Woods Full of Armed Bigfoot Hunters?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on October 9th, 2007
Todd Haynes’s Bob Dylan movie is getting a lot of notice. Apparently Haynes is merely another artistically strange individual, for the following was revealed in a Robert Sullivan interview this weekend:
“For one issue of Plazm, Haynes posed in a Bigfoot suit, no one apparently telling him how dangerous it is to run around in the Pacific Northwest woods in a Bigfoot suit with so many armed Bigfoot hunters running around.)”
Okay, first off, I can’t imagine this guy was in much danger surrounded by a crew of Plazm photographers and celebrity handlers.
Secondly, don’t you think there’s a bit of a myth being created about the PNW forests being full of gun-toting Sasquatch slayers and six-pack Bigfoot hunters with their elephant rifles?
I’m the first one to say I’m all for the camera over the gun, but the numbers of actual Bigfoot hunting-related accidents seem to be microscopic. The incidents of humans-in-gorilla-suits being plugged in the woods are, what, none? one?
Statistical logic appears to overturn this business about “so many armed Bigfoot hunters running around” the woods injuring hoax-minded humans.
Can anyone name two events of this kind? (I seem to remember one.)
Are Bigfooters out there, armed and dangerous, ready to kill your grandmother in her ghillie suit?
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I’m not sure if anyone actually hunts big foot. After all, in order to hunt a specific creature one must believe they are there. The danger would actually be from hunters (general term) who happens on something that looks like big foot and scares the hunters really bad. There was a homeless person living out in the middle of nowhere who wore bear fur jacket he made. The officials (forestry and police) told him not to because he looked like either a rather large black bear or slightly short big foot and they were concerned he’d get shot. As a hunter, my rule about shooting anything I’m not specifically hunting is to let anything pass by–as long as they leave me alone. I’ve seen black bears, cougars, wolves and wolf/coyote hybrids. As long as they left me alone, I left them alone.
I wouldn’t say the PNW forest are full of Bigfoot hunters. I will say they are full of hunters during hunting season though. drive through the Gifford Pinchot and you will see hunters on the main roads all over the place.
shumway says:
As a hunter, my rule about shooting anything I’m not specifically hunting is to let anything pass by–as long as they leave me alone. I’ve seen black bears, cougars, wolves and wolf/coyote hybrids. As long as they left me alone, I left them alone.
Hopefully all hunters have the same rule. But unfortunately, their are, as we all know. Those that would shoot just to say, I brought it down, here’s your proof, now where’s my $. Sad, so very very sad.
I honestly hope with all my heart that if one is brought in it will be dead. But not by a hunter’s bullet. Hopefully someone someday will find a body, that has died of natural causes. This will probably never happen, but we can hope. I just hope & pray it doesn’t take a bullet to prove they exist. and if that’s what it takes. Then I hope they are never proven to exist.
I don’t think I have ever heard or read anything about a person in a suit being killed by a hunter or anything else for that matter.
Just go to a gun show in Washington State. You will see all types of people buying guns, from young men to old ladies! Plus right now there seems to be a run on paramilitary type weapons, because many fear a future Madam President could put a ban on them. At a local gun show last month I have never seen so many buying guns!
So, in our country more and more are armed. We do not even realize just how many gun packn people we pass in the street, or in our cars daily! Lots of these same people hike and camp. They might tend to “Sound Shoot”! So while there may actually be few Bigfoot specific hunters, thousands of the Folk are armed!
I still say it is crazy to play Bigfoot anywhere. And if such a hoaxer were ever shot dead, I would not shed a tear for the fool.
Shumway, sounds like you’re a very conscientious hunter. Bravo. Loren, I can’t think of any that I know of.
If You want to put on a Bigfoot suit and run around in the woods in any state please do so but be sure you have a crowd of people around you because there is always the possibility that one nut will see the other nut and get scared enough to shoot..
Passing an I.Q. test, is not a prerequisite to owning a gun. Hunters are normally well enough uninformed, to believe that there is a reward for shooting a bigfoot. Unfortunately, the cell phone that the slayer will be calling home on to tell his wife, is listened to by the federal government computers for words like bigfoot, sasquatch, kill, etc. So the Feds will dispatch a helicopter for that Bigfoot body, almost before it hits the ground. They have a large collection.
“Are Bigfooters out there, armed and dangerous, ready to kill your grandmother in her ghillie suit?”
Yes, Loren, but they’re not in the Pacific Northwest. They’re in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and Florida; they’re known as the Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization or GCBRO.
They’re a bunch of hillbilly idiots who have PUBLICLY stated that if they accidentally shoot someone in a costume while attempting to “harvest” a bigfoot, well that person just deserves to die. I know, I heard one of their esteemed leaders, Bobby Hamilton, very loudly, proudly and clearly make that very statement at one of Chester Moore’s Crypto-Conferences. Hamilton had the microphone and was addressing the question of what would happen if the GCBRO accidentally shot someone in a suit. The crowd hooped and hollered and laughed.
I was speechless.
Patrick “Irish” Bede
I don’t even like driving by the woods when deer season comes around. There are some trigger happy drunks out there (some of them I went to school with).
I think the only way to prove Bigfoot really is out there is either a seriously non-debatable sighting by a large group of sober witnesses with photo and video evidence from several sources or a body – dead or alive. But I think the odds of finding a body are about as slim as Nessie being filmed by the Piltdown Man in the White House swimming pool, cavorting with a chupacabra. I have hunted, hiked, and hung out in a lot of woods and coming across any animal body is exceedingly rare. I’ve never seen a raccoon or opossum corpse in the woods, even though they are extremely common and their deceased brethren line the roads. But I have handled many dead animals in the woods – the ones that I shot. I’m willing to say that I’m 99.9% sure that if a dead Bigfoot ever turns up, it’s gonna have a few .30-30 slugs in it. I just hope they don’t aim for the head – the brain and skull would be the most valuable body parts to the white coats.
Now, if someone were to shoot a genuine Bigfoot, could they be brought up on charges? Absolutely, here in Missouri. An excerpt from our Wildlife Code:
“A major part of managing our wildlife is regulating what, how, where and when we may hunt. That’s where the Wildlife Code comes in. The Wildlife Code of Missouri is a permissive code. A permissive code means that rather than giving you an endless list of “thou shalt nots,” we keep it simple by telling you what you may do.
You may take or attempt to take only those animals and furbearers permitted by the Code, and only by methods, and only at the times and under the circumstances mentioned in the Code. These regulations are necessary to protect and manage Missouri’s abundant game and furbearer populations and to make access to Missouri hunting and trapping as fair and as simple as possible.”
Missouri has not added Bigfoot to the list of permissible game, so killing one would be illegal here. Somehow, I doubt the state attorney general would file that suit, though.
Along these same lines, I’d bet the farm that the very same scientists who turn up their noses at the Jeff Meldrums of this world will be the FIRST ones pushing to the front of the line to examine a specimen when one becomes available, and probably the LAST ones to credit them for their pioneering work in attempting to getting Bigfoot discovered through careful scientific inquiry and research. Ironic, wouldnt you say?
I don’t remember the name of the special on Bigfoot (all footage from the Pacific Northwest), but it featured Grover Krantz where he mentioned the number of potential individuals needed in the Pacific Northwest to sustain a breeding population. The show also featured Peter Byrne who responded to a call about a potential sighting (that was a bear) and I don’t recall if it was him, or another individual on the show that was interviewed sitting on a rock with a scoped rifle sitting across his lap talking about hunting for Bigfoot. I don’t think it was Byrne…the individual noted that until one was produced that no amount of evidence would satisfy the scientific community. So, there is at least one out there in the Pacific Northwest armed and ready to take the Big Guy down!
I’m not a hunter, at least with a gun, I’m a photographer. But I stay away from areas that I don’t know well during hunting season. As far as carrying a gun, I always carry one when I’m deep in the woods. Too many creatures that might not have the same respect for me as I do for them. But, I have not heard of too many people being shot accidently by hunters while deep in the woods. Has anyone else? I know a lot of hunters and none of them would shoot unless they had a clear view of the animal. It just doesn’t make sense. Why risk missing and wasting an entire day or days? Every hunter I know is extremely conscientious about the rules. They are extremely careful of their firearms and where their shot is going and they don’t drink until the guns are put away back at camp. Like someone said, the woods might be full of hunters and they have to be careful not to shoot each other. Still, you might have the occasional idiot out there who isn’t really interested in hunting, just playing with his noisemaker. They are the ones hunters avoid. These types have no respect and are the ones likely to take a shot at a Bigfoot, that is, if the Bigfoot doesn’t wrap the gun around their necks first!
For all you that proclaim that gun owners are shoot crazy, how many of you own a gun and know how to handle it?
It’s ignorance that creates many of our problems. Can anyone prove to me me where a person that was dressed up as a bear or Big Foot has been shot by a blood thirsty hunter or gun owner?
Are there drunks that take guns and go into the woods? I’d guess yes, but there are more drunks getting behind the wheel of a 2 1/2 ton automobile that puts the public at a greater risk.
I don’t proclaim that either is acceptable, but there is a greater risk of being injured or killed by a drunk driver than killed by a crazy drunk hunter shooting at you because he thinks you are a Big Foot or Bear.
Oh, by the way, both of the above is illegal.
My business is very much hunting related and in the last 15 years I’ve only heard of one hunter even having a sighting. This fellow was hunting big game in the Canadian Rockies and was carrying a high powered rifle that would have been adequate to take down any large animal. When asked why he didn’t shoot his reply was “It looked too human”.
Most states and provinces now have ‘blaze orange’ laws so if your grandma is in the woods, wearing a ghillie suit during rifle season she may be breaking the law.
I am personally not a hunter, so I won’t pretend to know what they are thinking or how they behave. I do, however, have some thoughts as to why there are not more accidents involving hunters and Bigfoot hoaxers. These are just some opinions, so bear with me.
First of all, I imagine that most casual hoaxers are not dressing up in a bulky suit and just wandering around the forest on their own. They have to have at least one other person with them (the cameraman), and I think likely some other buddies along for the ride. Since they are out to make a fake video, I wouldn’t expect they would be stealthily sneaking around either, and so may be pretty easily discernable by a hunter. The fact that there is a group of hoaxers out having a ball making a fake video, perhaps even drunk and disorderly themselves, might help to prevent the one in the suit from seriously being considered an actual Bigfoot.
Second, I don’t see any reason why a hoaxer would have to go all the way out into the middle of hunting country to make their video in the first place. In my opinion, making a fake video is basically like making a movie, with the movie “set” being the forest backdrop. The video does not actually have to take place in secluded wilderness, but rather create the illusion that it is. The hoax film could be filmed in someone’s backyard as long as it looks the part. I don’t see any reason why they would have to put themselves anywhere they’d be at risk of being shot in order to create a perfectly believable looking background for the video. The believability of the suit is another matter though. 🙂
There could also be videos made in protected parks where hunters wouldn’t be. To me, most hoaxers are probably also not entirely insane and there is a good chance they take into consideration the risk of hunters when planning their video shoots.
By the way, Patrick Bede, that was a very disturbing story.
mystery_man, I thought it was disturbing, too.
But apparently, we have people who visit this site with the same warped sense of thinking.
Our fellow poster, zytebac, above spouted this gem of wisdom:
“If you choose to dress up and frolic in the woods as a ‘bigfoot’, then you should be shot.”
Again, I’m speechless.
Just remember that not all of us Southerners are like that. As a proud Louisianian, I must say they are truly idiots to say such. There’s a reason hunter’s safety manuals exist, but some people don’t get that fact. I wouldn’t mind seeing more Jeff Meldrums around…
If you choose to dress up and frolic in the woods as a ‘bigfoot’, then you should be shot. But I know many hunters that would like to shoot you, but they won’t. Contrary to most preconceived conceptions, most hunters are more level headed than the average person and will not shoot at just anything that strays by. Even a fool in a gorilla suit.
I think mystery_man makes some very good points: a costumed performer wouldn’t be alone and only needs a backdrop. Go deep in the woods alone and a hunter (or, more likely, a non-hunter with a gun) can get away with just leaving a body behind. My uncle had a relative who was killed in a shooting “accident” and whose body was left to be found. He was near a trail so he didn’t just simply disappear. Even a hundred yards could have made the difference, though.
Here is a good point. I am an elk hunter in Washington State. From what I have seen while hunting, I tend to believe Bigfoot is real. As a responsible hunter, I am not quite sure if I would shoot a Bigfoot? My heart says no, but my mind and desire says yes. If I killed one, I know I would be in a heap of trouble. But I would also be famous and perhaps rich as a result. Just think. Such an act would prove Bigfoot to the world! You all would go to bed knowing Bigfoot is actually out there! The mystery would end. Some of you would hate me and some would give praise. But Bigfoot would then be protected for sure! Upon spotting a Bigfoot in the woods, I might have to make a split second, perhaps once in a lifetime decision. I think I would shoot. It is in my blood- just like a cat might pounce on a mouse or bird. The fact that it might look human, or could be a person in a suit, would go by the wayside in the heat of the moment. I would trust my judgement. In other words, I think I could ID the real thing. So a fool in a gorilla suit, might be lucky with me. But that is me, and while giving lots of thought into the matter. Others might react different? Say in a campground at night, like the case up in Canada. Someone with a gun just might be scared enough to shoot! Even if there are few in the woods hunting Bigfoot with a rifle, I still say it is foolish to dress-up like a Bigfoot in the outdoors/public lands. They just might hear a Bang!
If the woods are full of legions of armed Bubbas, you can be sure the Armed Bubbas are full of Quarts of cold Coors.
So free-fire zones tend to get called pretty fast. By the same token, they really have had no luck shooting a bigfoot.
If i were going to to go stomping around in a fur suit, I would wait until a big NASCAR race or Pat Robertson speech was going to be on TV, and feel pretty safe.
At the same time there is the old Johnny Cash lyric:
Hello friend! welcome to our town!
I hope nobody don’t gun you down!
It takes all kind to make the world go round,
but it just takes ONE to gun you down!
Its a debatable topic do you choose the camera over the gun, well obviously you must be careful not to shoot at will. The camera gives you a chance to photograph something unusual or beautiful, but unfortunately to prove these human like creatures exist science needs a body. The camera can provide many fake photographs of well most of the time of individuals dressing up in costumes and running around the woods. Photos are nice but they dont prove much. It would be great to have a body of a bigfoot so the science world can examine it, to see where its orgin came from.