Solo Expedition to Blind River

Until your in the bush alone you won't appreciate how much others distract you. Having just got back from 3 days in the Blind River area doing field research into several Bigfoot sightings/reports I didn't know just how focused and alert I could be while in the field. I did exactly what I wanted to accomplish with no distractions. Explore and document. Since I couldn't sleep, I for the first time was up the entire night hours (Squatch hours) recording audio with my parabolic mic and just enjoying the solitude. Every once in the while I got spooked by a loud noise or what I thought was movement from the tree line but I was loving every minute of it. The problem with sitting there listening to the sounds in the forest with a set of headphones on, I was always paranoid about what I wasn't pointing the parabolic mic at and subsequently was constantly turning around thinking I was hearing things to my rear. That's why I would have preferred to have a lake behind me so at least I have a safe zone in at least one direction. Not from the big guy but from bears. Several brief glimpses of movement during the day got my heart pounding briefly. No idea what it was upon investigation. On one evening I could hear the distinct cry's from several wolves in the distance. The late night Loon calls always give me a feeling of calm no matter where I hear them.

I never traveled that far from base camp. Being alone and unarmed except for a knife and some bear spray I would think a mile from camp is as far as I got. Some tracks were found but identification couldn't be made do to the dry and hard conditions of the ground. Several game trails looked like something huge had traveled on them showing huge tree breaks. More than likely a moose. What could be hair samples were collected just in case I'm wrong.lol Several decent thunderstorms briefly swept into the area but didn't last very long. Lightning has a way of making you think your seeing something just inside the bush line and the next lightning stike only confirms your seeing things.lol

I will be heading in there again in Aug to continue my field research of the area. But first I have to head down to the Ahmic Lake area near Megnetawan to investigate a report of vocalizations that was sent to me while I was away. I guess the vocalizations happened on Tuesday (July 19th) evening and is continuing. I would have loved to go right now but the earliest I can make it is this coming weekend. Will update

Bigfoot'n safety tips

Your out Squatch'n. You hear a noise in the bush. Your lack of better judgement takes over and you take off after that possible Bigfoot sighting. You run and plow the bush aside in your attempt to get closer. You think your getting closer to the noise, you can hear the thumps of what sound like something walking on two feet. Something is there, you know it. After about 20 minutes you catch a glimpse of something, something dark, something.........on all fours. Something that looks a lot like a bear, and it just turned to face you. It doesn't look happy at all.You have no way to defend yourself. Now what? You have now idea where the trail is. You didn't bring a gps, phone or any food. You had planned on just walking along a well marked trail. The thought crosses your mind that your the biggest idiot in the woods. Well you would be wrong. This can and has happened to the best of us. We just don`t like to advertise the fact that we are way in over our heads on occasion. I`ve taken the time to write down a few tips on protecting yourself from yourself. All the things I learned the hard way. lol

1. Never go out in the bush alone (always bring someone if possible)
2. Tell someone in detail where you are going and when you will be back
3. Carry a cell phone (watch for reception issues)
4. Have a small first aid kit on you at all times in the bush
5. Buy a handheld GPS ( you can find them rather cheap) Learn to use it around town before using it in the bush. The batteries will die so bring plenty. Have a back up for the gps like a cheap compass.(learn to use one)
6. Pack a small emergency kit to bring(emergency blanket, water, food,matches, etc.)
7. Assume the weather could get bad and dress for it.
8. Be prepared to defend yourself (bear spray,knife, gun)
9. Know where you are ( bring maps and pictures of the area) invest in a good topo map of area.
10. Always check and bring spare tires (2) is better than one. Bring jack (This has happened)
11. Always be aware of wildlife in the area you are researching.
12. Every move should be thought out and planned.
13. It`s not just wildlife you may need to be worried about. (drug operations, hunters, poachers) If you see any of these just leave area immediately. During hunting season make sure you where a blaze orange vest. You really need to wonder why you would need to? Oh ya! hunters can't tell the difference between you and a moose. Kind of scary.

Manitoulin Island and Whitefish Falls Expedition March 19-21 2010

Sorry this expedition took place before the Lost Channel North Expedition. I haven't had the time to post it.

Hi everyone, XXXXX, XXXXX and I just got back from a great weekend in the bush. Nothing to report but we still had a great time. Very, very cold at night. After spending the day and night on Manitoulin island we decided we might have more luck near XXXXX's cottage in Whitefish falls area. The cold temperature was a little too much and we had searched the sighting area pretty good. So we packed up and headed to the mainland and searched and explored a wildlife sanctuary near XXXXX's cottage. Lot's of deer and signs of wildlife. An area that will get another more in depth search in the future. All and all a great weekend. Did I mention the cottage was heated? Thanks Peter for letting us stay there.

UPDATE- Several weeks later we went back in to the wildlife sanctuary and spent the day checking it out. Many large wolf tracks were found and followed. A future area for a more in depth expedition.

Lost Channel North Expedition April 23-25th 2010

Hi folks just got back from another expedition to the Lost Channel area of central Ontario. We had a great time. The expedition took place on the 23rd to the 25th of April. We managed to get a large group going. The five of us arrived on Friday and the weather couldn't be better. The bugs didn't bite so that was a bonus. Trial and error was the motto for the weekend. Having placed my trail cams in the area five days earlier I thought I would have a good chance of capturing some wildlife on the cams. All hopes were dashed when I went to check them and realized I had put the SD card on lock ( The little tab on the card) Which prevents anything from being added to the card. Live and learn.lol Other issues we have had on previous trips are: not turning cams on, forgetting to put SD card in them, not aiming at bait, aiming directly at the sun (must think of where sun will be all day), forgetting bait, dead batteries (not using fresh batteries) Hopefully we will work it out on any further trips. This weekend we started using some IR cams that we found needed to be tested at length before being trusted for any serious research. Practice, practice, practice! Lot's of animal tracks and half the fun is figuring out what made them. Very nice area and we will be back. I enjoyed the company of all the guy's and they made the trip a great experience.

Scared senseless and loving it!

Scared senseless and loving it!

Late at night deep in the bush I sometimes wonder what the heck am I doing here. 50 k away from anything that we would consider civilization and I’m out hunting for a creature that if I ever ran into one I would immediately be scared senseless. I ask myself wouldn’t I rather be home watching TV? Not on your life!

Nothing beats real life and being out there “living” the experience is really awesome and exciting. I’m sure it would be the same for other members of the investigative team, or anyone that’s heads out into the bush doing the same thing we are.

Can you imagine looking for a 600+lb, 8-10 foot tall creature? Something you probably will run into at night, deep in the bush if you run into one at all. Now I’m not talking about one crossing the road in front of your car. I’m talking about running into one when your walking down an old game trail 50 k’s away from any help and maybe 5 k away from the safety of your vehicles and chance to escape. I’m talking about smelling something that’s reminds you of garbage and wet dog in the middle of nowhere and then thinking it’s just a bear. Then realizing when you hear a tremendous scream and hearing trees getting shaken that sound like they are 2 foot thick. Finding huge humanlike foot prints in the mud along the trail that are twice the size of your size 11 boots. All this happening like I said 50 kilometres away from any help or civilization. Hearing, smelling and seeing all this without having any real way to defend yourself. Our investigative team doesn’t carry any firearms at the moment. Something that may change in the future. Not to kill but to defend ourselves against whatever critter we piss off. Something I find kind of funny is that we bait our trail cams in hope of catching some of these critters on film. What I find funny is that we are drawing in animals that can very much kill or at least seriously harm one of us. Not really that funny. On one trip I managed to get a pack of wolves stirred up and then realized it wasn’t that great of an idea. Drawing attention to ourselves.

(Note to self) place trail cams far away from base camp.

Why do we do it? We do it because we love every last minute of our time in the bush. We have a passion and need for adventure. We sometimes lose track of all the adventure and mystery in our busy lives. We do still have some adventures left in this world. This is ours.

Near Sudbury (undisclosed area of investigation)

Cougars are alive and well in an area we are interested in near Sudbury, Ontario. Doing several recon's to the area lately we have come across several signs of Cougars. From tracks to Scat we have plenty of evidence of them. Now all we need to find is evidence of the big guy.lol Our interest started with a report of vocalizations heard by canoeists. One of which happens to be part of the Sudbury team of investigators now. We have been trying to get to an area that we believe could hide a creature from discovery. The location is very remote. A one hour drive up a dirt road then 20 minutes of even worse road.( logging road) Then one hour on the atv's, getting wiped by branches that are on the side of a very old trail. Then 2-3 hours of bushwhacking through dense bush that hasn't seen anyone crazy enough to go there in twenty plus years. The area is a lake in between a series of very high ridges completely surrounding the small lake. Very remote. The area looks very promising with lot's of wildlife from Moose to bear and deer. Lot's of vegetation and fresh water. Swamps and marshes and creepy forests. I was happy I only went in during daylight.lol On the latest journey we came across something interesting that may or may not be the big guy but none the less still interesting. Heres the picture

Heres what I mean by "Creepy Forest"

All in all it was great trip and I enjoyed myself and the company of the other members. Okay not the long way to go.......or the getting whiped in the face by branches while riding the atv's.....or the what seemed like forever hike in the bush.......or the fact I had to turn around and do it in reverse at the end of the day.lol " Everyday is an adventure"

Now could someone come over and carry me to the washroom.....I can't feel my legs.

Reminds me of a joke........." I need your help in the bathroom......The doctor told me not to lift anything over ten pounds".lol

Still River Oct 23-25 2009

Hi folk's been a little busy lately and haven't found the time to post anything. Well Jason, Peter and I went into Still river for the weekend on Oct 23 2009. It was a little on the crappy weather side but we made the best of the time in the woods. Several minutes after I arrived I proceeded to bury my van up to the axles in mud. Thinking the other guy's had gotten there first I was following tire tracks, that in the end wasn't them. So I walked out to the main dirt road the trail I was on connected to and waited for the boys. After several hours Peter came to my rescue. After setting up the carport and enclosed it in with a ton of tarps we went to go get my van further up the trail. We had decided to camp where it was less muddy. With several heaters and some tweaking we managed to bring the heat up enough to take the edge off of the cold outside. During the weekend we set up several trail cams (4) and did lot's exploring of the area with the help of Peter's Mule.We managed some call blasting ( for those that don't know what call blasting is, it's when you play a series of loud vocals of monkeys and gorillas and what we think may be actual vocalizations from the big guy. We also had a audio recorder going so after the 30 second clip, we would be able to record anything in between the 30 sec clips. Which we feel may have produced an interesting result. During Saturday nights recording we had left to check out a trail further up the road and while we were gone we left the recorder to record the call blasting. We were gone for about 66 minutes.(time on recorder) Roughly 43 minutes into the recording you can hear what appears to be breathing and walking. Now let me tell you, we were alone up there. I truly mean alone. Plus if it was someone coming in a vehicle you would of heard it on the recorder. OK maybe it was a hunter or MNR (Ministry Of Natural Resources)? No way! Any hunter,or MNR coming into that situation in the middle of the night would have announced himself. Remember this is hunting season. No one just sneaks up on campers with a well lit campsite, with all this noise coming from it. A very good way to get shot I would say. Not that we had any weapons to speak of. It wouldn't of been a bear because our coolers and food were about 10ft away from the recorder and we would have came back to a hell of a mess.All other animals would have steered clear because of the noise and light. You can hear the wind, the call blasting and the tarp moving around because of the wind, but you can hear what sounds like breathing and something walking. We only discovered this later in the week when Jason Goldring was reviewing the recording. Needless to say we aren't saying it's the big guy but all we can say is "Very,very interesting" Jason and I are heading back in on Nov 27 for the weekend and hope to get more breathing.lol We are ready for whatever happens. You can find the "Breather" at the very end of the Still river trailer. Which is a project we are still working on. I hope the rest of the video will be as interesting as the trailer.lol Isn't that always the case?

I would call the "Breather" deepthroat but that's what I call the voice on my GPS. Oh well just another female telling me where to go.lol