This was the fall expedition of the research group that I belong to, and I had higher hopes for the trip than it turned out to be. First the background, there had been two sightings from this location within a stone’s throw and a year apart; one was a road crossing and the other a pattern of ongoing activity. If you read between the lines the forest we were working this expedition was where the creature had made its way for the road crossing. Normally the research group votes on a location as well as the date, and this location won out by a single vote over another, and I suspect there was some resentment from others in the group, but the location in Vermont won, and the other had its day as a the Adirondack trip in my last post. I had some frustration because I had wanted this trip to be a bit more of a backpacking trip where some in the group are more car camping, the end result ended up being somewhere in the middle.

I arrived a day early for this one as did a few others. They did so to account for travel distance, I did more so to get in some recon before meeting up with everyone else. I was able to scout the full length of the road running through and finding some interesting points that led off trail, and made note of the fact that terrain on one end of the road was a bit more rugged than the main way in, at least for a non 4×4 vehicle. The next morning we met up with the others and got to the forest and set to setting up camp, and trying to find an area out of the way. One pair chose a spot off a logging trail, another car camped and I hammocked nearby a short distance into the forest. We did some day scouting of potentially good night operation locations and we decided after scouting a few side trails to split into two teams and two areas.

For the night operation itself, we had good moonlight conditions to maximize night vision effectiveness, but despite good conditions, the odd thing this trip verses the other two before, was how quiet it was. There was little to any sign of animal activity once it got dark. In previous trips there had been signs of owls, small animals such as fox, porcupine and the like, this time it was dead quiet. The reason I suspect was the weather the next day. We were due to have a nor’easter and with that would come 45 mph winds which made staying another night foolhardy. After a quiet night operation, with sadly no luck, we decided to wake the next day and make a call based on the NOAA repor.t. Unfortunately the report didn’t change that much, nor’easter, lot of rain and hazardous levels of wind, so the trip was called short on a count of the weather turning nasty. This is one of the frustrating that can happen in this pursuit; great location, best laid plans of mice and men, and the weather denies. Given the history of this location and the surrounding area I am due to return at least once more this year or early next year.

As others posts have indicated I’ve gotten a fair amount of field work in since mid-summer, getting out to Vermont, Massachusetts and New York, and have done a decent amount of field work in my local area as well. I try to get out a weekly basis to this area and have a look around, and it has been quiet so far, with the except of a brief run in with a female moose. The deer keds are out as well, which for all intent and purpose, flying ticks, but insects, not arachnids. The moose encounter should serve as a reminder that you can run into something right around the corner and should be prepared for it, in terms of safety as well as not panicking. Males this time of year are in the rut and as a result are dangerous, this female on the other hand, was just blind as a bat. She didn’t see me or notice me until I called out, which was at about thirty feet. Since I’ve run into bears in the same area it’s just wise to be aware of your surroundings and even though you’re looking for the squatch, there’s other things out there to, be careful out there.

About halfway through September, we had a trip out to a new area with an Investigator I have met once before, an area where they act as a ranger. This was a first time outing with this group it was more of a meet and greet than an investigation. Some folks I had met previously and some were for the first time. The agenda I had in going if there was one was to see if there was interest in forming the nucleus of a New England centric colligative network of investigators who could work together towards more coordinated research in the region. This is partially out of the realization that the group I currently belong to is only so willing to engage in new England field work, and to move in a different direction as a result. The first night there, our host was quite gracious and we had a lengthy carouse around a camp fire well into the morning as we got to know each better as a group.

Next day, we awoke to the sounds of the various birds that were milling around the nearby pond, a mix of geese, grouse, turkeys and birds less obvious. During the day we took a hike through the nearby forest which is a multimile tract of land and quite dense in places. Then came campfire dinner and some didgeridoo call blasting and wood knocking prior to setting out for a night operation. The denseness of the woods was all the more apparent in the dark, and we looking for any sign of our quarry with a mix of Flir and night vision, only to have to realize that he wasn’t about. What we did find some entertainment in was the presence across the pond of what are called LARPers, Live action role players. We weren’t right on top of these folks but they did in fact provide some entertainment value with some of the sounds carrying across the pond.

The next morning I had a good chat with our host towards forming the network, and it was agreed that slow and steady is the best process, having started as a secret Facebook group to invite some regional right minded researchers and then let the community evolve from there. It was a good starting point and a good outing, and as we speak the nucleus of this network is forming and efforts are being made to provide the right infrastructure for the intended collaboration.