Good morning and Happy Monday to you all! I wanted to post this comment that I received this morning on my Google Plus from Mike Brookreson. Mike does an excellent job of painting the picture of the reality on the ground for us and what we are dealing with. Mike reinforces my belief that we absolutely are the "bait". You don't need to walk 20 miles hootin and hollerin to have that experience. Another great point that Mike makes is trusting your instincts! That "fight or flight" battle that your mind, body, and soul go through when encountered with what it perceives as a life or death situation. It really is important that you harness that battle, and try to make a rational decision on your next course of action. My hunting background has taught me NOT to run when in the presence of a predatory animal. I think this is common sense but I truly had to fight this flight response the other night. The whole time I packed up camp I knew it was watching and I acted as I was totally unaware of it's presence. But in truth I wanted to run and leave everything there..lol
I will end with this, I will concede the night to them. They have EVERY advantage day or night but during the day I at least have a chance to asses the situation and react accordingly. At night you are at their mercy! And like Mike said, they aren't trying to be our friends. We are stimuli to them plain and simple. With that in mind I'm not sure if I'll do anymore night ops...at least until I can get some night optics. Being able to feel and hear these encounters is one thing but I need to be able to document it too. Like I told Mike months ago it's all stories if I can't document it! Happy Squatchin...
Dude. What you did is completely natural. It is even more brave that you made a log of breaking camp. Listen. I have only been doing this at the ranch less than 3
years out. When I first started it was all adrenaline. Let me promise you I have been remote outward bound. Dropped off in a helicopter with nothing but a Kevlar canoe and Some bear spray and two weeks worth of supplies to navigate along Boundary water swamp trails in Canada. I was only 18. No gun whatsoever. My father thought it would be a unique experience for me. It was. But even timber wolves did not frighten me. And they howled by our camp every night. It was not until I became more "educated" with what's really out there that I experienced true fear. . Then it was my mind that taught the lesson to me. There is nothing wrong with showing them the respect they deserve by yielding the woods to them. In fact it engenders more trust for future trips. But you've got to listen to that inner voice, always, and I can't stress that enough. The people who truly " go missing " in the woods, well all I can say is that I feel that many of them did not hear or listen to their own primordial alarm system. I wish I was with you brother. I have had a well known researcher scream at me in the night for sprinting off alone after some strange sounds in the thick brush with no light because I was afraid to scare them off by activating it. Nowadays I pay the most strict attention to my inner voice which tells me when to break camp or "enough already" with the woods. When you get into a regular pattern of feeding it can become even more dangerous. Because then they show up expecting food and when it doesn't arrive or they don't like what you've brought they have ways of letting you know real quick. I don't feed regularly anymore because they would throw shit at me and startle the hell out of me. Lately, a huge part of me wants to go back in time and plead with myself to stop ignoring the ways of the woods that I learned as a child that I later abandoned when I discovered this new phenomenon. I remember Les Stroud setting up his break camp in an ambush predator area in Survivorman-Bigfooot, because Todd S had told him it increased the likelihood of an In Camp encounter. And he was true. It does. But once we know they exist and that they are already investigating us, well then it isn't that necessary to take those risks. The true bait. As spooky as it sounds, in areas that aren't often "squatched" .....is people. The sights and sounds and smells of people, especially women and children lead them right to you. They have no other stimuli in the forest besides themselves and their food which pique their curiosity. And that in and of itself can be a very sobering thought. All I can say is you did the right thing. Follow your instinct every time. There will come a point where you won't be afraid. And even then be careful. Our neighbors they certainly are. But trying to be our friends is not at all what concerns or interests them. When the time is right you and I can talk about some ways to bring them to an area in your absence that they don't discuss on TV. Until then just let me say what a cool encounter you had and how well you handled it. If everyone else were as smart as you both researcher and subject would be a lot better for it.
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