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DHS Squirrel

BFRO's Gifford Pinchot Expedition



Saturday, May 20

We scheduled a brief meeting to discuss the previous night's activities for 11 AM. Teams trickled in from about 11:15 until 11:45. When everyone had arrived, we went over the incidents from the first night, and discussed how we might improve our coverage for Saturday night. It was agreed that we should consolidate the teams into the area near where the sounds were heard the previous evening.

View looking Northwest from Quartz Butte. Photo by Jeff Lemley


Richard Grover, Harv Zimmel, and a few others decided to scout the area on the south side of the Lewis River to see if it was accessible. Several others went out for the day to do some individual scouting. A few people went to the Ape Caves.

Rick Noll looks for tracks in the sand along the Lewis River. Photo by Dave Smith.


Rick Noll arrived after most people had already left. He had been up at the location of the previous evenings sighting, looking for trace evidence. He had found nothing, despite 2 hours of combing the area. Rick Noll then offered to give an inservice on how to properly cast a track print. A few of those that were still around took him up on the offer. Everyone had agreed to meet back at the campground between 4 PM and 6 PM, before proceeding out to their assigned locations.

Rick Noll shows BFRO volunteer Tod Fossetta and his 3 children how to properly cast a track. Photo by Dave Smith.

At around 6 PM, Don Anderson and his friend Skip arrived from Tacoma. They joined Harv and myself for dinner. I gave them instructions and directions to get to their monitoring location. At 9 PM Harv and I headed out for the evening.

We arrived at the India team position for the scheduled broadcast at 10 PM.
The acoustics from this location were excellent, and all teams in the broadcast area could hear the broadcast quite well. Several coyotes calls were heard by various teams off and on as we broadcast calls periodically.

Zimmel and I then proceeded up the road to the Hotel position, and broadcast several calls. We did not hear any responses.

At about 1:45 AM India team reported that they had heard something at 1:40 AM, but had assumed that it was me playing the broadcast. I informed them that I had not broadcast in almost 45 minutes. He replied that what he heard sounded very similiar to the broadcast. Noll, Smith and myself immediately departed for the India position on Quartz Butte. We arrived, waited and listenned, but the sounds did not continue.

Team India (Casey Rogers (left) and Mike Willey) sitting near their campfire. Photo by Richard Noll

After giving the screamer ample opportunity to repeat its vocalization, we decided to call it a night, knowing that we woud return in a few weeks. We were satisfied with the progress on this trip. We now had a much better idea of where to focus our attention next time, and we had a better sense about when to let the recording equipment record continuously, and for how long.


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