BigFoot Don't Contour

[WSA]

I'm always looking for patterns and consistencies in the sighting database. We all know the ones most commonly reported, but there is one I think that might be getting overlooked, or maybe it is just too obvious to have drawn comment . Either way, I think it bears mentioning here. It is the observed tendency of a BF to more often than not take a straight-line tack, regardless of the steepness of the terrain or obstacles that might lie directly in its path. Any person who has spent time walking/hunting/backpacking knows that there are two ways up or down a mountain or hill. You can go faster/steeper or slower/less steep. This animal seems to almost always choose the first option. It is described time and again in the reports, but not really discussed or emphasized particularly.  It almost seems like it has no vision for any path other than the one that lies straight ahead, no matter what is in the way...climbing straight-up cliffs, even going up and over stumps and rocks that could be easily skirted.  Unlike most animals, especially humans, there doesn't seem to be any calories expended vs. calories saved analysis or debate with a BF.    

 

Can any others verify that they see this too? And what's up with that?

 

   

Edited January 6, 2020 by WSA

[hiflier]

I was thinking a lot about that a couple of years ago. And then again after I first heard of the Olympic nest discoveries. Is Sasquatch smart? I would say yes. If it knows about Humans and other animals then it has observed both take the path of least resistance. Being chased by an apex predator could change things on that  but when Humans get chased they still stay pretty much to paths just for easier footing and faster retreats. So my guess is that part of their ability to escape/avoid Humans is by utilizing terrain which is more difficult.

 

And then there is the observance and ambush element where the high ground would be preferred? Then there is slipping and sliding down chutes to access water. Bears can and do perform similarly but the uphill, full speed avoidance maneuver is something many remark on because it is so astounding. That kind of reported activity seems to be always followed by something like "faster than any Human could". As an example that is on film, Patty walked away in a fairly straight path with only slight deviations. Good topic.

Edited January 6, 2020 by hiflier

[WSA]

Thanks for the comment hiflier, and I'm glad you agree it is worthwhile to discuss. The vulnerability of any prey goes up significantly when their actions become more predictable. For those wanting to kill a Sasquatch, this tendency could be exploited.  For instance, if you know that your quarry is likely to run away from you, uphill, in a straight line, you would be less likely to try and track it in your sights and more likely to just anticipate the shot at, say, that clearing at the top of the hill. Likewise,  given the strong suspicion that BF do on occasion abduct humans, it could be of use in a search/recovery operation of the missing.

 

I've often wondered why there are so many sightings while crossing roads too.  It seems of a piece with this same behavior or tendency. Something as smart as they appear to be should certainly be able to wait a few minutes to allow a car to pass by, especially on remote roads with little traffic, and there is no doubt they can hear the car approach or see the headlights well in advance. Yet they are exposed on road crossings all the time.  Why? The answer might just be, "They can't help themselves".  Why did the Sasquatch cross the road? Because the road happened to be across its path and Sasquatch don't slow down or deviate for anything.  

 

 

[BobbyO]

Yeah there's something to that for sure. I think that we'd all agree that they have far superior physicality to what we have, and therefore maybe don't/won't view "obstacles" like you speak of, as we view them.

 

We can speculate as to why but it's probably because of a number of different things.

 

My personal belief based solely on how few in the grand scheme of things, have been found, is that they do look to conceal their tracks whenever and wherever possible. If they do, then that could also be a reason as to why.

[NatFoot]

Well, staying off the past of least resistance  also means tracks are less likely to be found on trails.

 

It could also be an embellishment to any story of a sighting to make it more believable (hoax).

[BobbyO]

2 minutes ago, WSA said:

 

I've often wondered why there are so many sightings while crossing roads too.  It seems of a piece with this same behavior or tendency. Something as smart as they appear to be should certainly be able to wait a few minutes to allow a car to pass by, especially on remote roads with little traffic, and there is no doubt they can hear the car approach or see the headlights well in advance. Yet they are exposed on road crossings all the time.  Why? The answer might just be, "They can't help themselves".  Why did the Sasquatch cross the road? Because the road happened to be across its path and Sasquatch don't slow down or deviate for anything.  

 

 

 

This for me is one of the biggest conundrums with the whole subject, as it just makes no sense like you say.

 

I can only conclude that for whatever reason that I don't know, they do it on purpose.

[hiflier]

58 minutes ago, WSA said:

I've often wondered why there are so many sightings while crossing roads too.  It seems of a piece with this same behavior or tendency. Something as smart as they appear to be should certainly be able to wait a few minutes to allow a car to pass by, especially on remote roads with little traffic, and there is no doubt they can hear the car approach or see the headlights well in advance. Yet they are exposed on road crossings all the time.  Why?

 

Your thoughts so far have been right out of my past play book. Between you, BobbyO, and Natfoot, some of the "won't deviate from the path" comments do seem to be part of the creature's characteristic. As far as road crossings go that may indeed come into play. 

 

The bold underlined section of the quote used to make no sense to me when I first came to the BFF and read reports of such behavior. I asked myself the same question: Why? My conclusion? Because vehicle tires for the most part sound like wind coming. A smart creature uses wind to smell prey or danger. So could a BF stop to give itself a chance to sniff the "wind"? By the time it realizes it isn't the wind it's too late. In a more precisely stated manner, it sees the vehicle, or sees the headlights, and hears the tires (wind) but the "wind" so far hasn't produced a smell to tell the creature there is prey or danger yet. So it waits.

 

It's the only thing I've been able to come up with. It's simple really for a creature whose experiences in life mostly involve NATURAL things. Like wind, rain, other animal sounds and smells. That's its world. So in trying to fit a vehicle into that world it can only use what it knows about. Even in our own world, with its multisensory overload, we still go on alert when something doesn't fit. Our first response is to make it fit with what we know. If we can't do that, like with a BF encounter? Well then.......we know the rest- which includes generating a BF discussion Forum  

 

How about a real-world example. Have any of you ever been inside and, without looking, mistook wind for rain or rain for wind? I have. In some situations they can sound similar.

Edited January 6, 2020 by hiflier

[norseman]

2 hours ago, WSA said:

I'm always looking for patterns and consistencies in the sighting database. We all know the ones most commonly reported, but there is one I think that might be getting overlooked, or maybe it is just too obvious to have drawn comment . Either way, I think it bears mentioning here. It is the observed tendency of a BF to more often than not take a straight-line tack, regardless of the steepness of the terrain or obstacles that might lie directly in its path. Any person who has spent time walking/hunting/backpacking knows that there are two ways up or down a mountain or hill. You can go faster/steeper or slower/less steep. This animal seems to almost always choose the first option. It is described time and again in the reports, but not really discussed or emphasized particularly.  It almost seems like it has no vision for any path other than the one that lies straight ahead, no matter what is in the way...climbing straight-up cliffs, even going up and over stumps and rocks that could be easily skirted.  Unlike most animals, especially humans, there doesn't seem to be any calories expended vs. calories saved analysis or debate with a BF.    

 

Can any others verify that they see this too? And what's up with that?

 

   

If you have a very flexible foot? Why not? The fast path between two points is a straight line.

 

Another idea is that Indian myths talk about Bigfoot living high in the mountains. That in its self is a defensive tactic. Taking the high ground. In the Rockies and Cascades without climbing gear that’s a challenge. Humans traditionally stay down along the rivers.

 

So it’s probably seasonal, and behavioral strategies taking advantage of their morphology.

[Sasfooty]

Something else that they may do is jump "big" things in their path. My son was out one night, standing uphill above a creek. He said he heard some coyotes headed his way, yipping. He stepped behind a shed to keep out of their sight, & when they got to the creek, they all went down in it to get across. He said that there was "something else" with them, running on all fours, that was the size of a big yearling calf. When it got to the bank of the creek, it easily jumped across, & ran on off beside the coyotes. That creek is about 16 feet across where it jumped.

[BlackRockBigfoot]

21 hours ago, BobbyO said:

 

This for me is one of the biggest conundrums with the whole subject, as it just makes no sense like you say.

 

I can only conclude that for whatever reason that I don't know, they do it on purpose.

Seems like with such compulsive behavior, we would have a roadkill corpse by now.  

 

Like you said, it just doesn't make sense.

[hiflier]

21 hours ago, Sasfooty said:

Something else that they may do is jump "big" things in their path

 

Lots of reports of them getting over things like corral fences without breaking stride. Tall ones too, like 4 ft. They must teach their young to not use gates  

[WSA]

I think the "no road kill yet" conundrum is explained by a couple of points. The first of which is to question the presumption that this is actually the case. I'm not convinced  there hasn't been more than one collision (several reported), with some individuals injured (ditto) and possibly even a death, or several.  One thing that I am amused by is the idea that if anything momentous happens regarding confirmation of the species, everybody across the globe will see it on the news the next morning.  If there truly have not been any...again, highly doubtful...or that they are exceptionally rare, it is probably explained by how lightning fast, massive and durable these animals are.  Experience teaches us that even an animal as seemingly frail but fast as a deer can take a pretty good wallop,  and unless it is killed or disabled outright it will have the ability to run pretty far off the road before succumbing.  No way to know of course, but I''ll bet a significant percentage of deer that are struck each year wind up recovering from their injuries, or at least surviving them. These factors and a highly adapted intelligence makes it highly unlikely a BF is going to "buy it" this way, or that there is going to be a body we can find if it does.  

 

Think about this too...if you are on a lonely country road at night and something on two legs bolts out in front of you and you hit it,  it is possible you might elect to flee the scene in a panic, thinking you've hit a human. If so, the person probably lives in terror of LE coming to his door,  while scanning the local papers and the internet for confirmation of his crime..which never happens, and of course nobody is ever the wiser, and he just explains to his insurance company/body shop guy that he just hit a deer/elk/moose/dog/cow. Wonder how many confessions to family members and friends there have been, describing such a scenario, and which will never reach the public?  

[hiflier]

There was the lady in Idaho that said she damaged her car after hitting a Bigfoot. Lying?

Edited January 7, 2020 by hiflier

[WSA]

^^^^^Yup, one of a couple of accounts. If you were going to go out of your way to fabricate a story, that seems like one where you'd get a low return on your investment.  One frustrating thing about this field is of course when the answer to a question is contained in an encounter report, or more than one, the explanation is discounted  instead of being viewed as highly probable....even when the experience is directly on-point and rationally addresses the circumstances at issue.    

[Airdale]

A friend of mine who drives charter buses had an incident a few years ago about 45 road miles from my home. He was driving a group from Helena, MT to a hot springs resort near Anaconda, MT. On I-15 about 10 miles from Butte, MT,  in an area called Elk Park, elevation 6,200'. As he came down from the mountains on to the long straight road there was thick but patchy fog on the ground. He slowed the bus immediately and while in the first patch of fog, something covered in brown hair with head on a level with his eyes (this was a full sized charter bus, not a school bus) appeared out of the fog immediately in front of the left front of the bus. He couldn't maneuver and it bounced off the front corner and as he watched in the side mirror appeared to kind of roll down the left side before disappearing in the fog. He is a lifelong hunter, former Marine EOD technician and detailed observer. He had a quick but extremely close look and said it was no bear, elk, moose or any other animal he is familiar with. The blow was so glancing that none of the passengers noticed it and because of the fog he didn't stop until they dropped down into Butte. There was no visible damage or evidence of the impact so he continued to the resort and told me of the even the next weekend.

 

There are a number of Bigfoot sightings in this part of the state, at least two within 15 miles of this incident, one of which was featured on Finding Bigfoot. In that case, a businessman returning to Bozeman from Butte was driving a Ford Expedition over Homestake Pass on I-90 in the afternoon when what he first took to be a hunter in a gillie suit ran down a steep embankment from the left, ran on to the highway on two legs clearing the center Jersey barrier without pausing then continued across the two eastbound lanes directly in front of the witness and up the bank on the right.

 

The lady hiflier referred to actually hit a deer that veered in front of her car and she saw a Bigfoot in her rear view mirror pursuing several more deer. I drove by the spot in September of 2018 returning from a RV trip; it's about a dozen miles north of a sighting on Moscow Mountain reported by an airline pilot and his girl friend in 2005 in which they reported observing a female and young Bigfoot for several minutes.

Edited January 7, 2020 by Airdale
Correct misspelled word