Thanks everyone for your comments. Here are some additional comments.

Future Reconnaissance Flights:

Darkwinglh, Sunflower & Billkirbywofb asked about the possibility of photographing additional locations. My plane & I are based in the Dallas area, but I make frequent trips to NE Texas to visit my folks. I have thought about taking a detour up to LeFlore County, Oklahoma, but I don't know which areas have had sighting reports. If someone can give me longitude and lattitude of the locations, I should be able to do take some photos by the 1st quarter of next year. [I have a one year old future pilot that has slowed down some of my long flying trips.]

Also, I've thought about taking some photos of the Black Cypress Bayou and Caddo Lake area. Again, any GPS coordinates would be helpful.

Mercer Bayou Ground Exploration:

I appreciate the comments of ARsquatch. Any help in finding a place to rent a canoe would be very much appreciated. I plan to use my photos to find the corresponding location on a topo map. Fyi, we took about 30-40 photos of the area, including downtown Fouke and a few of the Boggy Creek bridge (from a longer range out). If there are any particular photos anyone would like to see, let me know.

BONUS PHOTO!!!
I thought our aerial expedition was a success, but we were -- of course -- hoping to capture a very special image. Well, after "analyzing" and "enhancing" one of the photos, we were able to find what we were originally hoping to see with our own eyes while flying. <<smile>> Hope it brings a smile to your face too.

The Boggy Creek Anomaly
Click to view attachment

The yellow flowers look like stik-tites. We had them in our marsh when it stayed flooded all summer. My golden retreiver was a mess. Took 2 hours to get her brushed out. I didn't hunt that spot again.

It's late here about 11:20pm and I think I'll be up all nite unless you tell us about the bonus photo. No one has commented yet, so am I seeing things?

Sunflower

foukeflyer,

I enlarged it as soon as I saw the shape. You already know what I'm thinking, just tell me if this is legitimate.

Sunflower

Hi Bill,

No, I have never spoken to anyone from Fouke. I would have stopped the day of our flight, but the nearest airport is in Texarkana & I would have had to rent a car. If my buddy & I are able to make our canoe trip, we plan to stop by Mr. Crabtree's place ... and the Monster Mart.

Ken

hey ken thanks for the update when you meet smokey crabtree tell him i said hello. i hope you find alot new fouke monster memberila at monster mart when ever you get a chance. are you ever thinking about doing a nature documentary about boggy creek area etc & the fouke monster i think you should just a idea. good morning bill :bf:

Bill,

I wouldn't have the knowledge to do a documentary, but I would consider helping someone take aerial photographs for a TV documentary or for the 2007 Texas Bigfoot Conference.

Ken

Great pics! If you go back into Mercer Bayou, or anywhere back in the bottoms, take a compass. It's really easy to get completely turned around and lost. I'll see if I can find someone with a canoe for you.

[font=Arial]I grew up in rural Northeast Texas about 60 miles – as a crow flies – from Fouke, Arkansas. I was ten when my parents dropped me off at my town’s theater to see The Legend of Boggy Creek. It scared me more than I thought it would, and I didn’t realize the movie’s impact until one evening I had to walk through the big woods of my father’s farm – at dusk – by myself. I kept thinking what I would do if I saw the creature. Part of me wanted to see it – another was afraid to see it.

Fast forward. Last month, my buddy and I decided to go camping at my father’s large tree farm. The subject of the Fouke Monster came up and we thought about driving to Fouke to see Boggy Creek for ourselves and perhaps drop by Smokey’s place to buy his book. We finally decided we didn’t have enough time to make a meaningful visit, but we came up with another idea.

I’m a private pilot, so we planned an aerial reconnaissance of Boggy Creek and the Sulphur River Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Our mission was to see if the area could still provide a secluded habitat for the Fouke Monster and family.

I had read that the WMA was over 16,000 acres, but I expected it to be riddled with roads and for the river not to have a lot of seclusion. I was dead wrong. From the air, few trails were visible. The bottomland was approximately 25 miles long and 6-8 miles wide – a perfect place for hard-to-find animals to live undetected. I also discovered that Boggy Creek actually runs into the Sulphur River. Yet, the most interesting portion of the WMA was Mercer Bayou, an old river channel that parallels the Sulphur River. It was here that looked to be the most hospitable place for the legend of Boggy Creek to live.

I’m attaching some of the more interesting photos. They were taken October 22nd. Of course, we knew the photos probably wouldn’t capture an image of the Fouke Monster, but that didn’t keep us from reviewing the photos carefully. I thought the members of this group might find them enjoyable – especially if they live in the Fouke area.

One last note. My buddy & I are planning a trip back to the area this February (after hunting season). We do not have a canoe, but would like to rent one from a local if possible. If anyone knows someone that could rent us one, please let me know. We would like to search Mercer Bayou for clues, using our aerial photos as a guide to some of the places that peaked our interest.

Sasquatchingly Yours,
Ken

[

hey foukeflyer whats new in the boggy creek forest area as far as evidence,sightings,experances,glowing eyes, rock throwing,cattle&wildlife mutilations & strange sounds. i hope more researchers go to the area soon before the winter snow comes although that would make it easier to find footprints. i wonder where the fouke sasquatch sleeps dureing the winter months in a cave or does it make nest of some kind. opinions please... thanks bill

Just wondering how much this little flight cost?

hey foukeflyer & arkansas reseearchers whats new with the sasquatch activity or possible evidence around the boggy creek area or arkansas forests this month so far. bill

There's been quite a bit of much needed rain in the past month - over 5". I plan to visit the area in Feb. I will probably make a recon flight before the visit to see how much standing water is in the bayous so I can plan the mission.

I'll post some photos of the trip. I've never been over the area during the winter and I'm not sure how much foilage will be present on the cypress trees. I'm hoping I will be able to capture some detailed photos of the bottomland ... detailed enough that would capture any large mammals that might be walking around. :-) If visibility is good, I will probably fly a back-and-forth grid (like a crop-duster) while taking photos every 2-3 seconds. If anything, it will give me a few fun hours of reviewing the photos for a Blogsquatch.

Happy New Squatching Year!

If one owns a single engine plane or has a friend that does, the only immediate cost is the gas for the engine. That generally runs about $25-35 per "flying" hour. The majority of fixed-gear single engines fly about 120-160 mph.

My plane happened to be within 30 minutes of the area, so it was an inexpensive flight and I plan to do it again. :smile:

If your friend doesn't own a plane, it costs about $80-110 per hour to rent one (including gas).

Fly Safe!

Just an FYI.



Most pilots that I have known are thrilled to get whatever flight time they can. If you offer to pay for the expenses such as rental and gas, I bet most of us know someone who would be happy to fly some recon flights in area of our choice. Anyway, a thought!

Thanks everyone for your comments. Here are some additional comments.

Future Reconnaissance Flights:

Darkwinglh, Sunflower & Billkirbywofb asked about the possibility of photographing additional locations. My plane & I are based in the Dallas area, but I make frequent trips to NE Texas to visit my folks. I have thought about taking a detour up to LeFlore County, Oklahoma, but I don't know which areas have had sighting reports. If someone can give me longitude and lattitude of the locations, I should be able to take some photos by the 1st quarter of next year. [I have a one year old future pilot that has slowed down some of my long flying trips.]

Also, I've thought about taking some photos of the Black Cypress Bayou and Caddo Lake area. Again, any GPS coordinates would be helpful.

Mercer Bayou Ground Exploration:

I appreciate the comments of ARsquatch. Any help in finding a place to rent a canoe would be very much appreciated. I plan to use my photos to find the corresponding location on a topo map. Fyi, we took about 30-40 photos of the area, including downtown Fouke and a few of the Boggy Creek bridge (from a longer range out). If there are any particular photos anyone would like to see, let me know.

BONUS PHOTO!!!
I thought our aerial expedition was a success, but we were -- of course -- hoping to capture a very special image. Well, after "analyzing" and "enhancing" one of the photos, we were able to find what we were originally hoping to see with our own eyes while flying. <<smile>> Hope it brings a smile to your face too.

The Boggy Creek Anomaly
Click to view attachment

Ummm, hate to burst your bubble, but this imagery is "digitally enhanced". However, it is probably the best photo (most realistic) that I have seen outside of the PG film.

Yes, I spent about an hour enhancing the photo to what I hoped I would find flying over the area. Adding the shadow and the reflection off the water was the hardest part. If anyone wants to use it, feel free.

Just fyi, the photo was taken about 500 feet with the plane traveling at about 90 mph. Had there been a primate standing out in the open, gazing at the plane, I probably would've caught its image.

Thanks for the great pics foukeflyer,im in the UK so its nice to see the areas people are talking about.

Just need someone nice and generouse to buy some thermal imaging equipment to strap to youre plane now..

Scott

Hey Foukeflyer!

I just now got back to this thread. I was off the internet for about four months so didn't see your pic of downtown Fouke until just now!

Your pics do a marvelous job of showing just how much uninhabited land there is in that area.

I may have to take you up on that "burger" deal for the ride-along when you get back to this area again. I'm in Little River County, over by Millwood Lake if you ever get up this direction. I'd love to see pics of a fly-over of this area too.

Many thanks for sharing! That spoof pic was amusing, BTW. LOL

There is 2 areas to access mercer bayou , the only downfall is there is no safe place to leave a vehicle so contents need removed before parking , I have a friend who may would take us for
a evening expedition or early morning .