Newbie here.....tactics input appreciated

[Tee-yim]

Hi.  I just joined the forum.  I have been out several times by myself looking for bigfoot.  There is a state park in NC where bigfoot is said to walk around your tent, push on the tent, then scrape in the gravel right next to your tent, especially at one particular campsite.  I went to the park on a week night at 25 degrees in mid-January, and I was truly the only person camping there that night.  At 4 am, I woke up to something walking around my tent on the gravel pad.  Then, right at my head, something pushed in the wall of my tent, and kept it pushed in, holding it there.  I was stuffed inside 3 sleeping bags like a sausage, and I had a briar proof coat formed like an igloo over my head so my face wouldn't freeze.  Let me tell you, I was WIDE AWAKE in a split second.

 

I decided to first pull off the coat from around my head, so I could hear better.  Then I was going to grab my Stun baton.  It is a 15 inch stun baton with electric arcs that go up and down the shaft, and it looks and sounds terrifying.  I haven't met a mean dog yet that doesn't cower and slink away at just the sight and sound of it.

 

As I pulled my arm out of the sleeping bags, and reached up and grabbed the coat out of the way, the thing outside pushed down on the tent right at my head even harder.  Immediately after that, it scraped loudly in the gravel with its feet.  My eyes were WIDE open and I was very alert and my heart was pumping.

 

Then I calmed down, because it left my tent, and 3 feet away I heard a light pounce into the dry winter leaves, and then another pounce beyond that, and then silence.  I realized then what had happened.  A fox came snooping around the tent for any leftovers a camper might drop outside.  Then, it wasn't sure if someone was in the tent or not, so it reared up on its hind legs and pressed against the tent with its front paws, probably sniffing as well I presume.  It's front paws and weight pushed the tent wall in right at my  head.  When I moved my coat out of the way, that freaked the fox out.  So it pushed off the tent wall with its front paws (thereby pushing on my head even more), and while pushing away, twisted around to leap away (thereby scraping hind feet in the gravel).  Then it leapt twice into the woods and slinked silently away.  So I think my "bigfoot" visit was a fox.

 

Since then, there have been more people claiming to see something, and even a thermal photo at night in the woods.  They are also claiming to have found several prints lately.  Most people who go out just stick to walking around the established trails with expensive cameras, thermals, and parabolic listening dishes.  I do not have any equipment except for a hunting style red headlamp and powerful red beam floodlight.   I'm not local to the area.  It is almost a 3 hour drive for me to get there.

 

I am planning to go again Thursday Sept 15.  Hopefully I will be the only camper there again since it is a week night.  There is a creek that winds its way through the park, in many places along side the trails, which are high up on the banks.  I have about 3 gallons of wild green apples.  I plan on Thursday during the day, to start at one end of the park and kayak through the park.  I plan to investigate the sandbars and banks that are hard to reach on foot.  Along the way, I will cut apples and throw the apples out on the sandbars and along the banks that are difficult to reach on foot (especially inaccessible to 99% of the hikers who only travel the established trails).

 

Then Thursday night, I plan to launch the kayak again.  There are copperheads and moccasins, so I will definitely wear my snake boots and have my hooked snake stick.  I plan to drift downstream with my red headlamp on, then about every 50 yards, anchor on a bush or rock, and turn off the light and sit there in the dark for about 10 minutes.  Then turn on my red headlamp, and look around for eyeshine.  If I see something, then I will flip on my powerful red floodlight.  Then I will drift 50 yards further down and just repeat this process in the dark.  That is how I used to catch water snakes.  I would go out and stand in the water, check for anything around me, then turn off the lights and stand there motionless, then turn the light back on and look around after several minutes.  Things come back out into the open if you just don't move and don't make noise.

 

On Friday, before heading home, I plan to put the kayak in again and retrace my steps in the daylight, and look for fresh prints and see what happened to the apples.

 

Does this sound like a good plan?  From what I have read, "they always travel the creeks".  And they seem to be curious and people see them usually while doing other things.  So I am hoping if something is really there, it will be curious about something happening (me) in the creek, and come near the banks to take a look.  Any refinements or suggestions?  Should I place the apples on rocks in the creek, or along the sandbanks of the creek?  Most people put apples way high in trees, from what I have read.  But since I am in the creek, I am thinking they should be low, like on rocks in the creek or on the sandbars.  Maybe stack some apples in a small pyramid or something.

 

At this point, I have no equipment, and I'm not really into the calling and tree knocking and so forth.  Most of my outdoor experience has been snake catching, and looking for predators, and so I've always tried to make as little noise as possible and just observe my surroundings and be still, move to another place, observe and be still, etc.  For now I will try that, but maybe later I might experiment with knocking or something.

 

Thank you for any input you wish to give!

[norseman]

2 hours ago, Tee-yim said:

Hi.  I just joined the forum.  I have been out several times by myself looking for bigfoot.  There is a state park in NC where bigfoot is said to walk around your tent, push on the tent, then scrape in the gravel right next to your tent, especially at one particular campsite.  I went to the park on a week night at 25 degrees in mid-January, and I was truly the only person camping there that night.  At 4 am, I woke up to something walking around my tent on the gravel pad.  Then, right at my head, something pushed in the wall of my tent, and kept it pushed in, holding it there.  I was stuffed inside 3 sleeping bags like a sausage, and I had a briar proof coat formed like an igloo over my head so my face wouldn't freeze.  Let me tell you, I was WIDE AWAKE in a split second.

 

I decided to first pull off the coat from around my head, so I could hear better.  Then I was going to grab my Stun baton.  It is a 15 inch stun baton with electric arcs that go up and down the shaft, and it looks and sounds terrifying.  I haven't met a mean dog yet that doesn't cower and slink away at just the sight and sound of it.

 

As I pulled my arm out of the sleeping bags, and reached up and grabbed the coat out of the way, the thing outside pushed down on the tent right at my head even harder.  Immediately after that, it scraped loudly in the gravel with its feet.  My eyes were WIDE open and I was very alert and my heart was pumping.

 

Then I calmed down, because it left my tent, and 3 feet away I heard a light pounce into the dry winter leaves, and then another pounce beyond that, and then silence.  I realized then what had happened.  A fox came snooping around the tent for any leftovers a camper might drop outside.  Then, it wasn't sure if someone was in the tent or not, so it reared up on its hind legs and pressed against the tent with its front paws, probably sniffing as well I presume.  It's front paws and weight pushed the tent wall in right at my  head.  When I moved my coat out of the way, that freaked the fox out.  So it pushed off the tent wall with its front paws (thereby pushing on my head even more), and while pushing away, twisted around to leap away (thereby scraping hind feet in the gravel).  Then it leapt twice into the woods and slinked silently away.  So I think my "bigfoot" visit was a fox.

 

Since then, there have been more people claiming to see something, and even a thermal photo at night in the woods.  They are also claiming to have found several prints lately.  Most people who go out just stick to walking around the established trails with expensive cameras, thermals, and parabolic listening dishes.  I do not have any equipment except for a hunting style red headlamp and powerful red beam floodlight.   I'm not local to the area.  It is almost a 3 hour drive for me to get there.

 

I am planning to go again Thursday Sept 15.  Hopefully I will be the only camper there again since it is a week night.  There is a creek that winds its way through the park, in many places along side the trails, which are high up on the banks.  I have about 3 gallons of wild green apples.  I plan on Thursday during the day, to start at one end of the park and kayak through the park.  I plan to investigate the sandbars and banks that are hard to reach on foot.  Along the way, I will cut apples and throw the apples out on the sandbars and along the banks that are difficult to reach on foot (especially inaccessible to 99% of the hikers who only travel the established trails).

 

Then Thursday night, I plan to launch the kayak again.  There are copperheads and moccasins, so I will definitely wear my snake boots and have my hooked snake stick.  I plan to drift downstream with my red headlamp on, then about every 50 yards, anchor on a bush or rock, and turn off the light and sit there in the dark for about 10 minutes.  Then turn on my red headlamp, and look around for eyeshine.  If I see something, then I will flip on my powerful red floodlight.  Then I will drift 50 yards further down and just repeat this process in the dark.  That is how I used to catch water snakes.  I would go out and stand in the water, check for anything around me, then turn off the lights and stand there motionless, then turn the light back on and look around after several minutes.  Things come back out into the open if you just don't move and don't make noise.

 

On Friday, before heading home, I plan to put the kayak in again and retrace my steps in the daylight, and look for fresh prints and see what happened to the apples.

 

Does this sound like a good plan?  From what I have read, "they always travel the creeks".  And they seem to be curious and people see them usually while doing other things.  So I am hoping if something is really there, it will be curious about something happening (me) in the creek, and come near the banks to take a look.  Any refinements or suggestions?  Should I place the apples on rocks in the creek, or along the sandbanks of the creek?  Most people put apples way high in trees, from what I have read.  But since I am in the creek, I am thinking they should be low, like on rocks in the creek or on the sandbars.  Maybe stack some apples in a small pyramid or something.

 

At this point, I have no equipment, and I'm not really into the calling and tree knocking and so forth.  Most of my outdoor experience has been snake catching, and looking for predators, and so I've always tried to make as little noise as possible and just observe my surroundings and be still, move to another place, observe and be still, etc.  For now I will try that, but maybe later I might experiment with knocking or something.

 

Thank you for any input you wish to give!

Welcome to the forums! Any day in the woods beats a good day at work.

 

I think the idea behind the tall apple placement is to reduce the odds of something smaller getting the bait first. Be safe!

[BC witness]

I like your plan, it's different than most, so probably unexpected to your target. Having access to areas that most park users don't see is a definite advantage. Good luck!

[Catmandoo]

Good sleuthing on the fox activity. Learning your animal inventory takes time. Things that go bump in the night can be puzzling. Small bounding animals traveling over dried leaves can sound like bipedal footfalls. Most of the time, unless you see the animal, you don't know what made the noises.

The kayak plan is fascinating. During daylight, all the animals will be watching you. You will have a full moon on the 10th and the last quarter moon phase is on the 17th. If you do the kayak trip at night, all the animals will be watching you. They use starlight to see at night. You will be a sitting duck. I would focus on daytime activity.  To maximize olfactory signaling on short term missions, crush some apples to mush.  Each group of whole apples receives mushed apples. It appears that you have 2 types of gifting sites; sand bars that show all tracks and trackless areas. Sasquatch know how to not leave tracks.

Monitoring for campsite visitors is a safer start. Secure the kayak to your vehicle at night.  A kayak could be a curiosity factor.

Usually mineral prospecting is not allowed in state parks but I don't know the regulations in N.C.  Check for mineral prospecting activity since you don't want to gift to prospectors.

Stay safe. 

[gigantor]

Welcome to the BFF Tee-yim.

 

On 9/5/2022 at 12:11 PM, norseman said:

I think the idea behind the tall apple placement is to reduce the odds of something smaller getting the bait first.

 

It doesn't always work...

 

 

 

[BlackRockBigfoot]

On 9/5/2022 at 9:33 AM, Tee-yim said:

Hi.  I just joined the forum.  I have been out several times by myself looking for bigfoot.  There is a state park in NC where bigfoot is said to walk around your tent, push on the tent, then scrape in the gravel right next to your tent, especially at one particular campsite.  I went to the park on a week night at 25 degrees in mid-January, and I was truly the only person camping there that night.  At 4 am, I woke up to something walking around my tent on the gravel pad.  Then, right at my head, something pushed in the wall of my tent, and kept it pushed in, holding it there.  I was stuffed inside 3 sleeping bags like a sausage, and I had a briar proof coat formed like an igloo over my head so my face wouldn't freeze.  Let me tell you, I was WIDE AWAKE in a split second.

 

I decided to first pull off the coat from around my head, so I could hear better.  Then I was going to grab my Stun baton.  It is a 15 inch stun baton with electric arcs that go up and down the shaft, and it looks and sounds terrifying.  I haven't met a mean dog yet that doesn't cower and slink away at just the sight and sound of it.

 

As I pulled my arm out of the sleeping bags, and reached up and grabbed the coat out of the way, the thing outside pushed down on the tent right at my head even harder.  Immediately after that, it scraped loudly in the gravel with its feet.  My eyes were WIDE open and I was very alert and my heart was pumping.

 

Then I calmed down, because it left my tent, and 3 feet away I heard a light pounce into the dry winter leaves, and then another pounce beyond that, and then silence.  I realized then what had happened.  A fox came snooping around the tent for any leftovers a camper might drop outside.  Then, it wasn't sure if someone was in the tent or not, so it reared up on its hind legs and pressed against the tent with its front paws, probably sniffing as well I presume.  It's front paws and weight pushed the tent wall in right at my  head.  When I moved my coat out of the way, that freaked the fox out.  So it pushed off the tent wall with its front paws (thereby pushing on my head even more), and while pushing away, twisted around to leap away (thereby scraping hind feet in the gravel).  Then it leapt twice into the woods and slinked silently away.  So I think my "bigfoot" visit was a fox.

 

Since then, there have been more people claiming to see something, and even a thermal photo at night in the woods.  They are also claiming to have found several prints lately.  Most people who go out just stick to walking around the established trails with expensive cameras, thermals, and parabolic listening dishes.  I do not have any equipment except for a hunting style red headlamp and powerful red beam floodlight.   I'm not local to the area.  It is almost a 3 hour drive for me to get there.

 

I am planning to go again Thursday Sept 15.  Hopefully I will be the only camper there again since it is a week night.  There is a creek that winds its way through the park, in many places along side the trails, which are high up on the banks.  I have about 3 gallons of wild green apples.  I plan on Thursday during the day, to start at one end of the park and kayak through the park.  I plan to investigate the sandbars and banks that are hard to reach on foot.  Along the way, I will cut apples and throw the apples out on the sandbars and along the banks that are difficult to reach on foot (especially inaccessible to 99% of the hikers who only travel the established trails).

 

Then Thursday night, I plan to launch the kayak again.  There are copperheads and moccasins, so I will definitely wear my snake boots and have my hooked snake stick.  I plan to drift downstream with my red headlamp on, then about every 50 yards, anchor on a bush or rock, and turn off the light and sit there in the dark for about 10 minutes.  Then turn on my red headlamp, and look around for eyeshine.  If I see something, then I will flip on my powerful red floodlight.  Then I will drift 50 yards further down and just repeat this process in the dark.  That is how I used to catch water snakes.  I would go out and stand in the water, check for anything around me, then turn off the lights and stand there motionless, then turn the light back on and look around after several minutes.  Things come back out into the open if you just don't move and don't make noise.

 

On Friday, before heading home, I plan to put the kayak in again and retrace my steps in the daylight, and look for fresh prints and see what happened to the apples.

 

Does this sound like a good plan?  From what I have read, "they always travel the creeks".  And they seem to be curious and people see them usually while doing other things.  So I am hoping if something is really there, it will be curious about something happening (me) in the creek, and come near the banks to take a look.  Any refinements or suggestions?  Should I place the apples on rocks in the creek, or along the sandbanks of the creek?  Most people put apples way high in trees, from what I have read.  But since I am in the creek, I am thinking they should be low, like on rocks in the creek or on the sandbars.  Maybe stack some apples in a small pyramid or something.

 

At this point, I have no equipment, and I'm not really into the calling and tree knocking and so forth.  Most of my outdoor experience has been snake catching, and looking for predators, and so I've always tried to make as little noise as possible and just observe my surroundings and be still, move to another place, observe and be still, etc.  For now I will try that, but maybe later I might experiment with knocking or something.

 

Thank you for any input you wish to give!

Good luck!

 

I saw the reports of a state park in NC that had some recent activity.  

 

Let us know how it goes...and don't get frustrated if you don't get results the first time!

[Skinwalker13]

Walk the creeks and muddy areas, learn to track and what signs are what animal. That way when you find something interesting you have a much better grip on what your looking at. Also, pack plaster on those walks. If for no other reason than to cast any tracks you do find as practice. I've actually done this and created protection zones alongside DNR for species that were thought to be destroyed in the specific region. Grab a field guide or two to help ID edible fauna and keep a log of it, along with seasons and weather.  Lastly, just enjoy the time your spending outdoors, it's better to "waste" a day in the field than to spend it setting behind a desk. 

[Marty]

12 hours ago, gigantor said:

Welcome to the BFF Tee-yim.

 

 

It doesn't always work...

 

 

 

True but I see what he did there, bent the tree's leafy side to the floor so anything climbing it would rustle the leaves, causing concern.

Until the animal understands it's a ruse lmao

[gigantor]

2 hours ago, Marty said:

True but I see what he did there, bent the tree's leafy side to the floor so anything climbing it would rustle the leaves, causing concern.

Until the animal understands it's a ruse lmao

 

We didn't plan it that way...  he came back that night and got the apples by climbing the big tree on the right.

 

 

 

[wiiawiwb]

Tee-yim...welcome to the forum.

 

I think your game plan sounds very good.  Always play to your strengths, doing what you do best, while learning how to improve your weaknesses.  You know the water and have equipment needed for your adventure.

 

 I like your approach of drifting along quietly, looking for eyeshine, and listening intently. Sound travels over water clearly and for long distances. That gives you an advantage of being able to hear things rustling in the woods along the creek.

 

If enjoy the water approach, I would consider, at some point, getting a sound recorder as you might be able to capture the things that come to life in and around the creek. The next piece of equipment would be a thermal imager so you could silently drift along on the water and scour the water's edge in different directions for whatever might come to the water.

 

Best of luck and keep us posted. Always never be shy about asking questions.

 

An afterthought.....I don't how frigid the weather is when I'm sasquatching. Nothing ever goes over my ears as I want to hear everything that is moving around me even when in my tent.

[WanderingLorax]

Welcome to the forum! I like your plan. I try to think outside the box when it comes to these creatures. I agree with @wiiawiwb, consider investing in a audio recorder.

[Catmandoo]

On 9/7/2022 at 4:02 PM, wiiawiwb said:

Nothing ever goes over my ears as I want to hear everything that is moving around me even when in my tent.

 

I use a 'deerstalking hat', aka 'Sherlock Holmes hat'.  Made from Harris Tweed woven wool. The wool does not reflect UV.  Always smells nice.  Best hat that I have.  Ear flaps stay up most of the time. Noise from the sides and behind you is important to immediately detect. The deerstalker type hat will not interfere with hearing augmentation equipment. 

[Tee-yim]

I wanted to update about my trip.  I went to the State Park, and kayaked probably a mile or a little more.  The creek was rather full of fallen trees and limbs.  I went on Thursday September 15th.  I was using an inflatable kayak.  I have to say, I am extremely impressed with it.  I kept hearing branches and rocks scraping from underneath that I could not see in the murky water.  After the trip I closely examined the bottom and I could not find any rough spots.  For $100, I think I already have gotten my money value from it.

 

On Thursday, after a little over a mile, I had to turn around because there was a huge tree all the way across the creek, and even though I could have scaled the tree trunk and re-embarked the kayak on the other side during the day time, I knew there was no safe way to do that at night.  I set out apples during the day, and scoped out a place to come back at night.

 

I identified a stretch of creek that was about 2 football fields long, that had deeper water, fewer trees and limbs, and I felt that it was clean enough to navigate in an inflatable kayak in the dark.

 

So that night I returned.  I had to park and then walk down about a half mile service road to get to the spot on the creek to where I would have a clear 200 yards to drift in and listen.  I heard nothing unusual while traveling on foot on the service road.

 

I got in the creek with my inflatable kayak, and got positioned with a "weed grabber" kayak anchor that clamps on to any weeds or tree limbs sticking out of the water.  Then I would turn off my red headlamp and listen in the dark.  After about 15 minutes I would turn on my headlamp, look around, then drift about 40 yards or so, find another "grabber anchor" point, and do it all over again.

 

The creek was fairly low, and the biggest thing I noticed is that when I turned my red headlamp on, you could see thousands of sparkling spider eyes all over the banks.  It literally looked like thousands of tiny reflecting diamonds.  You would not believe how many wolf spiders are on the banks of a creek at night.

 

I was on the water in the dark for about 2 hours.  All I heard were acorns falling into the water.  At one point, I heard a small branch cascading down through the tree limbs on its way to splashing in the water.  The current story going around the state park is that Bigfoot throws rocks at you and you can hear them plop loudly in the creek.

 

The loudest sound I heard was about 50 feet from me, when 2 large bass popped the water.  I have heard that sound many times fishing.  I have heard bass do that and I have even seen and heard large catfish come to the surface and do that.  It sounded like large fist sized rocks ka-plunking into the water.  It made me wonder, are people coming out here who have never heard a bass pop a frog or bug on the surface, and because Bigfoot is supposedly in the park, they automatically assume the noise is a bigfoot?

 

The next day, my grown son came and we kayaked the creek again in the daylight, to check the piles of apples I had put out.  Nothing had disturbed them.  We also hiked for several miles, and did not see anything outside of normal.

 

All in all, it was a super relaxing and fun trip, and time spent Friday with my grown son outdoors.  As they way, a "bad day" bigfooting is a wonderful day in God's creation.

 

I think I will turn my attention to the Uwharries.  They are a little closer to me, and I have actually seen a print and heard a noise that I could not identify there.

 

Thank you everyone for the input and advice you gave before my trip.

 

 

[BC witness]

Thanks for the detailed report. As you say, any day out in the woods is a winner.