Guest Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 Very interesting pictures. I will keep my eyes open for similar things. Nice to know what to keep a look out for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Bigtex, I am sorry to hear about the loss of your father. It changed the world for me when my Dad died. Your mirror story is great. I hope they didn't take your cat. We''ve lost two cats here, and I don't know what took them. We have BF in our neighborhood here as well. They have had many opportunities to take our current cat, but they have not. It may have been coyotes, or a bobcat that took our cats. We've seen both coyotes and bobcat here, but not for several months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigtex Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Hey Florida Reader, and thank you for the kind words! We currently have no Cats, Coyotes, or something, gets them eventually. We quit naming them too, as they all get named 'KeeKee 1 thru 7, the next one will be KeeKee 8. There's an escaped African Serval running around out here, and it might be the small dog & cat killer in town. First picture is what was left of KeeKee 4. Also, snakes can get them too, and sorry for the graphic photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Dang, that is quite a snake! I've seen two different kinds of snakes here. Black racers and some kind of corn snake. We haven't seen any poisonous snakes yet, knock on wood. We leave the non-venomous snakes alone, but something killed one of the corn snakes and left it by the driveway. I think it was a gift of sorts. Did you do anything to the snake? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigtex Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 The snake picture is not one that I took, and a friend had sent to me. My normal rule with snakes is to let all non-venomous snakes live, and the poisonous ones too if they are not aggressive. Over the years, two Rattlesnakes that didn't rattle could have tagged me good, but choose not to, so it really depends on the situation, but if they are in my yard, they die. I'll usually pick up and enjoy the non-venomous ones, but am not a good enough snake handler to try and catch and relocate the bad ones......just not worth the risk, and they can still bite when dead.......remove the head. Something to consider......these dang feral hogs will eat snakes, and the Rattlesnakes are learning NOT to rattle as a result.......not good for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 We don't have any feral hogs around here. I hear from some that have been here longer that there used to be feral hogs here. Apparently, somebody made them go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Had a great hike yesterday, roughly 2 hours, and hiked into a new area that I had never been to. What a weird creepy place, and I have named it the Kill Zone Part 2. In an area about the size of Kill Zone 1 (hopefully, most of you guys remember the Kill Zone from the old forum), I found no less than 35 dead (eaten) Deer, and several other smaller species. This is way more than the KZ-1 had, and is **** hard to figure. I took pictures of each kill, of course, and will post some of those when I can (did they increase the file sizes yet?). When standing near one kill, you can look around in all directions and see many more. This place was just unnerving, and as dusk was approaching, it got really creepy in those woods. What type of predator would do something like this? coyotes do that. There are 2 dens by my house and they tend to drag and eat kills in these gullies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thepattywagon Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 That looks like a Pine Snake to me. They are constrictors and can have a nasty temperment, depending on the individual. I had a few as pets when I was going through my adolescent snake phase. Biggest one I ever saw was about 6 feet. This one looks longer than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigtex Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 It's been nice hiking this week, mild clear weather, and most of the creeks are still holding water from the recent rains. Here's a Deer kill that I ran across yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JenJen of Oldstones Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 BigTex, does the Bigfoot activity in your research area remain constant all year long? I'm thinking about our horribly hot summers and wondering if BF activity in Texas diminishes at all that time of year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigtex Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 Probably JenJen, but the drought situation the last 4-5 years might have changed some behavior patterns. Hard to find sign of anything when we don't get our rains. And just when I think the woods are 'dead', I will put out a Game Camera and get tons of healthy looking wildlife moving around. When rain does come, then there are tracks everywhere, and the big guy too. At the very least, there is a huge power line that comes through town heading North/South, and is a natural migration route. I have found numerous temporary housing, or BF 'Hotels', along the power lines, and always within a 100 yards of the power line clearing, and in the woods. These dwellings follow the same construction pattern; usually made from Juniper trees, with the lower limbs pulled down and manipulated to form a room of sorts underneath. When the limbs that are pulled down and still fresh with green foliage still on them, you hardly notice them, and can't see the space created within. Before I knew what to be looking for, I would walk right by them - VERY stealthy construction. Here's a good one, and I have posted these pics before, might have been in the old forum.....can't remember. The limbs that are broken down are huge limbs, and not only pulled down, but twisted around at unnatural angels to form the inner dwelling. Try to imagine what this looked like 'fresh', and with the greenery still on the limbs pulled down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JenJen of Oldstones Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 (edited) Thanks BigTex! Cedar trees are so confusing to me because their limbs grow in such odd ways. The ones in the natural area parks I walk in always look twisted and deformed. I'm assuming that's the default, but maybe I need to get out in the Hill Country one day this weekend and look at other cedars. I can see what you're talking about with the impressive den you attached pictures of above. For myself, I don't know how to judge anything natural. I would have seen this and thought, "Huh, well the tree is all dead so I guess I have to assume the branches broke naturally?" I wouldn't have recognized it as a BF dwelling. I believe you that it is, because you have the experience. I just wish I knew more so I could do a better job at evaluating things I see! I see things like this so often in the places I timidly explore. But, though Austin has so many pockets of natural areas with trails, both in suburbia and on the outskirts of town, I doubt that any BF would be making tree dens and tree markers in places where people walk their dogs and ride their mountain bikes and jog (to greater or lesser degrees--some parks hardly get any traffic, others get it constantly from dawn to dusk). It's tempting to think that they might be close, because most of these little natural areas are connected to stream drainages that lead to bigger drainages that lead out to the country. I think the best place for me to find any BFs in the Austin area (if there are any) would be in the massive Bull Creek Greenbelt/St. Edwards Park areas. Edited January 25, 2013 by JenJen of Oldstones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigtex Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 The area you are referring to in Austin has way too many people & pets running around, you would be wasting your time there. I'm an hour West from Austin, and the areas I hike & research are remote. In fact, in 15 years I have never run across a single person, or trash, or cig butts.......it's quite wild. The tree pictured above only had the lower limbs broken & manipulated, the higher branches are fine. Hopefully this will work, and are links to YouTube, and video of the power lines & the BF shack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JenJen of Oldstones Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 Ahhh, wow, thanks for posting the videos. After seeing video of the "Bigfoot shack" I can see how incredible it is. I don't think I could come across something like that and think it was remotely naturally manipulated. Thanks again! You're probably right about there being too many people and dogs at the parks in Austin. Even the ones with vast greenbelts? I got so excited about the suburban Bigfoot threads. Well, I guess my only hope of seeing a Bigfoot is if I'm driving around the country in the small hours of the morning. Because I'm not going into remote wilderness by myself! I could see exploring off-trail at the great big greenbelt areas in Austin with a friend, but I don't think anyone would be willing to drive an hour our to my friend's ranch in Spicewood to explore. And I won't be telling my Spicewood friends about Bigfoot in the Hill Country, because they would think I'm nuts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wudewasa Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 The snake eating cat pic is of a carpet python and was taken in Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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