Sierra Shooting from A-Z

[BobbyO]

No need to be, BobbyO. I appreciated your input and you trying to help.

In no way was I offended by your opinion. If my response led you to believe otherwise please accept my apologies.

Don't be silly See, i was only joking..

[Guest]

If the migration theory is true, which it very well could be the case, has anyone correlated the latitude to other documented sightings at that same latitude in the same time in the fall? Or is it maybe just up and down the mountain according to seasons? I suspect a migration would be easier to track nationwide in the spring as plants bloom from the south to the north.

[georgerm]

If the migration theory is true, which it very well could be the case, has anyone correlated the latitude to other documented sightings at that same latitude in the same time in the fall? Or is it maybe just up and down the mountain according to seasons? I suspect a migration would be easier to track nationwide in the spring as plants bloom from the south to the north.

My theory for Southwestern Oregon is they travel up the mountains in the Spring where the deer also go, then in the Fall they come down to the streams where the salmon run is active. In the winter the hills are snowed in so BF remains in the lower elevations. I imagine they have permanent homes in both areas such as caves or tunnels.

[Guest General]

I think derek answered all the questions that we're asked. I just got around to readin this. In short tons of gass deer and plants and berries up there. It sits under several feet of snow nearly half the year. Its very remote imo but not far from the highway at the same time.

I know there was some in this area on july 18th. I know there was more or a different one on aug 20th and the shootin was in october.

That said if they are anything like deer or other animals I chase I believe this to be a breeding ground for them more like a place to raise their young.

Whether or not they migrate there or live in the snow and stay there year around well at this point I just don't know yet what I think they do

[Guest General]

I don't know what they would eat in the winter in that area, I really wonder. There is simply nothing there 4-6 months out of the year. There is anywhere from 4 to 7 feet of snow. virtaully no deer stick around there is nearly no ground exposure.

[See-Te-Cah NC]

Thank you, General. Your answers are much appreciated.

[Guest]

For those following this thread, you may want to look at the henner thread too. Relevant info was brought up in that thread.

[Guest parnassus]

I would like to know who sent the steak sample to Ketchum ie who will get the results. And wonder if it turns out to be a known animal, will we hear about it?

[Guest HairyGreek]

You beat me to it Parn....

[Guest slimwitless]

I would like to know who sent the steak sample to Ketchum ie who will get the results. And wonder if it turns out to be a known animal, will we hear about it?

Word on the street is that the flesh sample was sent by the shooter at the urging of Derek Randles. As the shooter is now an official member of the Olympic Project, I would say both of those guys are on Melba Ketchum's speed dial. As for your second question, the magic ape ball reads, "Better not tell you now".

Edited October 8, 2011 by slimwitless

[southernyahoo]

And wonder if it turns out to be a known animal, will we hear about it?

Something tells me that Ketchum would have put an end to the idea it was from a BF right quickly if it was within anyones ability to do so. ID of bear, or canid flesh should be a very simple task for hers', or any other lab.

[Guest General]

I would like to know who sent the steak sample to Ketchum ie who will get the results. And wonder if it turns out to be a known animal, will we hear about it?

Its just non interesting details but sense you asked... The piece was found on a believe a Sunday, from there it was divided (cut up, i took some driver took some, then we had a small piece for testing that basically belonged to derek) i hadnt meat derek at the time an had just talked to him on the phone a few times and i was not involved in the OP or anything bf related at the time. After it was divided it was then wrapped in paper and frozen. The next day I left to go hunting for a few days. Derek called me and wanted to know why I hadnt sent the piece out before i left. I while in the woods answered my phone and told him something a long the lines of the post office didnt open up before 4am and i had to get to hunting before the season closed the following week and that I would deal with it when i returned maybe in a few days maybe in a week or so, I told him there was no hurry. He had a HUGE sense of urgency about the whole thing like any of us would now. I told him well call my wife she is at home doesnt have a car but hey if you think you can talk her into sending it by all means go for it she knows where it is. From there he suggested maybe he should just drive the 12 hours one way to come pick it up. I was pretty blown away by that idea but it helped show me how serious he was about the whole thing.

Apparently Derek was pretty persuasive and was able to talk my wife into getting a ride from her sister to the post office and mailing it over night to Dr Ketchum on what was probably Wednesday morning. So ''my wife sent it'', I guess i could have just said that but then it would have brought up several questions i just answered first.

As we have said we got the results a long time ago, if it was from a known animal we would have all been done talking about this a long time ago.

So thats that. While I'm here I got a few pm's and emails wanting me to respond to what someone was saying on another thread on here and another forum elsewhere, so here it goes. Again its really not all that interesting but anything new is news for now.

Several researchers visited the site with me in July. One of the researchers offered to arrange to get cavader dogs to come to the site to help find the bodies. The dog handler said it would need some scent from the BF to find it. I then half thawed the piece and cut a tiny piece off. I was planning on being in the woods with the researchers for 3 to 4 days. I wasnt planning on getting dry ice and un freezing it several times throughout the trip. I had no intention of this piece ever being tested. No one did. As some of you know I've been practicing taxidermy as a hobby on and off for a few years. I knew salt drying it wouldnt affect the smell much and would keep it in the same condition for pretty much ever, (salt drying it, basically just makes it jerky, looks exactly the same smells the same but lacks moister, it freezes it in place). So i went out in the garage and reused some salt I had from some other animals. It smelled exactly the same (basically like ass in short) and it was perfectly preserved physically and would be perfect for the dogs. This was a VERY small piece meant only to be used by the dogs.

The dogs never showed up, or well now that i think about it i guess they did while i was gone hiking but there was too much human scent in the area from everyone else looking that the dogs werent helpful, i believe thats what happened but i was not actually there when the person with the dogs came. So the dogs didnt work out.

One of the researchers asked if he could have some of the piece to study. I said its up to wally. I gave it to wally and told him to do whatever he saw fit with it. He gave the guy a piece and might have given a few pieces out to other researchers there I do not know. The original piece i salt dried was less then a square inch thats the only piece that was ever salt dried.

There is no contamination that piece was never suppose to be tested. Just used for the dogs. So that is ''the contamination'' that people have talked about, We all knew what happened with the piece. That researcher was just talking about what he had visually observed. I do not believe anyone would try to test that piece, it would be a waste of time, i think? i dont know much about the dna process. We all knew all this it wasnt a leak or new news to anyone it was really just people talking about it that had half the story.

We still have some of the flesh sample as i've said many times, but again its already been tested tried and trued. We know what it is and I look forward to when we can share everything with you guys that we have learned from the piece..

[Guest]

We are approaching the one year mark since the shooting. General, are you still spending time searching and tracking in the same area where the shooting occurred? Have you found any more tracks or scat there this summer?

[bipedalist]

So General, you wrapped the sample in paper and froze. What were the precautions taken to avoid contamination on your numerous attempts at subdividing when that was done (not talking about the dog chunk here)?

Was there any other wrapping material or preservation techniques used prior to freezing after wrapping in paper? How many days elapsed between picking the sample up in the field, subdividing and then sending off to Ketchum the sequenced piece?

Thanks for the updated info.

[Guest General]

We are approaching the one year mark since the shooting. General, are you still spending time searching and tracking in the same area where the shooting occurred? Have you found any more tracks or scat there this summer?

I am going up one day this week and will be there sun up to sun down and next week I'll be there for an evening outing. I was there last week and 4 weeks prior. I hope I'm wrong but it looks like I'm getting ready to get snowed out for the year, theres about 2 ft of snow up there right now (it really gets dumped on). I have not seen any tracks at all sense the second week of july. I'll be up there as much as possible for the next 10 days or so. After that theres likely going to be too much snow to get there.

On aprox aug 20th I felt like I did have an encounter up there but I'm 50/50 on it. I believe something happened but.... well

I didnt even believe in wood knocks well I didnt not believe in them (I should start out with I'm a glass is half empty sort of guy when it comes to bf stuff, I am convinced theres possibly like 200 of them left and thats why they can stay hidden, I think most the people that encounter bf have an over active imagination) NO OFFENSE. OBVIOUSLY I'm a believer I hate that term people act like its a belief like a religion. anywho, I didnt even believe in wood knocks (well I was pretty sure they COULD possibly might not be real, I just had to hear it myself). I was back up at the shooting site. This is what makes it weird/hard to believe (for myself too) but its what happened on my baby daughters life. My huntin buddys a huge skeptic we were huntin on a 3 day weekend, it was about 10pm we were sitting around the fire and my buddy says ''ready to go some wood knocks justin? haha that **** it so stupid I've lived in the woods my whole life and never heard or seen a bigfoot in my life, its not real, HAHA'' and JUST THEN.... whack, a short pause whhhhaaacckk. and a third one. My buddy looks over at me and says ''wanna sit in the truck?'' It was CLOSE. Like 40 yards away. All we had were our bows. He was pretty freaked out. It was awesome... I thought it was nuts. I just dont understand what the odds are of us or him joking about it and JUST THEN it happens. It sounded like a baseball bat on a tree, it was LOUD. There was no one around the nearest people to us were a mile away at least. I would be sold on the fact that I had an up close encounter BUT why in the world would it happen just then when we were talking about it. Idk but I have a hard time believing someone snuck in on us in the dry summer sticks everywhere and sat there listened to our conversation and waited to just the right moment just for a laugh. I dont know seems like its easier to believe that it was a bigfoot. I would have no questions in my own mind about it if it wasnt for such weird timing.....