Bigfoot Harvesting Fruits, Berries & Vegetables.

[Branco]

During the past few decades of investigating reports and conducting research concerning the presence of Bigfoot in the Southern and Southeastern states, I routinely receive information and see evidence that clearly indicates that the primates relish fruits, berries and vegetables from any source. 

A recent contact with an older gentleman who lives in Southern Missouri who is aware that a group of Bigfoot have foraged on his and a neighbor’s property for years, told me about Bigfoot taking his entire grape crop. The man was not as upset about the overnight theft of his crop of fruit as he was about the Bigfoot’s antics with his two-piece, concrete bird bath.

During the hot weather the man filled the birdbath with cold water each afternoon. Every few mornings he would discover the concrete bowl had been removed from its pedestal and brought and set down on the ground near the home’s back door. The first time that occurred he was not sure that someone was not “playing a prank” on him. The man stated the act was not funny to him because he had to carry the heavy bowl and re-install on the pedestal. He complained the he was, “Too danged old to be lifting and carrying the thing and set it back in place every few days.”

He had known a group of Bigfoot came onto to his property every few night because he had heard them “hollering, whooping and beating on trees after dark”. He had no problem with them doing that, and had left apples out for them in the back yard in the area of the bird bath. When he continued to find the birdbath bowl on the ground by the back door for a “refill” he became frustrated by the animals’ antics.

He didn’t discuss the situation with anyone until his whole crop of grapes – he said a few bushel – disappeared overnight and he found wide, 18” long bare foot prints in the vineyard. At that time he decided to talk to a neighbor who lived about one-quarter mile away. He approached the man by asking him if he had heard any strange animals sound at night. The man told him he had not only heard them many times at night but at times they were close enough to his home that he had determined there were at least five in the group. He told the man that the animals were those called MO-Mo in that state and Bigfoot in other place. During their discussion the neighbor also told him that he had a peach tree that had such an abundance of fruit this season he cut small forked trees from his property to prop up the heavy loads of fruit on the peach tree limbs to keep the limbs from breaking. The neighbor stated that when the fruit ripened he discover that all of the peaches were picked or shaken loose from the tree and carried off during one night. There was no evidence that a human or wild animal had climbed the tree. Both men realized that typical wild animals would eat their fill at the site, and evidence of that would have been obvious on the ground under the tree.

There have been numerous reports of Bigfoot sightings from that county in Missouri that have been submitted to well known Bigfoot research groups. The writer has conducted field work in that area, and recorded reports from several respected area residents.

This man’s report is typical of many others that I have investigated in various states– except for the birdbath aspect - that is a new wrinkle for me. The other slight differences in the other reports were that the cultivated fruits stolen were usually apples, pears, plums and, in one instance, figs.

The most well known case of a Bigfoot foraging on cultivated fruit occurred in a large peach orchard in Chilton near Clanton, Alabama in the 1960s. The orchard’s owner called the county sheriff’s office and reported the routine theft of peaches on the back side of the orchard near the wood line.. An investigator from that office went to the scene. He saw and photographed very large, human-like tracks in the sandy soil. He followed the tracks into the woods and was convinced it was not a human that stole the peaches and left the tracks. The investigator did not mince words. He told the local newspaper reporters what he saw and gave them his opinions. The story was widely covered by TV stations and other newspapers.

 There have been several cases that I’ve investigated that involve the theft of garden produce by one or more Bigfoot. During the summer months reports of Bigfoot swiping tomatoes, corn in the roasting ear stage, water melons and cantaloupes from gardens in rural areas of the S & SE are fairly common. During the winter they often take turnips and winter onions. In a majority of such cases, the evidence that it was Bigfoot that raided the gardens was their footprints left in the tilled ground.   

The primary reason for this post is to alert younger Bigfoot “hunters” that their quarry routinely forages on wild fruits and berries, and very often leaves distinctive evidence of the act. Many years ago I first heard one of the animals vocalize about eleven PM on a very cold night in December. For five years I devoted my spare time to try to determine for sure what made that sound. Although I had seen unusual sign and smelled odd and rank odors that I now know were Bigfoot related, it was not until I saw their huge tracks in the thick grass around the perimeter of an “island” of fruit laden blackberry vines that disclosed their identity.

In closely examining that blackberry thicket it was obvious the thicket of vines were undisturbed and that for a distance of over three feet inside the perimeter of the thicket nearly all of the ripe berries had been picked. The tracks in the grass closely adjoining the perimeter showed the Bigfoot had taken steps of about four feet, stopped, brought both feet together and reached over the six to seven feet high vines to gather the ripest berries.  His tracks showed that the animal approached the exposed blackberry patch from a nearby creek bottom, and returned to the creek bottom when he had eaten the berries within his reach around the edge of the patch.

As a point of fact, had it been a black bear that found the berry thicket first, the thicket of vines would have looked as if an ATV had been driven through the entire patch. I have found many good blackberry patches and kept track of the berries’ growth with the intention of harvesting them to make jelly when they were ripe. The black bears beat me to them most of the time. One large patch I was watching was growing in an old clear-cut area near the top of a mountain. The road up the mountain was rough, rutted and in places covered with silt washed off the mountainside.  When I knew the berries would be ripe I made rough drive up the mountain. Just before I reached the berry thicket I passed over a layer of red clay. I knew I was wasting my time. I stopped to look at the tracks of a sow bear and her two cubs that were headed toward the patch. I drove to the berry patch as that was the nearest place to turn around. The pristine berry patch looked as if a tornado had flattened it.

Many times I have seen medium to large size black cherry trees with the limbs broken off when the fruit was ripe. I always stop to see for sure if it had been a bear, as is usually the case, did the damage. If so, the limbs will have been pulled across the ground to form somewhat of a circle, with the center of the circle showing a large impression of the bear’s butt. A bear will sit on the ground and gorge itself on the fruit. There always seems to be enough berries left for the coyotes. The cherries are a laxative of sorts because the animal trails, roads or open woods near the site are speckled with runny coyote and bear scat.

A bear will always leave the marks of its claws on any tree it climbs; but a Bigfoot seldom leaves toe or fingernail marks when they do that. When a Bigfoot climbs a large wild fruit tree they will seat themselves and bend the fruit bearing limbs close enough to strip the fruit from the limbs and branches with their mouth. The evidence on the ground will be a sprinkling of mashed cherries, fruit stems and lacerated leaves.  When smaller cherry trees are found with fruit, and they want it, they will break the tree several feet from the ground. Usually the tree top is drug to a more concealed spot if it was growing in an open area.

Many animals forage on the several varieties of wild grapes that grow in this part of the country. Muscadine grapes will mature and bear fruit when the small vines grow along the ground without support.  The fruit from such vines is easy pickings for all animals, including humans. (The fruit makes excellent jelly and wine.) Large muscadine vines that grow up alongside or wrapped around the sides of large trees may reach a height of a hundred feet or more, with multiple branches from the ground upwards.  Coyote, fox, raccoon, opossum, black bear, and feral hogs forage heavily on the fruit. Bigfoot does as well, although because of the relatively small population of these animals and the vast and widespread growth of the vines it is rare to find compelling evidence of those animals foraging on muscadine fruit.  

It is not unusual to find a muscadine vine when the fruit is ripening and see that the vine has been manipulated to cause a lot of both the ripe and green fruit to fall to the ground. Several times I have noticed this situation and spent time determining the cause, Most of the time I could plainly see teeth marks on the lower parts of the vines. Tracks and scat in the area confirmed that a coyote had actually jumped off the ground to grasp the vines with its teeth, and no doubt shook its body to cause fruit to fall. The mature fruit was obviously eaten, but the green, hard fruit was left on the ground. Their teeth marks showed they had grasped the vine, shook it and simply turned loose of it; in other words the teeth did not slip down the vine.

In other such cases it was obvious that bear had pulled and shook the vines with both their teeth and paws. In one case a bear had clawed, chewed and pulled on a huge vine for some time without dislodging much fruit because the vine was tightly wrapped around a huge pine tree.

Only once have I seen a wild grape vine from which appeared a Bigfoot had removed the fruit, and the fruit was summer grapes. The vine was growing up a small maple tree (about six or eight inches in diameter) near the top of steep ridge which was capped by a sheer sandstone cliff. Below the face of the cliff was a small natural clearing covered by rocks and boulders with some grass and small brush. The tree had been near the center of the small clearing, and was covered by the vines of a summer grape.  When I found it in September a few years ago, it had been broken off about five feet from the ground. The top part, with the vine and its roots attached, had been taken about twenty yards and placed against the base of the cliff. At that location there was a flat, protruding ledge that was about five or six feet above the cliff base.

It was obvious the tree and vine had been moved fairly recently as there were still some dried leaves attached to both the tree and vine. There were a few dried grapes still attached to the vine, and some on the ground rocks below the ledge.  Below the ledge was also a localized mixture of grape stems, leaves small broken limbs from both the maple tree and the summer grape vine.

Along the base and sides of that cliff, which extends nearly one half mile, there are numerous ledges that are similar to the one described. All of those ledges are covered by the duff from northern red oak and pine trees that grow in broken gaps along the top of the cliff. It was noted that most of the accumulated duff on the ledge near which the tree top was placed was nearly gone, and what was left had been disturbed.

The ironic thing to me was in this very area, nearly fifty years ago, I walked the length of the top of that cliff for the first time, at times having to walk on tree limbs to get across the gaps. It was only a few hundred yards from this natural clearing that I climbed down to the base of the cliff and on my way to the base of the ridge. When I reached the base of the cliff I immediately smelled the most disgusting and obnoxious odor I had ever encountered in the woods at that time.  I thought the smell might have originated from a coyote den, but when I began looking around for one, the odor became fainter and fainter until it was gone.

Just memories and observation I wanted to share while I still can.

Kindest regards to all.   

[Guest Cryptic Megafauna]

Thanks Branco, interesting reading.

[FarArcher]

Absolutely, Thanks.

 

That's yet another narrative with a lot more detail than I've ever read on that topic.

[bipedalist]

Very informative post-up!  Wish I had more time to pick up on detailed research again, like that.  

 

Not germane to this topic of food harvest of flora but what are your experiences with BF manipulating wildlife such as terrapins and such.

 

Do you feel like the BF humor on the birdbath was their way of demonstrating their presence.  What eventually happened with the birdbath project?  Did he finally give up on it or did

they leave it alone after while?

 

He should have installed it upset down one night just to let them know he was in charge.  

[Branco]

Biped: All I can think of at the moment is BF's aggression toward coyotes - which typical follow behind them while they are hunting other animals at night - when the coyotes screw up and accidentally scare off their intended prey. There are many accounts from hunters who have found dead coyotes that had been skinned alive for that. One night In Pike County Arkansas I and five others heard the pitiful sounds of one member of a pack of coyotes paying that price when it became excited and made nervous whimpering sounds near a Bigfoot that was approaching us after we had played a recorded BF call.

 

Several reports were made to LEO's in south Arkansas several years ago when residents found dead coyotes which had their skin ripped across across their back and the sections pulled over their back legs and pulled over their front legs and heads. Blood and thrashing signs in the forest duff around the bodies, along with large human-like tracks in the area, clearly indicated the animals had been skinned alive. 

 

There are two incident that I am familiar with - one in my home county and the other in Cullman County Alabama - in which dogs were partially skinned alive and had to be put down. The incident in Cullman County drew worldwide press coverage. Both these event occurred in areas KNOWN to have a population of Bigfoot. What little information that was released by authorities implied the animals were killed by "devil worshipers" or "farm machinery". (There was no such equipment in operation in ares at the time. The Cullman County event happened in the dog owner's yard about 2 PM. 

 

BF will and does kill by stomping flat armadillos that noisily root and scratch around in duff close to BF that are stalking game.

 

Don't know about how they and terrapins get along. I know they have stalked and killed quail grouped together on their ground roosts at night, turkey roosting in trees using rocks as their weapons, 'coons feeding along waterways and even at least one bobcat walking the sandy shore of the Arkansas River.

 

About the Missouri man and his birdbath. I talked to him for the first time a few weeks ago. The birdbath thing had been going on for some time. I'll give him a call and find out what he did did about that situation, And yes, that would have been a good way to show the BF he was Boss Hog. : )

[Branco]

Noticed typos and error. Correction: 

(There was no such equipment in operation in the areas at the time. The Cullman County event happened in the dog owner's yard about 2 AM.). 

 

[JKH]

Quote

The neighbor stated that when the fruit ripened he discover that all of the peaches were picked or shaken loose from the tree and carried off during one night. There was no evidence that a human or wild animal had climbed the tree.

 

What I wonder when I read this type of report, is how do they manage the large quantities of loose food. Armloads? Bring all the juvenile laborers? Have you ever heard tell of large vessels such as buckets disappearing? In the NW I've heard are sometimes found piles of seafood shells away in the forest.

 

Anyway, thank you Mr B, it's always a pleasure to read your accounts. Looking forward to your next book.

[Branco]

JKH: In most cases the folks who lost the fruit didn't make a effort to track the animals. Had they done so they would have found a path of footprints and dropped fruit that led to the spot in the woods the fruit was eaten, usually by and entire family of the animals. One elderly woman sat on here porch in Clarke County Alabama late one afternoon and watched as, "A big red hairy ape stole an arm full of apples off our tree and walked back into the woods, and didn't hardly pay any attention to me." She told me she saw other smaller animals like the "ape" milling around in the edge of the woods bordering the yard as the big one was stealing the apples. It was a very rural area from which generated several sighting reports. I think two of those reports, from along the same road, were included in the book.

 

Thanks for the kind comment.

[NCBFr]

I have 4 peach trees in my side yard that yield 100s of peaches.  This year the peaches simply vanished a couple of weeks before they would have ripened.  My daughter saw a 7 1/2 ft red in the same orchard a few winters ago.  I never connected the dots because they were really not close to being ripe.

 

Tal - Thanks for the reports.  I love your BFRO followups.

[JKH]

Cool, NC! Sounds like they know the drill around your place. I had a peach overload this year on one tree and joked that I wished they had taken them. I left a couple out for the small critters and noticed two human-sized bites the next day. They didn't seem to care for them. LOL

[gigantor]

Hummm...  if there are families of BF stealing entire fruit crops, wouldn't it be reasonably easy to track them?

 

let me guess, the witnesses are not interested in providing evidence that BF exists, they don't want to ruin their relationship with the animals, so we shouldn't even ask for evidence because they won't help no matter what. They just want to pass along the experience so we all know that they are "knowers".

 

And of course,  Branco will respect their wishes and won't reveal the location or any data that would allow confirmation. He just wants us to know that he is connected to knowers and that he is a knower himself.

 

Next!

 

[JKH]

Evidence is abundantly provided by the OP.

 

I know that many fruits will keep well and maybe ripen further for days in cool conditions, so the noted possible harvests make sense.

[NCBFr]

On 9/16/2016 at 10:51 PM, gigantor said:

Hummm...  if there are families of BF stealing entire fruit crops, wouldn't it be reasonably easy to track them?

 

let me guess, the witnesses are not interested in providing evidence that BF exists, they don't want to ruin their relationship with the animals, so we shouldn't even ask for evidence because they won't help no matter what. They just want to pass along the experience so we all know that they are "knowers".

 

And of course,  Branco will respect their wishes and won't reveal the location or any data that would allow confirmation. He just wants us to know that he is connected to knowers and that he is a knower himself.

 

Next!

 

 

Gig - Wow, I am a little surprised by this post.  What exactly are you implying here?

 

As to not wanting to give away the location, I can certainly understand as I never shared the exact location of our local sightings because:

  1.  I am not comfortable with locals questioning my family about what we have encountered an the mockery that is bound to result.

  2.  I did not want a bunch of BF hunters tromping all over my land and neighborhood knocking on trees and whooping in the middle of the night,

  3.  I did not want any BF hunters looking for the glory of shooting the first one in my backyard.

 

Basically the hassle vs reward trade off does not favor full disclosure.  

 

I cannot speak for Tal, but my interest and contributions on this site are nothing like the implications you make in your post.  Honestly, sounds to me like you are simply pissed and a little bitter that you have struck out in your endeavor to finding BF.  I could say more but will let it rest here.

 

[Branco]

7 hours ago, NCBFr said:

 

Gig - Wow, I am a little surprised by this post.  What exactly are you implying here?

 

As to not wanting to give away the location, I can certainly understand as I never shared the exact location of our local sightings because:

  1.  I am not comfortable with locals questioning my family about what we have encountered an the mockery that is bound to result.

  2.  I did not want a bunch of BF hunters tromping all over my land and neighborhood knocking on trees and whooping in the middle of the night,

  3.  I did not want any BF hunters looking for the glory of shooting the first one in my backyard.

 

Basically the hassle vs reward trade off does not favor full disclosure.  

 

I cannot speak for Tal, but my interest and contributions on this site are nothing like the implications you make in your post.  Honestly, sounds to me like you are simply pissed and a little bitter that you have struck out in your endeavor to finding BF.  I could say more but will let it rest here.

 

As part of the agreements between myself and witnesses who have asked that I personally investigate their enigmatic animal encounters, the locations of the events are not publicly disclosed for all the reasons you have listed plus others. Those four BF research groups that have requested that I investigate reports they receive bind me by a confidentially agreement from releasing information about the name of the witnesses, their addresses and the locations of the encounters if they occurred on private property, primarily for the same reasons you so clearly described.

 

In response to Gig's "easy to track them" question; yes, it would be easy if the witnesses actually wanted to do that quickly after the theft of the fruits/berries. Not so surprisingly, danged few of them that were aware of what had swiped the food stuff cared to follow fresh tracks and encounter a family group of big hairy primates and interrupt the their hard earned meal. In most cases the investigators don't reach the scene for weeks or more after the event, and the trail of tracks and dropped produce may be hard to find and follow.

 

Most folks that have these experiences could care less about "providing evidence" of BF's existence to skeptics who like to pile and heap their meaningless opinions that BF is a myth all over the internet. Those "all knowing folks" with little or no experience with real. day-and night  'boots on the ground" fieldwork are simply like pesky gnats; not much you can do but listen and watch them buzz. 

 

Thanks for your spot on post NCBFr.

[NCBFr]

Tal - I should have added 4. Not wanting to start a war with the local BF population.  I enjoy walking my dogs in areas we both visit and appreciate their warning me when it is time to leave vs what they could do if they were not happy with me.

 

 

Gig - I should have also said thank you for your support of the BFF.