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BFRO
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ladyliza
Approved
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 94
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 Posted: January 16th, 2010 04:15 AM |
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love that birdseye view...
Northwestern Pa, McKean County |
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RCM944
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 40
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| Posted: January 17th, 2010 04:45 PM |
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| Spent the day at DS yesterday. Took a drive down Desert Road (west side of swamp) all the way to NC. Many huge fields that back up to the swamp. You could spend all nite driving the road with a thermal and look into the back of these fields. Went to the Jericho Ditch entrance you can drive about a mile to a parking area. There are several ditch roads to walk from that point. Went down the Jericho ditch about 2 miles. Saw lots of animal tracks and poop. Did hear one single knock type sound. I don't have any experience with these types of sounds but it was very easy for for me to imagine it as sort of a "someones on the trial alarm" and of course I did'nt have the recorder on! (Shame on me) Drove back around to the Martin Johnson Road area (north side of swamp). Went in at the Portsmouth Ditch entrance (I thought this was Sufflok entrance in an earlier post) this intersects with the Big Entry ditch. Rolled down the windows (recorder on) and creeped along, the field to the left is now overgrown and has deer stands in it (private land) as I'm driving along I hear a howling/cry slam on the brakes jump out of the truck hear nothing. Keep driving and come up on this compound that I now know is a hunt club, small house and lots of dog pens (source of howling). Couple of guys are there. I do my I'm new to the swamp tell me about it routine. The guy I'm talking to is a life long resident. We talked for about a half hour. I'll give you the short version. His brother has seen a panther while in the swamp searching for lost hunting dogs. He brought up biggie but would not elaborate. I guess I was to convincing a "skeptic". Good stuff! On the way out spoke with a father and his kids riding bikes who offered his yard to park in if I wanted to bike the area only 2 blocks from the Portsmouth ditch entrance. All in all it just gets more interesting, bikes are the way to cover the most ground or paddling in and camping. This is going to be fun! |
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monongahela
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 341
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| Posted: January 17th, 2010 06:35 PM |
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Yeah, I was thinking about biking that area too. Those roads look great and you can certainly cover a lot of ground. Cool of that guy to offer his yard. Really fascinating that the local brought up biggie. And a panther in the swamp wouldn't surprise me. There have been more and more sitings around Virginia, even in some very urban areas. That swamp would make a great hangout for a big cat and family.nGood luck with your audio recording. I've been amazed by what the mic can pick up, that my ears have completely missed.
Monongahela
sites.google.com/site/mongahela |
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drewbot
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 8
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| Posted: January 18th, 2010 08:02 AM |
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Quote:
monongahela wrote:
Actually, I think the Dismal Swamp website says something about the Wildlife Management Area being a direct benefit to the local pileated (sp?) wood pecker. Ivory bill maybe? Seems a bit far north but I guess this used to be part of their historic range.
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I can not find any evidence that the Ivory bill lived in SE Virginia/NE North Carolina. Why are you saying that this is part of their historic range?
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/sp...igures/figure-1
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monongahela
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 341
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| Posted: January 18th, 2010 10:32 AM |
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drewbot, note my caveat language, " but I guess...". I was not stating a fact, I was merely surmising that it could have been part of their historic range based on my knowledge of the environment they were reported to be seen in, recently. Specifically large forested tracts of southern swamp. From that perspective, Dismal Swamp falls within the range of the possible. And keep in mind that this is a discussion forum. It's not un-common to make light commentary on a line of discussion for the mere purpose of keeping the conversation going. If you're looking for cold, hard, authoritative facts in discussion forums... well, I wish you luck.
Monongahela
sites.google.com/site/mongahela |
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narrowfoot
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 256
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| Posted: January 18th, 2010 11:18 AM |
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My original comment was a guess off the top of my head. You are probably correct in saying that Dismal Swamp is too far north. On the other hand, the historical range is not necessarily the original range. Climate cycles and other factors make bird ranges flexible. I do think that anyone pursuing Bigfoot research in southern swamps should be aware of the appearance and calls of the ivory billed woodpecker. It is so near extinction that all sightings need to be reported.
"Technological advances are not limited to human populations." |
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RCM944
Approved
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 40
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| Posted: January 21st, 2010 11:11 PM |
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| Spoke with a birding person yesterday and when I asked about the Ivory billed woodpecker in DS I thought the guy was going to stroke out on me he got so excited about the prospect. He said he had never considered it until I brought it up. Rare woodpecker, panther, biggie Dismal Swamp may have it all! |
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narrowfoot
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 256
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| Posted: January 22nd, 2010 12:31 AM |
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Here's a site that shows the ranges of the ivory-bill and the somewhat similar pileated woodpecker (which often confuses the search for ivory-billed woodpeckers):
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/...entifying/step1
And this is a good account of recent ivory-bill sightings:
http://www.fws.gov/ivorybill/ibw-ge...al-brochure.pdf
Note that Audubon found ivory-billed woodpeckers as far north as St. Louis and along the lower Ohio River. Their historical east coast range seems to have extended as far north as southern North Carolina. I haven't found any mention of Dismal Swamp in the descriptions, but your friend's excitement is certainly interesting. This is all off topic - I only hope southern Bigfoot searchers will become familiar with the markings and sounds of the ivory-bill. Knowledge worth taking along in forests and swamps.
"Technological advances are not limited to human populations." |
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Stromson
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 10
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| Posted: January 30th, 2010 05:55 PM |
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Hmm, interesting, I never would've considered the Dismal Swamp area with it being so close to the Suffolk and Chesapeake/Norfolk metropolitan areas, but it really is quite huge. From the look of things, there are an awful lot of farms backed right up to the Park all the way down through the VA/NC border. I'm sure they'd have some interesting stories, though I don't know how willing they would be to talk.
The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if there is more than Woodpeckers behind the National Wildlife Refuge classification.  I'm only about a 2-hour drive away from the park, might have to make a few trips down this summer. |
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monongahela
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 341
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| Posted: January 30th, 2010 11:26 PM |
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If you look at the big picture of that area, you quickly see that there's a lot of rural land to the south and west of the swamp. And there's a lot of marsh land to the east along the coast. Plenty of space to go unseen in that area, and the swamp makes for a huge safety zone.
Monongahela
sites.google.com/site/mongahela |
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John_P
Approved
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 374
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| Posted: January 31st, 2010 06:12 PM |
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Man a new place to bike! My wife and I like to bike on rail trails because they are pretty flat and get one out into the woods. DS must be flat. And another possible BF local. I'll have to look into it.
Should I mention snakes to her?? |
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monongahela
Approved
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 341
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| Posted: January 31st, 2010 08:53 PM |
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I'd leave the snakes out of it for sure. But it will be flat. I've been down to that coastal area before and for a hill boy like me, it was dead flat. With all those bike trails in there, you can sure get away from the crowds. I don't know if its possible to bike into the campground though. Would be great if you could. Bike, camp and squatch all on one weekend. Lots of fun.
Monongahela
sites.google.com/site/mongahela |
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aesop74
Approved
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 6
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| Posted: February 1st, 2010 03:47 PM |
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I spent a year working just south of the Great Dismal Swamp in Eastern Carolina. I always remember taking note of it driving past it on my travels between Swanquarter NC (Hyde County) hometo Western PA. How can one not remember such a place, I mean seriously, "The Great Dismal Swamp"? What a name...sounds like something medeviel.
Anyway, I can attest to the isolated nature of the entire stretch of the Carolina inner coast. I was a mere 20 miles across the Pamlico Sound to Hatteras on the OBX, and about an hour's drive to Manteo / Nags Head, but Hyde county didn't have a single traffic light in it (save for a couple a flashing yellows) and that included a 80 some mile stretch from the SW to the NE corner. Included in the county were a couple of Wildlifie Refuges (2 state, one federal) AND a Navy bombing range that the planes from VA beach would fly into....you get the idea - pretty desolate.
I did a lot of hiking in those swamps (but never in Great Dismal), had one of the most disorienting experiences of my life in a bamboo forest....saw an unbelievable array of wildlife on a regular basis. The entire countryside from the VA / NC border down to SwanQuarter is like this: coastal and wooded swamps, mixed wood forests, patchworked with nothing but a few one-light towns, some big commercial farmas, and LOTS small, family farms...a good 100 linear miles I would think.
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monongahela
Approved
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 341
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| Posted: February 1st, 2010 07:23 PM |
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Wow, that sounds like a lot of great terrain to check out. I just looked at the database and there's not a single report from any of those coastal counties. I wonder if anyone's been looking?
Monongahela
sites.google.com/site/mongahela |
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Stromson
Approved
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 10
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| Posted: February 1st, 2010 09:45 PM |
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Quote:
monongahela wrote:
Wow, that sounds like a lot of great terrain to check out. I just looked at the database and there's not a single report from any of those coastal counties. I wonder if anyone's been looking?
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Somehow I doubt it. Southern VA/Northern NC isn't exactly where you'd expect to find a Sasquatch, and to be completely honest, I'm a little skeptical myself, despite the seemingly great terrain. I'd want to do a thorough investigation of the area itself, identify food sources, check out possible shelter areas, and things like that.
I know Black Bears get along alright there, but is there enough square mileage to support two apex predators? I'm more than thrilled to explore the area, I just don't want to get my hopes up. |
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monongahela
Approved
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 341
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| Posted: February 1st, 2010 11:08 PM |
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Sound reasoning. But we see black bears and sasquatch co-existing quite happily in a wide variety of environments across the U.S. In fact, I tend to see the black bear as an indicator species for the sasquatch. If the bears are fat and happy, then sasquatch would be able to get along quite well in the same environment. And as for competition between the two, I don't think that's much of a factor because sasquatch densities are almost certainly much lower than black bear densities (bears on the east coast are becoming thick as chiggers). Also, multiple apex species co-exist in other parts of North America, including range overlaps between black bear, grizzly bear, cougar, and timber wolf, so why not in the NC low country? And finally, keep in mind that sasquatch is an omnivore, making it an animal supremely adapted to take advantage of the rich resources of those east coast swamp-forests.
But only one way to find out. Get out there and give your doubts a run for their money.
Monongahela
sites.google.com/site/mongahela |
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aesop74
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 6
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| Posted: February 2nd, 2010 12:33 PM |
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I can tell you that the black bears were certainly plentiful down in my area. I saw them on average about once every two weeks - both in the backcountry and visible from the roads. There are also red wolves in this area...I think the whole purpose of one of the protected areas is specifically wolf-centered.
Given what I've seen, it wouldn't surprise me that the big guy could be hiding out there. However, I don't think it's a probablity...more of a possibility. The area is also the winter grounds for 100,000 Canada & Snow geese. You can't imagine the racket those birds cause!! Makes me think if the big guy is an adept bird hunter, there would be just cause to inhabit this region during the winter months.
For the record, I don't have many "circumstantial" experiences to offer. Even upon further review of the material, "knowing what I know now", I don't have much. I did find one LARGE bedding area back in the bamboo forest surrounding West Lake in the Poccasin Lakes Wilderness Refuge.
I do think kayaking the numerous channels in any of these areas will be your best bet to "get deep" into the wilderness.... but yes, there are gators in there...none too big tho. |
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phermoneboy
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 2
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| Posted: February 6th, 2010 02:17 AM |
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I went hiking in the Shenendoah off Skyline Drive last October with my brother and nephew and was quite surprised to read in the park brochure that Shenandoah National Park has the highest population of black bears in the United States.....and this was only a 40 minute drive out of D.C. Virginia is alot wilder than I ever imagined.
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PBYodeler
Administrator
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1855
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| Posted: February 6th, 2010 03:27 AM |
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phermoneboy,
Please visit the "Read this first" section on the forum home page, read the posting guidelines , and post an introduction.
PBYodeler |
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