Do the police take squatch reports seriously?

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, NatFoot said:

........You'd think he would've seen or experienced SOMETHING.

 

I read that constantly from outdoorsmen. But you can spend your whole life in the woods and never see even some common animals.

[NatFoot]

40 minutes ago, Huntster said:

 

I read that constantly from outdoorsmen. But you can spend your whole life in the woods and never see even some common animals.

 

Mountain lion is one of those.

[MIB]

1 hour ago, Huntster said:

I read that constantly from outdoorsmen. But you can spend your whole life in the woods and never see even some common animals.

 

My father is like that.   He claims they can't exist because he hasn't seen one (*).   While he truly is surrounded by National Forest land on all sides, and he is in a good spot, aside from a couple days a year in deer season, he doesn't go into the woods.    He takes pride in killing his deer the first time he goes out and ridicules others (like me) who take longer as "wasting time".     Despite all of the potential, he doesn't actually have the exposure he thinks he does.    It has proven impossible to get him to see that.

 

(*) He does have a story ... he told me of seeing something that looked just like a sasquatch would look "if they existed."     (truly, what do you do with that level of deliberate blindness?)    Knowing him as I do, I guarantee if they were proved to exist tomorrow, he'd be an expert, has known about them all his life.

 

Some people .. y' just gotta give up on.  

 

'til 2 years ago, I had never seen a marten.    I caught one on trail camera about 3-4 years ago, and possibly another.    Then one day I saw two, separately, over a mile apart.  

 

It's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.    Sometimes the odds of that are not what we expect them to be.

 

MIB

[BlackRockBigfoot]

The woods are VAST...and even people who hike them often are only seeing a tiny part of the area.  Look a map of a good sized national forest.  Established trails barely scratch the surface of the area. And the vast majority of people never get off the trail, let alone traverse the first natural barrier like a steep climb in elevation or water crossing.

 

I get this all of the time.  People tell me that they are in the Cataloochee area all of the time and that it is impossible that these creatures exist there because they would have seen them by now.  

 

They count pulling over on a paved road to look at the reintroduced elk as being intimately familiar with the entire region.  

[wiiawiwb]

I'd bet that 98%+ of people who venture into the forest never leave the trail.  I go off trail all the time and never see anyone nor any indications someone came through.  Why would they?

 

You'll see a hunter during hunting season and someone into birding. Hikers stay on the trail and backpackers generally tend to hike to a lean-to or an allowable or prescribed tent area.  I've seen avid fishermen go back to secluded ponds to fish but that's pretty much it.

 

Look at Maine. It is 90% forested, which the highest percent of any state. It has 17 million acres of forest with a population of 1.4 million people.  I think a sasquatch could find lots of space to enjoy itself without ever being noticed.

[Patterson-Gimlin]

5 hours ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

The woods are VAST...and even people who hike them often are only seeing a tiny part of the area.  Look a map of a good sized national forest.  Established trails barely scratch the surface of the area. And the vast majority of people never get off the trail, let alone traverse the first natural barrier like a steep climb in elevation or water crossing.

 

I get this all of the time.  People tell me that they are in the Cataloochee area all of the time and that it is impossible that these creatures exist there because they would have seen them by now.  

 

They count pulling over on a paved road to look at the reintroduced elk as being intimately familiar with the entire region.  

I could not agree more. When I hear about expeditions covering an area. I Just think about the vast coverings the dark forests contain.

I hike ,camp and fish in such areas.

 

I have no idea what dwells there

Unequivocalby. I like to explore and travel off the beaten path.

 

I see lots of interesting life. Unfortunately no man apes. Just because I don't see them or believe in them does not mean that I am correct.

[BeansBaxter78]

The "I've never seen it, so it doesn't exist" mentality just amazes me. It's often spoken by someone who "Has been huntin' my whole life" or is "an avid outdoorsman."

 

Generally when I hear that, I just assume it means they go to the same hunting camp/hunting area every year, at the same time of year every year and they like to watch hunting shows on TV.

[hiflier]

1 hour ago, wiiawiwb said:

I go off trail all the time and never see anyone nor any indications someone came through.

 

Look at Maine. It is 90% forested, which the highest percent of any state. It has 17 million acres of forest with a population of 1.4 million people.  I think a sasquatch could find lots of space to enjoy itself without ever being noticed.

 

I used to go off trail but have since taken to the fact that I was intruder causing unnecessary stress to the creatures that live there.

 

As far as Maine goes, YES! Plenty of room although its sighting history is one of the lowest of any state. I attribute that, as you say, to a low population density within those 17 million acres. I did get an email from a guy who spent 19 days solo camping along a road somewhere in the NorthWoods who told me rocks had been thrown at him on one occasion and that coyotes had been chased out of his camp one night by "something". He said ha also saw what he thought was a juvenile close by. None of it in the BFRO so these experiences do happen and no one publicly hears of them.

[SWWASAS]

8 hours ago, NatFoot said:

 

Mountain lion is one of those.

I filled that square and now would like to see an Adult BF,  a Martin, and a wolverine.  Rare means rarely seen too.     I wonder how many of the life long hunters have actually seen a BF but refuse to accept that they had.  If seeing a bear is more comforting maybe that is how a few have handled the BF experience.   

Edited August 7, 2020 by SWWASAS

[Huntster]

9 hours ago, NatFoot said:

Mountain lion is one of those.

 

Yup. I heard one once, but have never seen one.

 

A flying squirrel is another. A wolverine is yet another.

 

 

[Will]

Been an avid hunter all my life, been a logger for the past 24 years. Never seen a copperhead snake. I’m hour or so outside DC, they’re supposed to be abundant here.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Will

[PNWexplorer]

I was mushroom hunting a couple of years ago in an area that was pretty remote.  Single muddy road into the area about two miles off the "main" gravel road and 15 miles from the nearest town.  I drove down the muddy road to where it dead-ended at a nice little clearing that someone had camped in a few times; campfire spot built and some leftover firewood.  I parked there, then started searching up the draw that was heavily wooded and contained a little creek.  I was all alone, except for my great dane/lab mix and there were no trails, other than game trails.  I'd been there about 45 minutes, my eyes glued to the ground looking for Morel mushrooms when I got the sense that something was watching me.  My dog also seemed to be looking into the brush, but didn't growl.

 

I was so convinced I was being watched that I actually took pictures of the dense brush where my dog was looking just in case...

 

I searched an area of about 50 yards wide along the small stream and went up in the dense woods about 500 yards.

 

About 15 minutes after feeling like I was being watched, I was along the stream bed and spotted a boot print in the mud along the stream.  It was a smaller print from a hiking boot and was super fresh.  Like within 20 minutes fresh with water still seeping into it.  The direction of travel indicated the person had come from the ridge top, down into the draw where I was searching for mushroom, then crossed the stream and back up the other side of the draw, all while I was less than 200 yards away and never heard or saw them.  

 

It was weird to encounter someone that far into the woods, with no trails or roads, that was completely off-trail, and able to elude my detection.  But, apparently my dog was aware of them, but he was a big friendly guy and rarely ever barked at anyone.

 

 

 

 

[hiflier]

Coulda been a Game Warden who saw you were not hunting and so decided to let things ride? Just a guess. Could've been anyone. Maybe a woman also looking for mushrooms who wanted to keep her distance?

Edited August 8, 2020 by hiflier

[BC witness]

"Avid hunter" here, for going on 60 years, though I don't hunt as much now, as all my old buddies have either given it up due to health, or passed on. :-(

 

In that time, I've seen 5 cougar/puma/mtn lions, 5 grizzlies, 1 pine marten,  0 wolverine, and 1 Sasquatch. That kind of puts their rarity in perspective for me.

[wiiawiwb]

BC...You've almost run the table. Good for you as you've experienced creatures almost all of us would cherish seeing.