RvTm#010911
Oregon Caves National Monument
Caves Highway
Cave Junction, Oregon
Narrative:
This is there area of Dr. Johnsons bigfoot sighting. Due to the publicity of that sighting there has been a lot of traffic in this area by both novices and proffessionals. Most of which operate on the premise of attraction to draw Bigfoot in to them.
The Raven Team has adopted a different approach to Bigfoot. We believe that to get close enough to get photo's or video a stealth approach is necessary. With that in mind, we decided to put three two man teams into the area, completely desanitized. All clothing, gear and equipment and team members were descented. Then all items and team members were scented with a masking scent made up of non threatening animals in the area. A base of muskrat and skunk was used along with raccon dung to mask any lingering human odor.
All three teams, with GPS, night vision and infra-red cameras, were inserted at 1800 hrs on Sept. 11th, 2001. All moved to their assigned night positions and assumed watches for the the night. At 23:15 hrs team one heard something moving below them going to the NW. They advised team three of this by radio. If whatever it was continued it would pass directly in front of team three. At approx. 02:17 hrs Sept. 12th. 2001. Team three reported that something was approaching their location from the SE. Movement could be seen in the night vision and a Infra red camcorder was started. The subject was accompanied by a second smaller subject. The larger of the two was approx. 6 feet tall and the second half that size. NOTE: Size was determined in the morning by looking at the tape and measuring a tree that was next to the subject. Both subjects moved diagonally in front of team three until disappearing to the NW. There was approx. 18 minutes of video tape taken. For the remainder of the mission nothing other than noises were heard. No screams, whistles or other sounds associated with bigfoot were heard. The area was checked in the morning and no evidence of tracks or other sign was found. This is not conclusive as the area has not had rain and is very dry. The team stated that there was an odor in the air but could not really distinguish it over the odor on them.
The tape was sent to a specialist for evaluation. Due to the distance involved, approx.70 feet, the only thing that can be determined from the tape as preliminary findings is that both subjects walked upright with a lumbering gait. Both were of human form though large. Futher results are pending.
Conclusion:
The stealth approach should be followed up with more attempts of this nature, along with flash traps and other covert surveillance methods.
Starlight cameras will be a priority over infra-red as they should show more detail. How ever Bigfoot may be able to see into the infra-red
range even though it did not appear so this time. The only thing of note during this mission was the fact that both subjects walked through
the area at a moderate pace without stumbling over anything or making any undue noise. Something that all the teams stated would be
almost impossible without night vision for a human. If the subjects were Bigfoot this would appear to show that he/it is well adapted for
nocturnal activities. No attention to any of the teams by the subjects appears to show that the changing of scent to one that is non
threatening appears to have worked or that they were just down wind by luck. More missions will be planned.
Clifford D. Ulam
RvTm#205