Guest BitterMonk Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Probably rough, and insulated with a lot of fatty tissue. In "Big Footprints" Krantz opined that the sasquatch fat pad would be significantly thicker than human (2" or greater IIRC?). One of the reasons he sited was a cast that in his opinion showed the heel deforming around a rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 Thanks for those experiments BitterM. Though I didn't try the barefoot test ala BitterM, I did go out and find another crazy blackbear that humped it from one mtn to another after the most recent snow. Obviously, he/she did so after the snow had crusted over at least one night and then after flurries/snow showers filled in some of the pad detail. The purpose of the pictures and short quicktime movies is to show the apparent claw impact to ground in snow (as well as a few contrast studies I was doing for my own curiosity). This snow was not as good as the one I tracked in last year which was wet. The powdery crusted over version does make an interesting "breakthrough" in that weight on the top crust does two things: 1) It makes the hindfoot print of this particular blackbear look more human in appearance and 2) gives some definition to the claw tip breakthrough on the top edge of the print near the snows surface (this snow was six to eight inches originally, seemed to have settled to five or six when I got out into it. It is interesting that in some prints the claws leave tiny depressions/dots where they meet the ground/snow delineation and do not puncture deeply into ground apparently. I believe it was Sasfooty who wanted to know more about why blackbear claw marks were absent from prints or maybe how could they be rather. Before somebody jumps me for measuring devices. Yes, I left my crime scene rulers on the table next to the door on the way out, lol, packed alot and didn't have them in my "go bag" (won't make that mistake again Vil. lol). I used a glove that was 8 1/2 inches from end of sleeve to middle fingertip to assist with size comparisons for some of the pics. Generally 8 1/2 inches was about the maximum size of the longest prints. I did pack my purple food coloring slurry and spray bottle to help me experiment with definition of tracks, helped mildly but a uv light helped just as much (I also experimented some with mirrors in shadow, red light and white light, no major breakthroughs with those in the early morning sun, neither one picked up fantastic on video/pictures). My pictures were taken from a videocamera, Aiptek and were 8 mp so they were fairly huge. I've cut them in half. You will prob. need quicktime to view some of these movies. One thing I'm presenting is how the crusty breakthrough of the blackbear hindfoot can appear kidney shaped and tapered across the top almost like a human toe appearance even in temps below freezing for days, such as we are dealing with here. Imagine what the melting process could do after a short time to make these look clawless yet outlined like a human. It makes it easy to see how some common misidentifications could arise looking at selected prints after melting snow. If the mods think another thread needs to be broken off for my pics/videos of these prints that is fine. I see a rationale for including them here however. The pics/movies will follow. Pictures bb1 and bb2 show the apparent "human" shape or outline rather(esp. if melting takes place)and are approx. 10 inches long. I'll attach those to this post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 Here are a few others, note the small depressions/dots where the end of the claws penetrate snow. In the second pic if you enlarge by clicking you can see where the claws clipped the surface/front edge of the snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 And others, ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 Some more>... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 Continuing....also a note it is possible some of these are hindfoot to forefoot stepovers making the human appearance more pronounced, the snow conditions made it difficult to make sense of some of these. For the most part the bears straddle was steady and sure and I don't recall stepovers. This mutha was on a mission and didn't stop for nothing (went directly over and through alot of stuff stepping on and bouncing off the base of large trees it seemed at one point ) ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 More.....you can see how the top edge of the snow cover is clipped by the claws on the way down to making the print in this short vid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 No, it's pertinent to the icy footprint originally posted so I'm leaving it in. Thanks, Bipedalist, I know I learned something from both you and Bittermonk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BitterMonk Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Well done on the icy ursine photos. Just remember your forensic photography kit next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 Thanks Jodie, yah BitterM I was playing with the rulers before hitting the slopes, gotta remember to tape a few to the inside of the daypack, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 As a matter of followup, if the weather will cooperate, I may attempt to re-document these prints after melting which will occur (assuming the weather will cooperate and I can access the same area in slush)hopefully I'll get them measured to scale then too. I'm very curious as to what the sun will do to a couple of those prints in particular. If I do I will be on the lookout for fresh tracks that is for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vilnoori Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 nice bear tracks bipedalist! Good idea to see what they look like after a while. Looks like your area is colder and drier than what we generally get here. And either you've got a small bear or big hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted January 15, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted January 15, 2011 Yes, the whole time I was tracking I was thinking this one is not quite the size of the one moving out in the wetter snow last winter.....was not prepared for photography and the weather didn't give second chances last year so I thought I would make this one count. Didn't think I'd ever see Bear tracks in the snow again in my lifetime, maybe the times are changing. Even though this bear seemed small it's tenacity in hauling up steep snowy terrain was amazing, it just pointed itself straight up and took the roughest road it could in places and never did I see a slip (can't say the same myself, hah.) Those armourall gloves were a size too small or so for me & skin tight, don't insulate well, and had I read my reviews before buying them would never have laid down money for them (at least they were on sale, little consolation though). I now use them to ride my bicycle in cool weather primarily unless I need a little dexterity like I did today.....you can get them off very easily, most of my insulated heavy weather gloves that wouldn't have been feasible. Winter has been rough in the mtns of NC to date.....I've had as many as nine crows, six or seven bluejays, as many as nine or ten squirrels and as many variety of winter birds as there are around here (except the woodpeckers lately which have stayed holed up somewhere else so far with this last snow) feeding off some seed I've been supplementing in the snowcover. Of course the redtails have been circling and the crowmobs have been active. I've got one brain damaged attack squirrel that I think could fight off the redtail though, would be worth a video if they get ahold of each other It'll be interesting if I can see how the tracks change with melting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 The pics of the running shoes are interesting for sure. Two things I would have to think about. Would a person really wear them in the snow? They appear quite thin and look like they would get soaking wet. Not something you want when trekking about. Secondly the soul is still unique enough to leave a specific and identifiable print. Perhaps someone who has a pair could produce a pic of a track. I tend to agree I’ve seen a few pairs of these shoes and you would not be comfortable walking around in the snow with these things on. They would be wet, cold and slick to walk in the snow with IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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