Happy Birthday Belle !
Happy 12th Birthday to Belle (my Karelian Bear Dog), the best research partner ever.
Squatchin’ in Illinois
I receive many inquiries from people who would like to know the best squatchin’ areas in Illinois. To many out-of-staters Illinois is either urban Chicago or vast fields of corn and soybeans. What many don’t realize is what the “other Illinois” has to offer. Illinois is definitely a land of contrasts. Although Illinois is ranked # 38 among the states for amount of forests that does not mean those areas are lacking.
Illinois has 3.5 million acres of wooded lands including 78,000 miles of streams and rivers. In many ways Illinois is easier to squatch in than many of the larger states with their huge forests. In Illinois all one needs to do is head for one of the hundreds of recreational areas that are set aside by city, state or the federal government.
One greatly overlooked area for sasquatch activity are the forest preserves of Northeastern Illinois. Cook County and the surrounding counties have over 144,000 acres set aside for forest preserves. Included are an immense amount of bicycle and hiking trails.
Another great opportunity is rural cemeteries. Illinois have thousands of small cemeteries, many remotely located in woodsy areas.
The following links will take you to the major sites that describe recreational and camping opportunities in Illinois:
State of Illinois
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, 123 state protected areas: state parks, wildlife areas, recreation areas, nature reserves, and state forests.
Northeastern Illinois forest preserves.
Forest Preserves of Cook County, over 69,000 acres.
Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, over 23, 000 acreas.
Lake County Forest Preserves, 30,100 acres.
Forest Preserve District of Will County, 21,807 acres
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, several areas totaling over 54,000 acres in Illinois.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 10 national wildlife refuges in Illinois.
Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge
Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge
Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge
Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge
Illinois River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge
Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge
Meredosia National Wildlife Refuge
Savanna District, Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge
Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge
US National Forests
Shawnee National Forest, over 265,000 acres
Facebook – Scream 5
Last night (September 27, 2014) at 9:45 my wife and I heard a loud scream coming
from the woods behind our home. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. One hour later
we heard it again. This sound clip is not edited other than cutting out the
intervening hour to get the two screams on one clip. I left the katydids and the
background noise in as not to distort the scream.
(click on photo to play audio clip)
Facebook – Like Comment Share September 28 at 9:03 am
Facebook – Odd Sound
I recorded this odd sound in Southern Illinois on the 29th of July 2014. The long term
continuous recorder was 15 feet up in a deer stand. The sound was recorded about
2 a.m. Immediately, after the sound the homeowners dogs started barking.
(click on photo to play audio clip)
Facebook – Like Comment Share August 27 at 9:04 am
Things that make you go “hmm”, pt.5
Last evening (August 24, 2014) my wife and I were watching TV. We have large windows facing west with a large screen TV on the wall in between the two windows. We have Venetian blinds on both windows, I keep mine closed at night so that ‘visitors’ outside can approach without the fear of being seen.
Around 10 p.m. I started hearing what sounded like small pebbles hitting the window. This went on for well over 5 minutes. I hit mute on the TV so my wife could hear better and the sound quit.
It is impossible to use my 3rd gen NV without being seen myself.
This morning on review of the sound recordings nothing unusual was heard.
Facebook – Like Comment Share August 25 at 7:22 am
Voice 36
At 3 a.m. my dog Belle started barking. I recorded this voice after one of her barks. It was coming from the ridge north of my house at a distance of about 80 yards. It was so soft and the katydids are so loud that unless you use headphones you will not be able to hear anything.
(click on photo to play audio clip)
Facebook – Like Comment Share August 6 at 4:00 pm
Things that make you go “hmm”, pt.4
The rabbit showed up again this morning, right outside my front door on the lawn. I had moved it earlier and put it under my burn pile and at the bottom of a cement block bunker. But obviously it had been removed. It was very decayed, not something my dog Belle would have been able to get to, even if she wanted.
Facebook – Like Comment Share August 5 at 10:06 am
Voice 37
First stop, evening 3rd August 2014. Chris Mason and myself stopped at a known sighting location. It was just getting dark. About 15 minutes later we heard this child-like sound coming from deep woods about 40 yards west of us. Getting a decent recording is difficult with the loud din of the katydids.
(click on photo to play audio clip)
Facebook – Like Comment Share August 4 at 4:34 pm
Things that make you go “hmm”, pt.3
Yesterday when my wife went to the back of the house to turn off the water she noticed this very unusual quartz geode. The quartz measured 4″ X 6″. She then glanced up and noticed a 3″ x 3″ hole punched out of our new siding. I showed the rock to my neighbor this morning, who is a rock hound. He was very interested and said that it was not normal to see quartzite in this area.
We are not sure exactly what time of night when this happened but our dog Belle did bark near our window three nights ago, just one bark, not like when she chases raccoons. Belle spends a lot of time laying and being a watch dog at the top of the stairs which is very close to this damage. So whether it was thrown at her, they don’t usually miss their target, or they hit exactly where they wanted, just to the left of our open bedroom window, and the point closest to where I was sleeping.
