Watchin' For Bigfoot -- 2010

[Ray Ford]

When it comes to Bigfoot--as I have said before--I think the best way to hunt for Bigfoot is to simply watch for him as a secondary activity to hunting for other critters, fishing, hiking in the woods and fields, or just camping out.  The reason that I think that this is the best way to hunt for Bigfoot is that it doesn't waste time: if a person spends a lot of time looking for Bigfoot as a primary activity, he is going to burn up a lot of time and not have a squirrel, a coon, or a deer to account for that time.  Neither is he likely to have a Bigfoot.  

This is my 2010 thread on my huntin', fishin', hikin', and campin'.  The only problem is that, since Janaury 1, I haven't had a chance to do any of those things--but I will.  And when I do, I'll keep an eye out for the big hairy guy--or gal.  I'll let you know if I see one--or even if I don't.

Incidentally, I killed a 10-point white-tailed Deer during my December jaunt to northwestern Nebraska, but I didn't catch sight of a Bigfoot.  I let a nice little 8-point go by on my farm in northwestern Oklahoma.  He gave me a standing broadside at 150 yards three different times as he attempted to make up to a pretty little doe.  I keep thinking about all the times, many years ago, that I could have been shot trying to make up to a pretty little....  And he'll be a better buck next year.  Didn't catch sight of a Bigfoot there along Eagle Chief Creek either.

While in Nebraska, I became aware of how extensively outfitters use game cameras to locate and keep track of game, and that caused me to wonder a bit.  As extensively as they use the cameras, it seems that one or more of them would come up with a picture of Bigfoot.  Maybe Bigfoot walks behind the camera.  I heard recently of deer doing that.

I did hear our outfitter telling about him and another guy talking about dressing up in a Bigfoot costume and walking in front of the cameras belonging to a third outfitter--just as a joke.  I cautioned him on the possibility of getting shot while doing so.

[Lefty]

Ray, congratulations on your 10 pointer. We got a warm 35 degrees here in north central Wyoming. Its melting the dusting of snow we got last night. But the warmer weather encourages me to drive the back country roads along meadows bordering BLM land, and maybe a walk or two.  Just getting over pneumonia, and feeling more human today, so plans in the making for next week. Got camera, binocs, casting material, just in case.

[Bill]

I had good intentions of hiking around on the "back 40" the day after our big snow to see if any bigfoot tracks could be found. After breakfast tho I was full and sleepy and the sun was so bright on that freshly fallen snow I decided to take a nap and hope the clouds would move in to dull the shine off the snow a bit.

Well sure enough when I woke there was no bright glare off the snow. But then there was no snow left either. While I napped the couple inches of snow we had was gone so I missed my chance to roam round and see what kinda tracks were being made in the woods behind my house.

They are saying a storm is moving in again as I type this. The wind has been howling all day no doubt bringing something our way. It is expected to start as rain then turn to snow and they claim we'll again get a couple inches. If so this time I'll take the hike before I lay down for my nap and maybe can find some tracks.


I expect tho the biggest foot I'll see tracks from will be those big dogs the neighbors behind me have.

[Ray Ford]

Nothin' better than a fire to set by for a while when out scouting--or whatever. 

I recently figured out a good fire starter.  I have had a habit of keeping an empty plastic pop or water bottle in my truck into which I can stuff trash that I generate--trash like candy wrappers, tissues, tooth picks....  I have had a habit of taking such bottles, when I have them stuffed full, into the house and burning them in the fireplace.  It came to me one day that I could take a small plastic bottle, fill it with saw dust or shavings, pour in a sufficient quantity of diesel, cap it tightly, and carry it with me while hunting.  To start a fire, take off the cap, cut open the bottom so air will draw through the bottle, light the neck opening, and place underneath some kindling--some leaves and twigs or such.  Use a bottle made from plastic that will readily burn.  Some plastic containers will not.

I carried such a bottle while hunting in Nebraska. 
Didn't need to use it. 
It is still in my dry box.

[Bill]

Hey ya never know when a bigfoot might hold ya hostage until ya make a fire for him to warm up by. 

[Ray Ford]

Did you read the series that I wrote about the part-Cherokee boy and the old man with scarred fingers.  I posted the stories in the fiction section. 

The man that the boy hunted with--I found this out from the old man with scarred fingers--carried a whisky bottle with a mixture of kerosine and gasoline in it.  (The whiskey bottle, for those who do not know, was curved so that it could be carried comfortably in a hip pocket.)  The gasoline made it light easily.  The kerosine reduced the volitility.  He could unscrew the bottle, pour a little on some tinder, touch the flame of the carbide light on his helmet to it, and have a fire going before you could say "scat."

He was, according to him, hunting one night with a fellow that was a little cocky--a little inclined to show off rather than use good sense.  The dogs treeed on the opposite side of a good-sized creek.  The two hunters found a log that had fallen across the creek--from bank to bank.  The creek was frozen and the log ice-coated.  The man turned his feet sideways so his heels would catch and sidled across the log.  The other guy just tried to walk the log in ordinary fashion.  Halfway across, he slide into the Creek, broke ice, and went up to his waist in the cold water.  By the time he floundered to the bank, chunks of ice were frozen to his clothes. The truck was too far away to reach before he would have frozen to death.

Fortunately, a rather large drift was caught against the bank of the creek close at hand--as the story goes.  The man poued his whiskey bottle full of gasoline/ker0sine on the drift and touched his carbine flame to it.  In a few minutes, they had a fire "as big as a house."  The wet, near frozen hunter striped off his clothes, hung them on nearby bushes, and stood naked by the fire until the clothes dried.  He was "as warm as he would have been in his living rooom"--as the story goes.  According to the man, that fire saved the cocky fellow's life--as the old man with scarred fingers related the story.

There might have been a large, hardly visible dark shape with vaguely familar facial features just outside the the circle of light from the fire.  The part-Cherokee boy, if he had been there that night, might have seen him.  The large and dark critter probably marveled at an ape-like creature without any hair to keep him warm.

[Lefty]

Dang infamous grape vines. I was a sucker for swinging on them as a kid. You were a smart youngin to have them matches handy.

[Ray Ford]

Powder, Lefty,

Kids--way back then--saw too many Tarzan movies to leave grapevines alone.

My personal experience with breaking ice didn't involve a grape vine.  I walked out on a frozen pond and went through.  Fortunately, it was shallow and I only went waist deep.  I was only about 3 or 4 blocks from our house, so I made a cold run for it.  Just one of those times that God was watchin' out for me, I believe.

[Ray Ford]

Powder,

What is your little dog?  If you've said before, I've forgotten.  Is she a Bigfoot dog?

There has been a lot of discussion in the past about the reaction of dogs to supposed Bigfeet.  One being that a dog becomes frightened and very reluctant to go out--to range out away from people.  I have a good Bigfoot dog, Stretch.  I've mentioned her in other posts.  A good Bigfoot dog is not one that goes out and finds a Bigfoot: a good Bigfoot dog is one that ranges close in and lets you know if anything big and hairy is sneaking up on you.  Stretch will go out some, but she generally is not far away and checks back in often. 

The best close-ranging dog that I ever had was a big, beautiful Lab male: he was always with you in the woods.  And he was big enough to take on most critters.  He was bred to hunt/retrieve.  His litter mates made retrievers.  He--as an illustration of how an individual of a breed will sometimes not do what dogs of that breed are selected to do--had absolutely no interest in fetching anything.

[Bill]

We took a walkabout today and found what can only be explained as bigfoot tracks. There sure ain't no other critter I know of makes foot prints that large. Now mind you they were rather indistinct in shape as they were in my garden areaa where I had spread several inches of leaves to rot in over the winter. As we walked by there today there were holes all in those leaves that looked to be large foot prints.

Now iffen it wuz bigfoot it wuz a small one cuz the tracks weren't big enough for a full grown bigfoot only a junior size. What more proof could anyone have? Hey it's as much proof as most of the claims I've seen on other sites.

[Ray Ford]

I made my first excursions to the field this past week--first outings since I started this theard.  On Saturday, I went with another guy to Bulletmaker's place.  We didn't go to hunt Bigfoot.  We went to put corn into some feeders for Turkeys.  The season is close.  We enjoyed being out in the woods and had a good conversation with BM and his wife.  Played with his little low-slung dog.  We didn't chance into a Bigfoot, or any tracks, but BM had another picture from one of the game cams.  BM and I agreed that it was an ink-blot or cloud-in-the-sky kind of thing, but, if a person used their imagination a little, the image could be construed to be an eye looking into the lens of the camera. 

Then there was that something that passed his wife's bedroom window a few nights back and that unusual pile of acorn debris that was in the back yard the next morning.  But, we were more interested in Deer and Turkey shots than images of...

A day or two before, we went out to the Gun Range--which range now has a flock of 30 or 35 Turkeys.
My shooting demonstrated a couple of things:  (1) You don't need a high-dollar gun to shoot trap: I broke eight or nine clays out every ten with my New England Firearms single 12 guage.  (2) I shoot, for some unknown reason, better with a double barrel than other guns: I hit six out of six when I tried my friend's side-by-side.  I had noticed this before--noticed it after I lucked into a Stevens at a gun show in Enid, Oklahoma.  My son conned me out of that gun.  Didn't see any Bigfeet at the range either.  I'm convinced that they don't hang around shooting ranges much.  There is probably two much noise.

Those Turkeys are another story.  They didn't seem to be a bit bothered by our shooting.  I'm convinced that game animals always check their little calendars before showing themselves--check for season dates.

I, incidentally, picked up a Model 24 Winchester and a Brazilian-made 10 guage at the show in Tulsa this weekend--both side-by-sides.  I'm trying to borrow some money to buy a box of shells for the 10 guage.  Do they make 10 gauge slugs?  With slugs, it might do for a Bigfoot gun!

[Bill]

Ya know turkeys, deer and many other critters known to be hunted by man often hang out at shooting ranges and don't seem in the least bothered by man being there or by the gun fire. Perhaps they've hidden in the woods and watched how poorly most folks shoot and so aren't afraid of being hit. Seems ta me iffen any such critter as bigfoot really existed and they passed by shooting ranges they'd get seen from time to time.

[Ray Ford]

Went out to my acreage in the west side of Tulsa County today.  I once--actually several times--referred to this tract of land as my 25-acre "personal Bigfoot research area".  When I did that, I was partially being facetious and partially not.  I never expected to find a Bigfoot there, but I did make some observations about tracks and bows as I wandered about the area--observations relevant to the Bigfoot discussion.  I may post more about these observations later.  (When my posts get a little long, my screen starts jumpin' up and down.  I think Bill has figured out how to keep me brief.) 

Just before this past Deer season, I placed a mineral/salt block, partially buried, and a protein block on the dam of the larger of two mini-ponds near the southwest corner of the place.  I had intended to see if I could kill, with a bow or shotgun slug, a Deer that might be attracted by the mineral and protein.  I just didn't make it back out there.  Today, I hauled some road-building material to the place and took the opportunity to check for traffic where I had placed the block.  The mineral/salt block was partially eroded by the rain, but I could not see any evidence of animal activity.  The protein block had completely melted onto the ground, and, again, I could not see any evidence of animal activity.  Three or so years ago, the Deer and other critters frequented the place.

Some distance from the blocks, I did find a single, small Deer track on a bare spot.  Some distance farther away, I found another slightly larger track--not tracks.  A single track.  Nor did I find any Raccon or other critter tracks--not even around the smaller of the two mini-ponds.  That smaller pond was full of water and loaded with frogs.  It would not have been loaded with frogs if Raccons were frequenting the place.

Didn't see any Bigfeet or tracks made by the big hairy guys.  Lots of the cover on either side of my place has been bulldozed out in the last two or three years.  Too open. 

[Bill]

I had that jumping post problem awhile back Ray tho I seldom ever write enough here to notice it. It has now gone away. I don't think it was any update Matt did at GBO but rather an update on my version of IE. I think it began when my computer updated me to IE8 from IE7 and I'm assuming now it has upgraded me to IE9 since it no longer happens to me.

For some reason IE8 doesn't like this forum software. It is a known problem to Microsoft but they said they weren't fixing it for IE8 but would in IE9. Update your browser and it should go away.

I went back to that same area where the tracks were and found a deer had walked thru the garden area. Never did figure out what made the large tracks in the leaves but the area has now been tilled again so if anything comes along they'll leave noticeable footprints.

Well that is if it ever stops raining. Right now it's flooding here and it might wash my pond away if it keeps this up. It was out of banks today and has likely rained 2" to 3" more since then.

Did I mention it's a bit wet around here? 

[Ray Ford]

Speaking of tracks, which I did in my last post, and speaking of my "personal Bigfoot research area," which I also did in my last post, I made an observation there a year or so back.  I was walking midst the trees and brush over heavy leaf cover when it occured to me to look back at what kind of tracks that I was making.  At that time, me, my clothes, and my gun and stuff probably weighed up toward 300 pounds--at least 250.  I wasn't making any tracks: the leaves where depressing when I stepped on them but expanding back when I stepped off.  How heavy would I have had to have been to leave a lasting track?  I don't know.

My conclusion was that there might have been a lot of things walking around there without leaving any tracks.  Maybe even a Bigfoot--if there are Bigfeet.  The two deer tracks that I saw yesterday were in two of the rare bare spots on the place.

Out at my place in Alfalfa County in the western side of Oklahoma, we found, a few years ago, some very clear Cougar tracks in firm sand in the Creek.  We actually made plaster-of-paris casts of them.  We never, however, saw any tracks up out of the creek in the woods--where I'm sure the Cougar had been.