The Odor..

[Guest Serohs]

The only smell I ever associated with a possible squatch that I mentioned in my new member thread was distinct. It was very familiar to a wet dog smell, but yet different as well. Very musty. It was very strong, and yet not to long afterwards when returning back down the trail it was gone.

[Guest]

I think the anal gland explanation is the most reasonable. If they stunk 24/7, they'd have a really hard time hunting.

[Guest JiggyPotamus]

I've always thought this idea was plausible, mainly because there is a precedent with other primates, like the gorilla. The idea of the sasquatch getting sprayed by a skunk has also been toyed with, to the point of some believing that the sasquatch utilize the skunk for the express purpose of scenting themselves. I think it is probable that sasquatch do eat skunks, and this has popped up in the sighting record as well, therefore I cannot dismiss the idea of them getting sprayed. This smell would linger for some time. The fact that not all sasquatch have this putrid odor does not really tell us anything at all. Or it does not help us reach a conclusion about how or why they smell this way sometimes. I think the smart money is on the idea you mention. The idea itself has been in the mix for years, and like I said, the precedent has been set in other primates, so it is not something that is out of the realm of possibility.

[Cotter]

Just to add a comment, and hopefully not to get the thread too OT, but I was speaking with an old rattlesnake hunter from the area.

 

He said that rattlesnake dens are the worst smelling places on earth, he describes them as a musty decaying cow smell.

 

Since he's said that, I've often wondered if some of the folks that have smelled the odd/gross/gagging smell that folks often associate with BF in fact have come near snake dens.  With the wind involved, it could be that the stench is intermittent.

Now, of course that doesn't explain the smell with a sighting, or your camp being circled, but it may explain some of it.

 

For what that's all worth.

[Guest]

do they get smelly at a certain time of the year? .... perhaps they get stinky when they're lookin' for love.

[Guest ewashguy56]

I wonder, has anyone ever caught one cleaning itself in a river or a lake?

[Guest Druid]

There is a video or two on youtube crypto4corners ch. concerning a BF breaking an irrigation pipe to get a skunk. I cant really get behind the using a skunk for perfume (lack of a better term..)

On another smelly note: after reading the great responses. We may have "layered odors" baseline body odor and all the things that can influence that, I sincerely doubt a BF would finish a deer kill in one sitting, so after a day or two the meal is going to get stinky, along with whatever it got on

itself while eating, napkins and bibs are prolly not standard issue.. then the active scent making (anal glands).

[hiflier]

Hello All,

 

I know at times I get stinky.........Oh.......Wait a minute...........That's stinkoed. Big difference.

Edited June 26, 2013 by hiflier

[Guest]

Druid, I also think of JC's video, and compare to my site...in that the skunk population went down from..obnoxious -- at the fire before I retired, licking grease, to not a sign by the fourth year...! However, there were other possible contributing factors, from a bad series of winter storms, to a fire, and subsequent flash floods...so I can't rely on that and yet.....when I did smell what I thought were BFs..it generally was a combination of rotting fish/flesh and skunk....  perhaps those skunk glands do a good job of fooling prey..... 

 

But,...odor was not always present, a low percentage of time actually, and those occasions there was a slight breeze.

On a few other occasions the odor was strong enough to wake me in the tent, and one time on awakening at 2 or 3 am  followed by the clear sounds of running.  But, another time I was awakened with one at my window, and there was no odor at all.  If you have ever smelled a rotting corpse,or fish, or even eggs, and also skunk you know how really strong and pungent the odor is...and a sense worth paying attention to out there...as anything actually rotting, or even a live skunk...can usually be located..

 

I do assume they are very aware of the odor themselves and use it, or hide it, depending on the need.

Edited June 26, 2013 by apehuman

[Guest DWA]

A "gagging fear odor" was reported by Fossey for mountain gorillas.

 

Even the "feeling of being watched" and the "feeling of overwhelming fear" (and the many ways both are expressed) might be nervous-system responses to an airborne molecule, say, a pheromone or some such. 

[Guest Druid]

Unfortunately I can speak to the familiarity with Skunks, even the lil turkeys that do handstands before blasting at you, Decomp in human and animal as well, both are distinct odors that  IMO are not easily mistaken for anything else. I find BF using skunks for scent mask unlikely, Tool

making/ using absolutely, using an animal for something other than food is an abstract concept (correct verbage?) I try not to lend too many "human" traits or characteristics to our largely unknown big friend.

Edited June 29, 2013 by chelefoot
Language

[hiflier]

Hello All,

 

Thought I bump this thread since Spring is upon us and the smells of nature are beginning to appear. I was looking at the posts that were describing a kind of skunky smell which I'd read back when this threa was active. Recently there's been some discussion of skunk cabbage patches leafing out now that we're in post-winter mode. In the discussion it was brought out that the roots are edible? Anyone have a take on that? My thinking is though not so much about skunk cabbage as a food source although it couild an early Spring candidate to hungry animals if it indeed is a food source. But really I was wondering if skunk cabbage discourages skin parasites like ticks, lice, (mosquitoes and biting flies?) and that perhaps Sasquatch rolls in the stuff or, depending on how much foraging is done, just gets varying amounts on it's body.

 

One would think only an animal with a high demand of daily caloric intake, and really hungry, would endure the odor. Either that or BF just eats it to thumb it's nose at the rest. Like saying, "Hey guys (BURRRP!) guess what I just ate". And too a skunk cabbage patch may not be something all BF's would want but for some it may be an only alternative to shedding a large tick infestation? OR........to smell FINE for the ladies. And too, maybe their noses just aren't that good or are different somehow so it doesn't really bother them all that much.

 

As usual, just lobbing in my two rocks.   

Edited May 6, 2014 by hiflier

[Trogluddite]

^^^^^^

Okay, first of all, you're not supposed to bump relevant threads, you're supposed to start entirely new threads that suggest that no one has considered this issue before.   

 

Interestingly, out of 548 encounter reports I've gone through, only 46 affirmatively mention that an odor was detected.  Sadly, I have not and will not attempt to further parse out what odors were smelt.  36 "smellings" were during a visual encounter; 10 were foul odors only. The majority (21) occurred in Pennsylvania, but I'm not jumping to any conclusions, just assuming that they were all encounters that occurred near Philadelphia....   Five "smellings" occurred in winter months, five in the spring, eleven in the summer, and fifteen in the fall.

 

FWIW...

[hiflier]

Hello Trogluddite,

 

Hey thanks there bud. Depending on who's looking and who needs what then information like that could prove valuable. And yeah, sorry about the bump just was lazy I guess. I thought I could set an example by location an older thread on the subject, READ it to see if it already included what I was thinking, and if not? Then add my stuff to it. I promise it'll never happen again

[hiflier]

Hello All,

Did some skunk cabbage research. It's an interesting plant. It does indeed smell like a skunk if damaged. It's not a common food source for mammals but bears have been known to eat the rhisomes and young leaves. And now for the curious part: It not only smells like skunk when injured it ALSO has been described as smelling like ROTTING MEAT. Does this description sound at all familiar? I've certainly read that witness say the odor they smell was similar to rotting meat. I find this interesting. So maybe Sasquatch doesn't produce odors from axillary or anal glands after all.

As far as an early spring food source goes, I read where Eastern Black Bears, when they wake up after winter, will eat this stuff. And depending on the amount of acorns laying around skunk cabbage can make up 50-95 percent of the bears diet when coming out of their hibernation. It grows around wet woodsy areas, ponds, along streams as well as in bogs. Seems to be the culprit if you ask me.

Edited May 7, 2014 by hiflier