Techniques used to attract BF to camp

[Explorer]

56 minutes ago, MIB said:

 

This is a good summary though I don't agree with all of it.    I need to ask ... it is all in statement form, no obvious questions asked.   Are you looking for a response, information, etc?   In other words, what's the goal of the post?

 

It was just a summary of my observations.  Wanted to share to check if I was off-base.

Just wanted to get feedback, opinions, comments, challenges and folks sharing what they think.

 

 

56 minutes ago, MIB said:

 

So far as guns and BFRO, they were allowed on the expedition I attended though only when a person was going off a distance from camp by themselves.   It was a safety / liability issue, not an .. call it an "item of doctrine."   From my own experience it does not matter.    Guns are just amplifiers of a sort ... a scared human with a gun is more dangerous than a scared human without one, but a calm human with a gun is not more dangerous than a calm human without one.   Your attitude, the "vibe" you project regarding your comfort in the setting seems to me to be far more important than whatever gear you carry.

 

Agree on the liability issue as the main reason for BFRO not wanting folks to bring guns.  However, there are those (not me) who say that BF does not like guns and will not approach folks with guns.

 

56 minutes ago, MIB said:

So far as the techniques, I suppose #5 has been most effective for me.   It wasn't done to attract a bigfoot, but I'm pretty sure our presence in the particular location drew attention on one car camping trip (a matter of location, timing, and activity) and in one area where I backpack and camp, at a certain time of year, some kind of action is more probable than not though it is usually tenuous of a sort that a non-bigfooter, maybe even a bigfooting non-hunter, might not even notice.

 

Not knowing what you're looking for, that's all I've got ... just responses / thoughts your post triggered, not really addressing anything in particular.    Hope things are going well for you ..

 

MIB

 

Thanks for sharing. That is the kind of feedback I was looking for.  Same with ShadowBorn's sharing of the techniques he has used and what seemed or appeared to have worked.

 

I am usually careful with drawing conclusions on effectiveness of techniques just because one time someone did something and got a reaction or a sighting out of it.

Now, if multiple people independently or same person are getting repeat success with using the same technique over time, then yes I will like to hear about it.

[MIB]

1 hour ago, Explorer said:

I am usually careful with drawing conclusions on effectiveness of techniques just because one time someone did something and got a reaction or a sighting out of it.

 

Yeah, definitely.   We don't know even what all the variables might be, never mind how often and how much sheer chance is involved, so drawing conclusions based on what are really relatively few data points is ... well, we have to if we're to use the data at all but we truly need to be ready to change our minds rather than stick to old conclusions when the data that lead to them is outweighed by newer data.     

 

Like .. the area I focus on doing research .. seems like the BFs are there only for a short window of time.   I can target that.   But I can't actually know that they're there for the same reason each year.

 

MIB

[wiiawiwb]

On 6/8/2021 at 6:47 PM, BobbyO said:

 

No no, that's not the be all and end all, far from it, it was just given as an example.

 

Different parts of the same mountain ranges with way varying numbers, different mountain ranges with way varying numbers etc.

 

Where was your encounter ?

 

Thank you for offering to search the SSR database. That was very thoughtful of you. I checked the SSR database and found one report that is in my two areas of interest. Consistent rock throwing that scared the people involved.

 

I know of another rock-throwing incident in my area that is not in the SSR database. It involved a boyfriend/girlfriend who bushwhacked to a certain pond to go fishing. They stayed overnight and had small rocks thrown into their camp area. It scared them half to death. I know someone who spoke to both of them after their incident and they have no interest of going back into this area for any reason.

 

I tried twice to bushwhack to that pond after hearing of their report. Two attempts from two different locations that failed. The forest is incredibly dense causing branches to rip your pants and shirt. If you can get through the dense forest without gettting shredded you also have a lot of wetland to deal with and get around/through. No easy way of getting there. It is one place that's on my list to get to this year. Very desolate and a place that I'm sure almost no one goes to given the effort needed to get there. That's why it probably holds a lot of potential....go where others never go.

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by wiiawiwb

[ShadowBorn]

54 minutes ago, wiiawiwb said:

I tried twice to bushwhack to that pond after hearing of their report. Two attempts from two different locations that failed. The forest is incredibly dense causing branches to rip your pants and shirt. If you can get through the dense forest without gettting shredded you also have a lot of wetland to deal with and get around/through. No easy way of getting there. It is one place that's on my list to get to this year. Very desolate and a place that I'm sure almost no one goes to given the effort needed to get there. That's why it probably holds a lot of potential....go where others never go

Those are the areas that i like to get into when i deer hunt. Some of the best bucks hang in those areas, as well as these creatures. My son hates me but it is worth opening up a path and covering up that path during hunting season. My son thinks I am crazy to get into these places but when he start to see what is in there his eye's just get wide open.

 

59 minutes ago, wiiawiwb said:

 

I know of another rock-throwing incident in my area that is not in the SSR database. It involved a boyfriend/girlfriend who bushwhacked to a certain pond to go fishing. They stayed overnight and had small rocks thrown into their camp area.

Like how big were those small rocks? If they were pebble size then they might not have meant no harm. They could have meant to gain attention  or as a way of observation. This could be another way to get them to come in to your camp site. I had my camper set up on this two track and we had set up a tent twenty yards away from my camper. Every time that we would leave we would set up a video camera in side the camper by an open window looking out.  I would hook up the video camera to an inverter so that it could run for some time and record the tent that was twenty yards away.

 

Now the reason we did this was we have had one of these creatures go through my tent before I had my camper. It went through all my stuff in my tent. I had expensive things in my bag that I had left in my bag. one of those things was my cameras and my pistol. We had walked away for about a half an hour to get some water from this creek. when we returned I had walked into my tent and had found my stuff moved and rummage through with peanut butter on the edges of my back pack.  This is when we found that the peanut butter we had left out was missing but later found in the evening. It was also when we were zapped as well when we seen the creature in our camp as though it was a mirage walking across the camp site.

 

We have also tried to triangulate the camera traps over apples as bait. with no luck. We spread these cameras far apart and had no luck at all. The only good thing that did happen that worked was the owl calls. Owls do not call out to you through out the night when you as a human inter act with them. Nor do they knock back when you knock back to them in cadence. But the knocking does get old and am sure that it gets old with them. 

 

Fire is some thing that does attract there attention. This some thing that does draw them to it. At least in our area we would find sticks that were burnt at the tip away from our camp site. So they had no understanding on how to keep it lit. But who knows now if they do or not. One thing that they would do is circle the camp site as we would be speaking or just having a good time. Stay within the shadows out of sight. our dogs would always know where they were since they would be barking in the direction that they were. 

 

But the one thing that never had happen to us is. We had never had rocks thrown at us until i went into a different area and started hunting. But it was with my son when I first encountered the rock throwing. I would be placing my hunting stands and he would just be sitting around and we would start to have pebbles thrown at us. My son was young and he would throw these pebbles back at what ever was throwing these pebbles at him and me. To him it was just a game and i did not now what to think about it.  But we always came back safe so i had no problem with this game. Until I solo hunted. Not sure why I am repeating what I have said already in the past on the forum. Maybe it needed to be said again.

 

I am staying away from the woo side that so many are afraid to talk about. But there things there that should be tried too that needs to be proven.  But no one wants to speak about that side since it is so controversial.   

[Wooly Booger]

9 hours ago, ShadowBorn said:

@Wooly Booger Do not get all upset there. When I had my first encounter with these creatures. We had walked down a two track whooping and clapping our cupped hands in a hot zone.  We then poked holes in a can of salmon and strung it across the two track with a glow stick at the height of 8' to 9' . We then walked back to our camp site as we were able to see this bait trap from our camp site. Now this has never been tried at that time and we were the first to do so. So it worked. We confirmed that it worked since I had an up close sighting of the creature and the person i was with also had a sighting as well. 

 

You keep saying that they are extremely dangerous. Yet , there are researchers that go out after them and keep coming back safely with out any problems. There have been times that people have been chased out of the woods where this creature could have easily have caught them . But yet they have all been able to get away.  Now you tell me why? why something this powerful would let a human just get away so easily. 

 

We have slept in our camp site many times and not once have we ever felt threaten. Sure I have felt nervous and why not. If you have ever seen these creatures you would understand that there is really nothing one can do if they were to grab you. The time that we were just target shooting at this tree and did not know that there was one behind the that tree. It did nothing until after we had left our camp. It then came back and destroyed our camp site. But we then understood what we did was not good.We had our dogs with us and not once did these creatures harm our dogs. Even though our dogs were alerting us of where they were moving though out the darkness surrounding our camp site.

 

It has always been about hard science and it has never stopped. But they have never been wanting to listen. They have alway's laughed at the notion of there being some type of creature as a bigfoot in our forest. There only few scientist who have been willing to listen.  But even them I am not willing to to trust since there interest is to elevate them selves to a higher status in there world. I have never seen this as some science fiction movie where everything is just in my imagination. No sir, it is all real. Yes, and it has bothered me for a long time. Am sure that it has bothered allot of others who have had encounters with this creature as well. It is not some mystical creature. But a real flesh and blood animal that breaths the same air as we do.    

 

We do not have to give away our areas of research. But ideas of things that have worked that have attracted these creatures to our positions . There is nothing wrong with that and nothing secret about that. I understand about giving away research areas. I have kept my my spots secrets so that there could be no way of being hoaxed. Believe me there have been times out in the field where I actually felt that I must have been hoaxed. since there is no possible that a creature other then a human could be answering me on command. Impossible , Yet here I was in the middle of no where being answered by some thing on command. I can say that this could be my imagination but being with a witness. Again impossible. The same goes with baiting or even with these tree formations. If only one could predict when a tree formation will begin. one could set up a camera trap. The same goes with the bait piles. The only thing I was able to capture was two glowing blue eye's.  We have done the work but science wants nothing to do with what you seem to be calling a mystical creature.

And that is the only way for researchers do determine which methods work and which do not. By deploying them in the field. Using salmon is actually a very good strategy, as Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest reportedly utilize salmon as a food source. Native American legends even record Bigfoot raiding Indian camps for salmon. I for one think recordings of gorilla chest beating and deer in distress are worth deploying in the field and have the potential to produce results. Chest beating is a sign of aggression in apes. Whether or not Bigfoot use chest beating is unknown, but it is worth deploying in the field. Especially during mating season. And since deer are the primary prey source for Bigfoot a recording of deer in distress is a good method IMO of drawing a Bigfoot into camp. Both of these methods have great potential, and I fully intend to deploy both methods in the field. 

 

And I never once said that Bigfoot are "extremely dangerous." I said that they are potentially dangerous just like any wild animal. Of course any animal under normal circumstances would prefer to avoid conflict with humans if at all possible. And Bigfoot are likely no exception. But animals can be unpredictable, and any wild animal has the potential to be dangerous. Bigfoot is more than likely an apex predator, and apex predators in particular can be very dangerous. We must not be willfully blind and naive to the fact that Bigfoot are a wild animal and an apex predator. Although a dangerous encounter is statistically unlikely, it is still a possibility and the researcher would be well advised to be prepared. This isn't paranoia, this is pure common sense. The high intelligence of this animal gives it the potential to be especially cunning. As remote as the possibility is for a violent encounter, it is still a possibility. We must not fool ourselves into believing these creatures are like Harry and the Henderson's. 

 

I have never once claimed Bigfoot to be a "mystical" animal, as I have a ways been firmly within the flesh and blood camp. 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Wooly Booger

[wiiawiwb]

I'm not sure how "to be prepared" and if it would even matter. One could carry a big-bore handgun close at hand but if a sasquatch wanted to take that person, it would be over in a NY minute. No muss, no fuss, just toodle loo. You probably wouldn't even see it coming until it had you.

[vinchyfoot]

Your last comment.... based on personal experience is "dead" on the money. They are the masters of that domain and they move through fast and quiet. If they wanted to take you or kill you etc, you're about as screwed as one being stalked by a cougar thats already pouncing or swimming with a great white. It's their environment and your odds of winning aren't good.

[ShadowBorn]

11 hours ago, Wooly Booger said:

And that is the only way for researchers do determine which methods work and which do not. By deploying them in the field. Using salmon is actually a very good strategy, as Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest reportedly utilize salmon as a food source. Native American legends even record Bigfoot raiding Indian camps for salmon. I for one think recordings of gorilla chest beating and deer in distress are worth deploying in the field and have the potential to produce results. Chest beating is a sign of aggression in apes. Whether or not Bigfoot use chest beating is unknown, but it is worth deploying in the field. Especially during mating season. And since deer are the primary prey source for Bigfoot a recording of deer in distress is a good method IMO of drawing a Bigfoot into camp. Both of these methods have great potential, and I fully intend to deploy both methods in the field.

Now i have heard wood knocks. But I have also heard some thing different that just did not sound like a wood knock. This Knock was not even initiated by me or us. The knock sounded like a cupped hand being beated on a chest. It was not that loud and it came from a distance. So for a person to re-create this type of a knock would be difficult to make this creature believe.  These knocks took place through out the year and did not take place at certain times of the year. In my opinion I would say that the knocks were some form of communication.

 

The last time I had heard these knocks was when I was in my hunting blind. I was being surrounded by three creatures and one would knock from one direction as another would knock from another direction and yet another would knock yet again from another direction. This all occurred after they had flushed me out of my ground blind by throwing sticks at the blind. This also when i had my last sighting of a small creature waving it's arms in my direction. I never stuck around and left that area as fast as i could. 

 

I have left whole raw salmon on there tree formations as a way to keep them in an area though. This has worked  over and over. But some times have wondered if it has been a good idea to do so. If you work by your self you place your self in danger and never know if you will ever return back home. Off trail is sometimes not a good idea and I would not leave any notes on my vehicle. My wife never knew where I was until i came home. Only one researcher knew and he would only know after .

 

There is this one researcher that I did learn from I think his name was Robert Morgan. Controversial but understood this creature very well. I took ideas from him and used them in the field. An open mind opens doors. Even though you may not get pictures of them you still can get and have a encounter with them. You just have to place your fear aside.  

[VAfooter]

On 6/7/2021 at 7:51 PM, Explorer said:

In addition, there are some protocols/rules that are recommended to increase likelihood of BF encounter in a hotspot:

1)      No usage of white lights (red lights only) at night

2)      No guns

3)      No dogs

4)      No night vision or IR emitting instruments

 

It is also not clear if any of these rules increase the likelihood of an encounter or a BF moving closer to camp.  

Most BFRO trips, follow these 4 rules. BFRO leaders probably developed these rules over time based on their experience.

 

I thought the BFRO was big into NV/IR devices?

 

17 hours ago, wiiawiwb said:

That's why it probably holds a lot of potential....go where others never go.

 

I think this is the key.

 

22 hours ago, Explorer said:

However, there are those (not me) who say that BF does not like guns and will not approach folks with guns.

 

Yeah, tons of reports of BF approaching hunters.

[Explorer]

2 hours ago, ShadowBorn said:

I have left whole raw salmon on there tree formations as a way to keep them in an area though. This has worked  over and over. But some times have wondered if it has been a good idea to do so. If you work by your self you place your self in danger and never know if you will ever return back home. Off trail is sometimes not a good idea and I would not leave any notes on my vehicle. My wife never knew where I was until i came home. Only one researcher knew and he would only know after .

 

 

ShadowBorn,  I am curious about your statement above that leaving salmon had worked over and over.

 

What do you mean by "had worked"?  Did this lead to a visual sighting?  Did you try camera traps with the salmon bait and it did not work?

 

Another observation that I have made based on my experiences and those of others who go to hotspots is that you can try the same technique 10 times and it does not work but it works on the 11th.  Does that indicate luck or good technique?

Like MIB stated above, there are so many variables that you really can't draw any conclusions when you get only one hit out of 11.

Maybe it was a terrific technique because the other 10 times the creature was not present.

Maybe the creature was going to approach you no matter what you did.  It has it own agenda.

[Explorer]

1 hour ago, VAfooter said:

 

I thought the BFRO was big into NV/IR devices?

 

They are big into thermal imagers, not so much on NV IR emitting devices anymore.

It really depends on the BFRO team leader.

Some team leaders explicitly stated not to bring NV IR emitting devices to the expedition.

Thermal imagers, on the other hand, are passive IR detection devices.

 

I agree with the idea of not using IR emitting devices and stopped using my NV IR emitting device once I bought my thermal imager.

While we don't really know if BF can see those IR beams, the collective experience in the field has been that when those IR beams are sent there is less detection.

Meanwhile, Thermal Imagers have been able to detect BF numerous times.

[ShadowBorn]

1 hour ago, Explorer said:

ShadowBorn,  I am curious about your statement above that leaving salmon had worked over and over.

 

What do you mean by "had worked"?  Did this lead to a visual sighting?  Did you try camera traps with the salmon bait and it did not work?

 

Another observation that I have made based on my experiences and those of others who go to hotspots is that you can try the same technique 10 times and it does not work but it works on the 11th.  Does that indicate luck or good technique?

Like MIB stated above, there are so many variables that you really can't draw any conclusions when you get only one hit out of 11.

Maybe it was a terrific technique because the other 10 times the creature was not present.

Maybe the creature was going to approach you no matter what you did.  It has it own agenda.

The area that I have worked in there are no salmon. So these creatures are no looking for salmon in this particular area. Hence why it has worked. But there is a allot of deer so salmon must be kind of a treat for them. Just a guess. We put up cameras and there is no luck. But if you place nothing there to capture a picture of them then you start to encounter them. I am not sure about the variables. The only variables that I can see is the placement of cameras and the placement of type of bait. Corn seems another one seems to work with them as well. 

 

How can a deer come over night and feed on a bait pile over night. I just do not see it. I have placed a camera on a corn bait pile and had the bait pile taken over night. Now the camera trap was not an infra red camera trap. It was one of those flashing type of camera traps the old style. When I went back to retrieve the film. Some thing had messed with this camera trap the whole night. 32 or 35 pictures of nothing that showed nothing but flash and the bait pile.  Two explanations that could have happen :

1. it was humans that messed with the camera which makes the most sense. But that does not explain the 2" to 4" round tree that was bent over the bait pile that was left on sand so that prints could be picked up. The corn that was used was corn on the cob.

2. that it was these creatures that did mess with this camera trap. That they used this bent over tree to get to the bait pile with out stepping onto the sand that surrounded the bait pile. Which i can confirm with a picture of the eyes in the back ground of darkness that shows two large blue eye's glowing off the flash from the camera. Which confirms what i have already suspected.

 

Salmon has worked to get us close to these creatures in a hot zone. But there is way more to them that only goes into the woo side. If they were not flesh and blood then they would not be leaving physical evidence around. Even though they bent that tree to their advantage they still left their mark. We just needed to look harder for the evidence. Sorry for the lengthy paragraphs or what I have to say. 

[VAfooter]

29 minutes ago, Explorer said:

 

They are big into thermal imagers, not so much on NV IR emitting devices anymore.

It really depends on the BFRO team leader.

Some team leaders explicitly stated not to bring NV IR emitting devices to the expedition.

Thermal imagers, on the other hand, are passive IR detection devices.

 

I agree with the idea of not using IR emitting devices and stopped using my NV IR emitting device once I bought my thermal imager.

While we don't really know if BF can see those IR beams, the collective experience in the field has been that when those IR beams are sent there is less detection.

Meanwhile, Thermal Imagers have been able to detect BF numerous times.

 

But get a good night and passive NV can work well too. In most cases, it provides a bit more detail that the thermal imagers. While I do not have direct experience with it, I have heard reports of BF being able to view IR lighting, so that is something to be wary of.

[wiiawiwb]

4 hours ago, ShadowBorn said:

Now i have heard wood knocks. But I have also heard some thing different that just did not sound like a wood knock. This Knock was not even initiated by me or us. The knock sounded like a cupped hand being beated on a chest. It was not that loud and it came from a distance.

 

I have left whole raw salmon on there tree formations as a way to keep them in an area though. This has worked  over and over. But some times have wondered if it has been a good idea to do so. If you work by your self you place your self in danger and never know if you will ever return back home. Off trail is sometimes not a good idea and I would not leave any notes on my vehicle. My wife never knew where I was until i came home. Only one researcher knew and he would only know after .

 

 

I've tried slapping my hands together, which are cupped, in front of my open mouth. It sounds to me like a wood knock. Obviously, I would not be able to do it loudly but a sasquatch with 12" hands, fingers thicker than a banana, a large mouth, and a powerful clap could probably be heard from afar.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLkIsRMS0QQ

 

I think your salmon in a can is an excellent idea.  I wonder if a bear might favorably compete with a sasquatch given a bear's unmatched sense of smell.  I'd want the salmon and trailcam away from my camp as I'd concerned there might a faint residual smell on my hands the bear could detect.

[Catmandoo]

3 hours ago, ShadowBorn said:

the bait pile that was left on sand so that prints could be picked up. The corn that was used was corn on the cob.

 

You did not post the details of the sand in the way of from a nearby source or that you brought the sand in.  Have you tried wood flour?  Wood flour is a very fine particulate size and typically very light in color.  Biodegradable and smells nice. 

Wood flour can be used for intruder evidence around the outside of your home. On a hard flat surface, wood flour showed worm trails. It is easy to clean up.

BTW, wood four is a food thickener..........what's in your ice cream? 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Catmandoo
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