A Tale of Two Casts

Track Find 2006

November 2006

In November 2006, while on a night surveillance, Steve Kulls uncovered a 14 inch by 6 inch, print just east of the foot path, while retrieving night operations equipment.

We entered the area, around dusk and walked in about a quarter of mile, the whole time scanning the ground for prints and we found nothing.

After about 30 minutes of provocation calls, we all began to hear something walking around us.

Then it hit us. This very pungent and unforgettable smell, like something skunky, musty and dead all rolled into one.

It was something I never smelled before or again until two days later in a different area, tracking what I was about to find.

It was also noted a growl, unlike a coyote was heard by one of the team back at the vehicles.

At that point it was decided that we should grab our night vision equipment. While exiting the area, no less than one hundred feet down the trail was a fresh track. So we immediately set out to cast it.

We returned two days later  to uncover several other tracks leading up to where the first track found was cast. After tracking it for a two hundred yards or so the smell returned, but only briefly.

Summer 2011

It wasn't until summer 2011, when I learned Vermont researcher Frank Siecienski, had cast a print, within two miles, some two and half years later, which matched the dimensions of the 2006 cast.

The truly amazing thing is the 2006 cast had a very interesting toe anomaly, which upon examination, the 2009 cast had as well, meaning the prints had come from the same creature. The heels and length both matched, and the toe splays were different, again indicating this was something biological.

Evidence like this, at least investigation wise, proves that there is a one biological being roaming this part of Fort Anne. This was not a misidentified print nor a hoax stamped out by someone.