Combined Search Reports for 20 and 27 September 2025- The Northwest Quadrant is Complete

Things have been rather busy for me during the work week, and while I was able to carve out a few hours on the 20th to search the grid, I did not have time to write up the day’s work. I’m going to combine both reports into one. Both days were spent on the Northwest quadrant, and that quarter of the total is now searched. We have searched 50% of the total area. The half that remains is uphill from where Trooper alerted. I should have that half complete by the end of October.

The Northwest quad was searched fairly quickly since it was far more open, with less deadfall tangles to contend with than the northeast quadrant. There is a small drainage channel that cuts the northwest quad into two roughly equal sections. Starting at that channel, each half would be a gentle uphill search, so I cleared west of the channel on the 20th and east of it on the 27th.

It was good searching, with a light duff layer and pretty open ground. I finished the first half of the northwest quad in about 4 hours. I checked animal burrows and rolled over deadfall as I was working.

There is a rock type on this hillside that does throw constant false visual alerts. I’m not a rock expert, but this one does have the appearance and color of weathered bone.

On 27 September, I took a new route into the site. Trooper, the HRD K9, detected odor of interest while walking in. It was at a turn-out on the skidder track, and there was a spur running downhill in the general direction of the grid. I decided to walk that spur down to see where it led. The spur has a very defined game trail on it, and is a much shallower angle down than the draws on either side of it. The game trail led almost directly to the grid, while the natural line of drift on the spur would have led to the End of the Road.

I started again at the drainage line and worked eastward. There was a little more deadfall on the eastern side, particularly as I got closer to the centerline and border with the northeast quad. This section, although slightly smaller overall, took about 5 hours to finish.