Monday, July 29, 2013

Smoky Mountain Research Update…

This past weekend (7/28/13) I made a trip to my research area in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It had been 6 days since my last visit and I found some things that are starting to become regular occurrences. Food gifts are always taken. Whether it is an animal taking the food or Bigfoot is technically up for debate, although I believe the latter is the guilty party! But, when non-food gifts are rearranged, moved or completely missing, that’s when it becomes serious to me. When a ball that is wedged under heavy limbs is moved to a completely different part of the research area once, that’s interesting. When it keeps happening, well…you get the picture...


On the ground in this picture you can see the ball as I found it...again. I always put the ball under the limbs you see crossing over the log in an "X" fashion. 


How it looked a week ago...


I did find what I believe were a couple of “gifts” left for me. Right where I have been leaving items on the fallen tree was a small stick balanced perfectly over the trunk. And at the other end of the tree was a small mushroom that looked like it had been picked from the ground very recently and placed for me to find. The bottom of the mushroom still had topsoil attached to it and it was lying perfectly on its side just like someone had placed it there. I always take these “gifts” whether they leave them or not and I say “Thank you!” placing them in my backpack. I left in its place a small candy bar. I always try to consider that something so simple to us could have such great meaning to them. You just don’t ever know…


The mushroom as I found it...



 

I decided to try something different this week. Up until now I have been leaving the food gifts on a fallen tree or placing apples up in tree limbs nearby. They are always taken, but the question always lingers whether or not an animal took the food. Candy and snack wrappers are almost always left lying on the ground nearby.

I thought I’d try putting the food gifts in a small basket, hang the basket from a rope that I threw over a tree limb and tied the other end to a nearby tree. The basket is hanging about 7 feet off the ground and about 3 feet down from the limb. I even put a little thought into what color the basket should be. The store had several colors available, but after researching I found the color “white” means peace to most Native American tribes.



I put a couple apples, a peach, a honey bun and a couple candy bars in the basket. I also put in a small green glow-stick bracelet I picked up at the dollar store. They glow for several days and it will be interesting to see if they take it.

Maybe this will help more solidly determine what is getting the items. If I can try to rule out small animals I want to do so.



 

Next, I went up the hill about 20 yards and built a small tee-pee structure with surrounding fallen limbs. Not sure what kind of response I’ll get from the structure, but so far they seem to be ok with me rebuilding the one I found nearby after it had fallen from a bad storm. I had been leaving food on it before then and still am now. The food is always gone when I return and usually not a single small limb will be out of place.


Structure I built...


 

I wanted to post a picture of a star structure I found. This is right beside the same creek my research area is on only about 50 yards upstream. It’s the first of its kind I have ever found. I don’t know why, but I always get a strange feeling when I’m around it. I always go out of my way to walk around and never mess with it. It’s almost like it has a sacred feeling to it. Either way, I avoid it out of respect.


Star structure I found...



 The past few times I’ve been there I’ve played music for the big guys. I have a couple small battery powered laptop speakers I pack in with me and connect to my phone. I have a few downloaded Native American flute songs I like to play for them. I had a friend with me this trip and the whole time we were there it felt like we were being watched. 

 

 

2 comments:

  1. Patiently awaiting your findings. Did all the fruit & bracelet disappear from your egg basket?

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  2. I'm so ready to get out there and see if anything has happened. I'm planning on going one day this week as it's already been 10 days since my last visit to the gifting area. I have been out to the area where we visit them at night this past Monday. We did see a couple of very bright eyes white in color in the trees not far from the parking area. I'm pretty sure they knew it was me as I always use my owl call to announce my presence. It's been a very busy week, but I will get out there at least by this weekend. I'm very excited to see not only if the basket is empty, but if any changes were made to the stick structure I built close by. I will update as soon as I find out. We are getting several visits a week right now at our home, so I have had to "split" my time between the two areas. I like to sit on the porch late at night and listen/talk to them as much as possible when they're around.

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