Killing Bigfoot

[Guest Time Traveler]

I've been reading posts so long I have a serious case of numb butt and yet here I am back again. I thank you all for stimulating sections of my brain that have gone unused for a long time.

The last forum I was on jumped all over me for saying this but I'm going to try it again here.Left them in the dust to dwell on their ignorance. I truly believe a Bigfoot has been killed and is in someones private collection. Let me tell you why.

Back in the late 1970's I became the go to person when someone found an injured animal or bird. We lived way out and it didn't happen very often. But as time went on people from town would bring me baby birds, squirrels, etc. One day an FWC truck pulled into my drive way. We had long talk go legal or go to jail. I chose to apply for my State of Florida and US Fish & Wildlife permits. I held the only marine mammal permit in the southeast for 12 years.

I can not begin to tell you how many people begged me for the dead bodies of the raptors, wading birds, song birds, bobcats, etc. Wildlife smuggling and drug smuggling go hand and hand and the Game Comm. took me into many a building to collect the exotics. Rare parrots and macaws, small cats from South America. People REALLY wanted any dead ones.

A very close friend took up taxidermy about the same time. As his skills and reputation grew so did his clientele. Private, permitted collectors brought their dead pets to him to mount. Which was legal. It was the ones who came to him saying they had killed this or that in another state and it was at home in the freezer would he mount it? No, but he did know someone who would. An old guy who knew how to mount without buying a preformed mold like the younger taxidermists.

I honestly believe a Bigfoot has already been killed somewhere. And lo and behold there was someone who would mount it's head, hands and feet and keep their mouth shut for big money. Not a bad person. Maybe an average trophy hunter with a guide looking for mountain sheep or something and using a 30.06 with a scope or bigger. He saw it on the ridge looked at it through the scope and bang it was over with except for the butcher. I think this would have taken place maybe 30 or more years ago and it's been kept in the family and among close friends. The person who killed the Bigfoot is probably 70 or over now and when he dies I'm betting the children who grew up with the head, hands and feet will figure out a way to profit from it. Or they are so used to it and don't want in their homes they will put it all in the yard sale. I've been in the wildlife business too long to be so naive to think that kind of thing never happens.

Another opinion of mine that got me into deep do do was this. With the economy so bad and some states suffering so it's going to occur to someone in state government somewhere, probably in the south. And I'm not slamming the south. I'm a fifth generation Florida Cracker but some southern states were poor to begin with now they have no money in the budgets. LETS HAVE A BIGFOOT HUNT! I don't know what the going price is today but to hunt Bighorn sheep it used to be a grand for the permit. Some states hold lotteries to hunt trophy animals and the hunter pays out and if he wasn't chosen in the lottery too bad. It was gamble in the first place. I read where some Congressman was caught killing a mountain lion in one state where it was legal then caught trying to bring into his home state where it's illegal. I honestly, truly, no joke, believe there are wealthy people out there who will pay a million dollars to hunt a Bigfoot and if he doesn't find one, oh well, it was a gamble. Can you imagine what 10 of this permits would do to help out a struggling economy?

[Guest]

so a another rare endangered creature disappears off the earth ?.....heres the worse example my friend......doing it for the money?

[Guest]

Well, if humans can hunt children in the streets of Brazil, I have no doubt that what you claim is possible.

http://www.economist.com/node/457178

[bipedalist]

.....Can you imagine what 10 of this permits would do to help out a struggling economy?

I let Branco do all the imagining along those thought lines ( somebody with a BF souvenir that is, lol). I will stick to hopes with the dna projects in progress thank you.

Edited November 25, 2012 by bipedalist

[Guest]

Time Travel, interesting post and perhaps possible..the hunt I mean. We have a TV show $10 million offer now....not sure if that allows for killing, it doesn't seem to be specific..maybe that's why. If the DNA studies ever come forth, a close relative to us might change that. I would hope.

[Spader]

Remember the Gilligan's Island episode where the Big Game Hunter Kincaid (isn't it pathetic I remember his name?) came to the island to hunt the one thing he had never hunted? A man. I am sure that some ridiculously rich person somewhere in the world has done it, why not a Bigfoot? By the way, I find the thought of it repugnant.

[Guest Cowlitz2]

Here is a claim of a body in a freezer in 2008:

http://voices.yahoo.com/bigfoot-killed-kept-frozen-police-officer-claims-1718477.html

I suppose it could have happened, however if so why didn't it make National News?

[Guest]

Plenty of shootings have happened within the hunting community. About half are not recovered as the Sasquatch is incredibly tough if not killed outright. Almost everyone who stands over a dead one comes to the realization that it seems more man than animal. The same type of person willing to pull the trigger on a biped is the same type of person who would abandon a kill to avoid any personal problems.

[clubbedfoot]

Reply to some states issuing BF permits to hunters....

Disregarding the monumental ethical/moral problems (let alone possible legal ramifications )of hunting what could be man's closest living relative.....State game agencies would never open themselves up to fraud charges for selling permits to hunt a heretofore non-recognized cryptid..(I don't think this needs any explanation)..

And in the off chance that one was bagged you could bet your bottom dollar that the state would come in and claim the quarry---which sort of defeats the idea of issuing a permit since the owner of the permit is the rightful property owner of the bagged quarry.....

These issues keep one from even getting to the merits of your economic argument. But here goes.....Permit money goes into the state wildlife agencies....perhaps more game officials could be hired or the current officials would get a pay raise...

Edited November 25, 2012 by clubbedfoot

[norseman]

I'm all for it........to achieve science's possession of a type specimen. After that then I'm not.

As for the cobwebbed old bigfoot mount in the attic? It's possible........but not probable. Somebody would have talked.

Edited November 25, 2012 by norseman

[Guest Time Traveler]

There has been a body in a freezer on the news. Coincidentally about two years ago. Everyone and their brother called to tell me. I knew it was a fake because the entrails laid across it's body were too small for an animal that large. The hoaxers, two men, later admitted the guts were from possum road kill.

I can only speak for Florida. FWC is a state agency, the state can and does regulate what they do and don't do.

The Wildlife Management Areas are state land. The FWC has a governing board who is selected by the Governor of the State of Florida. I'm sure a Governor would see to it the state got the money.

Bush meat in other countries include primates, Chimps, Gorillas, every kind of monkey. Some people have no compulsion about eating an animal that looks like them. Some South American tribes kill the mom to eat and raise the baby to eat at a later date. Now that's eating folks you know and look like you but it doesn't phase them.

Many species have been driven to extinction by the taking of the particular animal for study. Ivorybill woodpecker comes to mind. There are universities in this country who have a thousand skins or more in their collections. At the end of the day it's going to take a body. Having seen two I believe it's an animal, who looks as much like us any primate does, and is still in the process of evolving.

[norseman]

There has been a body in a freezer on the news. Coincidentally about two years ago. Everyone and their brother called to tell me. I knew it was a fake because the entrails laid across it's body were too small for an animal that large. The hoaxers, two men, later admitted the guts were from possum road kill.

I can only speak for Florida. FWC is a state agency, the state can and does regulate what they do and don't do.

The Wildlife Management Areas are state land. The FWC has a governing board who is selected by the Governor of the State of Florida. I'm sure a Governor would see to it the state got the money.

Bush meat in other countries include primates, Chimps, Gorillas, every kind of monkey. Some people have no compulsion about eating an animal that looks like them. Some South American tribes kill the mom to eat and raise the baby to eat at a later date. Now that's eating folks you know and look like you but it doesn't phase them.

Many species have been driven to extinction by the taking of the particular animal for study. Ivorybill woodpecker comes to mind. There are universities in this country who have a thousand skins or more in their collections. At the end of the day it's going to take a body. Having seen two I believe it's an animal, who looks as much like us any primate does, and is still in the process of evolving.

Time for a reality check...........

Eating primates may be apart of MANY cultures in the world........but it's not an American trait. If there was? The South American monkey black market meat would be more profitable than cocaine. So we do not have to worry to much about Bubba and his buddies getting help from states to legally shoot Sasquatch so they can hold a mother of all BBQ's with kinfolk. Besides if they were deer hunting and they saw Bigfoot they would be shooting anyhow......so the reality of the situation is that with ONE body we could have protection for these animals.

Secondly.........do you really believe that if we shot and killed a bipedal north American ape.......that science would continue killing them in the THOUSANDS to study them? Really? I don't.

[Guest Time Traveler]

I used the bush meat trade as an example of how different people can be. Some would condone killing anything while some wouldn't. As an example of how research can spiral out of control is the Ivorybill woodpecker. Could use the Whooping crane or even the American Bison for that matter. Hopefully in the 21st century every scientist on the Planet won't need to have his/her own specimen. Look at the DNA researchers fighting over every cell and hair, who has what, who found what, who tells first. Even the common layperson has something to say about DNA now a days.

I hate to burst your bubble but America is the melting pot of the world. There are people living here who have eaten primates and any other animal you care to mention. In fact poaching animals world wide to be eaten is on the rise. A huge market is out there even if you don't believe it. Large hunt clubs have annual dinners for members. Some wealthy private home owners host dinners for friends of flamingo, lion, tiger, things we know are endangered but it adds to the festivities for those who enjoy it. A trend in the Vampire phenomenon has brought about interest in eating like the royals of Europe hundreds of years ago. I find it disgusting to eat swan cignets, puppies and unborn fawns but that's just me and I don't eat meat any way and I live in the 21st century where I hope things will be all rosey and bright. We don't know if there are thousands of the apes in America, Population of anything was counted by the number of skins in the early 19th century. Now it can be done by plane as in herd animals. By grid for flying birds. It should be imperative now to formulate controls, protection and welfare of these creatures. Have you ever mentioned it to a politician? They don't care and want no part of it. I often wonder if it will turn out like saving the Redwood trees in CA in the '70's. A giant push pull between the people who will protect them and those who will cut them down. I hope the apes win but it begets a whole new, more serious problem, if they are left alone after discovery.

[Guest]

I used to think I would pull the trigger given the opportunity, but my thinking these days as I still hunt deer and elk every year is the possible consequences that come with pulling the trigger. If I kill one, will I have to defend myself by killing two or more and is that chance worth it if there are others in the area?

How many death threats and how much harrassment will I endure the rest of my life for killing one? Will it outweigh the possble gain?

There's a lot to think about...

[Ike]

Time for a reality check...........

Eating primates may be apart of MANY cultures in the world........but it's not an American trait. If there was? The South American monkey black market meat would be more profitable than cocaine. So we do not have to worry to much about Bubba and his buddies getting help from states to legally shoot Sasquatch so they can hold a mother of all BBQ's with kinfolk. Besides if they were deer hunting and they saw Bigfoot they would be shooting anyhow......so the reality of the situation is that with ONE body we could have protection for these animals.

Secondly.........do you really believe that if we shot and killed a bipedal north American ape.......that science would continue killing them in the THOUSANDS to study them? Really? I don't.

I'm with Norsemen on this...This isn't the 19th Century and people aren't going to be hanging out the windows of trains trying to wipe out the bigfoot population should it be confirmed as a species. I view that belief as a bunch of chicken little extremism. Will a few get bagged? Possibly. However, I doubt that they will be harvested in any larger quantities than they have been already. If they exist, do you not believe that at some time, some place, that some hunter hasn't already shot one? To take it a step further, what makes you think that some Daddy Warbucks out there hasn't already served Squatch on the Half Shell to his guests? We as a society, even amongst the most, shall we say, crude, level have largely evolved considerably from the era of when killing animals just for the fun of it was the norm. Quite frankly, wishing and hoping or even hiding evidence to keep the species "unknown" isn't going to stop those who will want to kill one for fun, or eat one for $10,000/plate from happening.