End of Month outting report

[Dean Harrison]

Steve and myself have just returned from an area that we have never previously been. It was 'different', and unfortunately somewhat uneventful, therefore no actual 'report' as such.

The mission was to deploy more trail cam's in differing locations. We have MANY trail Cam's now, and then Steve brought out even more. Our new Torch Cam's are indispensable.

I put together a few pics below of some of our time out there. Most of the footage we took was Video.

I would like to have more to report, but don't. Not a creature stirred, not even a moose. Or a mouse. Dead quite and not many tracks or trails were observed. We will try and find a new area in the coming Weeks.

DMH

[Dion]

Looks like a nice area and Crikey Guys …… all those cams, you would think you were trying to catch something unawares.

[Ella]

Dean, the photo of the tree break gave me goosebumps. I have seen the exact same type of tree break about 5 years ago in southeast Texas as part of what I believe was a fairly large, BF tree structure. JMO, of course, but IMO no amount of deadfall could have looked like this except to a casual passerby not paying attention or knowing what he was seeing. Same sort of narrow, slender tree trunk, exact same type of break! The broken top of the trunk extended out over a small gully.

When I noticed that photo, I jumped in my armchair and thought, "Jesus Christ of Texas!" But it was not an oath, only an expression of pure astonishment. Either the same Yowie was visiting Texas about five years ago, or the same Bigfoot has since emigrated to Australia. Fantastic job, Dean, keep 'em coming!

[SAB 8]

This is great stuff... I hope you guys get some good footage for your efforts!

[deadpool]

Hope it pays off!

Also, nice 4WD - yowie tracking, BMW style.

[Jo Blose]

Yes, we've certainly deployed a lot of trail cameras now, and thanks to handheld GPS systems, know exactly where each one is hiding! As can be expected, we've managed to camouflage each of them to blend nicely with their immediate surrounds.

Not all trail cameras are the same, so here at AYR we are constantly upgrading as the technology improves! Although we still have a Scoutguard trail camera with 5mp picture resolution, it won't be with us much longer. I constantly see images taken on 2mp, 3mp, and sometimes slightly higher, where the resolution is just c**p and the images are ambiguous to the point you can see whatever you want to see. In bad lighting, even the 5mp cameras can produce ambiguity due to poorer resolution. As you can see from the pics, we're currently using trail cams with 8mp still picture resolution and which records video/moving pictures in HD with sound. The picture quality is equal to the more recent youtube clip interviews being included into many of these posts.

The advantage of 8mp is 7mp is the base level for photos being accepted in Court hearings and trials across our country, for the very reason the greater the resolution, the more difficult it is to fake. At 7mp you might bother, but would inevitably be caught out. The 8mp stills puts us up and over that line, and gives us one less thing to worry about, and one more thing for the skeptics to worry about, when we start returning yowie images. The same principle applies to the video function which is twice the resolution of the Scoutguard range, and employs the added dimension of audio. Afterall, it would be a crying tshame to record a fantastic moving sequence and later wish we only had the sound to go with it. Now we have that too. Where the memory capability for the Scoutguard range is 2GB tops, these new cameras employ 16GB SD cards. In six months time, no doubt we'll be looking at upgrading to 9mp trailcams and will just keep upgrading as the technology allows.

As for the trail cams we have deployed, nothing too interesting thus far, but it's still relatively early days. The ass of a deer tripped off one of them the other day and that was about it. As Dean says, at that last spot, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary to report, but certainly a number of vastly differing landscapes in close proximity to one another.

[Dean Harrison]

With that many Cam's deployed so far into the forests, the GPS's are about the only way to retrieve them. The problem we have encountered a few times is the thick forest canopies blocking the reception from the Satellites sometimes, so basically, we have had to hike to a clear area until we obtained a stronger signal and then guesstimate from that point back in.

The Deer set one off, but there was also the matter of a 'stick' waving around in front of one unit that we can't explain. Clear, clear, clear, clear, STICK STICK STICK, clear, clear, clear, clear. There were no trees with branches anywhere near the front of that Cam, so it is a mystery.

We did have other triggers, but nothing turned up in the frames.

Although it was an uneventful time away, there were times of danger involved. While hiking up a rocky stream bed, Steve was subject to a rock fall and had his foot wedged under a rock.

Perhaps not really "wedged" per-cay, but the stone WAS sitting on his toes until he threw it away. It was a close call.

Then there was the noise that sounded like a bird screeching. It probably was a bird, in fact, yes, it was a bird without the probably, but it must have been an Evil bird with teeth and bad intentions.... minus the evil, the teeth and bad intentions.

For now, the next outing is Weather pending. Steve has another 4 Cam's at his Yowie HQ yet to be deployed.

DMH

[deadpool]

How many 16gb SD cards do you have for the trailcams? I'd be willing to donate for one or two more if needed (ahh the advantages of knowing people with computer businesses).

[deadpool]

Trail cams = 24/7 possibility of capturing something. Whether it be a Yowie or even a rare/new species we haven't seen yet. Either way, they'll prove valuable in the end, for sure.

Sleeping in a Beemer with a boombox, Elvis CDs & toliet paper are not my idea of a good 24/7 form of capturing something on film.

postscript: as nice as BMWs are, i've slept in the back of one before.. not as comfortable as you'd think.

[AL Pitman]

We should continue to utilise the best and most varied forms of technology that we can afford as more than one technique would surely narrow the odds of achieving success .
keep at it guys without persistance there can be no reward .


MY FINAL DECISION IS MAYBE ...........

[Jo Blose]

Nighttime activity is one thing and obtaining footage is another. As Dean has repeatedly stated, they are diurnal. If they weren't we would never hear of daytime sightings or experience some ourselves. As for taking a useful picture, with some care taken, the trail-cams emanate minimal human scent as opposed to a living researcher, which is a big plus. The other advantage is the trail cams don't sleep, as Deadpool says and they record only physical objects not imagined or dreamstate ones. The only minus is the yowie may not have a heat signature in the required range, but that's something we're willing to risk in the name of research.

It is true Doc, a trail camera is only as good as the pictures it takes, and if higher forces are in place to prevent such pictures being taken, then yes, we will get nothing. We totally accept that, and it would be arrogant not to acknowledge this force has been operative. There's an old saying, "Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid." We live in an age of that which has been hidden, becoming exposed. The yowie will be exposed for what it is, eventually, we're just banking on sooner rather than later.

The megalithic looking stone scraping tool we found, I'm tempted to cast it and send a plastic duplicate to the father of yowie research for his opinion. Aside from all matters yowie, he has also become somewhat of an expert on stone megalithic hand tools.

The rock mishap up the river bed reminded me not to become too complacent when hiking. Having a large rock slip hard against my ankle and wedge my foot is not something I plan on repeating. I was lucky the rock wasn't a lot larger.

The jury is still out on that bird call Dean! Judging from the terrain, a pteradactyl would have been quite at home there amongst the monitor lizards.

[Ella]

Steve, are you serious--about the Pterodactyl "call", or just kidding around with Dean? The reason I ask is that I'm just about the only American I know offhand who believes there are still a few Pteranodons around, above all here in Texas in the Hill Country. (This from a lengthy e-mail correspondence years ago with a young man who saw such a creature with his playmates as a child, as well as an adult neighbor, near Austin. His description matched the Pteranodon exactly, although he didn't know what it was and thought it might be a "T-bird".)

How I get ridiculed for my belief--even more than for believing that Bigfoot exists, and so I keep my mouth shut about that and only mention Bigfoot for the most part. They give me no respect!!!!

[deadpool]

I've read stories of "thunderbirds" or whatever the native american indians called them being seen over in the states on several occasions. Same as the Mothman.

[Ella]

Alex, one theory I've heard about the T-birds is that they are huge Teratorn-like birds that live in northern South America, migrate to the northern United States--Wisconsin, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, among other states--then fly out over the Atlantic and back to South America. Just a theory. One extremely interesting and IMO credible account is the story of Marlon Lowe, a then 10-year-old boy who in 1977, in Illinois, was grabbed by a T-bird and the big bird attempted to fly him off for dinner! This is narrated in Loren Coleman's "Mysterious America--Revised Edition", among other sources. This was a pair of huge, condor-looking birds, black with a white ring around the neck.

As for Mothman: HOAX, HOAX, HOAX! Insanity! I get mad every time I hear that name mentioned, it's so absurd (as always, JMO).

[deadpool]

For those interested: http://www.cryptozoology.com/articles/marlon.php - all about the kid who got picked up by one of those huge birds.

[AL Pitman]

Back in 1993 whilst mustering feral goats in the Coolabah district of nsw , a large Wedge Tailed Eagle www.australianfauna.com/wedgetailedeagle.php swooped down very fast and carried off one of my Kelpie dogs for a distance of approximately 100mts and to a height of about 20mts , it was only due the dog being able to put some bites on the legs of the bird that made it release its grip and drop her to the ground .

My kelpie would have weighed approx 10 - 12 kgs and would be relative to the Ilinois report due to the weight ratios of the subjects in question and the size of the birds of prey that attacked in each case , the dog was injured and susstained a broken leg as a result of the fall but she recovered and continued to work after that . On a more lighter note the 2 dogs I was working with at the time were brother and sister their names were Itchy and Scratchy , something about that Ilinois area !


MY FINAL DECISION IS MAYBE ............

[Ella]

Yeah, Alex, excellent article on cz.com. Are you a poster there under another name besides Deadpool, by any chance? It's an excellent general crypto site, probably the best one in the United States, though we do have our share of teen-age trolls!

Al, Kelpie dogs are really beautiful. My favorite breed of dog is the blue heeler, AKA Australian cattle dog. I had one named Randy who finally died at age 15 from cancer, which as you know is a very common affliction for dogs of all types. I had never heard of that species of eagle, but they sound like nothing I'd want to tangle with.

[Jo Blose]

Hi Ella, yes, my tongue was planted firmly in my cheek when I suggested a pterydactyl!

[deadpool]

On a more lighter note the 2 dogs I was working with at the time were brother and sister their names were Itchy and Scratchy , something about that Ilinois area !


MY FINAL DECISION IS MAYBE ............

Shelbyville, Springfield... NOW WE KNOW WHERE THE SIMPSONS LIVE!

But, on a more serious note - wow - could it be maybe a relative of our own large eagle over in the states thats known as the thunderbird? And, Ella.. not a poster on cz.com - I just googled the boys name

[Ella]

Alex, anything is possible. There have been reports (including on cz.com) of huge birds sighted in the USA, including Alaska, that looked more like eagles than condors, and were brown rather than black. I don't know what to think about that. It has also been pointed out on cz.com that a bird's silhouette up in the air can look much larger than the bird really is. Our Texas turkey buzzard can have a wingspan up to about 6 feet, and once I saw one riding the air currents that I could have sworn was much bigger than that. But it was only an old turkey buzzard.