Bf "escorting" People Out Of An Area

[gigantor]

I've read many instances where Bf follows or "escorts" people out of an area.

 

They follow closely but remain just out of sight and make their presence known by crashing thru brush, etc.

 

Why do they do that?  is that a sign of aggression? and if so, is it wise to go back again into the area?

Edited March 26, 2015 by gigantor

[WV FOOTER]

Any sign of aggression would include a positive visual sighting, IMO.  Tree shaking, loud vocalizations, and rock throwing would be signs of an aggressive squatch.

[Guest]

I'd assume it to be a simpler alternative to aggression- for both parties involved! You know, I've read both Native American stories and modern-day reports that have both mentioned putting a rock at a certain point in the woods to remind the person not to go any further at night; if they do, they'll get growled at and so on. So perhaps it's best not to return? On the other hand, I find it more likely that Sasquatch would wander a lot, and going back might be useful to see if there's any evidence to collect in the area.

[Guest ChasingRabbits]

I've read many instances where Bf follows or "escorts" people out of an area.

 

They follow closely but remain just out of sight and make their presence known by crashing thru brush, etc.

 

Why do they do that?  is that a sign of aggression? and if so, is it wise to go back again into the area?

 

In some isolated human communities, "strangers" are watched and monitored while they are in the village/town and until they leave the village/town limits. I suppose you can call it "aggression" because it's a defensive behavior.

 

Would I go back? Probably not in the same manner with which I arrived the first time, because they would view my return as an aggressive behavior.

 

If you do return, you would have to do it the way Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, etc. have done it: show up at the "border" daily and be very obvious that you have no intentions to harm them and slowly make your way deeper into their territory as they allow you to go.

Edited March 26, 2015 by ChasingRabbits

[BobbyO]

You got yourself some action G ?

[gigantor]

nah, just wondering...

[norseman]

One time I took my wife Xmas tree hunting (the same activity that lead me to my trackway as a kid). We made a big circle and when we got back to the pickup with the tree? We had cougar tracks in our own.

I have little doubt as to why the cougar was following us in winter, why it didn't pull the trigger I will never know.

[MIB]

I guess it depends on how you define aggression.   IMHO no inherently defensive act is aggressive and, since "escorting" appears to be a bluffing behavior meant to cause humans to leave a location without actual conflict (combat), it is inherently defensive no matter how terrifying it may seem in the moment.   Aggression, at least to me, implies offense ... attack, no BS, no bluff, attack with intent to harm or kill.  Some people do not distinguish between threat of aggression and aggression itself.  I do.

 

I've been escorted out of 3 places I can think of, one quite a few times.   Eventually I got fed up with it and went back to confront the escorting and escalate if needed.   Exactly nothing happened.  Nor have there been any repeats there or anywhere else since.  (THAT has interesting implications about communication.)   There have been clear messages they're present, but those are directed for me, not at me, in other words, they're not even defensive in nature.  

 

There's truce on my mountain now, live or let live, and that's all I ever really wanted.

 

MIB

[1980squatch]

It is a most fascinating behavior.  Just the bare minimum required to get folks out of an area, and the vast majority not even think BF, will just get scared and creeped out and leave.  Getting a clear visual of a BF seems to be nearly exclusively an accidental event, they seem almost never to do so on purpose.

 

I suspect such events are more protecting some particular situation (great food source at the moment, family group nearby, resting spot, etc) than a fixed territory.  If these things were regularly hung up on protecting a fixed position over an extended time, they would not be unclassified. 

[Guest mariner]

Put yourself in the Bigfoot's situation. There is some strangers wandering around their property up to no good ! What would you expect them to do? A lot of the larger wild animals give some warning of their presence. It isn't unreasonable that Bigfoot do the same. I don't consider a warning as being aggressive, more an important reminder that we are trespassing in their backyard ! 

Let's face it, how would most humans react to several strangers walking through their property uninvited !

Just my thoughts.

[Guest sixxgunner]

Thanks for this post. This is very interesting to me. I will be following this post as it progresses.

[Terry]

So they can only do this during the summer and early fall during leaf out?  I wouldn't think they could do this when the leaves are off the trees or else you could see them?

 

t.

[norseman]

Not all states have many leaves to lose.....

[Terry]

^

No, but of course many do.  

 

t.

[Guest JiggyPotamus]

We know that sasquatch tend to vacate most areas when a human shows up, as the sighting record and video evidence indicates. I would say that they leave more than they hang around when they are aware of a human presence. So we must ask ourselves how this behavior of "escorting" fits with the more common behavior of fleeing. Why the difference? I hypothesize that this discrepancy is explained by the importance placed on the area by an individual sasquatch or family group. There are a number of potential scenarios where an area would be deemed important by one of these animals, the most common likely being the presence of a family unit. A male sasquatch, or a female sasquatch with a child, would likely feel more inclined to behave in a territorial manner, and thus will show some aggression in attempting to get the humans to leave. I also think that "escorting" is an identical behavior to displays such as tree shaking, rock throwing, and vocalizing, and that the only reason these other tactics are used is due to the personal preference of a particular sasquatch and the way they have assessed the threat. It is likely that the more aggressive the behavior the more threatened that particular sasquatch feels, or the more they feel the need to protect something.

 

This begs the question however of why the entire family would not flee. This could be due to there being some distance between the individual family members, which would make a coordinate effort difficult or impossible. Or perhaps they do flee, but one family member is just holding up the humans. Not very likely though. But it could also be because it is not the family that is being protected, but actually the area itself. Perhaps there is something there, such as food, that the animals have not finished with. Perhaps they do not wish to come back later, as they are hungry now. If sasquatch held any religious or cultural beliefs then of course protection of an area could be due to that area's abstract importance for the animals. Then of course there are less involved explanations that are possible, such as some sasquatch just being more aggressive in general. However, if there truly was a large variation among the aggression of the sasquatch population then surely there would be more attacks on humans, given that this would be necessary to truly conclude there was a large variation in behavior. Or to put it another way, there is not much difference, aggression-wise, in vocalizing, tree shaking, stomping, escorting, etc., thus true variation would need to have a bit more divergence in the actions of various sasquatch. Attacking a person is a divergence, while the more mundane differences are not varying very much. That is just my opinion and not really a concrete belief, and may be wrong or may be right, or somewhere in between.

 

It is just difficult to wrap my head around why an animal that could easily flee into the protection of the forest would make it a point to ensure that a human is gone before leaving that human alone. The most logical explanations I could come up with are those I've listed above. If I am right, as I have said in the past, then the researcher might have hit on a very good area for further study. Of course it is not really "wise" to go back there, when an 800 pound animal does not want you there, but given the lack of aggression leading to violence it is a chance that is probably worth taking, given the potential benefits. This is something everyone would have to analyze and decide for themselves however. If one only wishes to have a sighting, going where the sasquatch are located is a must. If they truly are protecting an area, and the importance of this area will not change, then the odds are really good of having an experience. If on the other hand the behavior of the bigfoot is due to protecting its family, or if the area was only of temporary importance, then the animals are not likely to be there very often. In the past I have heard the idea that sasquatch have temporary "home bases" where they will spend a considerable amount of time, and this is also a reason that they might want to protect the area.

 

Their decision to protect an area and go even further by making sure a human gets very far away could be due to the fact that the animals know whether they are going to stay there for a while. If the animal knows that it is going to sleep in a particular area later, and has made a decision to stay there, perhaps it does not want to go through the trouble of finding another spot. This is all just guesswork though. If they are protecting a particular area then I wonder how large of a perimeter the area has? If sasquatch truly gathered in larger groups at times, then perhaps they could actually use "guards." Standing suggested as much, but of course anything he says should be taken with a lot of salt. Like the amount of salt present at a desalinization plant. In conclusion, the only potential benefit we can take away from this particular sasquatch behavior is that if a sasquatch is willing to protect a certain area then a researcher should continually visit that particular location, having any recording equipment at the ready or already running. Since most encounters are brief, random, and involve a fleeing sasquatch, we should definitely pay attention when a more unique and uncommon behavior crops up. It must mean something, and researchers should definitely use such information to further their goals.