First Reaction

[Guest]

They never harm humans? ok fine. Heres a thought, elephants for the most part

stand around vacumming up peanuts and remembering things, however pull your

shot and they turn you into a pink goo filled skin bag.

They may be harmless until they are harmed. you know?

credit to Peter Capstick for the elephant reference

dav

[Guest]

the majority of reports seem to report an animal that is very afraid of humans and avoids them at all costs.

Again, my point, that a dead hiker isn't going to report he was killed by a bigfoot. The times bigfoot is not afraid of humans and avoiding them at all costs are the times you wouldn't hear about it at all.

I know it seems silly to say not be afraid of a huge primate, but maybe that is part of the reason we are not getting any good photographs or videos. If people are bolting at the site of a bf we are not going to get much evidence except out of breathe witness reports, and they have not done much good so far. Maybe getting the message out to not be afraid we would get some decent photos.

Maybe getting the message out to not be afraid would lead to dead hikers with images on their cameras of what looks similar to a bear and inconclusive.

I'm really only saying this to argue, not because I believe it'd actually ever happen. I don't know what bigfoot eats because I don't know if there is a bigfoot. I do know that I get in fights with more primates than any other animal. I also know that primates kill their young, eat other primates and act pretty aggressive and dangerously in many cases. If I were in the woods by myself and there was a primate that was two, three, four times larger/heavier than me I wouldn't immediately be singing kumbaya thinking I found a long lost primate relative and we were going to make nice. It's all a hypothetical, rhetorical argument though. If it were a real occurence though, I don't see any reason not to shoot one.

ETA: unlike sonny, I worry about it every night before going to sleep. If it weren't the waking up screaming from terrifying nightmares of bigfoot ripping off my arms and beating me to death, I might not even know I was alive.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Ace

[Guest]

Brilliant Ace!

inserting the thumbs up emoticon for the nightmare reference.

dav

[Guest]

Again, my point, that a dead hiker isn't going to report he was killed by a bigfoot. The times bigfoot is not afraid of humans and avoiding them at all costs are the times you wouldn't hear about it at all.

Maybe getting the message out to not be afraid would lead to dead hikers with images on their cameras of what looks similar to a bear and inconclusive.

I'm really only saying this to argue, not because I believe it'd actually ever happen. I don't know what bigfoot eats because I don't know if there is a bigfoot. I do know that I get in fights with more primates than any other animal. I also know that primates kill their young, eat other primates and act pretty aggressive and dangerously in many cases. If I were in the woods by myself and there was a primate that was two, three, four times larger/heavier than me I wouldn't immediately be singing kumbaya thinking I found a long lost primate relative and we were going to make nice. It's all a hypothetical, rhetorical argument though. If it were a real occurence though, I don't see any reason not to shoot one.

ETA: unlike sonny, I worry about it every night before going to sleep. If it weren't the waking up screaming from terrifying nightmares of bigfoot ripping off my arms and beating me to death, I might not even know I was alive.

I quote the words of Fat ******* in Austin Powers: "I'm bigger 'n you are I'm higher in the food chain! Get. In. Mah. Belly...."

If I see something that isn't supposed to exist and is many times bigger than I am, I'm either going to break the olympic running record or I'm going to bring down some massive firepower, then reload and hope I can make it out alive.

If its bigger than me, I am afraid of what it could do. Take Moose as an example. They are mostly docile and leave as soon as they notice you (or ignore you.. Durrr Ima moose derp). But sometimes (like during the rut) you could get attacked. Ask my grandfather he got put up a tree by a big bull for 3 hours one fall.

[Guest]

why do some of you say you would run? as far as the reports of bf's go, they absolutly do no harm to humans. There is no rational reason to be afraid. It doesnt make sense.

That is not entirely true. My father did not have a pleasant experience with one as a child . Based on that, I am very wary. And as others pointed out, would you ever know if Bigfoot killed a hiker? They would probably attribute it to a bear or cougar. Try looking up the stats for animal attack related deaths where there are numerous bigfoot sightings and see what you find. There are also a lot of missing persons reports in those areas also, or so I noticed, when I did a cursory look at stats state by state.

[Guest Yeti1974]

the majority of reports seem to report an animal that is very afraid of humans and avoids them at all costs. I know it seems silly to say not be afraid of a huge primate, but maybe that is part of the reason we are not getting any good photographs or videos. If people are bolting at the site of a bf we are not going to get much evidence except out of breathe witness reports, and they have not done much good so far. Maybe getting the message out to not be afraid we would get some decent photos.

THANK...YOU...

[Guest]

Humans are (generally) pleaseant to be around (at least around here.) So you should be friendly and unafraid of all of them? Go for a stroll in Falujah. Sometimes you're just in the "wrong part of town." Or how about the one time you talk to the nice man on the subway. Skip ahead 10 years to where some horrified cops find your body stuffed under the floor boards with about 20 other folks who thought the fella on the subway was nice. Even if 99.99% of Sasquatch were friendly, I wouldn't want to be the one that ran into the .01% and assumed he was just as cool as what everyone reports seeing. For that matter who says they would even find the body of someone a Sasquatch took sinister interest in? There are plenty of hikers that are still missing. Just saying...

Edited September 17, 2010 by Colossus

[Guest nycBig]

if a bf tried to kill a hiker or hunter we would have had near misses that were reported.

Also, getting the word out that they dont harm humans will help protect them if and when they are ever discovered. The public will less likely panic and want them killed or put in a zoo.

[Guest]

Cougars kill folks all the time. We don't go out in big raids to wipe them out. Sure, the problem animal is put down, but nothing more.

So clearly a serial killer couldn't get away with murder more than once, right? I mean, there would be near misses and he would be reported and such...

Let me paint a picture for you:

Your a hiker, 5 miles from your vehicle and further from civilization. No weapon, you're a hiker for God's sake. Suddenly a sasquatch crashes out from some brush and you manage to dodge and run like the blazes. Now, your running, in decent shape but no marathon runner. You have to get 5 miles to your car across terrain less forgiving than the side walk. Lets say you had to run off the trail to get away. You get turned around. Now you're in even more trouble then you were. Could you make the 5 miles without the sasquatch just running you down? Thats just looking at speed. Now factor in strength, probably superior senses, knowing the area, and being more comfortable traversing the terrain. Akin to running from the killer in a horror movie in heels compared to a nice running shoe, if you will. You would be in heels, the squatch in running shoes. Now even the morphology of such a creature would really put him at an advantage. Random twigs, branches, sticker bushes and the such likely won't get past his hair/fur to injure his skin. Your all pink and mushy, those things hurt and slow you down. If it wants you, its going to take you.

Man, now I kind of want to write a short story about this scenario. The only problem is that I tire of seeing bigfoot portrayed in popular media as a monster and I'd hate to add to it...

Anyhow, my point is I don't think there would be close calls.

[Guest]

Bigfoot has been described as the apex predator, the top of the food chain if you will. Why would there ever be near misses. Yeah, if bigfoot lived in the subway system or something along those lines and it's main food source was human beings I would think there would be near misses and reports. Single individuals on a hiking trail, when human beings aren't the main food source (meaning they don't have to kill any/many human beings to survive, so a hiker a year or every few years) I can't imagine there would need to be a near miss. When I'm in the woods, I'm almost always alone. Almost always a significant distance from my vehicle and my vehicle is miles from the nearest paved road. Hell, I could die from a broken ankle in the woods and never be found. If something wanted to tear me into pieces, eat a portion of my body and throw the rest in the bushes I might never be found.

Another thing to consider is some of the reports you do read about. Dr. Johnson and his family near the Oregon Caves. Maybe that was a near miss. Maybe there are a number of reports that were made, sightings, vocalizations, etc. that if the hiker had spent 30 more minutes getting deeper into the woods they'd never have been seen again. Maybe when there is a sighting the person is lucky they went home and reported it because another hour on the trail they'd have been unable to go home and report it. Maybe the reports we read (at least a portion of them) are those that were lucky enough to make a report and didn't know how lucky they are to still be alive.

How many wild animals are there that are docile enough and predictable enough that you could go out in the woods and walk right up to them and pet them. Or, is it much more prudent to treat all "wild" animals as unpredictable and possibly dangerous? Why would the largest living primate be so different? Why would it act in a reasonable or predictable manner when other animals in the woods do not? When is their mating season (as an example) and do they get agressive toward perceived threats or toward other primates during this time? What animals are not agressive during this period, and would you feel comfortable knowing when bigfoot is not "rutting"?

[Guest nycBig]

I think either they are afraid of humans and avoid us at all costs or they prey on us. I dont think you can have it both ways.

[Guest]

I think you can. You can have humans both ways. Heck, some dogs run and hide when the door bell rings and others are attack animals that would likely consume portions of a person.

[Guest]

I would pay money to prey on a grizzly, but I'm afraid of them in certain situations. I'm also afraid of mountain lions in certain situations, but hunt them. I'm even afraid of black widow spiders sometimes, especially when surprised by one crawling on my clothes, but I don't hesitate to kill them. I was preying on some black widow spiders just a few days ago with a huge container of bug spray. I got two of them by the way, but they were small so I didn't have them mounted.

My point about the black widows which I don't think was clear is that if you are afraid of something, in some cases you might be more likely to want it dead or to kill it. If bigfoot has an innate fear of human beings it probably doesn't matter if it's hungry or if it eats people. It might want to kill it just out of fear.

Edited September 17, 2010 by Ace

[Guest]

Not knowing anything about them for sure, I would be cautious. That "walk the other way" habit bigfoot has when sighted is probably his survival instinct kicking in because he doesn't know if we are dangerous or not. You know what they say, "Run, run, run away, live to fight another day." Most anything out in the wild will avoid confrontation unless it is forced on them. If he felt cornered by a human I bet he would tear you up in a heartbeat. The thing of it is, you don't know what might set him off or what he might perceive as threatening. I don't think it is wise to assume they are harmless.

[Guest Yeti1974]

No one is suggesting running after one and jumping on its back. Simply stop with this "Big scary monster will kill me, MOMMY!" attitude that many here seem to have. Doing away with that and adopting a more rational, just-another-animal-in-the-wild sentiment might lead to more convincing evidence of this thing's existence.