Alaska's  Boreal Sasquatch & Marked Hominid  Authority since 2005.
SASQUATCH TRACKER
.
Preserving tracks begins before making the casts.  You need to do your best to keep
other people and animals out of the track area.  Protect your evidence.  Treat it the way
you would treat a crime scene!












Primary Measurements:
 Once you begin the casting process, the track will never be the
same as it was when the subject left it.  The first measurement to take is of the  track itself.  
Measure the length at the longest point (from heel to toe).  Then measure the width at the
widest point.  The widest point is usually just behind the toes.  Take lots of photos from all
different angles before casting.  

Secondary Measurements:  Most people stop after taking the primary measurements.  This
is most likely due to inexperience.  It's pretty easy to concentrate on the first track
discovered, but the Sasquatch was walking through the area, not taking giant hops.  After you
find one track, apply a bit of persistence because there will be more.

After the Cast:  Once a cast has been made and ample time has gone by for the cast to set up,
simply remove it from the ground.  As tempting as it may be, do not clean it!  Carefully wrap it
in newspaper or other suitable padding and place  it into one of your of your cardboard
boxes.

When you return to your base camp or home, spread out some clean butcher paper on a
table and carefully unwrap your  cast.  Carefully examine it before cleaning.  The reason for
this is that there maybe other evidence such as hair or tissue in the debris attached to the
cast.  The reason for examining on the butcher paper is to help you identify this evidence as
you begin to clean.  A dirty black hair is not going to be easy to see on some old newspaper.
Measuring & Casting:
  • Plaster or dental
    stone (Sasquatch
    Tracker uses DAP
    Presto Patch)
  • Water
  • Mixing container
    (gallon sized Zip-Lock
    bag)
  • Popsicle sticks, old
    spoons and spatulas
    (for mixing casting
    medium and pouring
    into impression; easy
    to find at second-
    hand stores)
  • Cardboard strips (for
    making molds around
    impressions)
  • Paper clips and
    spring type clothes
    pins (to secure the
    cardboard strips
    around track)
  • Wire (placed in
    casting medium when
    poured into
    impression as
    reinforcement and
    making a hanging
    loop if track is to be
    displayed)
  • Wire cutters
  • Old towel (for clean
    up)
  • Old newspaper or
    kraft paper (to wrap
    castings in to prevent
    damage)
  • Cardboard boxes of
    suitable sizes (to
    transport castings)  
Casting Kit:
tape
  • 200 foot measuring
    tape
  • Cloth tape measure
  • Protractor (to the
    degrees of pitch)
  • Mason's twine (to plot
    direction of travel
    and a baseline to
    make measurements
    from)
  • Tracking stick
  • 15 feet of 550
    parachute cord
    (sometimes
    substituted for
    tracking stick)
  • Bamboo skewers
    (used with surveyor's
    flagging tape as
    markers)
  • Surveyor's flagging
    tape
  • Magnifying glass
    (high quality like
    those used for
    avalanche
    inspections)
  • Flashlight, headlamp
  • Compass and GPS
    unit (to record exact
    locations of
    discoveries)
  • High quality digital
    camera
  • High quality video
    camera
  • Spare batteries for
    both camera and GPS
  • Telescope ($30 type,
    don't have the funds
    for a high quality
    spotting scope)
  • Tripod or monopod
    (for cameras and
    telescope)
  • Digital recorder (for
    verbal notes and
    interviewing)
  • Disposable latex
    gloves (6 pairs)
  • Tweezers (for hair or
    tissue collecting)
  • Zip-lock bags
    (several sizes for
    organizing equipment
    in pack)
  • Paper bags and
    envelopes (for
    evidence collection)
  • 3 X 5 Index cards (for
    labeling and photo
    references)
  • Sharpie pen (for
    marking evidence
    bags / envelopes and
    index cards)
  • Notebook (with
    reporting forms,
    interviewing forms,
    legal releases)
  • Duct tape (multi - use)
  • Boundary tape (to
    section of area of
    discovery to prevent
    contamination)
  • Bucket with complete
    casting kit (see right
    column for contents)
  • Pack (to carry
    everything to site)
STEP LENGTH: Measured from the heel
of one foot to the heel of the other foot  
Measurements can also be made from the
forward most toe of one foot to the
forward most toe of the other foot.  Which
ever method of measuring you pick, you
must stay consistent to avoid error.   Some
trackers will refer to this as the pace
length.    

STRIDE LENGTH:  Measured from heel
to heel.  This is the length of the step.  If
one stride has a constant longer or shorter
length, consider that the subject may have
deformities or an injury.  Most grown men
can have a stride length of 36 inches
without effort.  Look for deep heel and toe
impressions.  Deep impressions that look
like a man trying to step  further than
normal may indicate a hoax.  Follow the
tracks as far as you are able.  Even the
best hoaxed tracks will end somewhere.  


(Brown, T.  1989.  Tom Brown's Field Guide to
Nature and Survival for  Children.
 Berkley
Publishing Group, New York, New York.
)
DIRECTION OF TRAVEL: Sometimes the
direction of travel will be obvious.  If not,
look for sequential tracks.  Lay mason's
twine between tracks to act as a reference
line that will be visible in your photos.  

PITCH: Measured in degrees from
direction of travel (your mason's twine).  
This is the degree in which the track will
angle away from the line of travel.  Draw
an imaginary line bisecting the track at the
widest point along the long axis (toe to
heel).  Now draw an imaginary line parallel
to the direction of travel line.  Measure the
angle where both of these lines meet.  If
the pitches vary from side to side, it may
indicate a deformed or injured foot.  Pitch
may also reveal a dominate side.  

STRADDLE: Measured from instep to
instep.  There is either zero straddle (one
foot directly in front of the over) or
positive straddle.  If you find left tracks on
the right side of the direction of travel,
something is wrong.  Examine the tracks
more closely.     

TRAIL WIDTH: Measured from the
outside of track to the outside of opposite
track.  Sasquatch Tracker uses this
dimension to calculate the width of hips of
the individual making the tracks.  

(Brown, T.  1989.  Tom Brown's Field Guide to
Nature and Survival for Children.
 Berkley
Publishing Group, New York, New York.)
Field Kit:
Measuring groups of tracks:
  • Wild Game
    Innovations game
    camera, Micro
    W6XAC, 6.0
    megapixels with
    infrared flash
  • Minolta Weathermatic
    7x42 hand-held
    binoculars
  • Canon Powershot
    SX120IS, 10.0
    megapixel digital
    camera
  • Sharp model VL-
    NZ50U View-cam mini
    DV camcorder
  • Meade 60AZT 60mm
    f/5.8 Refracting
    Telescope (used as a
    spotting scope)
  • CamQuip 737 tripod
    (used with digital
    camera, camcorder
    and telescope)
Surveillance
Equipment:
General track notes:  
When a track is made, the heel slides into the ground, makes the impression, then pulls out.  You
will never find a track that registers straight down.  There will always be some angular surface of
the impression.  If you find tracks registering straight down, like those that would be made with a
stamp, suspect a hoax.

The softer the soil, the greater the sides of the impression will be.  That is the "overall track".  Don't
let this fool you.  Be sure to measure the true track and not the size of the overall track.
(Curtis, R. n.d.  OA Guide to Animal Tracking.  Princeton University)
Measuring individual tracks:
Dimensions:
There seems to be have been some confusion in the way the dimensions of tracks are recorded.  
While speaking to another Sasquatch Field Researcher, the individual kept referring to the length
of a particular track as being 8 inches.  It just did not make sense.  Tracks are supposed to be
longer than that.  That's why they are called "Bigfoot".  After further discussion, the individual was
mistakingly referring to the width.

Just so we are all talking about the same thing:

Length:
This is measured from the forward most toe to the heel.  

Width: This is measured from one side of the track to the other across the widest point.
TRACKER NOTES: EQUIPMENT, TRACK MEASUREMENTS &
CASTINGS CONSIDERATIONS