Minnesota Update Of Sorts(Shrug)

[LeafTalker]

You carry a LOT of knowledge! 

 

And I hope that, if it WAS a BF, and it WAS pissed off, it wasn't pissed off with YOU.

 

 

[Guest Maggie]

Thank you Leaftalker. I HOPE I know a little something after all of these years fascinated with cryptozoology but I really hate to say things that are set in stone because on this subject there is so much unknown. If that makes any sense?

Hmmm. Pissed off at ME? Funny. but that isn't the impression I got so maybe that wasn't the case.   The vocalization was quite hair raising though!!  So I think someone or something made him/her unhappy.

[Guest Maggie]

I was at the family place again on Tuesday night but try as I might, I didn't hear or see anything else. It always seems like it happens when I am not really looking for it to!!

I was a bit surprised that nothing happened or if it did, maybe there was too much noise. It was gingerbread men making day, mostly the women in the family but my dad was there, then later, my son, brother in law and nephews. 

Activity often makes things curious....

[Guest Maggie]

Something a little strange, even if it it turned out to be just a "known" animal?

It's snowing like crazy here and my son just returned home (he said the roads were awful and lots of accidents.). Anyway, when he was by Minnieska (sp?) he had just passed another scene with what he said was a "weird" smell and a bunch of law officers but he didn't see where the vehicles were in this particular accident. 

He looked out to the right at the lake and saw a very large creature by/on the lake and it looked like it was drinking water. He said he thought it was a bear but he couldn't be certain. I suppose if it was a bear, the warmer temps might have woke it out of hibernation if it had already gone into hibernation? Also, I would have thought the ice couldn't support a larger animal so I wasn't certain if it was on or by the lake, I will have to ask him.

[mesabe]

Wow Maggie! Interesting!

 

Of course I came up with a few questions of my own, don't feel obligated, but if you have the opportunity, could you ask him?

 

1) when you said he passed another scene with what he said was a weird smell, does that mean the same smell was smelt by several possible accident scenes?

 

2) what did it smell like? It seems like this state is plagued by truck crashes hauling all kinds of cargo, could that have possibly tied several incidents together?

 

3) was this at night? wondering about more details of the critter. Bears do warm up from hibernating, like you said, But I think the average big bear, is probably not much bigger than your dogs. Of course there are big ones out there, just not as common, and we don't have anything grizzly or kodiak sized. Or could it have been a moose, cow or buffalo? Maybe it was a truck hauling some kind of livestock, that were roaming the highway, and stinking it up.

 

Thanks in advance if you are able to contribute more.   mesabe

[Guest Maggie]

mesabe, I will do my best with these questions.

That particular smell was only at the scene with the law officers present, it was a burning, electric smell but he never saw the accident. He said he didn't smell this at the other accident scenes. Friday was a bad day for driving apparently as he saw several accidents along hwy 61 on his way back from Winona.

This was during the day, he got off work at 2 pm and headed directly home.

I asked him and he said the animal was further out on the lake almost to the open water and it was "huge", dark,moving around. He thought "bear" but says that is because he couldn't  place it as anything else. He said MAYBE it had more of a bear shape but it was hard to tell.

What puzzled me was if it had any sort of weight to it, you would think it would have gone through the ice? Unless it was simply lucky. He said it looked as if it was probably drinking out of the lake.

I hope that helps.

 

[Guest Maggie]

I was going through the pictures on my computer and found the ones I took after my dad and I heard that weird howling around the house a little over two years ago. They are canine is all I know, I just thought they might be of interest. I didn't remember uploading them to the computer,I thought they were just on my old phone, or I would have shared them sooner.  

On one pic there are tracks of a regular housecat for a bit of comparison.

It wasn't a dog, that is about all I know. It didn't SOUND like a wolf or coyote to me but I am definitely not an expert. 

[mesabe]

Thanks Maggie, for finding the time to flesh out your brother's sightings better. Wow! that bear on the ice. Musta worked up a powerful thirst. Reminds me of some Ice stories I've heard in the past, they seem harder for us natives to understand, knowing the nature of thin ice etc.

 

The track pics. need expert attention. To me they look like pregnant coyote, or coywolf, if those can even be bred. But again, I could be way off base.

 

thanks again 

[Guest Maggie]

You are welcome mesabe. If my son tells me anything else he remembers about the "bear on the ice" , I will relay it here.

As far as the track pics, I really appreciate the input. The only thing I know is that it wasn't a dog. I was in a hurry when I took pics too. These are obviously around the time it was leaving the property, there were many more around the house. I am just assuming the cat is what it was after and that the cat prints were not there before. I think that's a logical thought anyway.

[mesabe]

I think you are right about the tracks. I don't spend enough time studying them and following up, but a couple friends of mine hunt and trap them, and this is what they say. Initially they look like dog tracks, same size, spread wide like a slightly overweight dog, and staggered like a dog's are. Then you see the whole trackway, where they move off in an almost perfect straight line. Which is a trait of coyotes and wolves. Grey foxes, and dogs stagger all over sniffing things of interest. I'm not sure of red foxes. Being it's winter, could be a pregnant female coyote on the move, or one carrying a pup or prey.

[Guest Maggie]

Thank you!!! About all I could be sure from the howls and tracks is that it was a canine, but I just didn't think it was a dog!

I haven't been able to pick my daughters brain while she was out at the family place for a couple weeks with her baby. I know she was very freaked out to stay

alone there because of past experiences that many of the family members have had. The only times she has told me about experiences has been when

she was in shock directly after it happened. So, if anything did, I expect she did her whole denial thing and pushed it to the back of her mind.

I personally have really nothing new to report since the growl/howl/scream. I heard walking a few times at night on the snow but didn't see anything and I figure

it could have been neighbors as easily as something else. None of the neighborhood dogs was barking, and that could mean either they were too scared or

it was someone they were familiar with,lol. So, no help there!!

[mesabe]

Welcome back Maggie. A hypnotist could have a blast, regressing, and picking the brains of members of your family that have had encounters there over the yrs. Might even make a good plot for a book. HMMMMM. The only thing I have to report, is an owl that sounded like Jerry Mathers (older version)  saying "who, who." They are looking for mates now in the woods at night at work, but this one sounded like a guy not even trying to sound like a real owl. Maybe spring will be the season.

 

[Guest Maggie]

Maybe? Though USUALLY around here it is middle/late summer through fall. However, in May (as said somewhere on this thread,lol) I have heard "Whoops" (for lack of a better word!)

Yeah, I think all the known experiences would make a good book and even more so if their brains could be resourced. Sounds like a mad scientist sort of thing....:)

[salubrious]

My experience is similar to Maggie's- activity in mid summer and sometime into fall, directly across the river from Kellogg, MN, so far the earliest being early July and the latest being mid-September.

[Guest Maggie]

Yeah here in Kellogg that is accurate for sure. The family place ( closer to Red Wing) it is about the same though the summer and fall period could last a bit longer. Plus in both places there has been activity other times of the year but it's very sporadic.