The distinction I am trying to make?
Is that a Bear is not self aware. It doesn’t recognize itself in a mirror, it attacks the mirror. It doesn’t understand that it’s leaving tracks that others can follow either. It itself tracks like a bloodhound, on scent. It has poor eyesight, but most importantly it’s not self aware.
Knuckle walking great apes are self aware. They may react like a Bear at first. But they quickly figure out they are seeing their own reflection. Jeff Meldrum talks about making Chimp casts and observing the chimps be self aware of their own footprints in the sand. So if knuckle walking great apes are self aware? Surely a bipedal Sasquatch is more self aware than they are. This is the cognition part that most animals lack.
So back to tracks. If you live in the woods and are hunting and foraging in the woods? You’re gonna leave sign. It’s inescapable. The key difference is having the cognitive ability to understand this. And if you don’t want to be found? Then you’re going to mitigate the risk as much as feesably possible. But you cannot erase it entirely. But if you understand this concept you can also use it as a WEAPON against the trackers.
You could leave a short track way in the opposite direction of your families intended travel. You could stage a track in an area where you can easily observe your trackers from concealment. A false trail buys you time while the tracker has to sort it out. There are lots of counter tactics in the game of tracker and being tracked.
This leaves the territory of a hunter tracking a deer through the woods. This is military and law enforcement territory. Where a tracked human could be leading you into an ambush. Now you’re asking yourself things like? Why is this track left in such an obvious way? Is it a misdirection? Are we being observed? Is it a stall for time?
You may be a city slicker but if you’re honestly interested in this subject? There are lots of good books to read and you can practice some of it in your own backyard or a park.
I observed a trackway in snow with my father. I have zero doubt that a Sasquatch knows it’s leaving tracks. IT KNOWS. So the question then becomes did it care? Or could it not be helped? If it doesn’t care then it probably has an ulterior motive. Which should send a cold shiver up your spine. But in our case hunting for a Xmas tree in an area we normally would not be in that time of year? And in deep snow? It probably just couldn’t be helped. In that case it’s probably betting on the fact that a human on snowshoes just cannot keep up in deep snow in mountainous terrain. And it is impossible to erase a snow trackway anyhow. So make haste.
I have mulled this concept over in my head many times. Even when I am out in the woods looking for tracks. A quarry that understands that you could be tracking it? Is a paradigm shift for most hunters, hikers and lay people.
Tracks will never be the smoking gun. Dental resin casts are great conversation pieces but nothing more. But tracks will lead you to the creature…. That’s a certainty. IF we are good enough to follow them and the weather holds.🤷♂️
The ultimate game of hide and seek.