ASO Report #005 – Vocalizations Near Willmore Campground (Edson)

 

→ Type of Encounter:

Vocalizations

→ Reported by:

Confidential

→ Location of Encounter:

Near Willmore Campground, Edson

→ Date & Time of Encounter:

September, 2009 @ 4:00 PM

→ Details of the Event:

Well went out around 4pm Sept 24/09 to do some scouting. I did some tree knocks first and got a response, but it was quite far from were I was and thought it was kinda cool. I continued hiking along a ridge were I could get down to the Mcloed river, and walked along the river looking at different animal tracks (Moose, deer, wolf…ect). After a while I went, back up the river the way I came to climb back up the bank. As I was climbing the steep bank I noticed a big poplar tree (still green with leaves) still firmly in the ground but pulled down in a arch and the top was kinda braced/weaved through some other trees. I thought this was cool so I climbed the rest of the way up the bank to the top to have something to drink and take some pics. I also noticed a sapling twisted at the top (with the top still attached) and a much larger tree to the left of me also twisted over. While I was sitting at the top getting my camera out of my backpack to take some pics something in the bush about 10-20′ away started screaming at me, so as this kinda freaked me out I pulled my bear spray out and started hiking out as quickly as I could while what ever it was continued to scream at me till I was just about were I parked. As soon as I got home I went on the net to try to figur out what was screaming at me and all the animals (deer,elk,moose,wolf,bear,cougar) were not the sound I heard, so I have no idea what it was.

I went back a couple of days later and found a track way down by the river that had not been there before. he print was about 4-5″ longer than mine (I am about 12″ long foot) and about 2-3″ wider than my own foot. These are estimates as I had no tape measure on me at the time and didn’t really expect to find anything that day. The tracks stride was quite long as I am 5’9″ and couldent step from one track to the next very easy even if I did the splits. Also the track was quite deep in the mud, and I am about 180lbs and barely made a dent.