Kiwakwe Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 I've been thinking a bit on what @hiflier brought up in another thread about our disparate methods used in the "quest". I've strong anarchist leanings but I'm open to considering a more organized methodology, though I'm not sure what it would look like. I suppose it would be based on endgame. I'm not so inclined toward finding the ultimate proof that the science community would be convinced by. IMO if those eejits can't be bothered to investigate the overwhelming evidence at hand, they don't deserve the proof-- hard won off the backs of those who put in the time. But is there a better mousetrap? If we were all equipped to gather eDNA it would be helpful no doubt. Weak link there is what then? Not everyone has a the funds nor a biologist with access to means in their pocket. @wiiawiwb mentioned a thousand think tanks roaming with different tactics is a good strategy and I'd be inclined, due to aforementioned leanings, to agree. But if the endgame is acceptance by the scientific community, might a cohesive, unified strategy be beneficial? The BFF is the best knowledge base out there on the subject IMO. What say you? Where could we improve upon our methods? An important adjunct to the question is the answer to your personal "why." Are you out looking to prove to yourself? To scientism?(In the pejorative, if it were science, they'd be looking!) And if proved to scientism, then what? Habitat/species protection? Reworking evolution? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigantor Posted April 9, 2021 Admin Share Posted April 9, 2021 22 minutes ago, Kiwakwe said: I'm open to considering a more organized methodology I'm sure the Steering Committee would support using BFF resources for such an effort, if it makes sense and is well defined. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiflier Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 In support of such a methodology we need to understand that neither myself nor anyone else is alone in this kind of thinking. Case in point? This snippet that I captured from a recent podcast in an exchange between Dr. Meldrum and James "Bobo" Fay. I have been on Bobo's "page" for years and was pleased to hear Meldrum's comments along with Bobo's "rant" shall we say: Meldrum- James Bobo Fay.mp3 I'd like to thank Kiwakwe for bring up the subject, and gigantor for his response. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiflier Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 What's not easy to do sometimes is put things into perspective. Dr. Meldrum in the podcast said that Dr. Gemmel from New Zealand, same guy who did the Loch Ness e-DNA study, would come here to the US and set up and deploy a program for Sasquatch discovery. It might cost $500, 000 for him to do that. But he WOULD do it if the funds could b made available. And then we have a movie company here in the US putting up a $2,000,000 purse as a bounty for anyone capturing a BF in that Oklahoma contest. A quarter of that money would pay for Dr. Gemmel's US e-DNA Sasquatch discovery project......again, just to put things in perspective. But in either case, Gemmel's would a MAJOR investment in a MAJOR project. We might b able to contribute a little bit towards it but the BFF in no way could fund it. What is important though is to perhaps begin to think of a methodology that most if not all could be involved in doing if they so wish. I'm thinking that's what Kiwakwe and gigantor were basically getting at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiflier Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 Would it help to narrow down a particular methodology by picking a season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwakwe Posted April 10, 2021 Author Share Posted April 10, 2021 9 minutes ago, hiflier said: Would it help to narrow down a particular methodology by picking a season? I know what your endgame is and that you've a strategy with an ace or two up your sleeve. Given that, then onward to ideas about how to go about it personally and ways that others could adopt the method. By seasons could be the place to start. What do you think would be a good way to maximize our efforts, how could we work in concert to do so? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hiflier Posted April 10, 2021 Share Posted April 10, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Kiwakwe said: What do you think would be a good way to maximize our efforts, how could we work in concert to do so? For winter? Lots of folks hitting the roads looking for tracks. Let's consider the nature of the beast (pun intended). Starting with winter, researchers obviously will be looking for, and seeing, tracks of all kinds. A few may be on foot or show shoes. Others may try to find a trackway by covering more ground in a vehicle on forest and other remote roads. Some of these methods may depend on the age of the researcher and what kind of physical condition they may be in vs. the terrain, which could apply to any season really. The likelihood of finding a trackway is slim at best but if one is cut, then with snow there shouldn't be just a single footprint. Also, prints that haven't melted out will be better defined and so the animal/creature that made them can be more easily identified. None of this is anything new to most of us. We could go through things like this season by season but no matter what, the key would be in the documentation process. We've seen images of suspected Sasquatch trackways. Some are quite impressive and have their own set of details that make a Bigfoot trackway unique unto it self. But what does one do with it? Photo it obviously, maybe with video, take careful measurements, get a GPS read maybe. Perhaps spray on some snow wax and then cast a couple of prints? But here's the thing, All of that has been done many times over and it hasn't succeeded in moving science's needle. Because, even though physical, it's all considered trace evidence. Some of you may have seen that I have set myself up for taking trackway snow samples should I be lucky enough to cut one. My materials cost ended up to be a only little over 40 bucks. In addition to a cooler, block ice for preserving any sample integrity in transit, and two gallons of household bleach for sterilizing the the small plastic snow scoops and 1 liter wide mouth Nalgene containers and their screw top lids. Total cost for everything so far? Under 60$. The bleach and blocks of ice I bought locally and the rest was through Amazon. I downloaded labels for the containers off the internet and printed them onto waterproof 8x11 peel-and-stick paper and got some good grade felt markers for writing on the labels. I picked up a few paint stirs from the hardware store to mark and stick into snow as identifiers for the video documentation. The only thing I need to do is purchase a small manual defrost 1.1 cu ft freezer (there's a good reason for that) for around $100 to store any samples in once I get them home. And that's it. One can get themselves all set up to scientifically collect and store samples for well under $200. All that's needed is a trackway. And BTW, the set up isn't just for snow samples, although that's my main goal which for me now means sometime next winter. There are a few detailed protocols involved, but they're all pretty simple and easy to follow. I can go into it if anyone wants to know more but, so far, that's the personal winter methodology that I've settled on. Edited April 10, 2021 by hiflier 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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