Field Report: Squatchin’ in the Smokey Mountains

Squatchin’ in the Smokey Mountains

This is your Florida-based correspondent here on vacation in The Smokies! The water man is doing some exploring in the foggy valleys of the smoky mountains. We're in between tourist seasons so it's basically just me up here... this entire stretch of cabins is empty, haven't seen a human soul all week. Things started getting real “cryptid” on the first night out walking my dog. I have a golden retriever who has been put through enough gun-dog training to be quite disciplined on walks. If she spots prey she'll alert on it, but hold until I release her. Never bolts. Ever. Gina is a good dog (but we all know that they all are).



On our first night walk I heard a strange call up the hill from us. It kind of sounded like an owl with a throat problem, and Gina alerted on it. I had seen that hill during the day and it was just low grass, no trees or hidey holes. I had a weak flashlight on me and shined it on the open hill to look for the strange sound. But the hill was empty. As I resumed walking the suspected squatch call clearly had moved up the hill to the edge of the trees above me. And there was an undeniable eerie presence of something watching us.



Once we got to the end of our cabin drive, I went to turn left and continue the walk, the route we had taken during the morning in the daylight... a familiar path for Gina. There is another steep hill sloping down on the left turn that is covered in extremely dense brush. You can't see more than 3 feet in. It was here that Gina put on the brakes, and no command or pull on the leash could convince her to take one step farther up that road. As soon as I gave her slack on the leash she abruptly turned around and sat, facing back to our driveway. This dog will follow me through mangroves, mud, and waves back in Florida... and suddenly she was a hard pass on any forward progress along this road.



I'm not one to question animal instinct so we made a quick beat back to the cabin.

Cue night number 2. It is fully dark again and we head out on the walk. No suspected squatch call from the hill above this night, but again Gina wont turn left past the slope with the impenetrable brush. She will walk to the right, along a stretch of more open woods, but refuses to go left even after repeated attempts by me. Once again I do not question the animal instinct and we head home. She pauses this time and half alerts at the thick brush, then picks up her pace heading back to the cabin.



Night 3. Plenty of daylight morning walks have occurred at this point. She passes the thick brush to the left with no hesitation during the day... except I noted a cautious sniff every time we passed it. But again on the night walk she puts a hard stop to any possibility of walking past the brush hill.

However on this night as we walk back down the drive to our cabin she suddenly alerts to the more open wooded side of the driveway, and bolts to the end of the leash nearly pulling me off my feet! This dog has never bolted after any prey. Ever. And boy does she love to chase down deer / rabbits / ducks. 8yrs of never bolting and suddenly she's full agro on something in the woods. Her action was first. Because of her lunge to the end of the leash there was thundering in the woods of the local fauna tearing off down the hill! That's when I realized what had just happened... she saw it before it saw us! Gina got the drop on a potential squatch and charged it to protect my oblivious self! I shined my weak flashlight down the hill after the sounds of retreat but couldn't see anything. Curse my packing and not bringing a heavy beam light with me!



Night 4 and she won’t even go half way up the driveway, looking to the left at the thick brush and refusing to go farther. On this night it is drizzling and normally she loves a good wet walk...but there is no doubt in my mind that my dog knew what was up... that the patch of brush must be a den or feeding spot, and when we stumbled upon the squatch itself she went into protect mode and chased it away from her human. In the absence of a proper squatch hunting flashlight I am sure glad I had my dog on this trip!

Note from Jeb:

What did we learn from our Florida-based correspondent’s experience? Whenever you’re out squatchin’, make sure that you’re always prepared. Light source, water, weather appropriate attire, and a little grub is the bare minimum for venturing out in the woods. But more importantly, we learned that when all else fails, no equipment is more helpful than having a faithful hound at your side.