My approach to leaving food and gifts has been fairly passive after the first few experiments in Leavenworth County. I was using a Gamecam set up and it was not producing usable photos. When the Gamecam was up the food went untouched, when it was down the food was promptly eaten or taken off-site. Since then I have just been leaving the gifts and studying the reaction to them. My hope is it is building goodwill. These experiments are not intended to meet scientific standards of reporting, but are accurately presented.

In early 2007 I found a bridge in rural Leavenworth County that had apparently been used by local farmers to dispose of winterkill. I was there several times over several weeks when several calves that had been there for a while were eaten The skulls look to have been broken open with a club. Both skulls had the tops broken and emptied and had no tooth or claw marks. The bones were disarticulated and cleaned of flesh and left in the same area as the carcasses. None had been scattered, and no tooth marks were visible. This didn't match what I would have expected from coyotes, dogs or smaller animals.

In May of 2007 I left food for several weekends in blue plastic tubs in an area adjacent to where a track way was found. Sweet corn, apples, bananas and the last week I left stuffed toys, an "squatch doll", a mirror, and a nerf football, along with several lengths of rope. The corn was eaten on the spot and the cobs left in several piles next to the tubs. On each occasion the cornhusks were peeled back without any indications of teeth or claws being used. On the last weekend the stuffed toys were ignored except for the "Harry Henderson" doll, which was left on top of one of the piles of corn cobs (pretty roughed-up but otherwise intact). The corn was eaten; the apples and bananas were gone. The mirror was handled and left, it looked to have spit and prints on it.(It was placed in an enveloped and left since then) The nerf ball was chewed up and the bites were spit out. The blue tub remained upright. The rope was taken. I have not been back to the study area since.

On October 1st, 2007 I went into an area that I believe was used as a sentry tree. It is adjacent to a cornfield and I found the area under several large oak trees covered with corn stalks and cobs. Many of the cobs were less than mature in size and many had the whole cob left. It appeared the corn was not debris left by a combine. Some looked as if it had been on the ground longer than other. The area in between the trees had no corn, only the ground directly under the trees.

In the spring of 2008 I started leaving food gifts under the "Corn Tree". I did not leave a Gamecam because I had become convinced by that time that they were counter productive. I left, on several occasions, 30-40 ears of sweet corn, each time half of the ears were eaten on the spot and the cobs were left within a two foot area of the original pile, the other half were nowhere to be seen. The ears that were eaten on the spot showed no signs of tooth or claw marks on the husks that were peeled back. I left apples twice and one was moved several feet from the pile and had some interesting bite marks, the others looked like they were eventually eaten by small animals. I left bananas once and they disappeared. I left a sound recorder out with the food gift once and the food went untouched. There was an unusual recording left behind that seems to be a "Magic Cricket".

I continued the food gifting in the spring of 2009. I just put out sweet corn this year and it was all eaten on the spot as fast as I could get it out there. I carefully examined one of the leftover cobs and could find no indication that it had been peeled with claws or teeth. I put out 20 ears at a time, every 2-3 days. On one occasion I put out 20 ears of corn in a paper grocery bag that was tightly "rolled" close at the top. The bag was torn open and again there wer no claw marks evident in the bags opening. What was left was an impression that looked to me like a human shaped set of teeth in the paper of the bag.

I came across two fresh turkey kills at a bridge in my study area. I did not go down to look, as the banks were still wet from recent high water. The legs had been separated and stripped. Since there were two carcasses it makes sense that they were carried to the spot and eaten. It also looked to me as if someone sitting on the bank had eaten the birds and the bones had been left. If another animal had been the culprit there would have been tracks and the scene would have been less neat. Also, there is what looks to me like a butt print in the mud.

Since the local corn ripened in July the sweet corn has not been such a treat, so I have been experimenting with gifts of a different sort. I tried seashells from the local hobby store and got some interest. The 1 to 3 inch assorted shells were left along with white feathers and they were moved around the area but not taken. All of them were still within a ten-foot radius. I left 5 shells and several feathers in a zip lock bag on top of an overturned 5-gallon bucket. When I returned the bag had been ripped open and several of the shells were removed from the bag. The bag looks as if it was ripped open with a finger. What I have found to be the real treat are 1 to 3 inch polished rocks, as they have been disappearing completely. I think I'll try crystals and polished geodes and see if they make an impression.