Justin Smeja Incident?

[zman1967]

i thought they saw the adult go down and were looking for it when the 2 smaller ones showed up.  He shot one of the smaller ones and the other one ran away.  I do not believe they found the adult because they got out of there.  Just knew the general area it went down (i think from a lung shot).  They covered up the little one in debris and got out of there.

 

More than likely if it was not a bear, the little  one that ran away brought back another adult, and they retrieved any remains.

[Twist]

The video referenced here has the testimony from Smeja.   The adult ran off into the woods on all 4 / 2 legs and disappeared.  The two little ones wandered around while Smeja tried to track the adult. 

[cromag]

1 hour ago, Twist said:

The video referenced here has the testimony from Smeja.   The adult ran off into the woods on all 4 / 2 legs and disappeared.  The two little ones wandered around while Smeja tried to track the adult. 

Yes, I remember that part now.....I recall Justin saying the little ones were vocalizing between each other and it sounded "like deaf people".

 

[9-dot]

This was discussed in detail many years ago - with a fair bit of misinformation circulated.  At the risk of angering members for regurgitating the details here is my summary compiled some time ago:
 

The Justin Smeja Shooting Incident
               - “Facts” as reported by the two eyewitnesses (they agreed in all salient respects when interviewed separately) – summarized from a variety of sources the most trustworthy to be, in my opinion, Ro Sahebi’s 2013 movie “Dead Bigfoot: A True Story” (resulting from Smeja’s desire to tell his story on camera)

Occurred October 8, 2010.

Smeja and an anonymous friend, both from Sacramento, were bear hunting in the Sierra Nevada near Gold Lake in Plumas County, California.  Gold Lake is about 5.5 miles SW of Graeagle, about 10 miles N of Sierra City, about 45 miles NW of Lake Tahoe, about 50 miles W of Reno, Nevada, and about 90 miles NE of Sacramento.

Smeja’s friend was driving his truck, with Smeja in the passenger seat, down a dirt road removed some distance from the nearest well-travelled road through a forested area.

They were passing through a meadow expecting to see a bear, if they were to see any wildlife.

Just ahead of them about 80 yards off the road to their right (the passenger side) they spotted a dark hair covered animal.

They estimated it to be about 7 feet tall – it stood upright and stood and walked like a human.

Smeja’s friend stopped his truck and picked up his binoculars.  Smeja picked up his scoped rifle (a 25-.06), opened the passenger side door, placed his right foot on the ground, rested the rifle on the car door (window was down), and placed the crosshairs on the animal for 6-7 seconds.

Smeja’s friend was telling Smeja in ever more forceful tone: “Bro, don’t shoot.  Hey Bro, no!  Hey, hey, hey, hey!”

Smeja is thinking this animal is out of place; this animal should not be there (his words “this ain’t right”).

The animal was standing at the edge of the clearing waving its arms over its head and taking a couple of slow steps toward the truck.

Smeja had the crosshairs trained center mass (center high chest) and was squeezing the trigger as the animal started to turn to its left.

The gun discharged and impact was positioned just below the right armpit (the driver witnessed the concussion of the shot through his binoculars).

The animal stumbled a couple of steps, dropped to all 4’s, and began scrambling quickly over a hill.  Smeja had racked another bullet, considered firing a shot up the animal’s A$$ (Smeja’s words), but didn’t, as the driver was yelling: “No way!”

As the two humans departed the truck to chase the adult animal to verify the kill, they encountered two young animals at close range.

The young animals were searching for their parent – sometimes separating, sometimes rejoining, and vocalizing to one another.

Smeja decided to shoot one of the little ones with his chambered round – intending to take a dead little one with them back to civil1zation.

Smeja shot it below its chin in the neck just above the chest.  It rolled down the hill and landed on Smeja’s right boot.

Smeja picked it up and looked right into its eyes as it died in his arms.  Smeja said at that moment he realized he had murdered a little kid.  He said it was human – not an ape – a little human kid.

Smeja said he was not thinking rationally.  He thought he had just committed murder.

He buried it under some brush intending to return the next day to retrieve it but failed to do so – not returning until Spring 2011 and not finding the body (he found a piece of hair and hide in the general area – DNA testing later determined that to be bear).

[cromag]

7 minutes ago, 9-dot said:

This was discussed in detail many years ago - with a fair bit of misinformation circulated.  At the risk of angering members for regurgitating the details here is my summary compiled some time ago:
 

The Justin Smeja Shooting Incident
               - “Facts” as reported by the two eyewitnesses (they agreed in all salient respects when interviewed separately) – summarized from a variety of sources the most trustworthy to be, in my opinion, Ro Sahebi’s 2013 movie “Dead Bigfoot: A True Story” (resulting from Smeja’s desire to tell his story on camera)

Occurred October 8, 2010.

Smeja and an anonymous friend, both from Sacramento, were bear hunting in the Sierra Nevada near Gold Lake in Plumas County, California.  Gold Lake is about 5.5 miles SW of Graeagle, about 10 miles N of Sierra City, about 45 miles NW of Lake Tahoe, about 50 miles W of Reno, Nevada, and about 90 miles NE of Sacramento.

Smeja’s friend was driving his truck, with Smeja in the passenger seat, down a dirt road removed some distance from the nearest well-travelled road through a forested area.

They were passing through a meadow expecting to see a bear, if they were to see any wildlife.

Just ahead of them about 80 yards off the road to their right (the passenger side) they spotted a dark hair covered animal.

They estimated it to be about 7 feet tall – it stood upright and stood and walked like a human.

Smeja’s friend stopped his truck and picked up his binoculars.  Smeja picked up his scoped rifle (a 25-.06), opened the passenger side door, placed his right foot on the ground, rested the rifle on the car door (window was down), and placed the crosshairs on the animal for 6-7 seconds.

Smeja’s friend was telling Smeja in ever more forceful tone: “Bro, don’t shoot.  Hey Bro, no!  Hey, hey, hey, hey!”

Smeja is thinking this animal is out of place; this animal should not be there (his words “this ain’t right”).

The animal was standing at the edge of the clearing waving its arms over its head and taking a couple of slow steps toward the truck.

Smeja had the crosshairs trained center mass (center high chest) and was squeezing the trigger as the animal started to turn to its left.

The gun discharged and impact was positioned just below the right armpit (the driver witnessed the concussion of the shot through his binoculars).

The animal stumbled a couple of steps, dropped to all 4’s, and began scrambling quickly over a hill.  Smeja had racked another bullet, considered firing a shot up the animal’s A$$ (Smeja’s words), but didn’t, as the driver was yelling: “No way!”

As the two humans departed the truck to chase the adult animal to verify the kill, they encountered two young animals at close range.

The young animals were searching for their parent – sometimes separating, sometimes rejoining, and vocalizing to one another.

Smeja decided to shoot one of the little ones with his chambered round – intending to take a dead little one with them back to civil1zation.

Smeja shot it below its chin in the neck just above the chest.  It rolled down the hill and landed on Smeja’s right boot.

Smeja picked it up and looked right into its eyes as it died in his arms.  Smeja said at that moment he realized he had murdered a little kid.  He said it was human – not an ape – a little human kid.

Smeja said he was not thinking rationally.  He thought he had just committed murder.

He buried it under some brush intending to return the next day to retrieve it but failed to do so – not returning until Spring 2011 and not finding the body (he found a piece of hair and hide in the general area – DNA testing later determined that to be bear).

9-dot, thank you. That sums it up quite nicely.

[vinchyfoot]

11 hours ago, 9-dot said:

This was discussed in detail many years ago - with a fair bit of misinformation circulated.  At the risk of angering members for regurgitating the details here is my summary compiled some time ago:
 

The Justin Smeja Shooting Incident
               - “Facts” as reported by the two eyewitnesses (they agreed in all salient respects when interviewed separately) – summarized from a variety of sources the most trustworthy to be, in my opinion, Ro Sahebi’s 2013 movie “Dead Bigfoot: A True Story” (resulting from Smeja’s desire to tell his story on camera)

Occurred October 8, 2010.

Smeja and an anonymous friend, both from Sacramento, were bear hunting in the Sierra Nevada near Gold Lake in Plumas County, California.  Gold Lake is about 5.5 miles SW of Graeagle, about 10 miles N of Sierra City, about 45 miles NW of Lake Tahoe, about 50 miles W of Reno, Nevada, and about 90 miles NE of Sacramento.

Smeja’s friend was driving his truck, with Smeja in the passenger seat, down a dirt road removed some distance from the nearest well-travelled road through a forested area.

They were passing through a meadow expecting to see a bear, if they were to see any wildlife.

Just ahead of them about 80 yards off the road to their right (the passenger side) they spotted a dark hair covered animal.

They estimated it to be about 7 feet tall – it stood upright and stood and walked like a human.

Smeja’s friend stopped his truck and picked up his binoculars.  Smeja picked up his scoped rifle (a 25-.06), opened the passenger side door, placed his right foot on the ground, rested the rifle on the car door (window was down), and placed the crosshairs on the animal for 6-7 seconds.

Smeja’s friend was telling Smeja in ever more forceful tone: “Bro, don’t shoot.  Hey Bro, no!  Hey, hey, hey, hey!”

Smeja is thinking this animal is out of place; this animal should not be there (his words “this ain’t right”).

The animal was standing at the edge of the clearing waving its arms over its head and taking a couple of slow steps toward the truck.

Smeja had the crosshairs trained center mass (center high chest) and was squeezing the trigger as the animal started to turn to its left.

The gun discharged and impact was positioned just below the right armpit (the driver witnessed the concussion of the shot through his binoculars).

The animal stumbled a couple of steps, dropped to all 4’s, and began scrambling quickly over a hill.  Smeja had racked another bullet, considered firing a shot up the animal’s A$$ (Smeja’s words), but didn’t, as the driver was yelling: “No way!”

As the two humans departed the truck to chase the adult animal to verify the kill, they encountered two young animals at close range.

The young animals were searching for their parent – sometimes separating, sometimes rejoining, and vocalizing to one another.

Smeja decided to shoot one of the little ones with his chambered round – intending to take a dead little one with them back to civil1zation.

Smeja shot it below its chin in the neck just above the chest.  It rolled down the hill and landed on Smeja’s right boot.

Smeja picked it up and looked right into its eyes as it died in his arms.  Smeja said at that moment he realized he had murdered a little kid.  He said it was human – not an ape – a little human kid.

Smeja said he was not thinking rationally.  He thought he had just committed murder.

He buried it under some brush intending to return the next day to retrieve it but failed to do so – not returning until Spring 2011 and not finding the body (he found a piece of hair and hide in the general area – DNA testing later determined that to be bear).

 

[vinchyfoot]

to 9-Dot; that assumes Smeja isn't LYING. I suspect he is. There is so much mangled nonsense in his account it is so much easier to guess he poached a bear cub and created this mire to avoid prosecution. That said, if he isn't lying he is the single numb nuttiest footer in existence since he solved the mystery and then just left it there. Either way it seems like he's past his 15 minutes of fame.

[Twist]

^^ If he poached a baby bear why even speak of it?  As BRB stated earlier in the thread, why not just follow the three S’s at that point?

[WSA]

30 minutes ago, Twist said:

^^ If he poached a baby bear why even speak of it?  As BRB stated earlier in the thread, why not just follow the three S’s at that point?

Right. 

 

Only profound mental illness or a truthful recounting explains why somebody would broadcast the account, submit to a polygraph and then  knowingly submit bear tissue for inspection and DNA analysis. I have no opinion if this guy is crackers, or not, I'm just pointing out that he didn't have to tell anyone about whatever it was he experienced. He for sure didn't have any obligation to submit to a polygraph with nothing at all to gain, and with the probability he would be made out to be a fool and a liar as a result of that. Thirdly,  only a belief that the tissue sample was genuine and from the BF he killed would explain why he would submit it for analysis.  The fact that, as near as I can tell, he has STFU since all this went down tells me he is not a simple narcissist just looking for bad press to up his attention quotient. The whole thing quacks and walks like a duck, in my opinion, and has from the start.

 

I am convinced that if he left a killed baby BF that body was not going to be there the next morning. Whatever the tissue sample was that he scavenged later was either swapped for bear in the chain of custody (or results were falsified) or they were the remains of a dead bear on site, which he mistakenly presumed to be from his kill.   

 

Logic doesn't lead me to any other possible scenarios. If somebody has an alternative explanation, I'd love to kick it around. 

 

  

[Huntster]

15 minutes ago, WSA said:

 .........Logic doesn't lead me to any other possible scenarios........

 

 

The human race seems to defy logic on a regular basis daily. Logic is dead.

 

I can DEFINITELY see their story play out up to the point where they left the scene. I can also imagine the carcass having disappeared by the time they returned, and the elder creature having run off far enough so that its carcass was not found.

 

But where did the bear steak come from? 

 

The emotion of having the young creature die in his arms after shooting it would certainly draw out enough guilt, remorse, and fear of prosecution to inspire flight. This is precisely why I posit that governments posture with regard to these creatures is the  primary problem with the mystery. If government offered a $1000 bounty for a sasquatch carcass in the official hunting regulations of just five states, this issue would be solved in three years or less, but they will not do that because they don't want it "solved". It's really that simple.

[BlackRockBigfoot]

Smeja is no stranger to poaching.  It doesn’t make sense that he panicked over killing a bear or another animal...whether it was legal to do so or otherwise.

 

Honestly, the story makes sense...someone maybe without a lot of redeeming features kills something on the spur of the moment...only to have an epiphany as he stared into this thing’s eyes as it died and then struggled with how he felt afterwards.

[WSA]

1 hour ago, Huntster said:

 

The human race seems to defy logic on a regular basis daily. Logic is dead.

 

I can DEFINITELY see their story play out up to the point where they left the scene. I can also imagine the carcass having disappeared by the time they returned, and the elder creature having run off far enough so that its carcass was not found.

 

But where did the bear steak come from? 

 

The emotion of having the young creature die in his arms after shooting it would certainly draw out enough guilt, remorse, and fear of prosecution to inspire flight. This is precisely why I posit that governments posture with regard to these creatures is the  primary problem with the mystery. If government offered a $1000 bounty for a sasquatch carcass in the official hunting regulations of just five states, this issue would be solved in three years or less, but they will not do that because they don't want it "solved". It's really that simple.

No, not my point. I'm not saying logic motivated his actions, I'm saying that logic can be applied to deduce probabilities of what took place. But, no, logic is not dead. It has fallen into disuse lately, but the rules of applying it are still very much extant. :-)  I mentioned up-thread, if the BF were present because they were feeding on a bear carcass, the sequence of events is plausibly explained.     

Edited April 27, 2021 by WSA

[WSA]

In judging the probabilities of that being the case...that he only located the bear carcass they were feeding on...you'd probably want to know if the bear tissue was found in the exact spot where he tried to conceal the BF corpse, or was it just found nearby. If it was in the exact spot the whole thing gets all the weirder. You'd have to either believe that he only shot a bear (weird enough in the face of all he did afterwards) or something with agency substituted bear remains for the remains of the baby BF at the scene. Like I said, too weird.  

 

[Huntster]

22 minutes ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

Smeja is no stranger to poaching........

 

That is one of the several character assassination lines surrounding his story, but how so? We should expect to hear that Smeja is/was a poacher, baby rapist, right-wing conspirator, and general scoundrel, but the event supposedly occurred in October, which is during classic fall bear hunting season, not to mention deer season. Did Smeja have poaching convictions in the past? Did he not have a license/tag? Was that particular spot closed to hunting? Which of the billions of California laws, regs, and rules did he violate then or in the past? What was he finally charged with after the DNA results of "bear" was decided, and why was he not charged before that just based upon their combined story?

 

Again, government's role in this story is as mysterious and suspicious as his, if not more so.

[WSA]

Someday a BF is going to be either filmed or shot by a person who doesn't swear, use drugs, drink, fornicate or fail to call his Mother every Sunday. When that happens, the expected narrative will be it is too good to be true.