A question for Dean and the more experienced field guys

[Tim*]

"Great episodes of Sasquatch Chronicles. For the first episode the brothers were aggressive and freaked out. Then later when Wes spoke to them again they were calm and relaxed, without any of the intense fear they had been suffering. They had put away thier guns and commanded the Sasquatch to leave them alone.

It is my belief that Homo Nocturnus rarely harms humans. They will do their damndest to scare humans off that are disrespectful in their ignorance, whether for laughs or to drive them away from their hunting grounds is irrelevant, the humans, in their fear, just react.

Sometimes they run (which probably makes them laugh)

Sometimes this leads to gun violence, which pisses them off big time.

They (rightly) consider themselves the apex predator, the 'Boss of the Woods' so any challenge will usually be answered with ever more intimidating actions... banging on houses, stealing food (livestock/pets), screaming, tearing up trees, etc.

They demand respect."

Hi Wolf

I've only just discovered Sasquatch Chronicles. I'm working my way through old episodes so am not uptodate with their current opinions. The impression I've gotten from them so far though, is that they believe Bigfoot to be a predatory animal that will actively hunt humans. According to them the woods are no place to play around in the hopes of having tea parties with bigfeet.

Have their opinions changed over the years?

[TrevorPeters]

Homo Nocturnus is a Vampire.

Just sayin.

[Wolf]

Homo Nocturnus is a Vampire.

Just sayin.

Don't be silly, vampires aren't real... actually, sorry they are but they are not nocturnal, nor much different than the average human... certainly not a separate subspecies. Possibly homo sapiens bankus would be a suitable name?

[Wolf]

I've only just discovered Sasquatch Chronicles. I'm working my way through old episodes so am not uptodate with their current opinions. The impression I've gotten from them so far though, is that they believe Bigfoot to be a predatory animal that will actively hunt humans. According to them the woods are no place to play around in the hopes of having tea parties with bigfeet.

Have their opinions changed over the years?

A bit. Wes still thinks one needs to be shot and brought in but he now knows (from countless witness testimony) that they are not all "godless killing machines".

You have some amazing stories ahead of you. I have listened to every free one and most of the member shows as well. Fantastic source of information.

[sensesonfire]

Seasonfires suggestion is fair enough. Ive heard the same thing from a few people. Not commanding them though but asking nicely. I will "command" some bunyips on the weekend and see how i go. If i get eaten i will come back as a dogman and chew Seasonfires best slippers...

Hi Yowie,

Don't know if being courteous will cut it, you have to subordinate the yowies. Mind you if they do decide
to make a courtesy call and they're pissed off you may need a dogman as a back up. On a serious note though don't go out alone 3 would be an ideal number. Good luck.

[Yowie bait]

Seasonfires suggestion is fair enough. Ive heard the same thing from a few people. Not commanding them though but asking nicely. I will "command" some bunyips on the weekend and see how i go. If i get eaten i will come back as a dogman and chew Seasonfires best slippers...

Hi Yowie,

Don't know if being courteous will cut it, you have to subordinate the yowies. Mind you if they do decide
to make a courtesy call and they're pissed off you may need a dogman as a back up. On a serious note though don't go out alone 3 would be an ideal number. Good luck.

Well ive just been up at Mt Cootha and i gave it a try and did actually get some very clear return rock clacks from up the mountain more which is something.

I cleared outa there before it got too dark which is when any real action would be happening.

Yes if i ever go out bush at night i wouldnt go alone!

[paulmcleod67]

I've been tossing around the idea of buying an older style bus and decking in out with a decent home security camera system and a few other toys, and then parking it at a prior researched, selected site and running it unmanned for as long as the power system allows. There are a heap of experiments that could be performed this way and the whole shebang could be moved where needed without too much fuss. I have already got a buss I know of in mind.

Mind you I'm just spit balling....

[Yowie bait]

Not a bad idea Paul. Your encounter as well as many trips on the newell between Bris and Melb makes me think a few nights sleeping in the car on the side of the road even could bring some results.

I know we had the van slapped on one occasion out there when some " huge bloke" walked up beside my 6'5 nephew ( taking a piss)and slapped the van waking us all inside. He was so scared that his face was pure white! Lol!!

[Scarts]

I researched a habituation case a couple of years ago. Aside from a couple of sightings and extremely odd activity around their orchard, the occupants reported very loud slaps to the sides of the house at night and things landing on the tin roof.

I staked out the house a few nights in my car in their backyard. (Sleeping on my backseat wasn't as uncomfortable as it sounds). I heard hardly anything. Then, the occupants had to move out.

After they moved all their stuff out of the house, they still had a few days remaining on their lease. They were nice enough to let me stay in the house by myself for those few days.

I set up my audio digital recorder on the first night on the empty living room floor and settled in for a good night's sleep in my makeshift bed on the living room floor. It was an old house to be sure, and we all know timber expands and contracts with big temperature changes, causing bangs and bumps here and there. But over those three nights, my digital recorder tallied up the loudest bangs on the roof and the walls of the house, some oneoffs and others in rapid succession, that even when I did drift off to sleep, these bangs woke me up with a fright.

The point of my story, is what I experienced on those nights was objectively captured on my digital audio recorder. While it proves nothing to anybody else, it did prove I wasn't just hearing things, and the audio when played to the former occupants, proved to them they weren't just hearing things either. Very positive outcome. So, yes, an audio recorder may be of benefit to your own research, but won't expose or jeopardise the dooligarl or junjudee.

Cameras may be a different matter.

[Wolf]

I researched a habituation case a couple of years ago. Aside from a couple of sightings and extremely odd activity around their orchard, the occupants reported very loud slaps to the sides of the house at night and things landing on the tin roof.

I staked out the house a few nights in my car in their backyard. (Sleeping on my backseat wasn't as uncomfortable as it sounds). I heard hardly anything. Then, the occupants had to move out.

After they moved all their stuff out of the house, they still had a few days remaining on their lease. They were nice enough to let me stay in the house by myself for those few days.

I set up my audio digital recorder on the first night on the empty living room floor and settled in for a good night's sleep in my makeshift bed on the living room floor. It was an old house to be sure, and we all know timber expands and contracts with big temperature changes, causing bangs and bumps here and there. But over those three nights, my digital recorder tallied up the loudest bangs on the roof and the walls of the house, some oneoffs and others in rapid succession, that even when I did drift off to sleep, these bangs woke me up with a fright.

The point of my story, is what I experienced on those nights was objectively captured on my digital audio recorder. While it proves nothing to anybody else, it did prove I wasn't just hearing things, and the audio when played to the former occupants, proved to them they weren't just hearing things either. Very positive outcome. So, yes, an audio recorder may be of benefit to your own research, but won't expose or jeopardise the dooligarl or junjudee.

Cameras may be a different matter.

That wasn't Yowies... sounds like a case of the Drop Bears

... seriously though, interesting story, thanks.

Paul, forget buying a bus and leaving it here and there... buy a bus and live in it.
No rent.

My wife, kid, dog/s, fish, and at one point a ferret, lived in a bus (actually two) for years. Even spent a night on the Newell, nothing happened though... unless we all slept through it, Homo Nocturnus could've been chowing down on road kill or raiding the roadside-stop bins all night...

[paulmcleod67]

I researched a habituation case a couple of years ago. Aside from a couple of sightings and extremely odd activity around their orchard, the occupants reported very loud slaps to the sides of the house at night and things landing on the tin roof.

I staked out the house a few nights in my car in their backyard. (Sleeping on my backseat wasn't as uncomfortable as it sounds). I heard hardly anything. Then, the occupants had to move out.

After they moved all their stuff out of the house, they still had a few days remaining on their lease. They were nice enough to let me stay in the house by myself for those few days.

I set up my audio digital recorder on the first night on the empty living room floor and settled in for a good night's sleep in my makeshift bed on the living room floor. It was an old house to be sure, and we all know timber expands and contracts with big temperature changes, causing bangs and bumps here and there. But over those three nights, my digital recorder tallied up the loudest bangs on the roof and the walls of the house, some oneoffs and others in rapid succession, that even when I did drift off to sleep, these bangs woke me up with a fright.

The point of my story, is what I experienced on those nights was objectively captured on my digital audio recorder. While it proves nothing to anybody else, it did prove I wasn't just hearing things, and the audio when played to the former occupants, proved to them they weren't just hearing things either. Very positive outcome. So, yes, an audio recorder may be of benefit to your own research, but won't expose or jeopardise the dooligarl or junjudee.

Cameras may be a different matter.

That wasn't Yowies... sounds like a case of the Drop Bears

... seriously though, interesting story, thanks.

Paul, forget buying a bus and leaving it here and there... buy a bus and live in it.
No rent.

My wife, kid, dog/s, fish, and at one point a ferret, lived in a bus (actually two) for years. Even spent a night on the Newell, nothing happened though... unless we all slept through it, Homo Nocturnus could've been chowing down on road kill or raiding the roadside-stop bins all night...

I'd certainly rack up a bunch of time living in it for sure lol.

It would be interesting to run experiments comparing any activity encountered whilst the bus was inhabited versus uninhabited.
Based on Rusty's long term work evolving his camera and sound rigs and the scaled and improving results, I believe that over time a series of camera's and environment recorders of various and sundry types could be set up in and around the bus that wouldn't be easily detected (assuming there's anything at the site to detect).

The possibilities are endless for testing surveillance systems with a platform that big.

Don't really know if it's been tried before in Australia?

Cheers

[ChrisV]

I'd love to see the Yowie Bus pull up!! With paintings on the side!!

The bus idea is not such a bad idea...only issue is that you will be limited to where you could park the thing but the height would be very interesting. You could easily look down or at least across at a prospective 'intruder'.

[paulmcleod67]

So here's my preliminary on a budget, hypothetical surveillance equipment for the bus.

Hardwired camera's and basic field excursion, recording gear.

All the items below have been sourced or are readily available and are on the cheapish side.

I'm sure I've missed a ton of electrical stuff and I'm not including cam nets, living space and survival gear ect...

ENTRY LEVEL EQUIPMENT LIST AND COSTS

1) OLDER STYLE BUS WITH LIVING QUARTERS $12000.

2) SURVAILENCE EQUIPMENT WITH I.R

a) Swann 8x Camera's 960H Resolution Digital Video Recorder $ 499.

b) 6 x Swann 1080p Outback Battery Operated Observation System $ 900.

c) Atomic brand 700W Digital Invertor Generator $ 300.

d) Hand held thermal camera's x 2 $ 850.

e) I.R capable handy cams x2 $ 500.

f) Kogan Ghost Drone x2 $ 300

g) Satelite phones x 2 $ TBA

h) Personal hand held GPS x $660.

i) Digital audio recorder's various $ T.B.A

Any suggestions without going super tech expensive?

Cheers

[ChrisV]

So here's my preliminary on a budget, hypothetical surveillance equipment for the bus.

Hardwired camera's and basic field excursion, recording gear.

All the items below have been sourced or are readily available and are on the cheapish side.

I'm sure I've missed a ton of electrical stuff and I'm not including cam nets, living space and survival gear ect...

ENTRY LEVEL EQUIPMENT LIST AND COSTS

1) OLDER STYLE BUS WITH LIVING QUARTERS $12000.

2) SURVAILENCE EQUIPMENT WITH I.R

a) Swann 8x Camera's 960H Resolution Digital Video Recorder $ 499.

b) 6 x Swann 1080p Outback Battery Operated Observation System $ 900.

c) Atomic brand 700W Digital Invertor Generator $ 300.

d) Hand held thermal camera's x 2 $ 850.

e) I.R capable handy cams x2 $ 500.

f) Kogan Ghost Drone x2 $ 300

g) Satelite phones x 2 $ TBA

h) Personal hand held GPS x $660.

i) Digital audio recorder's various $ T.B.A

Any suggestions without going super tech expensive?

Cheers

And what if someone breaks into your bus!!!

[Tim*]

I was thinking the same think Chris, I wouldn't park that anywhere unattended, it will be broken into and vandalised for sure.

Cool idea though. If you could get it painted up with some standout Yowie decals it would be a great convo starter. I reckon you would get people approaching you all the time with stories. Might be an artist in the Yowie community willing to lend a hand for the cause?

Deck it out and punt it around the country if you can afford to. Would become well known pretty quickly so you would have to be willing to deal with the public aspect of being so conspicuos

[AL Pitman]

Make sure to install a great solar system with an inverter and multiple batteries in the bus , also have a generator for back up as well !
You could be quite self sufficient with little to go into town for other than to pick up supplies !!
Awesome !!!!

[Wolf]

I was thinking the same think Chris, I wouldn't park that anywhere unattended, it will be broken into and vandalised for sure.

Another reason to be living in it

[Simon M]

I can already hear the theme from "The Leyland Brothers" playing somewhere in the back of my mind....

It's a good concept but unless you're staying in it when you're doing field research, someone would just steal it and/or wreck it if there was nobody around to deter them. There are too many dickheads in the world for something like that to be left unattended in safety.

Also - and I have no idea how expensive this would be - might it be an idea to somehow have the cameras recording to a second hard drive elsewhere than on the bus in case of emergency?

If you did decide to leave it somewhere, for whatever reason, and could view what the cameras were seeing you'd know if anything were happening (including vandalism). Maybe it's a silly idea, I don't know.

I do think that leaving it in the middle of nowhere would be too risky. There's just to much chance of someone swiping it, or all the stuff on it.

[paulmcleod67]

"Where do you rekon we are Mike"?

"Buggered if I know Mal... Ill ask Albie Mangels or Malcolm Douglas over his top, where the bloody shops are... shall "I?

Now those were the day's to own a 4 wheel drive for proper getting lost, 4 wheel a drivin.


"Go Stralia" !

[Wolf]

I can already hear the theme from "The Leyland Brothers" playing somewhere in the back of my mind....

It's a good concept but unless you're staying in it when you're doing field research, someone would just steal it and/or wreck it if there was nobody around to deter them. There are too many dickheads in the world for something like that to be left unattended in safety.

Also - and I have no idea how expensive this would be - might it be an idea to somehow have the cameras recording to a second hard drive elsewhere than on the bus in case of emergency?

If you did decide to leave it somewhere, for whatever reason, and could view what the cameras were seeing you'd know if anything were happening (including vandalism). Maybe it's a silly idea, I don't know.

I do think that leaving it in the middle of nowhere would be too risky. There's just to much chance of someone swiping it, or all the stuff on it.

There are a few motion activated cameras available these days that record direct to the cloud. They have sim cards so as long as there is mobile reception you're good to go. Prices vary around $400-$600

[AL Pitman]

Maybe a little closer to Russel Coit me thinks

[Simon M]

There was a whole generation of TV viewers (blokes our age) who grew up with that style of very early reality TV - basically "people going bush" and seeing what they could see.

I think we were lucky to have experienced that uniquely Australian viewpoint. The TV just blares consumerism now, so we got to see a side of things that only exists now in smaller pockets of rural Australia.

Wolf, I didn't know about those 'direct to the cloud' devices - pricey, but perfect for the purposes of field research.

[Yowie bait]

There was a whole generation of TV viewers (blokes our age) who grew up with that style of very early reality TV - basically "people going bush" and seeing what they could see.

I think we were lucky to have experienced that uniquely Australian viewpoint. The TV just blares consumerism now, so we got to see a side of things that only exists now in smaller pockets of rural Australia.

Wolf, I didn't know about those 'direct to the cloud' devices - pricey, but perfect for the purposes of field research.

I used to be fascinated by Harry Butler in the wild. Especially his search for the night parrot. Awesome to know the night parrot is still kicking after all and in a safe undisclosed location.

[Simon M]

I used to be fascinated by Harry Butler in the wild. Especially his search for the night parrot. Awesome to know the night parrot is still kicking after all and in a safe undisclosed location.

I remember him! Also, Bill & Valerie Taylor and their shark cages, etc. It was a whole genre of TV back then - Australian wilderness adventuring.

[Scarts]

The plan laid out here sounds closer to Russell Coight's all aussie adventures with the difference being the comedy will be unscripted.

[Yowie bait]

I used to be fascinated by Harry Butler in the wild. Especially his search for the night parrot. Awesome to know the night parrot is still kicking after all and in a safe undisclosed location.

I remember him! Also, Bill & Valerie Taylor and their shark cages, etc. It was a whole genre of TV back then - Australian wilderness adventuring.

Yeah i used to watch those shows with my dad. He used to say Harry Butler was placing the animals in the logs etc. I shouldnt have asked how Harry found em so easily. Lol!