Food Containers Disappearing And Need Help With Getting Tracks To Find Out What Is Taking It!

[Incorrigible1]

Yeah, or? Does bigfoot have no Achilles heel? Is Patty the only bigfoot to ever make a mistake? How do you know these things, with such apparent confidence, Sasfooty?

 

Oh, I know. You've received telepathic confirmation. Well, I surely cannot counter that. You hold the ever trump card, there, my friend.

[Sasfooty]

Are you basing your belief of squatch being careful where they step based on the skookum cast? Or?

 

No, I don't know enough about the Skookum cast to base any beliefs on it.

 

I base my belief on the fact that they've been running around all over the place here for ten years that I know of, & I've found tracks a total of about 4 or 5 times.

 

I've seen way more BFs than tracks.

Edited January 12, 2015 by Sasfooty

[JKH]

Great thread, and thanks to all for the reminders about attitudes.

[Branco]

Xion Comrade: You will likely obtain some interesting results if you spray antifreeze on the forest duff surrounding your containers and look at the area at night (after the containers are taken by the critter) using a relatively cheap black-light (UV) flashlight. You should be able to see the tracks of the "thief" walking away from the site. You could use laundry detergent, it's cheaper. (The lights are also good for following blood trails and detecting urine.) 

[OKBFFan]

Maybe I am a little dense, or basically unfamiliar with hunting techniques (is that what you're doing? Hunting?) but what is the objective when putting apples out with peanut butter in Tupperware containers? What is the reason for doing this? What is the expected outcome? Why are you surprised and dismayed when your containers go missing?

[Xion Comrade]

A game cam would at least tell you if it is bear, racoon etc. If put in the open, and stuff is never taken for a few months, (animal proof containers) then you take game cam away, and it starts disappearing, you might conclude its the big fellows.

 

It would atleast throw some points in that direction for sure, be a months long observation but would be interesting to see the results. Probably going to skip a trail cam and invest in a good audio/video recorder(Just got a basic Galaxy note 3 right now, need much better audio recorder) and physically do the filming myself, somehow I get the feeling that would be much better received and would be far less invasive. Be a while before I can afford that kind of equipment though, doesn't bother me much however because a face to face sighting has always been the goal.

 

 

We use flour with bear baits.

 

Pretty good idea really, 2 birds with one stone! Get prints and attract the critters at the same time.

 

Maybe I am a little dense, or basically unfamiliar with hunting techniques (is that what you're doing? Hunting?) but what is the objective when putting apples out with peanut butter in Tupperware containers? What is the reason for doing this? What is the expected outcome? Why are you surprised and dismayed when your containers go missing?

 

There is no and will never be any hunting from me, nor will I ever condone it, not of a bigfoot. The real objective  of putting toys and food out is simply to give it to whatever wants it be it bear, bigfoot, deer, or raccoon. I observe and report after that. No matter what eats the food/runs off with the containers I get information and new ideas! I didn't always put food in bowls at first(Maybe half of the food I left out was in a bowl) but I eventually discovered that bowls would vanish and figure something must like them alot(First bowl I ever left vanished and was in a very hard air sealed plastic container, not a trace of it was left), so now I make a point to always put the food in them, and as a added plus it keeps the food from being destroyed by rain and keeps it sanitary as well...I don't think deer carry them off and I certainly don't believe bears eat up to a pound of plastic in one sitting, these things are being carried off for long distances, it will be pretty awesome if I ever do find them and I am always looking for a piece of one when I am in the woods now.

[norseman]

Xion,

Sorry I should have clarified, no the flour attracts nothing that I was aware of. The bait would consist of a barrel of dog food with bulk maple syrup poured into it. A paw sized hole was cut into the barrel and the barrel was chained to a tree.

Sacks of flour would be spread around the bait completely out 15 feet or so.

Lastly we would burn some sort of sweet incense to speed up discovery.

[Xion Comrade]

Xion,

Sorry I should have clarified, no the flour attracts nothing that I was aware of. The bait would consist of a barrel of dog food with bulk maple syrup poured into it. A paw sized hole was cut into the barrel and the barrel was chained to a tree.

Sacks of flour would be spread around the bait completely out 15 feet or so.

Lastly we would burn some sort of sweet incense to speed up discovery.

 

Thanks for the details! Would be a good way to get a look at the bears in the area, which imo is a pretty important set of details when trying to figure out the bigfoot in the area(If they are). I would figure a area capable of raising big healthy bears would be good for bigfoot just the same(Wouldn't imagine black bears would be able to compete with bigfoot by any means), or a area that should be able to provide for a healthy bear population that doesn't seem to have one at all would raise suspicions of bigfoot in the area as well.

[Guest]

Maybe try wiring either the lid or the base around a tree or branch. I drilled holes in the lid of a peanut butter jar, wired it to a branch, and then screwed the jar onto the secured lid.

A fortnight later when I went back to check it it looked untouched until I noticed some scuffs on the label - I unscrewed it and found a chunck of pb had been scooped out and the jar put back in place. The scoop was finger shaped rather than stick shaped and I couldn't find it wiped off anywhere nearby, so unless a hiker decided to taste some random pb they found in the bush then I may have had a hairy visitor.

Tl;dr - try securing part of the container and see if that affects the uptake?

[Cotter]

Some good advice in here.

 

I would suggest as well to set up a separate area to do many of these tests (especially the flour).  If you have regular activity in an area don't mess it up! 

 

If you pick a different location, try the flour, try the camera - it wouldn't affect the 'regular' spot, y'know?

You may be suprised as to what is hauling off your containers.

 

Animals like raccoons or coyotes could be hauling em off.  Taking em back to their dens.  You would be hard pressed to find them if they were buried under ground or under brush piles/in dead trees.

Also, don't forget to look up!  You might find some in the trees!

 

Also, crows could fly away with containers as well.  (just tossing that out there).

 

Good luck!

[Woodslore]

Could it be a homeless person? I am being serious about this.

[Cotter]

A camera could sort that out.

 

But an interesting thought, definitely.

[Guest]

Large scavenger birds such as but not limited to turkey vultures and eagles will eat about anything if they’re hungry enough and big enough to carry away many times their weight.

[Cotter]

^Agreed.

I had a crow(s) keep stealing oranges from a bait pile I had.  Apples too!   Those buggers can and will steal just about anything! 

[Woodslore]

Seen crows take squirrels and fly with them,. Be they dead or alive seen them do it. Had them take squirrels I just killed for lunch. so a Glad tin shouldn't be a problem for them. 

Edited January 12, 2015 by Woodslore