Welcome Yetiman…
By Moose Magnet | June 14, 2009
We would like to welcome Yetiman to the USG. I new about him but had never personally met him until the tracking class. He is very enthusiastic about Bigfoot. His Bio has also been posted.
Moose Magnet…
John
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More Tracking and Tracking my Wife…
By Moose Magnet | June 6, 2009
Well I went out a couple of days ago and made a track line for GITD, Skoo and Lucky Charms to track. We can’t get enough. We discovered that tracking at dusk is difficult. The light is bad, your eyes are still focus for day light and the flashlight was not as useful as it is during the night. They ended up finding all of the tracks and we had a good time.
The next day my wife and I went on a date. Part of the date we went out and she made a track line. We then went to dinner and did some errands. We came back and I tracked her. As I started to track her I noticed she was not leaving very much sign in some places. She made the tracks with her Croc’s. They are a spungie shoe with a smooth bottom. I soon figured out that she didn’t want to go through the thick stuff so that helped. She also slide down a couple small hills. She then went over some gravel that had been packed down. That part was difficult. Her spungie shoes didn’t leave much. There was nothing to catch on so rocks were not easily over turned and so on. The wind was blowing very strong so it made it hard to focus. I didn’t end up finding all of her tracks. There was one suspect but I never lost them. We had a good time. We are looking around for more areas close by to make track lines so we can track more.
This has added a whole new level for us when it comes to looking for Bigfoot. I hope we find a track line this summer. That would be awesome.
John… Moose Magnet
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Sasquatch Tracking Class
By Moose Magnet | June 1, 2009
Well I had the great opportunity this last weekend to spend some quality time learning how to track. C. Leigh Culver, JT McAvoy and Matt Pruitt were kind enough to fly in from Georgia/Washington and instruct our group how to man track. Six of us from the Utah Squatching Group and five others were in attendance. It was by far the most educational outdoor activity I have ever been a part of. I have been in the mountains in one form or another for over thirty years in Yellowstone and Utah. Whether it was hiking, scouting, photographing, exploring, camping, hunting, instructing, or guiding I thought I knew a thing or two. I have always been fascinated with tracking. I think I waited so long to actually take a tracking class because I was having so much success with the knowledge I had gained from my experiences. With my focused changed from hunting large game to researching Bigfoot I knew I didn’t’ know much if anything at all about the subject. I wanted to learn from the best and I wanted to learn how to track them.
Arrangements were made and Leigh, JT and Matt came to Utah to instruct us on how to Man Track with an emphasis on tracking Bigfoot. Through their course and the knowledge they shared I was able to track a human track line that was twenty four hours old and had gone through several hours of heavy rain. That night I was able to track even older tracks that had been rained on. I know this is only the beginning of something totally awesome but I was given a very firm foundation. I also found out how much I didn’t know about tracking and there is so much more to learn. I wish I would have been smart enough at a young age to have taken a class like this. This old dog has been taught some new tricks. I am now looking forward to learning more about the subject and I can’t get enough. Hats off to our instructors and my many thanks. I am very grateful they took the time to come to Utah and show our team how to track and be more aware of what is going on around us. They taught so much more than just tracking. We have already talked about having them come back at least once a year if they are willing. I also had tons of fun, met some great people and hopefully made some lifelong friends.
The last night we were there our team finished our track line first. The three of us were done so we retired back on a log out of everyone’s way. Boogeyman and I were there talking to Matt about our favorite subject. We were sitting on a log with Matt in front of us moving around while he was talking. Matt decided to sit down on the log to my left. He told us he was thinking to himself that it would be classic Bigfoot behavior if now that all three of our backs were facing to woods that we would get a rock thrown at us. Within thirty seconds a rock hit the log to his left. We all heard it. I thought I had been seeing eye shine but didn’t say anything. This had happened after all of the other teams had finished up and went back to camp. Shortly after the first rock throw JT came up to where we were sitting. Without telling him Matt had him sit down on the log with his back to the woods. About forty five seconds or so another rock hits the log next to Matt. Matt jump up because it startled him. At this time I told everyone I had been seeing eye shine to our left. When the second rock was thrown JT saw a blur of movement from behind us. I wasn’t totally sold I was seeing eye shine because it was a dull green, almost a reflection from the moon. The moon was to our right shining in the direction of the eyes. It wasn’t until someone else saw the same eye shine that I felt better about what I was seeing. I like to be skeptical because I have to be. That is my hunting back ground. When I go deer hunting not everything is a deer. When I go Squatching not everything is a Bigfoot. We need to rule out everything before we can even think it is a Bigfoot. So it made me feel better after three of us on the log had seen eye shine. There was also movement that was heard around us. We decided to pack it up and go back to camp. We relayed our story to everyone and found out one of the other track team members had seen red eye shine. Leigh and JT decided to go back to take another look. They heard some activity and saw more eye shine. While they were gone Matt and I went out to the perimeter of our camp to us my gen one night vision. I saw an extremely brief eye shine back in the woods where we had the activity earlier. My daughter also camp out later and saw eye shine with her normal vision. It was a nice way to book end the events of the day.
Another interesting thing happened when I got home Sunday night after the tracking class. My sister was in town and came over with my mother. She found where I had been and started asking questions. I told her a little bit. She then pipes up and tells me that her family found a Bigfoot track on their property several years ago. She lives in a remote area of Colorado. She told me that the local farmers and land owners say there are Bigfoot everywhere and they have seen them on many occasions. Really? We start to talk about her property. She tells me that they believe their property is haunted because they have strange things happening and they attribute it to an Indian burial ground nearby. They have seen shadowy figures with red glowing eyes and thought they were like demon dogs or something. Late in the night one time one of her kids thought someone was trying to talk to him in a weird language. They have heard something that sounded like teen agers partying but no one was on their property. Events like this have been going on for ten years. They have one of the only water sources around. Elk and deer are all over their property. The list goes on of events on her land. She lives on a mountain. One time their dog went missing for a day and came crawling back to their house with both back legs dislocated. Their dog was huge like a Great Dane but I can’t remember the breed. It chases off bears and the like. No fear. They thought maybe their dog fell off a cliff and got injured but they thought that would break bones and not dislocate them. They couldn’t explain how that only the back legs got dislocated. I have never told my sister anything about Bigfoot and I know her and she knows nothing about the subject. However she explained a long list of events that have occurred for the last ten years that have Bigfoot written all over them. This is just her property. Her husband has a job where he talks to all the locals and their neighbors. They all have similar stories that have happened on their land. I told her because she is a local she has an avenue to get all of the info. I instructed her on what to do and told her that if any of her neighbors who would like to talk to call me. I told her to read all she can on the BFRO website and educate herself on the subject because she is not alone on her land. I told her to call me and send me pictures if she ever has anything happen. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
I would like to finish by just saying thanks to our instructors and the time they took to educate me about tracking. I look forward to where this will take me.
Moose Magnet…
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First Utah Squatching Trip of 2009…
By Moose Magnet | May 25, 2009
Well this is the first trip of the year for us to 40 knock canyon. I had checked the area out on Saturday and since I wasn’t working Monday I decided to head up Sunday night and see what we could muster up. There was six of us. We had one newbie with us that I will call Slugger. He has a background with baseball but the real reason we are going to call him Slugger is because he is the best wood knocker I have ever heard so far. That dude could crank out the knock in rapid succession and they were twice as loud as mine. My children were quick to let me know he was better than me. He almost did them as quick as the knocks we heard last year. We also had GITD, Skoo, Lucky Charms and Spartan117.
Well we arrived in time to sit around for a bit and built a fire. Shortly after night fall we started doing some knocking, howls and whoops in our typical fashion. To make a long story short all we heard in response what the occasional twig breaking. I think we were to early, about two to three weeks early. There wasn’t any sign of deer any where and really nothing for them to eat. We will give it a few weeks before we make the journey back to the area. It was still a blast and everyone had a good time. Slugger thought it was really cool to walk around with Night Vision.
Later, Moose Magnet…
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Scouting our Squatching areas…
By Moose Magnet | May 22, 2009
I am off to check on the snow pack tomorrow. I am going to check the area we are going to have our tracking class next week. I am chomping at the bit to do some camping but I still may have to wait a few weeks. I am going to take some pictures but my computer is down so they won’t be posted. I will give more information tomorrow on what I find. Hopefully I leave early enough that I won’t hit traffic. It looks like I will be going by myself so I will be cranking the iPod and jam for about six hours of driving.
Later… Moose Magnet
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2009 BFRO Northern California Spring Expedition
By Moose Magnet | May 20, 2009
Well I have finally made the time to write down what happened this year when we went to the BFRO Northern California Spring Expedition. Our host Brandon did a wonderful job on organizing it and we had a blast. We arrived in late afternoon on Wednesday April 29th. We left Utah at 4am and drove straight through. I went to bed at 8pm and drove all the way. I didn’t need to drink my Rock Star until after Reno. We set up camp next to Brandon’s. The area was awesome. We couldn’t wait to go into the woods and check things out but it would have to wait until the next day. We knew there was a possibility of rain so I set up the two tarps mostly over the girls tent. That evening part of our group and others heard about three wood knocks. During the night I heard something that was sneaking through our camp and took was moving around for about 2 hours. My daughter also heard a vocalization period that lasted for about 5 minutes. That happened about 1am. Mine happened about two hours after that.
The next day we took a hike into the woods to check out the forest. The trees were huge and very tall. The was awesome. When we were hiking around Boogeyman went off by himself. I had the two girls with me. Early in the morning we heard a vocalization that made the local dogs go crazy. We also heard some whistles that I have heard before. After hooking back up with Boogeyman we figured out that the vocalization was not across the river and was in the woods where we were at. That night when our groups went out one of them got stopped by a ranger and was told that we couldn’t do night hikes. Well the rest of the time we just avoided them and did our best not to be obvious. Anyway it turned out that I heard a vocalization along with the rest of our group but we could not confirm it. We listed it as a possible. Later we talked to the group that was at a higher elevation than us and they confirmed that it was a vocalization so that was cool.
I had a chance to teach a casting class on Friday. It was my first time but I think it went okay. I get to do it again on the Utah trip so it was good to have the practice. Friday night it was raining and had been raining all day. Several of us took a road trip. When we reached the top of the road and before turning around one of our members did a howl. Within a few seconds we got a return vocalization. We did have a recorder by the window but the rain did cause some problems with the recording. The trip back down the mountain was interesting to say the least but a few hours later we made it back to camp where we got hassled by the ranger again.
Saturday was better. It stopped raining about half way through the day. We had a chance to take a tracking class from RL. I learned tons and had a good time. That night we broke up into groups again. Our group had about eight people in it. We had three therms, a third gen night vision, bionic ear and my first gen night vision. Needless to say we were loaded for bear or I mean Sqautch. Once we entered the target area we heard three wood knocks. Not all together but there was three. Shortly after that a team member saw something coming down the hill. They called to another therm holder and had them locate the target. This was in the direction of the wood knocks. Shortly after that another member of our team saw a figure that was upright with arms walking between the trees with their therm. Another therm holder saw an arm come from around a tree. It happened so quick that no one else had the chance to see it too. Later we did some calls and some where in between something sounded like it pushed a small tree over or a similiar noise. That night I didn’t here anything while I was in my tent. I was tired and slept most of the time.
It was great to see familiar faces again and catch up on Squatching events. I had a wonderful time and I am looking forward to going back in September. They say the fall trip is the one to be on. Until next time…
Moose Magnet…
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2009 BFRO NoCal Photo’s on Flickr
By Moose Magnet | May 11, 2009
I just added some photo’s on Flickr from our California trip. You will notice them on the left hand side of the blog. I will write up a trip report here shortly.
Later,
Moose Magnet…
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BFRO 2009 Utah Expedition… Who’s Going!?
By Moose Magnet | April 9, 2009
Just wanted to remind everyone that the BFRO is coming to Utah this year. We are going to have a great time and want people to get excited about it. If you haven’t checked out the schedule yet go to the BFRO Expeditions and take the plunge. I have been on two and they were a blast. You meet great people who have the same interest and you learn from those who have been doing this for a while. I plan on going on four more this year and Utah is one of them. Hope to see some of you there.
Moose Magnet…
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BFRO 2009 Northern Califonia Expedition
By Moose Magnet | April 7, 2009
Well it is that time of year. We are preparing for our trip to Northern Califonia. There will be four of us going this year. I am getting really excited. I am looking forward to seeing some people that I have not talked to in person for a year. Have some time to catch up. Hopefully we have some good stories to tell like we did last year. It is shaping up to be a great season for Squatching. Yeah!!!
Moose Magnet…
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Little Miss Molly Dec. 5, 1992 to Mar 27, 2009
By Moose Magnet | March 28, 2009
I know this doesn’t have much to do with Squatching. I wanted to say goodbye to a family member and a great friend. We had to make a very tough decision today. My Wife and I drove Molly up and had her put to rest yesterday. After sixteen years we had to say our good byes to our little friend. Thursday we told our children so they had a chance to spend some time with her to let her know how much she was loved. We made sure her bowl of food was full all day. The morning before each one of them left for school they said their final farewells. I fastened her leash to her one last time and took her on our final walk.
She has been having some difficulties and it was hard to watch her struggle with the simple things. Her quality of life was not the same. She use to go camping with me all of the time but for a few years now she has not been able to hear and it was getting hard for her to get around.
We called the Humane Society and talked to friends who care for animals and they let us know, base on the circumstances that we were making the right decision. I have to admit, I was selfish and wanted her to pass away on her own so I would not have to make the decision. We prayed about what to do and I received an answer in a poem from someone who has just been through this.
The Last Battle
If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done.
For this – the last battle – can’t be won.
You will be sad I understand,
But don’t let grief then stay your hand,
For on this day, more than the rest,
Your Love and friendship must stand the test.
We have had so many happy years,
You wouldn’t want me to suffer so.
When the time come, please let me go.
Take me to where my needs they’ll tend,
Only, stay with me til the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see
I know in time you will agree
It is a kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waived,
From pain and suffering I have been saved.
Don’t grieve that it must be you
Who has decided this thing to do;
We’ve been so close – we two – these years,
Don’t let your heart hold any tears.
She is in a better place now. Free of everyday pain and the infirmities that the years have brought upon her. I don’t know why, don’t know if it is my age or what. I knew I would be affected by her passing but I was not prepared for what I am feeling and how she is affecting me. It goes beyond the master slash pet relationship. She always loved me no matter what. I could go off on all of the pet cliches which most everyone knows. But I think I have already said it. She loved me. I could always see it in her eyes and I loved her too. I miss my Little Miss Molly. Please take care of her for me and do me this one favor… let her know that I really did love her.
I miss you Molly,
John…
Topics: Pet | 1 Comment »