Huckleberries

[daveedoe]

one more link 

 

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_rp143.pdf

[Guest DWA]

Because they look like a nest????

Huckeberries here grow maybe 1-2 ft high. Are we sure we are not talking blackberries?

Well, now you mention it, hucks aren't much bigger than that if at all where I am neither.  I was trying to imagine the amount of work that would take.

[georgerm]

Because they look like a nest????

Huckeberries here grow maybe 1-2 ft high. Are we sure we are not talking blackberries?

 

 

Huckleberries here in Oregon can grow easily 8' or higher in the dense shade. Bigfoots may like them for beds since the break easily and make a springy bed ........... or nest .......... den ....... . nuffs e nuff.

 

We have Red Huckleberries that are softer and the fruit is not as good. Regular huckleberries, or Vaccinum ovatum have the best fruit. Bigfoots probably like them since Huckleberry patches can be huge, and dense when in the sun. BF probably feels well concealed in the middle of a patch with a nice soft bed made from them. They can also hear intruders coming through the dense bushes. They probably know humans don't like pushing through prickly bushes with a tick or two waiting for a meal.

[BobbyO]

This ain't no den, it's a nest.

It's also made by a mountain gorilla.

[Guest DWA]

...which ain't the big tree-climber, and animals answering to sasquatch description have been seen in trees, and...well...no reason to discount the idea.

[SWWASAS]

We're mammals, so why don't we call our houses "nests"? It's like calling the hairy ones animals. Technically, they are, (and we are), but we don't, as a general rule, call ourselves animals.

 

Sorry about the off topic-ness, Hiflier. I'll run along & bother somebody else now.

I have wondered what BF themselves call the places where they bed down.    You seem to not like the term nest.   Quite frankly I don't like the term either but what we think are their bedding sites sure look like a nest.     Perhaps you could check into that and see what you come up with?  

[BobbyO]

WA specific, might be useful for some however with summer coming - http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/seasonal-hikes/summer-destinations/huckleberry-hikes

[Sasfooty]

If boy scouts had made them, they wouldn't be called nests.

 

Shelter if it's covered or bed if it's not.

[Guest DWA]

If a Boy Scout made that gorilla nest, I call it a nest.  I'd have to wonder about anyone who based the name on what made it.  Like most things, the name is based on what it IS.

[BobbyO]

If boy scouts had made them, they wouldn't be called nests.

 

Shelter if it's covered or bed if it's not.

Boy Scouts didn't make them though, Gorilla's did and I've got a feeling that big, tall, smelly, hairy monkey men and women do too.

[Sasfooty]

If a Boy Scout made that gorilla nest, I call it a nest.  I'd have to wonder about anyone who based the name on what made it.  Like most things, the name is based on what it IS.

Well, you just called a "gorilla nest" a "gorilla" nest. So you're saying that if a boy scout made a bed in a tree, it would be a gorilla nest, even though a gorilla didn't have anything to do with it????

 

I think the ones that gorillas make should be called beds, too. Nests are made to lay eggs in & hatch little birds.

[MIB]

Because they look like a nest????

Huckeberries here grow maybe 1-2 ft high. Are we sure we are not talking blackberries?

 

Given the location it is likely they are Evergreen Huckleberry.    That's the same stuff I grew up hunting in near the Oregon coast.   Unlike the huckleberries at higher elevation (2 different species, one red one blue), Evergreen Huckleberry bushes can exceed 10, sometimes 15 feet in height.    The thicket above the location where I found that first trackway in '74 has three layers in it that bears travel along, one at ground level and two elevated.   I've gone for a quarter mile without ever being less than 6 feet off the ground in some places.  It slow going, somewhat like late season snow that's settled and hardened where you have to be careful about falling through into openings below that you can't climb back out of.

 

MIB  

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

 

If a Boy Scout made that gorilla nest, I call it a nest.  I'd have to wonder about anyone who based the name on what made it.  Like most things, the name is based on what it IS.

Well, you just called a "gorilla nest" a "gorilla" nest. So you're saying that if a boy scout made a bed in a tree, it would be a gorilla nest, even though a gorilla didn't have anything to do with it????

 

I think the ones that gorillas make should be called beds, too. Nests are made to lay eggs in & hatch little birds.

 

Gorilla nests are called nests even if they are on the ground, blame a scientist. 

[hiflier]

OK, moving on. Huckleberries do indeed have several varieties along with different elevation preferences although there is quite a bit of overlap on the elevation side. There are some that won't grow or do well above the tree line and others that are fine. Some do well at sea level and others do not. I'm not trying to turn this into a horticulture lesson but since we are dealing with a creature that not only eats the berries but utilizes the branches for nests I thought at least some general knowledge would be good.

The descriptions on the nests as well as the area where the material was harvested raised a question in my brain which was: what is it with the Huckleberry plants. Other than to eat the fruit that is. georgerm in post #18 is kind on my track but I still have a gnawing suspicion that there's more to it somehow. Humans may make a nest like that with the idea that what is left on the ridge would be noisy for an approaching intruder. Would Sasquatch reason that out as well or would they leave the stand for concealment of the nesting area? Concealment by day, hearing intruders at night?

In the next post I want to begin to look at Huckleberries much farther South down the spine of the Sierras. Understanding better about what happens like in Arizona which has a naturally higher Sun much earlier in Spring could shed some light on the timing of the cycles of the at different latitudes. You can see where this is going- herds, bears, and possibly Sasquatch following the fruiting wave up until the late crops- some as late as October. That's almost four months of berries if one knows the pattern. And it also means berries in remote places as well. This is a large creature that lives outdoors 24/7- sometimes with a family- and needs nutrition. Especially if it doesn't hibernate and is competing with other animals for the same late season dwindling berry supply.

I would say the lowly Huckleberry plays quite a role for our Hairy Friend and so knowing more about the plants is part of the puzzle. The use of the plants as nesting material is part of the puzzle as in why choose that particular plant? Lots of soft stuff around, fir branches, hemlock, spruce boughs, leaves, and who knows what else. Check out the environments that Huckleberries grow best in and you'll see for yourselves that bedding material is abundant and so it makes the choice of using Huckleberry bushes that much more intriguing. My opinion.

Edited May 20, 2016 by hiflier

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

nuts, berries, seeds, fish, roots, grubs, insects, vegetation, small animals (frogs, marmots, etc.) what's for dinner for a Bigfoot.

Edited May 20, 2016 by Cryptic Megafauna