I met Texas Tracker and several other investigators from the BFRO and TBRC yesterday at the Weird Sounds (link) site. Texas Tracker's daughter and son (both in their late teens) came along as well. One thing I noticed was that all involved took their research quite seriously. There was no jumping to conclusions, reading BF presence in every strange mark in the earth or bent blade of grass. We did find some interesting stuff, but nothing absolutely conclusive.

We met at the ranger station in Sam Houston National Forest at 9:30 AM. I had hunted for several hours in the morning beforehand. After meeting each other and shaking hands, they followed me over to the site. As we walked quietly in, several interesting things were noticed. First, what appeared to be a small (9") but wide at one end (5") imprint was spotted in the bank of a very old ATV tire rut. The steepness of the bank made the impression pretty much open at one side, limiting the depth of any casting made. 5 feet (approx) from it was a mark that looked like it could possible be a heel or elbow imprint. Both seemed to have an interesting pattern in them. Dermals? No idea, myself. Also, a fairly large (8" dia.?) tree had fallen across the path since my visit last month.

We walked further and came to the field that was the location of the events related in the Weird Sounds thread. I pointed out (quietly) where I was, and where the sounds came from. We moved farther along down the trail, back into the thick woods (although still on the fire trail), and spotted a tree (3-4" diameter) snapped in half about 3 feet up from the ground, but still holding together by a few fibers, projecting across the the trail. The break was toward the trail, no evidence of any kind of machinery or tool being used to break it. It was directly across from the area where the grass had been flattened in a 20' circle like a large bedding area on my first visit. The grass was standing now, but just beyond the broken tree, in the thicket, were several large areas of flattened vegetation. Photo's were taken, a short, very quiet discussion followed, and we moved on.

We came to the large diameter (several feet) fallen tree and the track I had photographed in the Imprint photo thread. This had deteriorated by the heavy rains followed by dry periods in this area over the past month. Also, a rather large amount of twigs and pine needles were imbedded into the bottom of the imprint through the action of wind and rain.

We walked much farther down the trail, and reached the decision to get castings of the imprints, and set up for a nocturnal attempt to call in Bigfoot, or at least hope for a response.

After lunch, several other researchers from the TBRC showed up, and made castings. Two other foot-shaped impressions were found in a hole with standing water partially covering the bottom. They were also cast. The heavy mud clinging to the casts was not removed, so I cannot say what the quality will be. My guess is it will not be especially high, because of the poor condition of the impressions from the results of time and weather. All this was done as quietly as possible, using hand signs and very low volume whispering to communicate.

We prepared to quietly insert under cover of daylight for our nighttime call-blasting session. The first "team" was set up on the edge of the field where I heard the sounds, and consisted of one TBRC researcher and the son of another researcher. They were armed only with a machete.

~400 yards farther down the trail, in the thicket and near the broken tree/bedding area(?) site, the sound blasting team set up. This team consisted of a BFRO/TBRC researcher and his daughter. We then set up an electronic recording station on the downed tree near the imprint I first discovered, and maybe 80 yards from the sound blasting team. The remaining TBRC researcher and I walked another 500 yards (my approximation) and set up to listen at a dry creek bottom. I was very dissapointed to hear shooting (one shot quite close) break out from several directions just before darkness fell. It was the first day of firearm deer season.

Darkness was complete (no moonlight to speak of) as the first call blasts sounded. Whoever cleaned up the recording (the popular one on the internet with the dogs barking in the background) did an exceptional job. No dogs were heard, and the sound was eerie, exactly what I had heard along with a sighting in the Sierra Nevada's 18 or so years ago. Immediately on the first series of blasts, coyotes opened up in return chorus. Beautiful sound, but not what we were looking for. At one point, we heard a distant, but quite plain, distinctive whoop in response, and during a sound blasting sequence. At another point, we heard 'yotes very close, and turned on a flash light to find them very close to us. We saw nothing (not unusual as it was dark enough and thick enough that visibility was limited to feet in the forest), and smelled nothing unusual. At 9:30, I had to go, so we called it a night.

Talking to the other two teams, The sound team heard the whoop that we heard, plus several other interesting sounds, one of which they described as "cat like". The first team (the one on the edge of the field) had the most interesting experience. Aside from the whoop we all heard, they heard several sounds the rest of us did not hear. One was a series of very distinct grunts at little more than 100 yards, coming from the direction away from the other teams. Owl calls were also heard. I hope they post the recordings of the sounds on either the BRFO or TBRC site sometime.

I was very favorably impressed by each member of the team. What impressed me the most was their professional bearing, the fact that no one was in a rush to jump to any conclusions, and the fearlessness of the team. It is one thing to go out there in the dark in thick woods believing in fairy tale fashion that what it is you seek would never hurt a human. It is another to go out there admitting there is no way to know for certain how the beast (if indeed there is one) will respond to your presence. I was allowed to carry my handgun, but left my rifle in the truck. I was, however, told "we are not out here to collect a body". Self defense, or the defense of others only. I was particularly impressed with the lack of fear evident in the two young people who joined us.

I would love to go back to this or another location nearby where this team has had much stronger responses of the kind one might expect from a sasquatch. They have my number, and if they call, I will accept.
BSF

Edit: Not sure if this thread should be in the "sightings and encounters" forum, or "in the field". Mods, feel free to move it, if you deem it appropriate. Thanks.

A few points I forgot:
In very close proximity to the tree that was broken, and the "bedding" area, a sapling (1+ inch diameter) was twisted in a near circle without being broken.

As we were leaving, a short burst like an old-fashioned police siren was heard. I started my truck just after it sounded, and no further sounds were heard afterward. This siren sound was also reported to have been heard by both members of one of the teams during the sound blasting.

Also, sporatic discharge of firearms in the general area continued until well after dark, possibly hog or predator hunters.
This was really frustrating to me, as I know something that makes strange noises definately visits this area. Even so, sounds were heard that indicated the possible presence of fauna not commonly known to exist in the area.

I know there may be those who will say it was a waste of time, no conclusive "proof" came of it. To those I say: "Where is your proof?", if you are a researcher. If not, then like an armchair quarterback, it is very easy to criticize from your cushy little camera angle. The nature of research is that not every attempt will completely answer the puzzle. If no discovery is made in an experiment, at least we should be getting better at collecting and anaylsing our data. I think every expedition, no matter how successful or unfruitful, can show us something that we can apply toward improving our research further down the road. Visual contact will eventually be achieved, and photographic, video, and/or physical evidence collected, in this manner of researching.
BSF

Sounds like you had a great time, BSF! Very very cool, sir. Any plans in the future to do this again?

Definately! BFRO and TBRC researchers expressed interest in including me in further research in the area, and I am more than willing to tag along. Learned a lot. I will no doubt continue to go out alone at times as well. I took no equipment or camera this time as I wanted to be unencumbered, and observe. Next time I will try to have photo's, maybe sound bytes to go along with my summery.
BSF

Thank you for the very descriptive report and insight!

One question just came to mind. Are those yell/howl sounds as common in relation to suspected BF reports in Texas as they are in the PNW? Similar, or the same? Does anyone know? Firsthand comparison would be very cool. I know it (the recorded howl) sounded like what I heard in California.
BSF