzipped insulated jacket and is sitting on the ground. When Ronny is describing his thermal contact he is looking through what I assume are thermal binoculars held to his eyes, but the view we see and I photographed is on a handheld screen like a phone. She is using what appears to be a phone to scan for the object he is describing. I understand how a thermal works but have never used one, so assume the 55 degree F is the ambient temperature. My guess is the figure behind the tree is a crew member due to the color variation. It's entirely possible Dr. Mayor wouldn't be able to see the figure from her position even with an accurate bearing

 

 

My overall impression of the show is that, in trying to appear as a carefully planned expedition using an advance algorithm to calculate the best spot and time to search, they actually seem to be operating off-the-cuff. The whole "command center" thing with Bryce haring off to visit Jeff Meldrum, visit the wildlife center to see the tiger and interview witnesses seems very forced, almost like an entirely different show.

 

While watching the show last night, I was thinking exactly the same thing that SWWASAS mentioned, he should be using either compass or clock face directions and it should have been planned and understood by all parties from the beginning. I read about half of Ronny's book "Monsterland" but he is so into the high strangeness it finally became tiring, especially his long interview with Mike Patterson (hope I have the name correct for Bigfoot Ontario). I have an open mind (we have had some "interesting" things occur in our home relating to a previous resident who died here) but try to keep whatever brains remain from running out.

 

I've met Russel Accord and he strikes me as solid individual and Bob Gimlin speaks highly of him . IMHO, a much more interesting and effective dynamic would be to team Accord and Dr. Mayor. His woodsmanship and subject knowledge combined with her field experience and scientific background would be interesting and more likely to yield results.

 

 

[BobbyO]

2 hours ago, MIB said:

 

There is a concentration of reports in the general area that matches the time of year they filmed.    I'm not sure where they got their info, though, because the way Matt Moneymaker went after Russell Acord on facebook, it was not BFRO and I do not think the other group in the area wants anything to do with TV.   Their advanced algorithm is somewhat a laugh, though, because it is exactly what we have been doing for years.    If you are constrained in WHERE you research, you find the time that has the most reports either there or in similar locations.   If you are constrained in WHEN you research, you go to the location that has the most reports at that time.    Advanced .. advanced to whom?

 

There are better places ... not too far away ... but they are active at a different time of  year.   This leads me to speculate that the expedition timing was driven by availability of the Travel Channel film crew more than any other factors.

 

MIB

 

Definitely not BFRO no, and the only other prominent public research group I know of has (public) reports in the general area, but not for 10+ years and not at the time of year they went in neither (Spring).

 

Definitely better places too MIB, you know..;)

2 hours ago, SWWASAS said:

   My gut feeling is that there are actual  BF villages in some very remote places.   

 

Yeah, Canada ! 

 

I had the location as the Ochoco NF Randy.

[MIB]

21 minutes ago, BobbyO said:

I had the location as the Ochoco NF Randy.

 

I think so as well.   I haven't found the exact location, but the lake in the bottom in the background of some shots, the bluff Russell rappelled down, and the 3-D image they keep showing of the location will eventually let me nail it down.   

[BlackRockBigfoot]

5 minutes ago, MIB said:

 

I think so as well.   I haven't found the exact location, but the lake in the bottom in the background of some shots, the bluff Russell rappelled down, and the 3-D image they keep showing of the location will eventually let me nail it down.   

Unless that map that they keep showing isn't factual or to scale.  It could be a composite or outright fiction.  

 

It is TV, after all...

[BobbyO]

They talked about the Old Growth in the first episode if I remember right MIB, that narrows the location down quite a lot as the Old Growth Zones only make up around 10% of the NF itself.

 

I'd bet my bottom dollar too that there's a correlation between that Old Growth Zone and the Headwaters of the Crooked River which is in there also.

 

"Headwaters" are start to become pretty prominent where Reports are concerned the more I dig.

11 minutes ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

Unless that map that they keep showing isn't factual or to scale.  It could be a composite or outright fiction.  

 

It is TV, after all...

 

For sure, but that map is pointing at the Ochoco NF without doubt. Whether that's a false flag or not, who knows.

[Explorer]

On 12/12/2019 at 7:57 AM, Explorer said:

In the article linked below, it states that the BF "hot zone" where the investigation took place was in the vicinity of the Ochoco National Forest.

Attached below is map of the Oregon's National Forests showing location of Ochoco NF.

https://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/2019/12/travel-channels-expedition-bigfoot-comes-to-oregon-in-search-of-the-legendary-beast.html

 

The Ochoco NF is within 4 Oregon counties: Crook, Harney, Wheeler and Grant (see map below).

 

However, when I checked the SSR database for BF reports from those 4 counties, I did not see a large representation (only 7).

If you go west from Crook County into Deschutes county, then reports increase by an additional 16.

 

I was just curious about location and whether the claim that their algorithm chose this location as prime BF location for May-June was supported by SSR database.

Maybe the assumption of being near of Ochoco NF is incorrect.

 

 

5 hours ago, BobbyO said:

Oh and i'd like to know where and how they determined their "hot spot" to be a "hot spot" as, as per 7,000+ public reports in every database and book of Reports from across the North American Continent, it isn't.

 

BobbyO,

 

They did report (not in the show but in other articles)  that they were near the vicinity of the Ochoco National Forest,.

That is why I posted the stats above earlier.

 

My guess is that when they say that they used an algorithm to find the best location to investigate BFs, that does not imply to be using BF reports per se.

They might be using other parameters that they think correlate with BF habitat - like food availability (deer, elk, berries, etc), water availability (creeks, rivers, lakes), vegetation type (old growth forests, etc.), snow level in winter and spring, etc and generate an index of BF habitat per time of year in a US GIS map.

 

That could explain why the SSR stats does not find this location worthy of investigation, but other correlates might.

 

Explorer

 

 

 

[MIB]

I would think the head of the North Fork of Crooked river or farther east near Snow Mountain, closer to Burns, would be the most likely.     That area kind of intrigues me but it is too far to drive regularly enough to truly research it.    I have been to the area on Crooked River near Big Summit Prairie but it was quite a long time ago.  

 

The whole area seems too sparsely timbered to me.   While plenty of timber, my eye is conditioned to the Cascades, Siskiyous, and Coast Range.   Maybe someone forgot to tell bigfoot that I haven't approved their habitat?       

 

MIB 

[1980squatch]

And very little to no undergrowth, which is not a typical BF preference.  Makes for nice TV viewing though.

[SWWASAS]

Lack of dense undergrowth and greater tree spacing is more typical of forested areas East of the Cascades.     That not only makes off trail research easier but reduces cover for BF to use to hide.     During the winter months lack of leaves on leafy plants opens things up even more although you have to deal with snow too.      Drones would be more effective in those areas too since the forest canopy would not be as continuous like it is in or West of the Cascades.     So if bigfoot are out there in any numbers ,  they might be easier to find in regions like that.      I have no idea if any of that was in their algorithm but it probably should be.   But like you say, those areas are quite a distant drive for most of us. 

[MIB]

Hmmm .. yes and no.   While there is less cover per distance, there is a lot of distance.   It is no different than hunting for deer east side vs west side of the Cascades.   Distance increases, but the net result is the same.   Moreover, there are some areas east of the Cascades that are still very dense even though the average density is less.   

 

MIB

[Explorer]

I took a photo of the topo map shown on Expedition Bigfoot Episode #5. 

This map was shown in about 21 minutes from start - including all the commercials.

The photo I took is not very good but it shows some key map features:

- peak at 5,968 ft between and below the 11 and 12 quadrant.

- contour of 5,900 ft below this peak

- tight contour lines on NE corner

- the forest road on the west side going south to north

 

I went thru my USGS topo maps for the targeted area around Ochoco NF (via my online Gaia GPS service) and looked for those 11 and 12 quadrants with that 5,968 ft peak.

I found a place that could be a match (see attached topo extract).

The coordinates for that peak are 44.45208, -119.92030.

This is north of road NF-12 (also called Summit Road).

 

However, I am not sure it this is the exact spot because when I look in Google earth around that area, I don't see places similar to what the expedition folks show on TV.

Maybe it was a dummy map they used to illustrate the triangulation they were doing?

 

Maybe folks here can better explore in Google Earth for a match around those coordinates.