Questions About The Smeja Shooting.

[Bonehead74]

The rifle used that day was chambered in .25-06 according to Justin. He and the driver have both stated that the creature was about 80 yards away. An experienced shooter (and observer) should have no problem observing the impact of the bullet. I've seen it many times myself in deer, bear, coyotes, and even groundhogs, as well as the "rippling flesh" effect the driver describes. There are many weird things about the story of that day, but to me, the description of the shot itself doesn't seem odd. YMMV.

[Cisco]

This story has never rung true for me and I agree with those that speculate Smeja was poaching that day. I've been hunting for most of my life and have a fair amount of experience, scouting in the off season, for locations to set up tower or ground blinds. When scouting, I never take a rifle with me as I don't need it. Rifles are cumbersome and just get in the way. I may carry a side arm, in case I need a gun, for some reason. However, in the past 25 years of being a member of a hunting lease, I've never had occasion to fire my side arm while scouting for locations to hunt.

 

Why was Smeja carrying a rifle; if he was simply scouting, especially from a vehicle?

 

Regardless, the part of the story that I'm certain is a lie, is the shooting of the juvenile and then holding it in his arms as it died.

 

Again, I'm a hunter and own and use a number of different rifles in different calibers. I don't have a 25.06, but I have a 30.06, 7 mag, 308 and 300 Win Mag; which are calibers Smeja mentioned in other versions of his story.

 

I don 't know the exact size and weight of the purported juvenile Sasquatch, shot by Smeja. However, I assume it would have been, at most, 150 lbs, if Smeja was able to cradle it in his arms. In my mind, I pictured it around 75 lbs.

 

Whether 75 lbs or 150 lbs, a shot to the neck, from a 25.06, or any of the other calibers I mentioned, would have been instantly fatal. I rarely take neck shots on animals as its a fairly small target, especially once you go beyond 100 yards. However, if you hit the neck square on, its very effective because it will sever the spinal column and kill almost instantaneously.

 

According to Smeja, he shot the juvenile and then had time to pick it up, cradle it in his arms, observe its eyes and face, as it died in his arms. There's no way he shot an animal of this size, in the neck, with a 25.06, and had time to do these things before it died. Furthermore, I was under the impression that Sasquatch have almost no visible neck because the head is slung low, on the shoulders, and these overly developed neck muscles, as well as a sagittal crest, are used to support a large jaw for chewing and grinding fibrous foods. I would assume the juveniles, of this species, have similar anatomical features as the adults?

 

Either way, this part of the story is impossible to believe. Not to mention the fact that he was unwilling to take a body with him, nor even samples from the body.

 

Smeja's story is simply nonsensical.

[Guest]

Jayyeti and Bonehead, it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. I try really hard to keep an open mind, and if the consensus doesn't find that odd, then I put it in the maybe category. I still think the hair would make the ripples hard to see, but who knows. A 25-06 seems a bit light. If the story is true and he knocked one down as stated on the show, it was a really good shot!

Did anyone else think it was odd how the driver kept saying "we didn't want to leave empty handed"? I believe he also said Smeja needed to shoot since it was getting dark. It almost sounded like he thought it was a bear or something. It just seemed odd.

[Woodslore]

Am I the only one that thinks Justin is an unethical hunter for stating shooting an animal in the waste hole is a good shot? That very thinking draws, for me, questions of character and truth.

[Bonehead74]

Jayyeti and Bonehead, it wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. I try really hard to keep an open mind, and if the consensus doesn't find that odd, then I put it in the maybe category. I still think the hair would make the ripples hard to see, but who knows. A 25-06 seems a bit light. If the story is true and he knocked one down as stated on the show, it was a really good shot!

Did anyone else think it was odd how the driver kept saying "we didn't want to leave empty handed"? I believe he also said Smeja needed to shoot since it was getting dark. It almost sounded like he thought it was a bear or something. It just seemed odd.

It's most definitely odd. I'm not vouching for Justin's story, only pointing out that one particular aspect rings true with my personal experiences.

[Guest]

Woodslore, that's not too uncommon for a wounded animal. It's often called a Texas Heart Shot. If an animal is wounded, than I think any shot that could anchor them is good. On a non-wounded animal it would be a lousy and very unethical shot unless you were starving IMHO.

[Woodslore]

Johnny G I was always taught it not only spoils the meat but can lead to a long and painful death. Where I live that kind of shot is what I have heard called a poachers mark.

[Guest]

You're right that it can ruin meat and is a last resort. The only time I would see it as acceptable is to keep a positively wounded animal from running off never to be found. If Smeja is to be believed, he thought he was shooting a monster anyway. I guess it wouldn't matter in that case.

[jayjeti]

Am I the only one that thinks Justin is an unethical hunter for stating shooting an animal in the waste hole is a good shot? That very thinking draws, for me, questions of character and truth.

 

Justin is hoping to see another one so he can kill it and prove it's existence.

[Guest Crowlogic]

The rifle used that day was chambered in .25-06 according to Justin. He and the driver have both stated that the creature was about 80 yards away. An experienced shooter (and observer) should have no problem observing the impact of the bullet. I've seen it many times myself in deer, bear, coyotes, and even groundhogs, as well as the "rippling flesh" effect the driver describes. There are many weird things about the story of that day, but to me, the description of the shot itself doesn't seem odd. YMMV.

Indeed if he shot a bear all the driver had to do is say bigfoot instead of bear and the ripping flesh, impact etc are the same effects.  That is unless shooting bigfoot produces special effects unique to the animal?

[Guest WesT]

Justin is hoping to see another one so he can kill it and prove it's existence.

I thought he already did, but opted to leave it, even though that was the purpose in killing it to begin with.

[Guest lightheart]

In my humble opinion the scenario you are proposing Branco could have played out. I believe that the males are never very far from their families at least here that seems to be the case. I think that the first thing the remaining juvenile would have done was go find its father or another male adult from their clan.

I saw very clear evidence of this behavior a couple months ago when someone sailed in on a day sailer the evening before and juveniles went to get an adult to show them what was sitting on the little beach that wasn't supposed to be there. There was a stick glyphs that clearly showed one adult male and several male and female juveniles heading to the site. I found tracks of one large afult and a bunch of juveniles up closer to where the sailboat still sat waiting for the tide to come back in. The tracks were behind some brush where the little boat could be observed but they would not be easily seen. At the time I marveled at how close their behavior parallel that of young kids of the non hairy variety. The ones here are very closely connected to their families and to the other families in their clan.i see evidence on every foray into the woods just how much interaction takes place.

IMHO one of the reasons we are not making much progress in learning about them is because the overall belief is that they are animals and behave like animals. While I cannot speak for other parts of the country, the ones I have interacted within North Florida are very human like with the same strong connection to family and relatives that we might have.

I suspect the guy in the boat had a rather interesting night since I seriously doubt that at least one juvenile would have been able to resist the opportunity to count coup by smacking the side if the little boat.

Edited August 6, 2015 by lightheart

[LeafTalker]

Awesome, Lightheart! Fabulous observations and fabulous information. Thanks for all that!

[Yuchi1]

LH,

 

Your observation and theory correlates with the experiences I/we had during the Louisiana Hunt right before the second shot was fired when two (2) individual UHS were coming in to the aid of the wounded one w/o making any pretense at stealth. That was an electric moment the likes of which had not been experienced beforehand.

[LeafTalker]

LH,

 

Your observation and theory correlates with the experiences I/we had during the Louisiana Hunt right before the second shot was fired when two (2) individual UHS were coming in to the aid of the wounded one w/o making any pretense at stealth. 

This is also good information, but the story is much sadder than Lightheart's.  

 

 

Justin is hoping to see another one so he can kill it and prove it's existence.

 

I think that's true, but there's an added wrinkle to it all. He's not only trying to prove that the hairy people exist; he's trying to vindicate himself. 

 

This is my greatest complaint about the BF "community". The finger-pointing and screaming of "hoax" -- the shaming behavior -- more often than not results in the accused redoubling his efforts to kill another BF, bringing still more screaming and shaming and increasing the person's desperation, and sometimes causing more tragedy and bloodshed.

 

(That did not, of course, happen with Yuchi1. Yuchi1 is a most wonderful exception to that rule.)

Edited August 7, 2015 by LeafTalker