YEAR: 2008

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: 26

PROVINCE: Ontario

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: Unable to determine how to describe the location as far as directions are concerned. It is roughly 10 miles southeast of Arden on an ATV accessible only trail system.

NEAREST TOWN: Arden

NEAREST ROAD: 10 miles SE in the middle of the forest

OBSERVED: In the not too distant past I had submitted a series of photos including footprints in the snow, twisted together trees and shredded tree bark. I just wanted to say thank you to all that have taken the time to examine my findings and help me determine the results. I have a new finding which I will leave up to you to determine, your expertise would be appreciated regarding this incident.

So on to my point of interest. This past summer my friend and I were hiking through the forest. We were doing some land scouting when we had found ourselves staring at a small ravine which was at the base of a pond. This ravine was also the pond’s drain which ran into a smaller pond on a lower land level. We had noticed the highest amount of bear activity we've ever seen at our location so we were on a higher alert for both visual and sound evidence of bears. After reaching this ravine, we began to discuss potential trail opportunities for our ATVs when we were abruptly stopped in our words to a single but very deep semi-growl.

This growl was well beyond that of anything I have ever heard. It had enough depth to it that one could almost feel it in the center of their chest. I certainly did anyway. My first reaction was letting out this little "uh oh! I think I just heard a bear!" It wasn't until well after the sound and our rapid departure that I started to think about what I had heard. This was the same weekend I had found a series of small trees twisted together a short distance away from our camp. I had sent you some photos of these trees. I believe this all happened this year in either late June or early July. At any rate, the forestry was full bloom and the temps were quite warm. I believe it was about 11:00AM when we were out because I do recall we wandered off a little before the peak heat hours had arrived.

Well this past week (Dec.24th – 28th, 2008) we once again spent the holidays out camping. The weather went from below freezing of about -10C, to as warm as +6C. Throughout the course of Friday night at about 10:30PM, the temp was about -4C, the sky was overcast or possibly foggy as we could not see a moon or stars, and there was about 18 inches of snow on the ground. My buddy went outside for a bathroom break and I stayed in because we had a movie going. Just a few seconds after my friend went outside, even with a generator running and movie playing, I heard a faint sound.

Like before, it was only one sound, somewhat off in the distance and sounded like a wooo but more like the tone of a lady doing it. It heightened just a second after it started and tapered off. It lasted for I would say possibly 4 or 5 seconds long. My friend came in and asked if I had heard that. I said yeah, where was it? He said way off to the south of us. It was certainly not a common sound for what we are used to hearing out there. He used to raise owls and we have heard several great gray owls out there all year long, but it wasn't that. I asked him if he had any ideas and he said no. We know it wasn't wolf or coyote, we are very familiar with that, and there isn't too much wildlife out there in the winter that roams around the area anyway from our experience. We are quite baffled so I thought I would ask you for a more experienced opinion.

One other thought, if I ever come across tracks in the winter again, are there any suggestions for casting them in the snow? I recall one of your fellow members suggested that my snow photos of footprints revealed a bi-pedal animal, but possibly a small or young one. If I had of thought about it before taking the photos, I would have had a tape measure to show how long the strides were in the roughly 14 inches of snow on the ground that day. It may have been a little more accurate for the examiner to determine the details of the animal's size. All I can do is offer a vague description of the stride. With me being 5’6 and stretching my legs as far as I could, I almost had the crotch of my pants touching the snow to go from the toe of the one print, to almost the heel of the other on the same side leg. Thanks for any input you can offer and hopefully help us figure out what we had heard.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2 witnesses, myself and one other. I was paying attention to a movie while my friend was outside to use the washroom.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, we had heard a different sound back in the later part of June this past summer. The different sound was very deep and throaty but not aggressively loud but similarly, it was only made once. There were no repeated sounds to follow. A couple of years prior to this we had found footprints in the snow and some shredded bark on standing trees. The photos were sent here to the BFRO with results leaning towards them as being bi-pedal. Additionally there have been small trees twisted together in various places as well as a pile of pine branches broken off of the south side of a pine tree and stacked neatly on one of our trails. The pine tree also revealed that there were no claw marks from a bear on the bark and this has happened in the middle of January of 2007.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Approx. 10:30PM

ENVIRONMENT: A combination of deciduous and coniferous forestry in the area. Unsure of where exactly the sound had oriented from. There are several ponds and all year long they are running fresh water streams.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Christopher Lau:

I spoke to the witness at length on January 11, 2009. The witness explained and described some of the vocalizations that he and a friend had been hearing at their camp which is approximately 10 miles southeast of Arden. It is a remote camp which can only be accessed through hiking or ATV's. The witness described two possible vocalizations heard in the past year, the first occurred in early July 2008, when the witness and a friend were hiking through the bush looking for new areas to trek through with their ATV's, the two witnesses were very careful as they hiked through the bush cautious of bears, when they heard a deep growl coming from below them. They stopped to look at each other and got out of the area. The two did not think about it being a sasquatch at first but after the second vocalization it made them think twice about what they heard earlier that summer. The latest vocalization was heard on December 26, 2008, the same two witnesses were in their cabin watching a movie when they both heard a long and deep "woooo" noise coming from outside of the cabin. One of the witnesses is very familiar with owls as he had raised them growing up, and he knows for sure that what he heard was not an owl. Some other interesting observations include tracks in the snow in a remote area which can only be accessed through ATV's. A camp-out is being organized around the area of activity and an update will be posted soon.

About BFRO Investigator Christopher Lau:

Christopher Lau, Undergrad Anthropology Student at York University. Christopher attended the 2006 and 2008 B.C Coastal Expeditions as well as the 2007 and 2009 Ontario Expedition.

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