Meaning of Tree Knocks?

[hiflier]

1 hour ago, SWWASAS said:

Because of that,  the knock/howl methodology seems to be a dead end and the Finding Bigfoot series was good evidence of that.  

 

Okay, let's say Finding Bigfoot was more interested in an altruistic approach and still make a good income. Maybe the main characters KNEW howls and wood knocks would ensure that Bigfoot would never show up. Let's also say that ten seasons later everyone in the field is now imitating FB by howling and wood knocking. Result? No Bigfoot which under this scenario would mean that the techniques were taught to the public (and seasoned researchers) for the express reason that the methodologies would help keep Bigfoot safe and isolated from.......EVERYONE. It would make sure that Bigfoot would know where the Humans are and avoid them.

 

When one takes the time to read some of the more interesting reports in the database about actual Class A encounters? There is no mention of anyone doing any wood knocking OR howling. That speaks loudly to the idea that Bigfoot WILL COME IN CLOSE if a close distance is the only thing that will assure them of seeing who intruders are. Or they feel safer exercising their natural curiosity. Even young ones and groups were reported being seen. I don't think that would ever happen to anyone using Finding Bigfoot's methods.

 

It all seems quite logical to me but does it to anyone else? LOL.    

Edited August 2, 2019 by hiflier

[SWWASAS]

Cliff himself told me one day during a one on one discussion and said that Finding Bigfoot would never find bigfoot.    I did not ask him to explain as the statement sort of flabbergasted me.   I guess at least he questioned the methodology.    Perhaps not enough to stop knocking and howling.    As far as I know he had not had a sighting at the point the series ended.   I have not seen him since that time.  

 

i agree in that most encounters are random events where the BF makes some sort of mistake.   Most likely because if they know humans are in the area they may not know where and blunder into the human.   Or did not know the human was there.     I always had the impression that BF knew when I drove into their active area.   I just made myself difficult to locate by changing directions several times when there.  It worked more than once to get them to blunder into me.   That and urination in their presence elicited a response twice.   Once I did not know that one was present and the second time I did.   That time it really ticked it off, and it sort of ran me out of the woods, escorting me back to my truck.  I suspect it thought I was marking its territory and did not like that.   

Edited August 2, 2019 by SWWASAS

[Belpherion]

On 8/1/2019 at 2:04 PM, SWWASAS said:

No and as I have stated before, I will avoid that as long as there is a possibility that I will write a book someday.     I do not want to get into a copyright battle over a picture that someone can claim is theirs because it has already been published.  .  It is not that  good anyway but certainly the events leading up to the picture point to it being more than a blobsquatch.    The picture shows most of the head and one arm which I believe was extended towards its prone mother nearby.    I  believe that was a cinnamon brown object in the picture that was not present when the thud / knock location was examined and surface disturbance was located.        It is however one of the very few that show a juvenile at all.   Due to its size it was likely being carried by its mother.   Certainly it would not have been capable of keeping up with mom when she came crashing through the underbrush towards me.   I know it was difficult for me to get to the thud and knock location to take the picture.    If any of you run into me at a conference I usually carry an 8 by 10 of the juvenile that I can show you.   

 

 

Copyright is a topic near and dear to my heart.  I have a photo club that I lead in my area with 520 members.  I frequently get asked about copyright issues and I hear a lot of Internet BS getting tossed around as gospel.  The first rule of copyright is that it begins with the shutter click.  The second rule is that copyright is only enforceable if the photo has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.  The copyright attaches to the original author of the work unless the work is created under contract to another person where the copyright is expressly transferred to the second party.  The 3rd rule of copyright is that it is only enforceable in Federal Court.  It is the only expressed right in the unamended Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 ), ahead of free speech or the right to bear arms or any of the rest of the amendments.  An unregistered work that is infringed upon must be registered with the Copyright Office prior to any lawsuit being filed.  If an unregistered infringement occurs, statutory awards may not be available.  Infringements of registered works are subject to up to $150,000 in penalties plus court costs and attorney fees.  I always recommend my photographers register their works at least once a year as a collection.  Registration fees are cheap enough, $55 standard fee, $35 for a single work.  I've registered 100,000 photos in my life.  Doesn't matter if the photos are crap or not.  Registered is registered and it protects your butt from all sorts of industry douchebaggery.  Pay $35 and electronically register you photo.  Now.

 

I also warn my students to NEVER post anything on social media unless they have READ the TOS for that site.  If you post to FaceBook, it's theirs.  Period.  Their TOS gives them a license to use anything you post for their own use, including their affiliates.  Most of the other social media places have the same or similar TOS.  So, register your work and be extremely careful about who and how you grant publication rights to your work.  If you are going to write a book and publish it, get an attorney first.  Secure your rights!  I've had more than one person in my group that has taken a very nice photo, posted it on FB, then seen their work on a billboard or on an airport wall and they didn't get anything from the Court for damages because the work wasn't registered prior to the infringement.  A good question to ask a potential copyright attorney is, "Where will you file my claim if someone steals my work?"  If the answer is anything other than Federal Court, walk away from them fast.  They don't know anything about copyright law and you are being hustled.  That kind of attorney will bleed you dry pursuing all sorts of local Court Tort complaints and get you nothing in the end.  No to small claims court!  No to District Court!  No to out-of-court settlements or deals.  Don't settle for tens of thousands when you are entitled to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in statutory and compensatory damages.     

[hiflier]

Great advice, Belpherion!

 

Came out with my own self-published book last December. Got the ISBN number and registered the work with the U.S. Copyright Office. Only way to go. It's in the Library of Congress, too. It's a unique, one of a kind type of book with no competitors which is the second reason that it  truly needed protecting. It was a three year process from the research phase to the cover design and interior layout. I did everything except the final professional printing but made sure the copyright was in place BEFORE sending the files off to the printer. Too much work went into the book to just to end up losing it to someone or a publisher.

 

P.S. Your photography is nothing short of excellent. Was B&W film (Ilford films loaded into Pentax K1000's). Ilford's ASA 50 was my all-time favorite film. Still is.

[Huntster]

The howling and clubbing of trees on Finding Bigfoot was simply a Hollywood filler to give the shows some meat. The acts themselves are similar to guys "hunting" deer, elk, bear, whatever and driving all over the countryside on ATVs stinking the place up and thinking that they're going to come upon an animal who clearly heard them coming and waiting there to be shot. 

[Doug]

The wood knocks we (my hunting partner and I) were hearing when bow hunting the central coast range of Oregon in the time between 1990 and 1994 occurred differently at different times. Some times it was two to five when we first got into the area and then it was quite. Other times it would continue sporadicly over the course of the evening. Just one or two at a time with long spaces between. Maybe 8 or so over the course of several hours. One time, it was continuous (at least an hour or more, with about 5 to 10 min between) as we walked up an old cat road that was just a game trail by then. That's at least twenty knocks.  The road also had trees about 12 to 15 feet tall along it that had the tops twisted and hanging down about 10 feet or so high on the trees.

 

I also have begun to think that some knocks or even all of them are vocalizations.

[Madison5716]

If someone was hoaxing us at the Meadow, all 3 of us were armed and they would be an effing idiot.

 

We have never seen another vehicle up this road and we have no predictable visit schedule. And it's out there. Way out there. 

 

 

[Belpherion]

There is another possibility for wood knocks, rock clacks, etc. that I haven't seen mentioned yet.  Hunting.  It is very plausible that in addition to communication, hunting is a purpose to which sound has been used by primates for tens of thousands of years.  How did our ancestors hunt in the earliest of days?  A group would split into two or more parties.  One party would stealthily lay in wait downwind of potential prey.  The second group would move in from the upwind direction in a noisy fashion, whooping, clapping, stomping, and generally making a lot of noise.  Prey animals will almost always move in the opposite direction from perceived danger if terrain allows...right into the kill zone of the waiting hunters.  Chimpanzees have been documented using similar tactics when they hunt monkeys and other chimpanzees.  Why wouldn't sasquatch?  

 

Sure, I agree that communication is also a viable and reasonable explanation for the noises, but why wouldn't a moderately to highly intelligent primate find multiple uses for a given skill?  Chimpanzees do it.  Humans do it.  Why not sasquatch?  My apologies if someone else already made this point and I missed it.  

[SWWASAS]

I also have picked up single pings of infrasound when they are around on my digital recording gear.      I have not investigated that but perhaps I should.    Like getting zapped,  that has happened to me once in many years of research so it may not be common enough to make any use of.      It has to be some sort of communication or way they keep track of each other.    Sort of similar to what dolphins do in the water.      I record continuously in the field and quite frankly the payback wading through the hours of recordings is just not there.    If they use that pulse like a wood knock, thinking we cannot hear it like we can a knock,  then it is a dead position giveaway with directional sound gear.     Getting directional information out of an infrasound pulse requires more than off the shelf gear.    You would need a array and measure the difference in time the pulse reaches each sensor.  Off hand the only way I would know how to do it is a multiple trace oscilloscope.   Not anything remotely portable in other than a camp environment.    Speaking of that,  if anyone has a camp, in which BF actively engage humans present,   I would be happy to loan out my infrasound detector to anyone that wants to monitor for it.   Right now it is in a box in a closet and not being used.     You need a notebook computer with appropriate software attached to the detector. 

Edited August 3, 2019 by SWWASAS

[Madison5716]

SWWASAS, have you ever seen any of BIgfoot Anthropologist's stuff on YouTube? Some of its very interesting, and he sees them using mouth pops, clicks and Infrasound to communicate very subtly with one another as much as vocalizations, maybe more.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Madison5716