PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF…

I am a very new member but a long time fan of the CFZ. And I never really dreamed that I would ever work with my childhood heroes Jon and Richard. However, as I am a lifelong hunter and outdoorsman, I paid attention to campfire stories growing up. I am not an expert, but I know how to think like a predator and one thing that I have noticed is that some parts of cryptozoology have a lack of hunting and woodcraft experience.

Mostly people are not at home in the woods, and do not go out and do not think like a hunter. For instance, rarely do I see people using the correct attractants, or using cover scents when setting camera traps, or being concerned with protection from large beasts that just might prove to be real.

Most people just do not know how to move quietly in the woods, in order to be as unnoticeable as possible. For the most part these large cryptids are wild animals, and not only could they prove to be dangerous if aroused, they also know how to stay out of sight. If you going tromping around the woods like a lost boyscout troop making noise and leaving scent all over, it is unlikely you will have any success. The Cryptic animal is not a cryptid because it is easy to find, and if they know you are there, they will avoid you. Or at least that’s my take on it.
I am not saying I am qualified to comment on the way people go searching, but I am saying that they might have more success with a hunters mindset. I would like to stress here that none of us at the CFZ are looking to kill the cryptid, but if you’re a cryptid hunter, then act like a hunter and think.

So people who are in the woods all the time like outdoorsmen are well placed to help in the research field because they could bring the woodcraft and tracking to science. I am not an expert, and in truth I am not even finished with college, but I am I a law enforcement program because I would like to become a game warden, because they are well placed to help in cryptozoology however rarely they do. But I do not doubt that a game warden always being in the woods might have horror stories to tell from what he has seen on the job but could never go on the record about.

As I am an Illinois hunter and a cryptid hunter, I was honored to be asked to help collect information for a possible CFZ expedition in my home state of Illinois. I have hunting experience for large game with archery tackle, and wild predators with rifle.

I have been lately trying to collect stories that are credible. I have also interviewed a local outdoor writer Jeff Lampe. But I will explain that later. So here is a quick rundown on the mystery animals of Illinois:

• Out of place Black Bear
• Out of place Mountain Lion
• Out of place Wolf
• All white White-tailed deer
• Coydogs (Coyote Dog Cross)
• I am also trying to track down Stories of Possible exotic snakes and large turtles and Giant Catfish.

Illinois has always had stories of large cryptic carnivores roaming our woods. But lately in the past few years there has been a rash of cryptid activity and large carnivores. Just recently we have had reports and actual pictures of a black bear roaming the woods and fields of Northern Bureau County. And since 2001 four wolves and two mountain lions have been killed In Illinois.

(Editor’s Note: all three species were supposed to have been extirpated in Illinois between the mid of the 19th and early 20th Centuries)