Bigfoot: To See Or Not To See
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on December 5th, 2012
TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE….. THAT IS THE QUESTION???
Have you ever seen a Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Forest Person? Many people have spent one, two, three, four or more decades interviewing eye-witnesses, conducting research expeditions, writing articles and/or books, collecting numerous foot casts, participating in TV documentaries, participating in creative technological experiments, and/or writing scholarly journal articles without ever having seen a Bigfoot. Some of these individuals have risked their professional reputations and careers along the way. Yet, still no visual of a Bigfoot. They are to be commended for their dedication, work, and for helping to contribute to the knowledge base regarding the Bigfoot phenomena. They are LEGENDS in BIGFOOTDOM.
I was LUCKY when I saw Bigfoot walk off the pages of myth and legend into reality on July 1, 2000. My family’s encounter with a Bigfoot, about a mile up on the mountain above the Oregon Caves National Monument Park, was a day I’ll never forget. Although many people have dedicated their lives to Bigfoot Research and have never actually seen one with their own eyes, I was LUCKY because the “Big Hairy Needle” found me in the haystack. Many others have been equally lucky because of their Bigfoot visual encounters they have experienced without ever intending to see one. I’ll never forget how many times I was told 12.5 years ago how LUCKY I was because I actually saw a Bigfoot. These same Bigfoot experts told me that the odds are low that I’ll ever see a Bigfoot again. HOWEVER, Dr William (“Bill”) York told me that negative point of view was nonsense.
William York moved to Africa when he was 17 years old because he wanted to become a Big Game Hunter. He spent over 40 years in Africa. He killed over 200 elephants and many other African animals too. He conducted hundreds of Big Game Expeditions and even acted as a guide for Queen Elizabeth during her African Safari. He eventually put his gun away and studied to become a Doctor of Wildlife Biology (i.e., A wildlife biologist). He became a Wildlife Preserve Manager and Primate Specialist. He was a consultant to help develop the Walt Disney World Animal Kingdom Park in Florida as well as the primary consultant to help develop the Wildlife Safari Park in Winston, Oregon.
Dr York taught me a lot during my first two years of Bigfoot Research. He taught me a lot about primate behaviors and how to track them. He also taught me to trust my instincts as they developed over time. He said that the Bigfoot species is no different than any other species on the planet. He taught me that every animal on the planet, including humans and Bigfoot, have patterns of behaviors. We are all creatures of habit.
Dr York said that “the more we go out looking for them, the more we will learn about the patterns and behaviors of the Bigfoot species. Then we will start seeing them more frequently.” He told me to ignore the naysayers. He also said, “Keep an open mind about who and what the Bigfoot species really are. He also cautioned me against “ambulance chasing” (i.e., Going from one reported sighting to the next reported sighting). He said that all living species tend to have territories. The key finding them is to validate their presence in the area, stay put, and go over their territory with a fine tooth comb.
See post concerning Dr. William York here on Cryptomundo: Bigfoot Research: Persistence
Unfortunately, Dr York died in his late 60’s of Congestive Heart Failure on November 3, 2002. He was my friend, teacher, and mentor during those two wonderful years. I grieved his death as if I lost my own father. Although he really wanted to see a Bigfoot before he died, he did not share in the joy of experiencing a visual before his untimely death. I still miss him very much. Yet, I carried his teachings and words of wisdom with me every time I went out into the wilderness – “Keep an open mind about who and what the Bigfoot species really are. Get to know their behaviors and patterns. Then you will begin to see them and experience them more frequently.” Although he was right, it took me another eight years to figure it out how to be successful at doing so.
I dedicated a total of ten years of engaging in relentless field research while utilizing the high tech “In Your Face” equipment (i.e., Deer Cams, Video Cams, Remote TV Cams, Seismic Sensors, Night Vision, Thermo Imaging, etc.). We continued to find bedding areas, endless sets of tracks, stick structures, snapped trees, rock piles, scat piles, numerous foot casts, etc. We could hear the Bigfoot nearby and sometimes smell them. Yet, no meaningful interactions and no visuals.
We also found multiple examples of “Technology Avoidance” during the 10 years of relentless research. On numerous occasions, we found tracks walking in the direction of a Deer Cam or Video Camera, then the tracks would stop about 50 feet away, and then the tracks would walk around the camera or away from the camera to avoid it. We saw this time and time again.
Dr York’s words kept echoing in my head, “Keep an open mind about who and what the Bigfoot species really are. Get to know their behaviors and patterns. Then you will begin to see them and experience them more frequently.” After a decade of frustration, I was forced to make a choice. I would either allow my ego and pride cause me to continue to march down the research path of futility without results or I would force myself to consider an alternative approach.
I thought of the LEGENDS in BIGFOOTDOM and how they have spent decades in the field without ever having seen a single Bigfoot. I did not want to be like them. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life researching without the blessing of more visuals. I forced myself to open up my mind and consider the Habituation approach which was being advocated by other Bigfoot researchers in the field.
I put the high tech equipment away and started going out into the Habituation Area to build trust with them. Rather than go out into the wilderness to prove their existence, I was now going out there to simply hang out with them, build up their trust, and hopefully see them and interact with them. This will sound silly to some of you but I don’t care. It worked. The number of visuals and personal interactions over the past 2 years have shot up through the roof exponentially. Habituation works. It really does!!!
TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE…. THAT IS THE QUESTION???
Over a year ago, I was at a Bigfoot conference at the coast with my fellow Researchers/Habituators. One of the LEGENDS was in attendance. He has spent over 40 years in the field interviewing eye witnesses and engaging in “Ambulance Chasing” methods (i.e., Running from one reported sighting to the next reported sighting without ever staying put and going over an area with a fine tooth comb for several years).
A small group of us were sitting around a campfire swapping stories. I shared about how I changed my ways and became a Habituator. I shared about all the visuals and interactions that I had been experiencing as a result of changing my approach. This LEGEND rolled his eyes, got up out of his chair while saying “Bullshit” under his breath, and walked away in anger. Later, I learned that he told others that they needed to keep me away from the “Newbies” or I would “corrupt them with rubbish.”
The sad thing is that I was telling the truth. I kept an open mind and was willing to learn from others just as Dr York suggested years earlier. As a result, the visuals and personal interactions have significantly increased. Really, they have. Yet, this LEGEND, has yet to see one in 40 years of personal dedication. Although I admire his commitment and contribution to BIGFOOTDOM, I’m saddened that his ego, pride, and stubbornness will ultimately prevent him from experiencing the visuals and interactions that he so understandably desires. I so wanted Dr York to have his visual before he died. I so want this LEGEND to have his experiences too. However, he has the same choice to make as I did. Either march down the same path of futility or consider a different approach.
Have you ever seen a Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Forest Person? Would you like to see one? Would you like to get to know them and interact with them? Then open up your mind to the impossible and improbable. Stop trying to be a Special Ops Team. You can’t trick them or outsmart them. Leave the High Tech Equipment at home.
Instead, go out into an area where you know a family exists, respect them, and get to know them. Treat them the same way you would want to be treated by guests who enter your home. Offer food, play music (i.e., guitar, harmonica, flute, etc.), talk, laugh, sing, and listen. Conduct “Night Sits” between 10 pm and 5 am. Leave your flashlights off. Don’t go out looking for them. Wait for them to come to you. If you do this enough times, it will work. It takes patience, commitment, and lots of time. It took our southern Oregon Bigfoot family 5 years before they started taking our food. We’ve had multiple visuals and interactions, including physical contact. The same is true in our western Washington research area too.
The LEGENDS in BIGFOOTDOM deserve our admiration and praise for their diligent work, decades of dedication, and their contributions toward the increasing knowledge in the Bigfoot field. They truly do. HOWEVER, you need to seriously ask yourself, why haven’t many of the LEGENDS seen one yet? In all those years of research, why haven’t they experienced any visuals or interactions?
In one, two, three, four or more decades, do you want to look back on all your time in the field and be frustrated because you never saw a Bigfoot or interacted with them? If the answer is “NO”, then please open up your mind and consider the alternative approach. Habituation works!!! Stop trying to prove their existence. Leave the High Tech Equipment at home. Just go out there to get to know them. Develop trust with them. Then you will feel the same way I do. You will be saddened for the LEGENDS but you will be happy for you. You will be happy that you’ve had the joy of seeing the Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Forest People on multiple occasions and that they have trusted you enough to allow you into their world. What a blessing it is!!! Don’t be a LEGEND, rather, be a friend of the Forest People. Just be a friend. It’s possible, probable, and it works.
~ Matthew A Johnson
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Who am I to say he is not correct?
I may be biased because I am an old school fisherman from way back. I think people should stop hunting Bigfoot and try more of a fishing approach. Study the environment, study the behavior and patterns, find the right bait, find a good spot, then sit and wait quietly. I concur, tromping through the woods using “in your face” techniques provides little value. I also think that fishing a big deep lake (WA, OR & Northern CA) is much more difficult than finding a shallow stretch of river, than fishing the one hole along that stretch (Mogollon Rim in AZ).
Well. Guess what.
One of the “ambulance chasing” groups – the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy – is doing something like this.
And it’s working, just like I’ve been telling folks all along.
See if you can drop the third-rail word “habituation.” Think Jane Goodall. Think George Schaller, Dian Fossey. Think like this:
While perhaps a foregone conclusion, spending more time in the field increased the quantity and quality of compelling observations. At this point, there should be little doubt that protracted field studies of weeks or months must be favored over much shorter and much less productive weekend events. There may be sufficient reason to postulate that these animals are likely conditioned that human forays into the remote wilderness habitats they favor usually only consist of a few days in length; all that is required is to simply wait out any human visitors and within a few short days or even hours, humans will leave. Operation Endurance ran contrary to such predictable human behavior.
Know what tourists get to see in Rwanda? Mountain gorillas, up close and personal. Coming up to them; touching them; interacting. Hanging with the forest people.
Those are the “habituated” groups. Now the researchers contact the non-habituated groups. Five hours or so of the worst hiking you ever did; sudden crashing in the undergrowth, way ahead; maybe a glimpse or two of black hair. Gorilla? Lion? Salamander? What’s your proof? “There they are.” Gone. Turn around; five hours or so awful hike back. Sound vaguely familiar?
Long-term field studies, by people equipped or supplied from the air, maybe, to go the distance.
Call it what you want.
Has anybody gone into an area and just stayed there for a long period of time and played the Ron Morehead’s bigfootsounds recorded from the Sierra Nevadas I think?
It’s a nice story. But without resulting in physical evidence that is testable and can be confirmed independently multiple times, it will just remain a story. That’s why the “LEGEND” called it bullshit. Because without verification, there’s no way to assess the value and veracity of any of these observations. It could be made up, it could be mental illness, it could be true.
Look, if there are actual cases of habituation going on, the goal has to be to acclimatize the subjects to the point where physical evidence (film, biological samples, etc) can be obtained, and obtained more than once. Otherwise, it does nothing to forward the scientific analysis of this cryptid.
Well, that was interesting and well said, but there is room for ALL methods of bigfoot searching. The trouble with this method, and Alamo’s similar “fish” system, is the evidence. We need to get evidence of The existence of this homonid/animal to be able to get the protection of law and habituation isn’t gonna work to that end. you’re just not gonna get Harry to come out for a press conference, no matter how nice you are to him. You WILL get the footprints/hair/”i was here stuff” that works fine for a proven entity, but the world first needs to know it exists before the pics/videos are considered ‘proof’. So, we need to have the ‘techies’ doin’ their thing, Too. I’m up here on the north coast of Washington, wandering around the lower reaches of the Humptulips River as a habituator, only ’cause I can’t afford to buy those gadgets. I don’t expect to get evidence that’ll solve the mystery, but I’m sure of the sign I see walking down the road.
Alamo…you hit the nail on head or the hook, line, and sinker. Especially with the word “fish.” Bigfoots have been seen multiple times either digging for shellfish or feasting on samon/trout and other native fish. Perhaps baiting remote coastlines with baskets of fish in places like Vancouver Island would be a sound approach? Native Americans have reported for years that Bigfoots often raided their fish baskets and nets. And there are multiple sightings by fishermen to boot. I would love to see more basic tactics employed.
Bait baskets; camera traps trained on the bait baskets.
Closed so a bear can’t get ’em, but with an opening that fingers can do. Plenty of evidence that a sasquatch won’t rip apart something it can open.
While the early and middle segments of Mr. Johnson’s essay seemed very sensible and noteworthy, the ending only made this non-“LEGEND” roll his eyes too…
Apparently, he now has established TWO locations where he goes and hangs around with some of The Big People… While that might be really heartwarming it does little to forward the quest of proving their existence.
With all these encounters, has he taken any casts of footprints the following morning, or do his Big Friends have a instinctual aversion to plaster-of-Paris? With their apparent “sixth sense” regarding electronics, does he and his family leave their cell phones at home when they visit the local forest folks? Can they sense digital watches?
Numerous accounts of encounters have them walking up to houses and cars, which are filled with bright lights, electronic fields and hums, and noisy gadgets like televisions, running engines, radios, refrigerators and water heaters… They can’t be completely repelled by such gear.
Anyway, I think Mr. Johnson’s essay still has a valuable “baby” remaining amidst the “it’s the experience…” bathwater.
Little story, true life:
About 25 years ago at the lower end of the Shenandoah Valley in VA, it was gospel to say no mountain lions existed in the vicinity, or within a thousand miles of the Eastern Seaboard for that matter. A good friend of mine one summer told me he had indeed seen one, and told me where it was…up on the ridge, adjacent to the A.T., about a good 20 minute hike from my door, straight up the side of the mountain. It was a hot and difficult climb, but I knew if I wanted to see this animal I would have to do that walk as many times as possible, and sit near the spot as long as possible. I was young and marginally employed, so what the hell….
When I didn’t see it (and for weeks I didn’t) I’d have to walk back down and start from scratch the next day. And I did. Many times. Until I did see it. Just like my friend described it. He got lucky in seeing it the first time, and I had to make my own luck. Would that I could have had his experience, but I’m quite satisfied with mine.
Point is, you can argue if you like that this gentleman has not seen a Sasquatch, but it is as basic as anything can be to realize his technique is about the only one that even has a glimmer of a chance of succeeding. To describe it as “bullshit” only highlights the essential incomprehension of the original “Legend” commenter. It seems the basic skill of just staying put is not something most Sasquatch hunters come to naturally, but they better learn and practice it if they are serious. No, it is the opposite of exciting…that is until you succeed. It is not by accident that a large number of the Class A sightings occur from tree stands.
Less yelling into the night.
semillama: It’s ain’t ABOUT the evidence! You missed the point! It’s not ABOUT the evidence, you have no NEED for the evidence, if you just get out in the hills and hollers with an open heart. You may not meet Bigfoot; on the other hand, you might meet yourself for the first time.
And sell the stupid game cams on e-Bay.
Seems to me that if the guys on these on these Bigfoot “hunting” shows actually had to depend on their hunting skills to eat… they’d be an awfully sorry looking and hungry bunch. Seen the same thing fishing the Talulah River in the N Georgia mountains. Me in my torn overalls and ratty sneakers walking by the side of the road with a $20 Zebco rig… and a stringer full of trout. Then a bunch of yahoos in king cab trucks tear assing from fishing hole to hole with hundreds of dollars in gear in the back of their fancy trucks… slowing down only long enough to give me dirty looks and comment, “Well no wonder we can’t catch any fish… you’ve done caught them all already!”.
Hunting Sasquatch may make for exciting TV, but the big guy is always going to be the Roadrunner to their Coyote. I’ll put it in perspective. Navy Seals, Green Berets, Delta Force, Mossad, SAS, Swiss Alpine Commandos, Spetnatz: Double A minor league ball… Sasquatch: Major League. Night vision… built in… stealth… built in… real life experience 2nd to none… strength and speed… born and bred in the briar patch. Some weekend warrior is going to traipse around the woods for a night with $5000 of FLIR stuck to his face and he thinks he’s somehow going to get the drop on Sasquatch… you’ve got another thing comin’ buddy…
I would suggest if possible actually planting (fruit trees, root crops, berry bushes) the bait, instead of putting something together and placing it on location… but this takes a more long term approach. I think perhaps it would be more helpful if we thought of ‘habituation’ as something that we do, our own internal process and not something that we do to Sasquatch. It’s always how I’ve caught my biggest fish… by cultivating a certain fishy imagination: if I was a fish, where would I be, what would I be doing, what am I hungry for?
Re “Operation Endurance”: Well, gee, shooting at one with a shotgun is sure going to convince them to hang around…..”
It sure looks like two different outlooks are driving past each other in the night…
The “experience” camp seems to think the goal is for an individual to go out and encounter The Big Folks as a personal (even spiritual) encounter. Fine and dandy. But this type of adventure will convince no one in the broader community of the existence of these beings.
The derided “LEGENDS” seek to bring undeniable confirmation of these creatures’ existence to the scientific community and society at large. This, of course, is a more “rational” and materialistic goal, but it would also be a service to our species’ collective knowledge and our understanding of the world.
Ploughboy: super nailed. Holding back on me? Never told me that one.
David-Australia: [grits teeth] didn’t say the approach was, er, ah, flawless. But they ….let’s seee….they, um, weren’t getting any shots the other way….?
I know. But I kinda understand, given science’s steel-headedness on this matter, where they’re coming from, even if I’m no-kill personally.
sasquatch: Or…(maybe) …lots of yelling into the night, night after night after night, for week after week after week. Or (TBRC) not.
Alamo: no kidding.
A light went on last night about a light that might have gone on earlier in the scientific mainstream. Goodall and Schaller and Fossey waited for the apes to come to them. They largely didn’t chase.
The “Finding Bigfoot” problem is that they go into the woods, yell and roast marshmallows and fire off rockets for two days or so, and leave. They’re on the margins of habitat and they’re doing what the animals are used to people doing from there.
The TBRC has inserted itself in the middle of habitat, in an area largely unused by humans for significant stretches. Then the locals go…hmmmm…what’s up here?
Primates are, you know, curious.
(Science on the sasquatch, an unaccountable exception. But you know.)
I may be softening up a bit on habituators.
First: if you give me no proof your story really doesn’t interest me. Sorry, but that’s the way it is. I’ve gone on at length here about how, if you are selling me what is, essentially, a sighting report for $50, I’d rather read the BFRO and TBRC reports and the Green database for free.
Second:
I am starting to get why a habituator wouldn’t give a damn who thought their story was real. Remember Goodall, Schaller, Fossey? In a sense that is what they did. We even use the term “habituated” for the gorilla groups tourists visit.
Light going on there, anyone?
If I see a sasquatch a major motivation I will have to deal with is “screw the mainstream. I know.” The responses to habituators make me wonder whether that isn’t their motivation to rub their experience in everyone else’s face (or to get to that point after reading a certain number of responses).
@ Alamao….upper Tallulah/Tate City: One of my favorite places going back 20 years or more. Rabun Cty. does not have much Bigfoot activity, judging from the reports, but nearby Habersham Cty does, and some other contiguous counties.
On the aversion to game cameras: It would probably be more beneficial to try and understand why it is reportedly happening than to attempt to discredit the validity of the data. I think it is not too farfetched to suggest that a game camera sitting out in the middle of the woods is as alarming to a highly perceptive and intelligent animal as it would be to you if you found a Sasquatch sitting in your favorite chair…and just as obvious. You also have to appreciate that a camera is only an artificial eye. All animals equipped with stereo vision are naturally adapted for eye recognition. If you suddenly found a cyclops staring at you from the tree you passed by every day, wouldn’t you be a tad skittish about it too? I have to admit it is puzzling why a cougar, wolf or coyote does not seem to have the same ability to perceive and avoid, but the small data sampling from Area X of OK seems to verify it is happening there. I guess it is just one more piece of the puzzle. And yes, I appreciate exquisitely how much derision Bigfoot skeptics will heap on this question…but the evidence goes where it goes, we don’t have any choice but to follow it, or not.
Eric,
You don’t have to blunder around the woods at night with your head stuck up thousands of dollars of equipment and a camera crew following your every move in order to collect the mundane secondary type evidence like tracks, hair, dens/ nests, scat, vocalizations, etc… yet why do so many of the so called “legends” utilize these tactics? They spend a lot of their time, energy, and limited budgets doing this kind of stuff… why? They (and their audiences) want that Class A encounter.
IMO, the use of an alternate approach will exponentially increase the chances of a Class A encounter with documentary quality footage while using less resources and still allowing the research group to maintain the day to day collection of the secondary evidence. The “In Your Face” method is obviously not working (you know what they say about insanity). It’s more of an adolescent boy’s idea of what hunting should be like anyway. Go ask a real hunter, successful hunting is 90% what I described above (find a good spot, sit down and wait quietly – preferably in a tree stand).
Ploughboy:
There are actually studies that show that, among others, the “alpha” coyotes (the one or ones controlling a particular territory) DO avoid game cams:
Wariness of coyotes to camera traps relative to social status and territory boundaries
But then again, they’re good at avoiding traps in general.
They don’t have to know what a camera is. All they have to know is: momma taught me that when you see a bunch of humans hunkered down somewhere on your land, it ain’t good.
R. Patterson-No night vision equipment, parabolic microphones, light shows or much else besides a 16 mm movie camera… Oh, he and Gimlin were armed too. They were on horse back; which may have masked their scent. They probably weren’t running their mouths or whacking trees either.
Alamo – You are spot on.
My previous comment dealt more with my exasperation with some of the more “experiential,” who-cares-about-evidence camp.
I would also say though, that the televised parade through the woods show(s) is/are probably even more useless. At least a “habitation experience” would be teaching some individual worthwhile things about the big guys…
You are on target about the better likelihood of success coming from long term, low-key surveillance of a suspected prime location. I’ve thought there are probably three potential ways to get good evidence, presentable to science and the general public:
1) As you have stated, have experienced outdoorsmen camp long-term in a hot spot area, keeping low key, and with cameras, etc. discretely out of plain sight. Leave food out, and stay near the camp at night. Let “them” approach out of curiosity…
2) For non-hardcore outdoor types… Set up a long term trailer/mobile home “laager” near likely habitat. Keep low key, but stay put – get resupplied and rotate personnel as needed every couple of weeks. Set up cameras in and on top of the trailers. Have a 24/7 on-watch schedule. In this situation, the cameras would blend in with gear of the camp, and by continually running, would not require a change of behavior from the researchers – hopefully then not alarming the study’s subjects…
3) Establish permanent surveillance along the best long line-of-sight areas in “hot” territory. Set up cameras on already artificial structures (lamp posts, high tension power lines, fire towers) along and overlooking long/wide stretches of roadway and other clear-cut areas. Have pairs of cameras facing each other, and set them up to take 3-4 frames per minute – no active “sonar” game-cam style output – simply passive. The cameras would likely be seen as just another mysterious detail on the man-made contraption…
Alamo:
One of my favorite bigfoot reports (and soon to be yours):
Sit still and…well, let’s just say go to the bathroom before you go on stand…
thatericn: I suppose I’m defaulted into the first category you describe. Speaking for myself only, I DO NOT see encounter as necessarily a goal at all. ONLY IF YOU WANT TO, as Country Joe said.
As for “proof”, again, it’s up to the individual; I see neither encounter NOR proof as a goal. Bigfoots don’t need to prove their existence to humans, and I’m not all that dependent on it, either. We all have things we wish were true, but they exist independent of any proof, as we all do.
I can go on with or without proof, and the exuberance of vindication is just another transitory phenomenon. Many people seem to really hanker for proof; do they REALLY, though?
Quite right DWA, thanks for the link.
All they need to think (and probably are thinking) is: This was not here last time. I can’t eat it. I can’t breed with it. Bye.
Very interesting:
“It is important to distinguish between wariness and neophobia. The term neophobia is used here to mean the initial avoidance or caution resulting from the novelty associated with an object, food, or odor in a familiar setting (Windberg and Knowlton 1990; Windberg 1996; Hanis and Knowlton 2001). This is generally assumed to be a genetically fixed response that functions as a first line of defense against potentially harmful encounters with which the coyote has no previous experience.
While the level of neophobia can be affected by the frequency with which an animal encounters novel objects (Mettke-Hofmann et al. 2002) and by previous experience with other objects (Pedersen 1994), neophobia is not a learned response. After the initial caution, however, habituation can occur with repeated exposure.”
Which leads me to wonder if those game cameras just might be better left in place a lot longer.
It also speaks to the question of why a Bigfoot would not be as cautious about approaching a house. Mainly because the house has always been there?
I was not going to comment on this because, as the legend said under his breath, I think this guy is shoveling BS. However as I was reading through comments shaking my head and cringing in disgust I came across someone who makes sense for a change, Alamo. The fishing style of Bigfoot hunting has come up several times in the comments and what Alamo had to say about that is completely correct. Anyone that knows anything about fishing knows the best bait is what the fish normally eat. Not cheese balls, stank bait, mice, chicken livers or corn. What is the natural food source of the fish you seek, once you learn what the answer is you will catch the fish. The idea of planting a natural food source is downright brilliant yet should painfully obvious. Hasn’t this been thought of before? What does Bigfoot eat in a particular area? What seems to be their favorite foods? If one can figure that out and plant plots of over stocked favorite food supplies, you should catch the Bigfoot with his or her natural favorite food planted in that area. They will learn where these plots are and return to them often. This is theory of course, but it does make perfect sense. Deer hunters do this so why not Bigfoot hunters. Why do game cams have to be strapped to the sides of trees? Why can’t they be up high facing down? Like the man said, open the mind, think for yourself. These Yahoos that run around the woods at night call blasting and singing folk songs, holding hands and swapping spit are wasting their time. Yes that means you, Finding Bigfoot guys. Your methods are nonsense and will not work. Surely you already have that figured out. Anyway, thanks for keeping this thread half way sane Alamo. It was refreshing to read a comment that makes sense for a change. Or should I say makes sense in realistic manner.
“It also speaks to the question of why a Bigfoot would not be as cautious about approaching a house. Mainly because the house has always been there?”
Right.
The TBRC reasoned that three-day episodes are novel incursions that the residents hunker down and wait out. (Kinda like all the animals being silent in an area right before a sasquatch encounter.) Staying and becoming a fixture, and a more or less benign one at that, switches you from uh-oh what’s-this to an object of curiosity.
Sooner or later, that coyote is taking dog food off your porch, and your dog if he can get it. If the house was part of the scenery when he showed up…it’s sooner.
Same thing.
Ploughboy,
You right, little slice of heaven that place. Some activity reported around Warwoman Dell… hiked down into that place and followed the creek a ways this past summer… pretty thick, with lots of nooks and crannies. Definitely Sasquatch country.
Autumn Williams likens it to coming home after being gone a while, and finding an unfamiliar painting hung on the wall. A very good point. Not only would you notice it instantly, you’d be put pretty uptight about it, wouldn’t you?
That’s how Bigfoot feels about your stupid game cams. He can see them instantly, he can hear them, and he can smell them. Not the way to make a fast friend.
Thom Powell speaks of “establishing an embassy” in their bailiwick. He’s not being literal, so don’t get all literal on me.
Obviously, Bigfoot is not keen on setting up an embassy in our towns and cities. This is highly delicate stuff, and it’s going to take a lot of time. I’m of the opinion it’s a mistake for them, but that’s just me. They can take care of their business without our help, protection, or interference.
On the other hand, it’s really us that need them. Not the other way around.
Your average red blooded, meat eating American is rather stinky (me probably more so than most)… stinky sweat, stinky oils, stinky effluvia… probably as stinky or stinkier to Sasquatch than they are to us. Put your face up to an electronic device: hot plastic, solvents, lubricants, ozone and other sharp smells will assault your senses… you might even hear a low humming or buzzing from certain electronic components.
Animals are very highly attuned to things which do not belong in their environment. Sit in the woods in the dark with your eyes closed and the lights off. It won’t take long for you to start hearing every little snap, crackle and pop… every little hoot and holler… all around you… take a deep breath, then a couple of sharp snorts… then another deep breath… exhale slowly… take in the smells. Sit like this for a while, then open your eyes. In this state you will be hooked in to the environment.
If something different and foreign were to show up… your limited human senses, even blunted as they are by civilized living, would immediately tell you. Using any kind of optics or artificial viewing device will destroy this connection and what little natural night vision you have, same with hearing aids such as parabolic microphones… matter of fact, wearing too much equipment in general causes a loss of the naturally connected state of mind which is necessary for the primal state of being I’m describing.
Ploughboy, that’s it exactly. My uncle Harris, GRHS, loved to hunt… but couldn’t get around so good near the end… so my cousins back in GA built what looks like kids’ forts on stilts with stairs at the opposite ends of big fields from some planted foodstuffs… then let them sit there complete with chairs, blankets (washed in Dreft), furnishings, etc… until they were part of the landscape. The food occurred naturally in the environment and was close to the edge of the forest on the far end of the fields from the stands. Got so the deer wouldn’t pay them any mind at all and got used to coming right out to eat. He’d rotate using 3 or 4 of them… but if you were only shooting the animals with cameras then one would probably do you.
Interesting that this sit-and-wait method of “hunting” for bigfoot is being discussed as if it’s something new when not only is it a practice actual hunters have employed for thousands of years, but it is also the same method proposed by Ivan T. Sanderson for locating elusive cryptids back in 1961 in his book “Abominable Snowmen – Legend Come to Life” — a book which I would bet 99% of the posters on this forum have read.
I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s not new.
Whiteriverman,
Thank you sir.
Alamo: right.
My first girlfriend was writing me a letter (she never mailed them; she always got them under my pillow somehow…) at 3 o’clock or so one morning when she noted just what you are talking about, the noises we never pay attention to most of the time and how noisy they in fact are. She wrote: “Silence is not very quiet!”
We talk about super-sensory perception in sasquatch when deer…well, if you are actually seeing deer in your neighborhood, you would probably be stunned to find out how many there actually are. When you never see one, that merely means there are only a lot of them.
On a related note, when I’m out in the woods I try to hold off using artificial light as long as I possibly can. Most people have no idea how good their night vision is.
(Depending on degree of deer habituation YMMV.)
RandyS:
Bindernagel’s The Discovery of the Sasquatch – a book I would actually bet 99% of the posters here have not read, and should – talks about how science can discover stuff; forget it; and re-discover it later. This phenomenon can be particularly prominent, I bet, when the thing being discussed isn’t recognized by science to exist. A Chinese yeti expedition in the mid-seventies reiterated the same idea. I’ve been advocating it here for a long time. The Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy is doing it, as noted above.
And just tossing in to the general discussion something I may already have said in different words: as to the habituators who don’t offer proof, maybe that’s not what they’re after. I presume that’s their prerogative. Maybe, given the nastiness they’ve seen from science on this topic, they’d just rather not deal with it. They don’t have to prove it to us, any more than one of us has to mention a sighting to anyone else.
Thanks DWA for the link about the bowhunter. I imagine that this guy is a millionaire now from the selling of the blood/DNA left on his broadhead.
G. de La Hoya:
Were I him, I wouldn’t have bothered either.
DWA,
That is a great report. I remember seeing something like that on an episode of MonsterQuest or similar show. I remember thinking, “That guy really knows what he’s doing.”. Notice how many things he does to mask his scent.
RandyS: I tout that book here regularly. I betcha we might be shocked at how many here have NOT read it. SO READ IT. If you haven’t read it for fifteen years, READ IT AGAIN. That book can teach soooo many things, has such great insights, and the parts about the settlement of various areas, the flora and fauna in relation to his ABSMs – that’s an education in itself. I like that he points out that many areas of the Pacific Northwest were better known (and had more boots on the ground) 150-200 years ago (adjusting for the publication date) than they are today. He’s spot on there. He’s spot on everywhere.