Close contact with a Squatch??-First video!

Finally got the video to upload to You Tube! I think I just had to free up some memory. This video was made maybe 20-30 minutes before I had the suspected close encounter! Its nothing great but at least you can actually see the woods and get a mental picture of where I was. I'm itchin to get back out there!

NOTE: I threw a penalty flag on myself for overusing the term "Stopped dead in my tracks"

Tree formations....again!

I know I said I was done taking pictures of tree "formations" but I found a couple really cool ones the other night. One involved five different trees!! I seriously do not think that the wind could of created them but you guys look at them and tell me what you think.

Its so hard to get the detail to show up in pictures but the bent trees are all living trees and held in that position by another tree or branch.Sometimes the hold down tree is a dead tree that doesn't even belong in that spot. The top photo is a great illustration of that fact and was physically impossible of happening naturally. The second and third picture involves five different trees. In the picture it looks like that one limb is cut but it wasn't...it was a clean break! It's highly unlikely for five trees to be manipulated in that manner by natural occurrences.

I would love to hear from you guys! Are these "formations" a natural phenomena? Is this common in all woods? I haven't noticed it in other woods but it could be. As always lemme know your thoughts!

Close Contact!!

Howdy all! I've been getting hate mail from readers irate over the lack of new posts on the blog, so I figured I better get my butt into the woods so I would have something to write about. Seriously though, I'm trying my best to get material to share with you all. It's tough with three very active boys who are involved in a ton of activities. But I am doing my best!!

With that said, I did get into the woods late Monday evening. I went back to my original area and steered clear of the area with all of the Black Bear sign. Not only to avoid running into the Bear but I also wanted to check my gifting site and the bait station with the hanging peanut butter jar. I stopped at the gifting site first and was disappointed that nothing had visited it. The last time I was at this spot is when I heard that loud crash and then found what appeared to be the makings of a shelter. I started on my way towards the bait station. I have to admit I wasn't doing my customary stealth walk. I was a little perturbed that nothing stopped at the gifting site. Frustrated, I make my way the 1/4 -1/2 mile to the bait station and find that it also hasn't had any signs of interest from the local Squatch.

So by this time I am just in a crappy frame of mind. As I plunder through thick vegetation, steep terrain, and never ending nats trying to fly into my eye balls, I start to question this whole Bigfoot thing. Is it all just a made up fantasy of mine and countless others, with over active imaginations?? Why am I wasting my time, effort, and resources on something that evidently is not real???Maybe the previous close encounters of years past were just my mind playing tricks on me?!?!All of the suspected Sasquatch sign just innocent natural occurrences! I decide the best course of action is to get the heck outa dodge...I'm going home!

I head in the direction of my truck which is still a pretty good hike away. Half way there I find a nice spot off the trail with two fallen trees and I decide to stop, rest, and have a drink. I also wanted to calm my mind and just enjoy being in the woods. I also looked up the Native American word for friend, "kola" and decided to say it randomly into the woods as I walked. Honestly I needed this down time and it was very good for my mind and spirit. After a half hour or so I packed up and continued my hike towards my truck.

I arrive at the infamous power line. If your familiar with the blog, you know that the power line has played a huge part in my Squatching adventures. There has been a ton of activity in the area of the power line. By the time I reach this point the wind had picked up. I crossed the power line and just entered the opposing wood line when I heard an extremely loud crash in the wood lot to the right, that instantly stopped me in my tracks. It was a violent sound and not one of a tree or limb falling from a natural occurrence.This was also the same woodlot that my buddy and I played "Hide and Seek" with the Big Guy two years ago. But the wind buffered some of the sound to a point that I couldn't tell exact local, and I couldn't positively rule out the wind wasn't the culprit. So after listening for a few minutes and hearing nothing else, I proceed down the trail.

I go a little ways down the trail and through the wind I hear extremely heavy foot falls to my right....please make note that all of this sound is taking place on the right side of the trail. I stop, look,and listen.....nothing! I start walking again and the sound happens again....extremely loud and its stops me dead in my tracks. Whatever it was definitely had my attention and I was now on high alert!

I have been getting some requests from a few readers asking  me to video some of my trips to the woods so I figured this might be the perfect opportunity to do just that. I turned around and headed back to the power line to tell the story on video for you guys. I made the short video and nothing out of the normal happened so I turned the camera off. It was getting closer to dark so I decided to wait until total darkness before leaving. I walked off trail to the "right" several yards since that is where all of the sounds were emanating from.

After a few minutes I was shook by a loud crash behind me, which would of been to the left of the trail as I was walking out. My body felt like it was electrified and I immediately started my retreat to the truck. I stopped myself and decided to "man up" and figure this out. I walked back down the trail towards where the loud crashing sound came from. I stopped and looked into the woods and couldn't see anything. It was getting darker by the minute. I had my walking stick so I decided to hit it on a big rock on the ground three times. After the third strike I had something really big and bipedal in nature start walking away from me at an extremely close range. As is the norm in this field it was just too thick to see it. The maker of the foot falls did not try to mask it's sound and I could hear the brush being moved away as it negotiated through the heavy vegetation.Oh yeh the area where it was walking was the gifting site area I might add. I immediately got my camera out and tried to video in the low light but to no avail!

The picture I am painting in my mind of what happened is this. The first loud crash I heard was the "Watcher" alerting the rest of the group to my presence. The proceeding "paralleling" was either it or another making sure I was leaving the woods, or at least monitoring my movements. Later on when I got off trail they gave me a warning with a loud crash.  It seems to me when they let you know an approximate location of where they are, it's to lead you away from another one or misdirect you away from the group. It worked because all of my attention was with the one that was walking.

One thing that I took away from this experience is that I don't think I want to research alone anymore. When you hear how loud they are when they walk and when they throw stuff it shakes you up. I like to think of myself as a mans man and I really have no fear but when your in their presence you can't help but feel vulnerable!

Who or what eats bones??

I found some bones about a month ago while out Squatchin. There were only scattered vertebrae, and rib bones. I couldn't find the skull or any leg bones but I'm assuming by the larger vertebrae that they are from a deer. The odd thing is that the majority of the rib bones have been chewed on. I am very familiar with what rodent damage looks like on deer antlers and other bones. These rib bones were chewed on by molars because of the crushing nature of the damage. I'm adding a couple pics for you guys to look at. I'm hoping the quality is allright for your viewing.....if not I can take more pictures on my next foray. If anyone has a definitive idea of what did this please share. Thanks and as always Happy Squatchin.....

Do Bigfoot play hide and seek???

I'm posting a video of Neil Frost from Australia who has been having consistent Yowie activity around his house for quite a while now. For those of you who do not know, a Yowie is Australia's version of Sasquatch or Bigfoot. It's pretty riveting listening to Neil talk about his experiences. Neil describes in great detail how he approached a Yowie one night and it took off like an elephant, crashing through the bush. As he followed, the Yowie would take off again. Almost like it was "playing a game". I have never heard of this suspected Yowie/Squatch behavior before, but it struck a cord with me because I have experienced it for myself!!

My son Josh, two of his friends, and myself took an impromptu trip out to our research area one evening two Summers ago. Our plan was to hang out on a power line and observe any movement across the valley. This spot is in an area where we had some activity previously. We found that if we hung out in this area long enough, the local Squatch would come to us. They usually announced their presence by tossing a rock in our direction, stomping the ground, or knocking a tree over. The latter has happened 2 or 3 times and there was never any wind to explain it off and it always accompanied other suspected activity. This evening started with a scream that we all heard plain as day 3/4 of the way up the other side of this power line and probably a 1/4 mile to the right. That area is nasty and steep and the closest thing I can compare it to is the "Black Timber" in Colorado. I can only walk through it in the early Spring before green up. For the next hour or so there was really nothing going on and twilight was getting close.We were standing facing this same direction and snapping some pics of each other and enjoying each others company when I heard s stick or limb break in the wood line to the right and back of our position. I joked and said there he his guys. We all got a chuckle and kept chit chatting. Then another stick or limb broke. It wasn't the sound of someone or something walking and stepping on a stick but rather an intentional brake if that makes any sense. Again we still didn't process the fact that this could of been a Squatch. Don't ask because I don't know why. We joked again and started laughing kind of louder. Our laughter was short lived because whatever was in the woods wasn't amused and showed it by shaking a tree pretty dang aggressively! I looked at the others and mouthed, "That's a friggin Squatch"! So I did what any self respecting Squatcher would do, I sent one of the younger lads over to investigate...lol

This kid is a funny character. He's the type of kid that is always joking around and always saying and doing funny stuff. He had a small stick he found earlier and a water bottle with him when he started across the power line. It's dark by this time but being out in the open we could see his faint outline as he walked towards the woods. He started out being goofy, and he was making a monkey sound and tapping the empty water bottle as he walked. He kept up his routine till he got to within 15 or so yards from the woods until what sounded like an elephant went crashing through the dense brush. All joking went out the window and quite frankly the shit got real (excuse my French)! He high tailed it back to where the rest of us were standing on the power line and said, "your right that is a friggin Squatch"! So as we pondered what our next move should be, we hear heavy bi pedal foot steps coming back to the edge of the power line where it all started. I really could not believe it. So I did what any self respecting Squatcher would do, I sent the same lad back toward the sound and the wood line...lol

This time it took a little (a lot) of urging to get him to go. He finally agrees and heads towards the woods. He wasn't moving as fast as the first trip and he definitely wasn't making any monkey sounds. Again, he gets to within 15-20 yards from the noise maker and again it takes off like an elephant busting through the woods. But it doesn't run away. It runs about forty yards and stops. By this time I had snuck below and parallel to whatever the heck this thing was. I communicated to our friend to continue into the woods which he did begrudgingly. He advanced about 10-15 yards and this thing would take off for a distance and stop.It was like this thing was playing a game with us! Meanwhile I kept sneaking to cut it off but I think I came too close and it felt what I was trying to do and crashed away. I'm telling you as God as my witness, it was not a deer or bear! If it was a very large person, they would have to be able to see in the dark!

Above is the power line that we were standing on. The wood line that we have had a lot of activity in, and this incident took place in, is just out of view on the right. At the bottom of the hill you are looking at is a small stream that run from right to left and dumps into a larger stream. If you read my introductory  post, " A Squatcher Is Born", this larger stream is where the two fellas had their encounter and cast a print. This valley is also where Cliff Barackman and Matt Moneymaker spent several days Squatchin in 2010. If you head down hill from here and wind your way to the right you will find several large rocks. I'm talking as big as small houses. The rocks are under cut on the back side and can be used as shelters by man or beast. Last Spring we found a boat load of small varmint skulls and bones around these rocks. Not saying they are Squatch kills but it looked like a grave yard of bones everywhere. This area during the summer gets overgrown and almost impenetrable and I'm sure the Squatch feel safe hanging out here during the day. They have food, water, and security. I'm not so sure the Squatch that we were playing with wasn't trying to lead  us away from this area.

Above is one of the huge rocks where we found all the bones. I find it odd that these two trees just happened to fall in this manner. There are snapped saplings all over this hillside and I documented some of stick formations in an earlier post. This tree formation is just below the above picture. I have a bait site and trail camera set up next to this site right now.

Well I hope I painted somewhat of a picture of what went on that night. I am looking forward to this Summer when they come back to the area. I hope to be able to write some more exciting close encounters. Happy Squatchin....

Why do Bigfoot make loud howls and for God's sake why do they stink???

From the beginning, Bigfoot witnesses have been recounting the gawd awful smell associated with their sightings. "Skunky", "wet dog", are two of the more common descriptions of that stinky smell. I myself have smelled it only once and I best describe it as a skunk like, but not full blown skunk. I know vague but it's more of a potpourri of Skunk, and many other noxious smelling things. Many researchers who spend any time in the field and have had close contact with Bigfoot know the smell quite well.

The night I had my nostrils introduced to this smell was exciting but also quite unsettling. Myself, two other "researchers", and two non believers had worked our way to a ridge top in a section of woods that we previously had some great Squatch activity days before. It was roughly 1 am in the morning and I started with making three woods knocks and immediately had three returned from the opposite ridge. The other ridge was several hundred yards across the creek valley from us. This area is steep and treacherous during the day time and most likely impassable at night. So the odds of the return wood knocker being human is 100% impossible! I again knock three times and again got three in return. By this time the skeptics are begging me to escort them off the ridge and out of the woods. I urge them to wait and we sit quietly in the pitch black, our ears trained in the direction of the return wood knocks. After several minutes we hear rocks in the creek bottom clack like something walked over them. Not overly loud but loud enough that we could hear them plainly at 150 yards or so. A minute or so later a bird who was happily sleeping in his perch was startled awake by something passing beneath him and started chirping loudly. I can hear my skeptic friends whimpering in the darkness. A twig snap, a tree branch rustled and this guy is getting closer and closer. He was very methodical in his approach. I'm not sure of the distance but when he got into that magical range I inhaled that deep pungent skunk like odor and I got the fear of God put into me. I immediately ushered the crowd down the trail. It was a very controlled exit and we were not screaming like a bunch of girls or anything (no offense to any girls). But the flight instinct definitely won the battle that night.

Anyone who has ever hunted Elk knows how vocal they get during the rut or mating time in September and October when they are searching for a mate. They use their bugle to announce to the world that they are dominant and they should bread. They also use shallow mud pits called wallows to roll around in and get nice and smelly. They intentionally urinate on their legs and under belly to enhance the smell. This smell in addition to their loud bugles is an open advertisement to the local ladies that they are the king of the mountain. I believe Bigfoot like Elk use loud vocalizations and that smelly, skunky, musky smell to attract a mate. The fact is there isn't as large a population of Bigfoot as there are Elk, Deer ,or Bear for that matter. They need to be able to cover a lot of ground and be able to attract a mate as efficiently as possible and their stinky smell and loud calls help them do it.

The loud vocalization should not be confused with the normal every day contact calls that they make to communicate with each other regularly. Whistles, chirps, barks, etc are examples of contact calls. They are not trying to advertise their location to the whole mountain but maybe a family member on another hill or outside the general location. The breading calls are the long, constant howls, or moans. The Ohio Howls are a perfect example of what I believe are breeding location howls. http://youtu.be/TPCcLddBekY

How do they get "the smell"?? I think they have glands much like gorillas that secrete a smell when they are excited or aggressive which both could be the case during breeding season. They not only need to walk long distances to find love but they also need to find a female that doesn't share the same blood line.These long walks only enhances their chances of running into another young male from another family group looking for love also. So that same smell could be a warning to potential rivals to stay away or else. And let's face it I don't think Sasquatch take too many showers. They are very hairy, they get wet, they sweat, they urinate and defecate outdoors so they are gonna smell a little ripe from time to time. They might even urinate on themselves intentionally like the bull Elk do during the rut. So the smell might be a combination of several different odors that quite possibly could be specific to the species.

But for whatever the reason or how they get it, Bigfoot have been associated with smelliness since the first reports of their existence. I hope in the upcoming years we can learn more about their lives and more about their biological make up so we can insure a happy coexistence between us and them. Long live the Squatch!

Happy Squatchin.....

Squatch Kill??

Found this strange and unusual Deer kill a couple of years ago. Not sure how this deer got wedged between these trees but he did and he paid for it. Any thoughts or theories??

Stick structures

I'm posting some pictures of some stick formations from my foray into my area on Sunday March 23. I'm NOT saying they are made by Bigfoot but they are very suspicious in nature. I know that the wind and bad weather can cause trees to fall in some weird manners. I also know that people walking in the woods can and do mess with sticks and logs. With that said, I'm finding these in some very remote areas, far away from normal foot traffic. As unlikely it is for people to be in these areas I cannot rule out the possibility. So I'm throwing this out there for you all to decide for yourselves.