Bigfoot Trap Back in the 70's Southern Oregon

[Bearfoot]

 I was there about 1974 after it was no longer in use. That was before they dammed the Applegate River. According to Wikipedia it is still there. Was there with the person who made the trap and had it transported to that spot. Have several other photos and even some of the miners cabin just below the trap. Does anyone else have any photos of the trap from the 70's?

[WSA]

Looks a little light for the job. 

[Huntster]

I was there a few years ago. My cousin lives a couple miles away from the trailhead. We took pics, but it would take time to find them. The door has been removed to prevent accidental injury. Oherwise, it's pretty much intact. My cousin has lived there for over 30 years and her husband scoffs at sasquatchery. I joke with him a lot. I tell him that one day I'll spend some time there and catch him one.

[hiflier]

1 hour ago, Bearfoot said:

Was there with the person who made the trap and had it transported to that spot

 

Anyone know how often the trap was checked once it was set? In my state, which has about 3,000 trappers, traps must be checked every 24 hours with some exceptions. Oregon may have been different in the 70's. I mean, I know the BF trap caught a few bears.

Edited April 5, 2020 by hiflier

[MIB]

I was there a couple years ago.   I've lived less than an hour from it for over 20 years.   Neat spot.   I've investigated reports around the general area.  One of my friends has done even more.    Those are his stories to tell, not mine.    I suspect it was a very good location but the building of the dam and filling of the reservoir have redirected BF travel from that particular ridge to others upstream and downstream from the one with the trap.   There are recent reports from the other side of the lake even without a through-route anymore so I suppose there could still be intermittent activity near the trap.

 

MIB

[Bearfoot]

Thanks WSA, Huntster, hiflier, and MIB for the comments! I was also there in about 76 or 77 and here is another photo with the door open. Really don't remember the trap being active all the time up until 1980. Probably just active sporadically. I will post some photos of the cabin later which I see now is just a pile of boards. Also wished I had taken a photo of the mine shaft where the miner who reported the sighting did his mining. It was close to where the cabin was.  

[hiflier]

Now and the next month or two would be a great time to set up a new one  I still think that the creatures will be venturing out beyond their safe territories. Why? Because we aren't around nearly as much on trails and forestry roads trying to catch one off guard, or see one deeper inside their habitats. And I think they've noticed.

Edited April 5, 2020 by hiflier

[Huntster]

51 minutes ago, Bearfoot said:

..........Also wished I had taken a photo of the mine shaft where the miner who reported the sighting did his mining. It was close to where the cabin was.  

 

I wasn't aware of a mine or sighting there. I would be interested in learning about them.

[Bearfoot]

Just google Bigfoot Trap and a lot will come up about how that location came to be. Wikipedia just a few months ago had some great info and now all they have is a few short sentences. Somebody did some major editing! They had to actually make a road to the site to haul the trap in with a bulldozer. I know a lot has changed since then with the Applegate Dam. The trap is now very accessible from a main hiking trail. I use to pan gold where the lake is now!

 

Another photo of the back of the trap.

[hiflier]

https://www.360cities.net/image/bigfoot Just click and drag to have a look around inside

[Huntster]

From the Wikipedia site I see that the miners name was Perry Lovell, and an Oregon newspaper article copy is referenced, but that's the extent of the story. More googling produces no more, and there is no BFRO database entry. The Lovell report is yet another of the many thousands of reports almost lost to time and a complete absence of interest from science. Imagine all the encounters and trace evidence never reported or even mentioned by local newspaper reporters.

[hiflier]

Not much out there on the defunct North American Wildlife Research Team (NAWRT). Even a search for its members came up blank. But what was interesting (Daniel Perez, are you reading this?), was that it evidently was a government organization. That sort of explains the permissions from the Forestry Service to erect the trap and maintain it with bait (animal carcasses) for six years. It also may explain why we can't find much about the group. What is interesting, too, is that apparently the evidence that resulted in the trap's construction and placement was reported to be credible.

 

https://www.topozone.com/oregon/jackson-or/valley/kanaka-gulch-4/

 

"Lovell Lake: Unofficial, post-1955 name for small, former placer-mining reservoir (now used

by waterfowl and other wildlife); built by Mr. Perry Lovell in an old hydraulic mining cut at the

mouth of "Brandy Gulch," adjacent to the Applegate River in Kanaka/Water Gulch vicinity."

 

"Kanaka Gulch: Named for the presence of "Kanakas" (native Hawaiians) who mined in this

area along the Applegate River during the mid-to-late 19"' century. (There is also a "Kanaka

Flat" just west of Jacksonville, which was an area inhabited by members of various ethnic/racial

minorities during the same period; the term "Kanaka Flat" has been used in some recent Forest

Service reports for the Applegate River terrace between Kanaka Gulch and Water Gulch, but this

name for the Kanaka Gulch area is historically incorrect.)"

 

"Brandy Gulch: Unofficial name for a small, east-draining tributary of the Applegate River,

located just north of Water Gulch. Mr. Perry Lovell, an elderly miner who built several cabins

on the flat immediately south of the gulch around 1950, probably coined this name to contrast

with Water Gulch."

 

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by hiflier

[hiflier]

https://www.heraldandnews.com/outdoors/bigfoot-trap-wonderfully-weird/article_fbe623f3-a641-5949-a982-82ac5dfa934d.html

 

This doesn't mention that the NAWRT was a government organization, though. The Ron Olson mentioned in the article is the same Eugene, Oregon Ron Olson that took over Roger Patterson's Foundation and organized a few Bigfoot expeditions

 

"The trap, a 10- by 10-foot wooden box with a now bolted metal door, wasn’t originally a gimmick. Members of the North American Wildlife Research Team (NAWRT) built the trap in 1974, spurred on by area miner Perry Lovell, who told anyone who’d listen that he had found 18-inch long human-like tracks in his garden and had seen several large creatures roaming the area’s forests.

 

Lovell’s tales intrigued Roger Patterson, who had earlier stirred interest with footage of a blurry “Bigfoot” walking and looking at his camera. Patterson contacted wildlife filmmaker Ron Olson. After visiting the Applegate region, Olson selected a trap site near Lovell’s reported sighting. After being issued a Forest Service special use permit, he and others hauled materials, including 2- by 12-foot metal planks that were bound together with metal bands and anchored to telephone poles, to the site."

Edited April 6, 2020 by hiflier

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, hiflier said:

Not much out there on the defunct North American Wildlife Research Team (NAWRT). Even a search for its members came up blank. But what was interesting (Daniel Perez, are you reading this?), was that it evidently was a government organization. That sort of explains the permissions from the Forestry Service to erect the trap and maintain it with bait (animal carcasses) for six years. It also may explain why we can't find much about the group..........

 

What makes you say that it was a government organization?

 

Good research on Lovell. From what I read, I'm thinking that his place was submerged under the lake after the dam was built?

[Bearfoot]

Really don't think it had anything to do with the government. They did have to get a permit from the Forest Service to build the road and place the trap. Also seem to remember that the miner had passed away before all this took pace. What was referred to as the miners cabin was just downhill from the trap and it was well above the lake level. I'm sure this report has to be in a lot of the collection of Bigfoot reports. And I also think that the NAWRT just folded after that. I passed out several of their fliers back in the 70's.