The Type Specimen Quiz

[norseman]

I've kinda been avoiding this thread...

The answer is yes. I have the means to take a specimen. But am I willing?

This is where one of our biggest problems lies. While I fully agree that we need a specimen, I also know that I am not willing to be the one to do it. That's just me.

I will, however, split Mr. Bigfoot's head apart with a hollow-point should he decide to attack. But that's as far as I'm willing to go.

If he's standing in front of me staring, he'll walk away completely unmolested.

And hopefully my camera will be running...

And I don't think that this is anything to be ashamed of. I was raised on a ranch, I've butchered hogs and cattle that I hand raised, I'm also a hunter and have contributed to the stew pot. And I've also had the gut wrenching job of putting down horses and dogs......my companions. In Full Metal Jacket the DI proclaims "A hard heart kills", and there is some truth to that. Who knows? In the face of the situation and it's very human appearance I could freeze up and not be able to finish the job. I don't for see that being a problem, but we are all human after all.

But I can understand the concept of "What has he done to you". Innocence vs. guilt and all of those human emotions we have come rushing in.

I guess the big picture is that your mindset to shoot one isn't grounded in hate or guilt, but love. Why love? Because it's the most logical and rationale choice in making sure the species is preserved by our government and society. If DNA does the job? Awesome! If a road kill is found? Great! I will rejoice in then taking my camera out there and taking pictures.

[Guest]

I could get a tissue sample with my knife. However, with my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I could probably execute an Ezekiel or a Rear Naked Choke, and render the beast unconscious.

I think a guillotine would be the best mma move against any animal attack, as long as the neck is small enough to get your arms around it. Any physical contact with just about any animal means your probably being attacked and the guillotine is probably the most natural mma move to defend an animal attack.

[Guest RayG]

Good luck getting squatch to be as compliant as the guy in the white pants.

RayG

[Guest]

If you don't put an emoticon by what you are saying to indicate otherwise, I assume you are being serious with the wrestling moves and getting bigfoot groups together to go hunt one of these creature's down.........surely you jest

[Guest squatchrider]

I have to admit being unprepared to take a sample if I were to have the opportunity while out in the woods. I'll have to work on this so I can change my answer. I will not however be bringing in a full body which I have intentionally killed. I am neither prokill or antikill it's just not in my makeup to be able to do that.

[Guest]

Just out of curiosity, how would you get a big 7-8 foot tall body weighing up to 800 lbs. back to civilization? Wouldn't you need a fork lift to get it in a truck? You wouldn't want to cut it up because it would damage the organs.......Think of the body fluids dripping out the tail gate as you go down the road home, I know OSHA would have a fit about that. Have y'all really thought this through?

[Guest]

I think there is confusion in using the term type specimen. I believe some people believe it is much larger than it needs to be. I think your term(s) need to be defined before the question and answers can be meaningfully realized. I think anyone with nails long enough to scratch are prepared physically, although they may not be prepared emotionally.

[MagniAesir]

Just out of curiosity, how would you get a big 7-8 foot tall body weighing up to 800 lbs. back to civilization? Wouldn't you need a fork lift to get it in a truck? You wouldn't want to cut it up because it would damage the organs.......Think of the body fluids dripping out the tail gate as you go down the road home, I know OSHA would have a fit about that. Have y'all really thought this through?

I've taken out moose that weighed more then that.

I do not hunt or search for Sasquatch, however if I came across one while outdoors I don't think I would shoot it.

Even if it where during hunting season and I had the means to kill it, I don't think I would.

Just as I wouldn't shoot a thylacine as it may be vital to the breeding population (although I think they are extinct

).

I would however look for hair or scat samples.

A couple of weeks from now I will be traveling up west harrison lake, who knows I may find my answer then.

[norseman]

If you don't put an emoticon by what you are saying to indicate otherwise, I assume you are being serious with the wrestling moves and getting bigfoot groups together to go hunt one of these creature's down.........surely you jest

I don't know where the wrestling move came in......I just responded because somebody thought that a rear naked choke was some sort of Kama Sutra position!

[norseman]

Just out of curiosity, how would you get a big 7-8 foot tall body weighing up to 800 lbs. back to civilization? Wouldn't you need a fork lift to get it in a truck? You wouldn't want to cut it up because it would damage the organs.......Think of the body fluids dripping out the tail gate as you go down the road home, I know OSHA would have a fit about that. Have y'all really thought this through?

If your goal was to get the whole body out? Outfitters do this all the time. And yes they are going to skin it, leaving a healthy cape behind the head for mounting, and quarter it and basket hitch it onto a mule. I'll have to find a picture I have of my two mules with an elk on.

And as far as OSHA? Ummmm I don't think so...... Of course anything is possible back east!

Keep in mind though that for a type specimen that science would accept doesn't need to be a whole body.

[norseman]

I think there is confusion in using the term type specimen. I believe some people believe it is much larger than it needs to be. I think your term(s) need to be defined before the question and answers can be meaningfully realized. I think anyone with nails long enough to scratch are prepared physically, although they may not be prepared emotionally.

What if your DNA contaminated the sample?

No, I'd want a sizeable portion of the animal to pack out, and I think the head would be of the most importance. I'd take the feet as well, just for Dr. Meldrum.

[Guest]

Chop off the head, hands and feet.

[Guest]

Magniaesir- Was the moose all in one piece? You can tell that I do not hunt, just fish.

Like John, I would just take the feet, hands, and head. This is going to sound bizarre but since I am in the medical profession, I would also include the testes, if male, or get the ovaries, if female, for the ova and sperm. You would need to keep the testes warm though, if the body was fresh, don't throw them in a cooler. It would be interesting to see if you could combine it with another primate's ova or sperm assuming any survived transport. I would want to see what it's organs looked like and if they were in the same places as ours. It depends on the circumstances of the situation, how I felt about the creature once I saw it up close, or if I felt it was safe or ethical to do such a thing. I keep thinking about all the unknowns like AIDS, no matter how well gloved you are things do splatter. I guess it's always good to have a general idea in mind as to what you would do and what precautions to take even if it is unlikely that you will ever be put in this position.

[Guest DaveBeaty]

Here is a radical thought: The type specimen doesn't have to be dead!

The "crack pipe dream" scenario is to get a live sasquatch to voluntarily meet with the biologists. This would require a long term (perhaps multi-generational) habituation scenario, where the sasquatch trusts the human enough to meet with other humans.

The flaw with this idea is the Gorillas in the Mist scenario: Thanks to the fate of the late Dian Fossey, any human a sasquatch would trust would be unlikely to trust other humans around sasquatch.

[southernyahoo]

I voted Yes, provided that we are talking about collecting tissue from an allready dead one and photographing the process. It's possible that I would be armed in an encounter and be forced to shoot to protect myself, which I think I would do, though I don't expect this senario as an eventual outcome. Time is better spent looking for trace evidence which can contain DNA, through follow up investigations at locations where repeated encounters occur.