Tree Manipulation/ Wood Structures: What Is The Evidence?

[Guest]

Until Coonbo & Bear showed me structures & bows first hand and helped me look over the scenes & figure out what I was looking at,  I never had a clue what they were or what to look for.  After they showed me some pretty amazing examples, I began keeping my eyes open for them, and low & behold I have now seen them in several states.  I equate it to when I was young, before I learned what a buck's scrape or rub looked like, what a acrape & rub line meant, and where to look for them, or how they played into the lives of the deer in the area. Much like booger sign, once you know what you are looking for you can find it in any state where the animal lives, and it tends to jump right out to my eye when I see it.  That was what really amazed me & cemented my belief that boogers make structures, when over the years I found near identical structures in areas associated with boogers in a number of states.

 

Of course, every scraped up tree isn't a 200" buck's rub, nor is every bent over tree is a bow made by a monkee, however when you look at Xs & in particular teepees closely, how they are woven together often defies an explanation provided by natural falls or growth in the area.   One of the first Xs Coonbo showed me was a big log that had been moved a good hundred yards or more from where from the impression in the ground, it had been laying, and jammed into the crotch of a live tree a good 12 feet or better (I would have to look at the pics to be sure exactly how high it was) up.  That really floored me as there simply was no natural way that log could have gotten where it was, and it seemed so much intentionally done to be very visible...

 

If by evidence one is looking for something completely unequivocal I'm unaware of any.  Let's face it, even if there were a multiple eye witness event with perfectly focused video to boot, that would not be considered unequivocal by many, not by a long shot. Like so much of this, each person has their own threshold of belief.   My outdoor/hunting experience combined with my LE experience &  training in investigations, combined with what I have learned at the side of real pros in this field like Coonbo, have given me the evidence adequate to satisfy me that I have seen & photographed structures made, for whatever reason known only to them at this point, by boogers...

[BC witness]

I tend to ignore most of the tree break stuff since there is just so much of it.  And just because I cannot tell how an event occurred does not mean it was not a natural/weather event.  Still, on my last trip I came into an area where a whole series of saplings (around 1/2 dozen), small ones and all about the same size, were broken over at the same height (about 5 feet up) pointing in the same direction.  Really stuck out.

 

This sounds like the kind of damage done by a Ski-doo traveling through the area when the snow is 5' deep, breaking over the tops at the snow level as it passes over them. One of my favorite hunting areas is heavily used by sledders, and I see that kind of damage often, at heights up to 15', as the snow gets that deep at that elevation in the Cascades.

[hiflier]

hello BC Witness,

Not being a sled hound myself I would have never thought of such a remarkable aspect as that. And it makes good logical sense. It would be worth observing sleds in season for those unfamiliar with the idea, like myself, and then take an excursion into the area for the before and after impression. Until then, point well taken.

Edited February 10, 2014 by hiflier

[Doc Holliday]

or in areas where the snow does not get that deep, another possible could be related to something like this  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derecho

 

a while back after a bad windstorm i had a row of 10-12 pines around 4- 5 inches in diameter snapped off about 6 ft up and all broke over in the same direction, as well as 2 much larger pines 250 yards up the same ridge.

 

i had to saw them down and drag it off  because they fell acrosss the atv trail that leads from the yard out into the rest of my land, which is all woods

 

......so either the wind got them, or ol' BF went nuts during the storm about 60 yds from my back door..... im guessing wind.

 

So, while that may not be the cause of all the interesting formations that are found, it could account for some. 

[Guest Cervelo]

What is the evidence?

I guess whatever your imagination wants it to be?

All day, everyday, anywhere in Va. I can find this stuff....sorry guys its all natural or manmade...

Edited February 11, 2014 by Cervelo

[Guest]

Must sleep at a Holiday Inn a lot, to be able to dismiss things others have seen first hand that you weren't at the scene to observe firsthand yourself.   This line of thought always me a bit of the a legal defense used back in the 1800s in murder cases, "can't have a murder with no body".... 

[Guest Cervelo]

^^^

LOL

I see what others attribute to Bigfoot everytime I go into the woods of Va.

We could stop on almost any road that has woods next to it and within 100' I could almost guarantee we would find something one could attribute to Bigfoot, so maybe Va is Bigfoot central?

It's just a matter of what one wants to believe and don't get me wrong it's fun to talk about and see the pics.....

Who knows maybe some of what people see is an unusual occurrence for their part of the world or they just haven't seen it before.

Dismissive? Absolutely! But it's based on what I have seen with my own eyes for decades in my part of the woods.....

[hiflier]

Hello Cervelo,

Lot of smilies sprinkled in there. Got a few m'self. And I'm with you here. If everything out there was Sasquatch then this Forum and others would be buried in woodsmen and hunters. I still think a notice put up on hunting Forums informing them of a place to air any experiences wouldn't be a bad thing to do. Anonymity has it's benefits (see? there's one now LOL)

Edited February 11, 2014 by hiflier

[WSA]

Glad to see this thread is getting some activity. This subject is probably the biggest area of interest for me. Yes, there are lots of alternative explanations, and I think we should eliminate as many of those as possible. There will still be doubts, even so. I think anyone who has spent an appreciable amount of time in the woods has seen lots of errant trees pushed over, jumbles of deadfall, "crossed trees", etc.  I never once gave them a second thought, but I now keep an eye open for those and try to inspect them as closely as possible.  It is all about looking with different eyes, and seeing what you see. I've seen some photos that really make me go, "Hmmmm..." 

[JKH]

^Yup, seeing what shouldn't be there.

 

Thanks, NDT. Interesting comment about it the wood stuff being deliberately visible.

 

As WSA noted above, context is everything. Speaking for myself only, I'm not just randomly going into the woods, the location was carefully chosen. Certainly out in the forest one can see piles and snags and every kind of wood formation possible. I'd almost never point at something and say "a squatch did that". However, in the last year or so I've been able to observe a few interesting changes over time by going to the same location.

 

Cervelo, in the "share a picture" thread you wrote that stuff from the manmade wood piles was being scattered around and added. Does that sound like possible known animal foraging behavior? Is it an area of reports? I've observed something similar.

[Cotter]

Just thought I'd share an interesting 'structure' I came across with a pal in the PNW.  Just a short jaunt from his BF sighting.

 

 

Edited February 12, 2014 by Cotter

[Guest Cervelo]

^Yup, seeing what shouldn't be there.

Thanks, NDT. Interesting comment about it the wood stuff being deliberately visible.

As WSA noted above, context is everything. Speaking for myself only, I'm not just randomly going into the woods, the location was carefully chosen. Certainly out in the forest one can see piles and snags and every kind of wood formation possible. I'd almost never point at something and say "a squatch did that". However, in the last year or so I've been able to observe a few interesting changes over time by going to the same location.

Cervelo, in the "share a picture" thread you wrote that stuff from the manmade wood piles was being scattered around and added. Does that sound like possible known animal foraging behavior? Is it an area of reports? I've observed something similar.

Here's the best pic I've got of it....

It was very odd looking, stuff removed and scattered about and the immediate area was padded down.

Didn't seem to be the intent to tear it down, it would have been simple enough to do.

The pile is very old IMO but some stuff seems to have been added.

The more I checked it out the stranger it seemed and as silly as it sounds I didn't like being around it.

This is the backside it seems to have been opened up nothing inside but didn't do any digging...

Edited February 13, 2014 by Cervelo

[hiflier]

Hello Cervelo,

Now THAT'S what I call a midden! LOL. Seriously though are the pieces laying the left side of the pile burned?

[Guest Cervelo]

No sign of burning....I've had a few other people look at it and was told the black coloring is an indication of it's age.

One person suggested it could be 50 plus years old.

Here's an up close of the "opening"

Edited February 13, 2014 by Cervelo

[hiflier]

Hello Cervelo,

Good job on the picks- nice follow through. A couple of things come to mind. One is it would probably make just about anyone uncomfortable. Two, if it's as old as estimated then it could have been set up as a burn pile for a cleared field with the last add-on never lit.. It does look as though some surrounding trees could be 50 years old and less. And three, the area being "patted down"? Bears digging into it for termites, grubs and other tasties might be the culprit who opened it up. Just thinking out loud here on stuff that probably crossed your mind as well. Last question, how tall is it ya think.

Edited February 13, 2014 by hiflier