Bigfoot Harvesting Fruits, Berries & Vegetables.

[Branco]

ShadowBorn: X2 on that. I know for danged sure they mess with cameras! If I set them out and try to conceal them close to their bedding areas, they are probably watching me do it. (I know for a fact that one - a teenager - was watching me set one up because he showed himself when a finished and was walking away.) If I set one out on a trail, all I can seem to photograph are the usual suspects. 

[Lake County Bigfooot]

The scarce water situation definitely plays into your hand, no rivers nearby? I guess by me the rivers would be the cleanest water, but there really is not a totally clean water source, except perhaps the quarry areas with spring fed ponds,,,,,hmmm,,,,there is one just north of the state park near me. Others have speculated on the fact the quarries seem to be near so many sightings and activity,...maybe the simplest answer is the best one here, they are a source of spring water and might be more palatable, although everything else just drinks marsh soup water or lake water. Then the quarry areas usually have outlying land that is unused and fairly dense with new growth, not to mention fenced off. I remember fishing this old strip pit as a teen and early 20s outdoors man, you had to hike a mile or two into the best ponds, always felt really creepy back there, I seem to recall a rock being thrown into the pond I was fishing, I dismissed it as other kids messing with me, which it may have been.. It did feel like you were being watched, but I had no notion of these creatures back then, Maybe I go pay that spot a visit, it is not that far from where I live now.

Edited November 6, 2016 by Lake County Bigfooot

[JDL]

Stands to reason that they would discriminate based on water quality.

[Lake County Bigfooot]

There is a situation up here in snow country that you guys in the south do not have to grapple with, where the heck do they go during the winter months. The answer is apparently no where, they stay put... it seems from the evidence of snow prints of at least 3 or 4 cases in the Chicagoland area, all with snow cover well established, that these creatures are still out and about, and the most recent one being found as close to Chicago as imaginable, the west side along a railroad. It is mind blowing to think of where this creature was, he had moved well into the burbs and was probably hunting along those tracks late at night, chased something into an industrial complex and then retreated. It is very revealing to me that they are active even in the cold months, or perhaps at least on the move. Another BFRO sighting was logged just west and south of Madison WI a few years ago off of HWY151 near Mineral Point, a road crossing, interesting fact....outside temp 10 degrees and I think some snow was present....yet out and about.... A theory I entertain is that they have a remotely hidden winter den or depression or something of that nature, maybe made in the snow, and they venture out less frequently, feed strictly on fatty organs on animals caught, being wary of where they leave tracks. Several of the track finds are kind of like oops, the creature seems to know that is is leaving tracks and is thinking how to double back and not leave a trail, like they are pacing in a small area and thinking about alternatives. A few in deeper snow are just straight routes, but the others are peculiar. A nice feature to some of these tracks is that when the foot melts the snow below, it freezes back up with a very detailed impression, almost perfect, but often they will melt out and become distorted. Thankfully several of the cases mentioned above were intact, and that really is hard to hoax, given the fact an actual foot with heat melted the snow..., the areas they were left do not at all suggest hoaxing, nor the manner in which they were discovered... Interested? Just look up BFRO cases http://bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=47720        http://bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=40314 

Edited November 7, 2016 by Lake County Bigfooot

[MIB]

Where is the food?

 

I assume Chicago, like other major cities, has a population of deer, if not in the urban core, at least in the suburban areas.   I would talk to the natural resources folks at the state level to find out where those deer spend the winter.   It's probably within the greater metro area somewhere.   Once you have that, see how the bigfoot reports compare.   I think they live some distance from the food source, a few miles.   If you have snow trackways, I'd compare those to where the deer winter and think of them as a pointer in the direction the bigfoots might be.    Look in that direction away from the deer area maybe 3-5 miles for places that would provide good cover, concealment, privacy.

Just a guess, of course.

 

MIB

 

 

[Branco]

23 hours ago, JDL said:

Stands to reason that they would discriminate based on water quality.

Yes Sir. In very hot and dry summers, when man-made lake levels are down, whole family groups will always be bedding during the day in some shady thicket within a short walking distance - for them - of cool, clear water. That is as basic to them as it is to us. They also benefit from being close to isolated springs as it is an ideal place to ambush prey animals that also depend on the springs, or the flow below them, for good water.

A good friend of mine who manages a cattle ranch - and "Booger hunts" in his spare time - in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas just across the line from Le Flore County Oklahoma, was frustrated because he could not find a good BF foot impression to cast. He had seen and heard them but had no physical evidence of their presence near his deer camp. During a really hot and dry summer a few years ago, I told him to find a spring in the area and check the discharge sediment area routinely. He did, and within a few days he found and made one of the best casts of a large BF track I've ever seen.

As I've mentioned previously, BF go as family group to water several time a day. While at or near the spring, the males are on high alert, and WILL become very loud and aggressive if they detect humans in the area. 

Individual BF will sometimes get water from the sheltered coves of man made lakes in mountainous areas where they can walk the rock and boulders without leaving distinctive tracks. Even when they do, they sometimes screw up. If they step on rocks or boulder near the water line, the rocks may roll in the softer sediments or be pushed down into it. I, and others, have seen where they have lost their balance when rocks rolled under their weight, causing them to leave tracks in mud/sediment nearby. In one case I saw that after the BF had goofed up, he walked into the deeper water and walked up the cove to another rock slide area and walked the larger rocks and boulders into the wood line. Of course his feet left mud and silt on ever rock and boulder on which he stepped. ( His Pappy would have been ashamed of him.)  

 

 

[JDL]

Lake and MIB:  Don't discount the probability that they fall back on human resources and/or refuse for food as needed, especially in areas where the climate may result in hardship with regard to standard prey, etc.  Also keep in mind that prey animals often live in fringe habitat such as tree lines and intermittent wooded areas in suburbs and industrial areas, usually for the same reasons - they are living off of habitat we create and things we leave out or throw away.

 

Branco:  In Lemmon Valley, Nevada it is arid high desert with limited water sources.  Even so, the valley was apparently a migration route from the area around Lake Tahoe, traveling North by Northeast, skirting the Northwestern edge of Pyramid Lake (a living salt lake with fish and other wildlife), and passing through the Pah-Rum Mountain Cluster, then on up to Southern Idaho.

 

Our community had a water tower tucked back between two fingers on the large Eastern ridge of the Valley.  There was a large pool, much like that of a spring at the base of the water tower, along with some succulent vegetation.  It was the only source of clean, fresh water within a couple of miles.  As a result, at least one family group would stop in our area for a while each summer.  The water brought them into contact with us.

Edited November 7, 2016 by JDL

[Lake County Bigfooot]

I guess going back to the Freeman film, springs have always been a spot to find them. I am not sure many springs can be located near me, but that just became a big goal in my research. to locate a spring of this type. As I mentioned the rock quarries are spring fed, but so are many lakes, so maybe they prefer natural springs that are at the surface more than anything else available, bingo...bigfoot predictability.....

[Branco]

JDL: Your example is exactly what I meant, and you nailed the key words; hot, dry summers. Here in the south/southeast it is only during those periods that the home territory of BF families can be reasonably predicted if their larger hunting and foraging area is known. Of course, one must must know where the fresh water spring are located within their general foraging area. During the hot, dry summers, not many folks are in those areas. 

As for myself, I lucked out, because I hunted, prowled and prospected in the Ouachita Mountains for many years before I found out there were Boogers up there. Back then, I prowled up there a lot during hot weather and finding a cold water spring in an unexpected location was like finding a lead/silver vein.

During other parts of the year it's a crap shoot to try to get close enough to them on their hunting/foraging routes to even hear them vocalize at night. I learned a long time ago that it is much easier to just camp in their area, and let THEM find ME.

So many folks ask me to take them out at night so they MIGHT hear them vocalize among themselves or respond to calls, I still try to "head'em off at the pass" a lot. It's still a lot of fun, especially when we get lucky. (It's more fun when that happens if their are newspaper editors/writers tagging along. Surprisingly, they are always a hoot to have along.) 

[Lake County Bigfooot]

Given the spring thing, I wonder how many moonshiners have been chased off by these creatures, or have supposed the law smashed up their still sites, when it was simply an angry sasquatch or two.

[MIB]

It depends on how many springs are available.   I don't think they get pushy if there's another spring nearby they can move to.   They get pushy when you take an irreplaceable resource away from them.   Kinda the same notion as when you stop feeding them I think?   In my area of the west, even when it is hot and dry ... and it does get truly hot and dry ... if there is any water at all in an area, there are usually several nearby sources.    A canyon that has a spring probably has 5-6 springs.   Anywhere there's a lake, often there's another within a couple miles that is just as good.

 

One of the areas that does lack water is the high desert of Central Oregon extending out through the Basin and Range country into Nevada.   Some of that area has cattle grazing which get water from deep wells with windmill or propane powered pumps.   Those stock watering troughs might create a travel corridor across long stretches of incredibly dry country that is otherwise impossible to cross.  It'd be worth a check for tracks if the cows don't mash them out.

 

MIB

 

[Branco]

1 hour ago, Lake County Bigfooot said:

Given the spring thing, I wonder how many moonshiners have been chased off by these creatures, or have supposed the law smashed up their still sites, when it was simply an angry sasquatch or two.

I'll bet there have been a few moonshiners and pot growers that have had such experiences! In the book I scribbled a moonshiner burned down a house that belonged to a woman and her daughters because BF kept overturning his mash barrels but he believed the woman or her daughters were doing it.  

[JDL]

2 hours ago, MIB said:

It depends on how many springs are available.   I don't think they get pushy if there's another spring nearby they can move to.   They get pushy when you take an irreplaceable resource away from them.   Kinda the same notion as when you stop feeding them I think?   In my area of the west, even when it is hot and dry ... and it does get truly hot and dry ... if there is any water at all in an area, there are usually several nearby sources.    A canyon that has a spring probably has 5-6 springs.   Anywhere there's a lake, often there's another within a couple miles that is just as good.

 

One of the areas that does lack water is the high desert of Central Oregon extending out through the Basin and Range country into Nevada.   Some of that area has cattle grazing which get water from deep wells with windmill or propane powered pumps.   Those stock watering troughs might create a travel corridor across long stretches of incredibly dry country that is otherwise impossible to cross.  It'd be worth a check for tracks if the cows don't mash them out.

 

MIB

 

 

Been suggesting this approach for a while, and I agree that the Eastern foothills of the Sierras/Cascades in Northern Nevada, Oregon, and Washington; where the forest gives way to high desert; is an optimum place to predict where to encounter them based upon available water.  Fewer bigfoot there, certainly, but fewer water sources means a better chance of encountering them at those locations.

 

Branco:  There's a place near Lake Tahoe I'd like to set you down in for a week in early summer.  You'd have a blast.

Edited November 8, 2016 by JDL

[Branco]

Boogers in that area? 

[JDL]

It's the most active place I've ever been, and they've been there every time.