BFRO #15621: Members of a Boy Scout troop hear possible vocalizations at Loon Lake

📍 Location

📝 Description

The incident occurred at about 6:10am on the first morning of a Boy Scout Group 50 mile hike in the Payette National Forest. We had a group of about 10 boys and 6 adults and had hiked into Loon Lake the previous evening. Loon Lake is a fairly typical Idaho mountain lake surrounded by pine forest, and we had set up camp on the north east end of the lake. I was in my tent with my two sons, ages 12 and 13. We were still in our sleeping bags and the sun was just coming up when we heard the first series of 3-4 calls coming in from a distance. It was difficult to place the exact location of the calls because they were filtering through the forest at distance of what I would guess was 1/2 to maybe 3/4 of a mile from our location. I thought the sound came from a location west and slightly north of us, but my younger son thought it was west and slightly south, closer to the crash site of the B-23, which is on the south side of the lake. The calls were unlike anything I have ever heard common forest animals make. I'm not a big outdoorsman, but I've heard the sounds of most common forest animals and I believe I'm fairly sensitive to the nuances of typical vocalizations. The calls came in two groups of 3-4 vocalizations each and seemed to float or diffuse through the forest due probably to the density of the trees and the distance of the emanation. The first group was what I would imitate as 3-4 fairly low "wwhhhoooooooo" sounds of maybe 3 seconds each, very lonely sounding, haunting even, but very, very powerful. The sounds seemed like they came from a very big animal with powerful lungs, judging from the way it emanated through the forrest. Bigger and more powerful than a wolf. The calls were consistent with each other and the pitch did not vary much, tapering up and then down very slightly at the beginning and end of each call. Also, it seemed like the animal was really cranking on the calls because they would at times start to break slightly into what I would call a raspy scream territory, but only slightly and only in the middle of some of the calls. My sons and I were talking excitedly about the first group of calls when the second group started, basically identical to the first. Other members of the group, both scouts and adults heard the calls as well. As to be expected, the adults attributed the sounds to wolves and claimed to have seen wolf prints in the area, not willing to concede that it didn't sound like wolves, and might have been something else. Upon our return home, I downloaded calls from the internet of elk, wolves and sasquatch (from your website) and had my boys listen to each one and pick the closest to the sounds we heard. Without identifying the sounds to them, they both agreed the "Ohio Howl" from your website was virtually identical to what we heard, although I personally think the Ohio howl is a little higher in pitch. I didn't find a moose call to download, but unless a moose can make this type of call, I have no other explanation for the sounds other than sasquatch.

🔍 Circumstances

I'd say 8-10 people out of a group of about 16. Some of the group members were sleeping during the incident, as it was just after 6am on Tuesday morning. Others had hiked to the B-23 crash site and returned with reports of wolf tracks.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

The incident occured about 6:10am. Early morning sunlight. Heavy rain the previous evening, but relatively clear the morning of incident.

ℹ️ Additional Details

The incident occured about 6:10am. Early morning sunlight. Heavy rain the previous evening, but relatively clear the morning of incident.

🔗 Sources (1)

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