PBeaton Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 20 hours ago, SWWASAS said: I have been fighting a long term, yet to be diagnosed illness and feel the need to reveal or reinforce what I have already learned when appropriate even when it might make me look stupid. SWWASAS, Just wanted ta wish you well, hope ya feel/get better, my best. Pat...
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2018 BFF Patron Posted June 19, 2018 10 hours ago, norseman said: Im not going to say one area of the US and Canada is better than another. Im not out scouting back east...... I do find it bizarre tho that I have access to some of the most pristine wilderness left in the lower 48. And I can routinely go find evidence of Grizzly bears in the Selkirks? We are talking 1500 animals left in the lower 48. But I cannot find Bigfoot evidence? But some researcher in Chicago is tripping over Bigfoot evidence..... something is wrong with that picture. I dont care if Bigfoot is smarter than Ray Mears, Bear Grylls and Cody Lundin all put together in the woods. You could not hide the presence of thousands and thousands of 800 lbs supermen all living off the land. You just cannot. Not realistic. Especially in areas that dont even have Bears to blame it on. I did a caloric intake thread before. I based my equation on 2x a Gorilla’s diet. Plus 2x foraging and cacheing for winter. Its alot. Like you I question existence throughout the country but that is based on what I know about active areas in my area of SW WA and Western Oregon. From my experience, and you have to trust me on that, In this area, BF is only found to hang out in areas of heavy cover and running water. They may transit other areas with some sort of migration but the recipe for them to establish in one area and leave sign requires a certain amount of heavy cover and running water. Get away from that and I have never seen any sign of one. Thinner cover may reduce or eliminate day activity and increase the chance of observation by humans. Certainly running water gets more rare East of the Cascades. Both of those may be a factor in your area. Evidence of the effects of cover density is what happened in my research area when the state started to clear cut it. Active areas went inactive when there was not continuous cover allowing movement through the area. Patches of cover do not work long for them when they can simply move away and not take the chance of being seen hunting or moving around in the open. Clear cut, at least the way the state is doing it, leaves patches of cover with no way to move between them. There is little logging in National Forests so it is easy for BF to avoid logged areas there You mention bears. From what I have seen bears are not as dependent on cover as I have found footprints completely in the open. While bears avoid humans when they can, a sentient creature like BF with what seems to be a prime directive to avoid humans, seems less likely to be seen than a bear who only moves away with direct human contact. Much of grizzly country is fairly open or thinly forested. Get very much East of the Cascades, where forests get more thinly treed, areas like that would not be preferred by BF if they have a choice. They may be there in areas with denser trees. Admittedly I do not have much time in Eastern Washington or Oregon. But looking at the density of sighting reports, that seems to favor the denser forests West of the Cascades in both Oregon and Washington. Of course sightings require people who are much less in numbers East of the Cascades. One of my bear encounters was a close face to snout encounter on a human trail. Bears follow human trails. I have never found a BF footprint where it was following a human trail. But I have found several paralleling human trails or where the BF stepped across a trail trying to avoid leaving a footprint on a muddy trail. Some one expecting to find a BF print near a human trail should be looking at the trail margins or game trails that parallel them. The only place I have seen a BF footprint completely in the open, away from cover, was on the Eastern flank of Mt St Helens near the lahar where the trees had been cleared out by the 1980 blast. They seem to move between treed areas remaining after the blast. And that is likely at night, when the tourists have headed for their hotels. While the numbers of BF West of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington may be the highest in the country, they are still very rare. Otherwise they would be seen more often and leave more sign. If their species is like any other, encroachment by humans into their habitat has to be reducing their numbers even more. Like every other bipedal humanoid that has co-existed with humans, they are likely to go extinct at some point. We seem to hurry that along with every species we have contact with. 38 minutes ago, PBeaton said: SWWASAS, Just wanted ta wish you well, hope ya feel/get better, my best. Pat... Thanks. See the doctor again tomorrow and hope to get a handle on what this is. Up to this point he doesn't have a clue. 1
Cotter Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 14 hours ago, Explorer said: documented by the hundreds of thousands wildlife biologists studying our fauna. 20,000 in the US
WSA Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 Randy...my wishes for a speedy recovery as well. Without knowing the first thing about your symptoms I will still offer the advice I offer to any who spend time in the backcountry and come down with mysterious illnesses: Make sure your doctor understands tick borne pathologies and rules those out.
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2018 BFF Patron Posted June 19, 2018 (edited) Good point. Some symptoms are similar to Lyme disease but the major symptom is a frequent recurring cough that lasts for over a month when I get it. During that time I feel like I have been poisoned and hit by a truck. As far as I know I have not had a tick bite. I heard about a dog that got bit on the back of the head with a tick, and the vet completely missed it attached there. Anyway it got so it was nearly paralyzed, lost control of its bowels, and the family took it in to put it down. An intern vet was consoling it and getting ready to administer the stuff to put it down. She noticed a tick in the neck fur and mentioned it to the dogs regular vet. They removed the tick, treated the dog, and within a couple of days it was better. If anyone has a dog with similar symptoms, be sure you make the vet check for ticks before you do something terminal. . Edited June 19, 2018 by SWWASAS
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2018 BFF Patron Posted June 19, 2018 (edited) Related to a previous post of mine in this thread about BF not liking urine marking behavior in their territory, I just read this in BFRO report 50462 "Since her sighting she was told of two more sightings. One was a group of men pulling over to relieve themselves at night very near her sighting location. Something large screamed at the men very close to them and chased them away. ". I was related both of my instances with this to John Bindernagel at a conference. He was very interested and took notes. After I finished, a man listening mentioned that the exact same thing had happened to him. In my two and the man's experience, the offended BF did the gorilla chest beating thing they do when they bluff charge although none of the BF revealed themselves. Another man I talked to on line after relating my experience, stepped out side his tent on a very dark night and apparently nearly peed on the leg of a BF standing close. In his case it roared with rage. The act seems to really elicit a BF response. . Edited June 19, 2018 by SWWASAS
MIB Posted June 19, 2018 Moderator Posted June 19, 2018 Huh ... peeing ... interesting. Thinking back to 2011 when I had back to back nights with "visitors", in the middle of the 2nd night's action, which was behind my bivy / tent, I had to pee so I got up, took about 5-6 steps forward, stepped behind a tree, "did my business", then crawled back in bed. Prior to getting up, I was having the branch with dead needles dragged across the fly creating a scratching sound. This was absent when I was peeing. Something on the order of a half minute after the fly was zipped up, the sound commenced again. Makes me wonder if my actions (stepping around the tree to pee) relieved some of the offensiveness. Hard to say, but that "visitor" was easily in the 900-1000 pound range, maybe more, with soft feet, not hooves. There's simply nothing known in the area that fits the pattern. MIB
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2018 BFF Patron Posted June 19, 2018 (edited) I also wonder if it appreciated your attempt at discretion or if they considered your camp your place or territory ok for you to mark? That territory marking would be common with a lot of animals. My and others intrusion into their territory and a perceived marking would be a different story. In my case in both instances, I thought myself totally alone and made no effort to hide the process or be discrete other than hiding behind the truck in that case. Being more worried about human traffic on the county road seeing me than something in the woods. . Towards the wood line, I was in plain view for dozens of yards. In the second case I was probably in plain view for dozens of yards in a 180 degree arc. Quite honestly after both events, I was a lot more discrete and made more effort to hide my behavior. I cannot know if I was ever being observed with that more discrete behavior. So it could be the act itself or no attempt at being discrete was the problem. I worry about unknowingly doing some serious BF taboo. Marking their territory may be one of them. That is one reason why I do not make howls or calls. I don't want to unknowingly antagonize something anywhere near 900 lbs. Edited June 19, 2018 by SWWASAS
MIB Posted June 19, 2018 Moderator Posted June 19, 2018 That's an interesting angle. Either way, your experience and mine make me think of Shane Corson's experience. As he told it to me, he and a couple friends got a bit lost off trail hiking. They were wandering all over the place drinking a lot of water, peeing everywhere, hollering back and forth, generally making a ruckus and leaving urine scent behind. They eventually found the lake they were looking for and had camp visits including a sighting or two. I think there's a consistent theme among them you may have hit on the nose. Like you, I don't want to unknowingly antagonize something. I also don't want to knowingly antagonize anything.
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2018 BFF Patron Posted June 19, 2018 Taking the thought further, animals mark there territory to keep other animals (same species or different species predators) out of their claimed territory. Modern humans for the most part, have lost the ability to use scent to detect other animals or mark territories. I suspect humans once could. We must seem incredibly dumb to a BF who claims territory or observes us marking theirs. A bear or cougar would likely get a sniff of a BF marking and leave the area. All of this makes me wonder if the secret to finding BF is a well trained dog.
MIB Posted June 19, 2018 Moderator Posted June 19, 2018 A well trained dog of very level disposition, neither cowardly nor aggressive, could be a valuable asset. Seeming dumb to bigfoot ... you might extrapolate that conclusion to our lack of night vision. Given tree-peeking images on thermal even at night, our inability to see them might be quite puzzling. MIB
Rockape Posted June 19, 2018 Posted June 19, 2018 Bigfoot has become more sophisticated of late and no longer uses the woods. 1
SWWASAS Posted June 19, 2018 BFF Patron Posted June 19, 2018 Yes that peeking behavior even at night suggests they assume we see as well as they do at night. Most of the time with artificial illumination or a camp fire, we can barely see anything much away from the fire or light source. 4 minutes ago, Rockape said: Bigfoot has become more sophisticated of late and no longer uses the woods. Since the homeless populate city streets, camp and go to the bathroom anyplace they choose, this is the only place city dwelling BF can get some privacy.
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