BUSH VS BIGFOOT

No words today. Just a "joke" meme.

And yeah, I know. Not all these images may be a sasquatch.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

CLAYTON MACK - his forgotten tales

Clayton Mack lived in the Bella Coola wilderness area of British Columbia. Know as the "greatest grizzly bear guide", he had his share of adventures with sasquatch.

Born in 1910, Mack was from the Nuxalk Nation. He made a living guiding the "rich and famous" on trophy hunts, and was known for over 50 years as the "greatest grizzly bear guide" in the world.

Mack loved the wilderness of the area. It was where he felt at home. He feared none of the creatures he came upon in the wild. Mack was great at tracking and hunting, but he was a master at telling a story. And his stories may have been wild, but they were true.

Dr. Harvey Thommason, Mack's friend and personal physician, compiled and edited his stories into a book "Grizzlies and White Guys" . . . the stories of Clayton Mack. While most of the book is comprised of stories about hunting grizzly and black bear, there is a chapter of the stories of his encounters with sasquatch, the "boq", as he called them. He also told his stories to John Green and Rene Dahinden back in 1967. Clayton Mack died in 1993.

 

His stories from Dr. Thommason's book :






I was fishing in Kwatna all my myself, in August — nobody with me — and I came home on the weekend. I was getting pretty lonely, low on gas and getting low on grub too. So I went home for a few days. Then I got a fresh start of grub to go back again. I told my wife "I'm going back to Kwatna again." Early in the morning, Sunday, I took off from Bella Coola.
      
I was probably in my thirties. I had a little boat — about a thirty-foot boat with a single cylinder engine. I got to Jacobson Bay, about fifteen miles from Bella Coola when I saw something right out on the low tide. I saw something on the edge of the water. It was kneeling down-like and I could see his back humping up on the beach. It looked like he was lifting up rocks or maybe digging clams. But there were no claims there. I turned the boat right in toward him. I wanted to find out what it was. For a while there I thought it was a grizzly bear, kind of light color fur on the back of his neck like a light brown almost buckskin color fur. I nosed right in toward him to almost seventy-five yards to get a good look.

He stood up on his hind feet, straight up like a man and I looked at it. He was looking at me. Gee, it don't look like a bear, it has arms like a human being, it had legs like a human being and it got a head like us. I keep on going in toward him. He started to walk away from me walking like a man on two legs. He was about eight feet high. He got to some drift-logs, stopped and looked back at me. He looked over his shoulder to see me. Grizzly bear don't do that, I never see a griz run on its hind legs like that and I never se a grizzly bear look over his shoulder like that. I was right close to the beach now. He stepped up on those drift logs and walked into the timber.
               
Stepped on them logs like a man do. The area had been logged before so the alder trees were short, about eight to ten feet high. I could see the tops moving as he was spreading them apart to go through. I watched as he went a little higher up the hill. The wind blew me in toward the beach, so I backed up the boat and keep on going to Kwatna Bay. One evening a year later, I was talking to George Olsen who was the manager of Tallio cannery. I told him about what I had seen, a man-like animal with hair all over his body. George told me he seen the same animal, the same month and the same year as I had but only on the other side of the bay. George and his crew watched from their boat as a man-like creature run across the river. For many years after, I told that story to people. I told Paul Pollard, James Pollard's father and he told me where they are. Where is the most Sasquatch sign he ever seen, Kitlope! I wanted to get into that country some day to see if that was true. 

And a story of when he was guiding some Americans on a bear hunt. We'd call it an experience, but Mack did not include it as an encounter :   

One June, I took two Americans into Kitlope. They had both got their grizzly bear and wanted to see if they could see a Sasquatch. One of these Americans, we called him 'cowboy' was crying all the time and sometimes used bad language. Mad at something. When we get to Kitlope I said, "What is your problem?" He said "my wife left me. She cheated me and she wanted lots of money from me. She wanted thirty thousand dollars from me and she got it. Then she took off. A few days later I got a letter saying she wants sixteen hundred dollars a month for the rest of her life. And she got it." That's what he was mad about.    


There was an old house at Kitlope. Oil stove cups, dishes, plates and spoons were all in good shape. I light up the stove. I called the boys to come in, "it's all ready for us." The cowboy was still kind of haywire you know, he pulled out a bottle of Canadian Club Whisky and a carton of cigarettes and put it on the table.
Cowboy started right away drinkin' and smokin.' He got me nervous-like after a while.   


I was laying down watching him. He was smoking a log of cigarettes; he'd just finished one and then lights a new one again. He keeps going like that. The he'd get up and go to the kitchen and pour himself a drink again. I watched him all the time. I decided next time he goes I would follow him and have a drink and help him forget his problem. Then he went in and I went and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll drink with you on this one." He said "Take a big one, you are way behind" "Damn right," I said. "I'll take a big one so I can go to sleep." He poured himself a drink and poured myself a drink. I drink that Canadian Club Whiskey and go back to bed. I had my gun right there beside my bed and a big flashlight, A six-volt flashlight. I lay down, Cowboy started in again smoking. I never say nothing, just lay there watching him. Tony, the other American was laying near the foot of my bed on the next bed. I was afraid Cowboy was going to burn a blanket, burn down the whole cabin. Right at once something yelled through a little broken window, "Haaa Ohhhhhhhhh." He yelled right through that hole in the window.


I get up right away and grabbed hold of my gun. That's the big mistake I made. I should have grabbed hold of that flashlight and flashed right on his face to see what he looked like. I grabbed my gun and I tried to go out but I couldn't open the door because it had been raining too long in that country, I guess, and the door swelled up so as I couldn't open it. So I went out through the back door and flashed the light at the broken window. He was gone already. He yelled again by the river, he howl again, "haaaaaaa ha ha ha haaaaaaa" like. I flashed around, it was gone now; walked down to the river to see him, what it was, but I didn't see nothing. So I went back to bed.  

Early in the morning I woke up Tony. "Let's go look for his tracks," I said. Yeah, it looked like we saw his tracks all right, but not too good. He stopped too many places. He destroyed his own footprints. The footprints look like our footprints — bigger, that's all.

This tells of Mack's second encounter with a sasquatch:

The second Sasquatch I saw was in Mud Bay, in Dean Channel. Mud Bay is about ten miles down from Brynildsen Bay. It is like a kind of lagoon there, narrow entrance to go in but lots of room once you are inside. I was looking for bear. I didn't want to go into the middle of the bay, so I went to shore and walked along the sandy beaches. I see a man-head; it looked like, behind a tree. It was looking at me. The head was sticking out from behind a tree. I kneeled down and point my gun at him. Gee, he took off fast. He was about two hundred feet away. Not too big, about my size, five foot seven or eight. Had lots of hair all over his face. Almost look like a person, but not a person. I didn't want to shoot him. So I walked up to where he was. And where he went in, I followed him in. I saw tree bark had been peeled off. I guess he was eating the sap of a hemlock tree. I almost caught him eating that. I saw his tracks, but not too good.        

Here is Mack's claimed third encounter. Like I said,  he didn't count the cabin episode with "cowboy" since he didn't really see it.

        [note: This is a rare report where we read about a dead bear being found.] 

 The third Sasquatch I saw was in South Bentinck, right up the head of the South Bentinck. Past Taleomey, right at the end. Assek River. It was less than twenty years ago now. I had a white hunter with me, an American guy from California. Maybe fifty year old. We were sitting down on a log talkin' together, he told me his bad luck. There was a dead black bear near us. We found that dead black bear the week before and it had been eaten up by a grizzly bear. That American hunter shot and missed a wolf, then later he shot and missed a griz that come to eat that dead black bear! 
             
He told me, "I'm real bad luck! I missed that wolf, I missed that grizzly bear, I lost my son in the Vietnam War." That is what he told me. We were waiting for the grizzly bear that was eating that dead black bear to come back. We waited 'til it getting' dark. So I told this guy "It's getting late, let's get out of here. We'll be back before daylight in the morning." Sometimes when it gets late, dark, and you shoot and you can't see the sights on the gun too good, you will just nick the bear. You won't kill him, just wound him. It is hard to track a wounded grizzly bear at night. So we headed back to the boat and I walked ahead of him. We came into big open flat, about quarter of a mile. It looked like there was a black bear eating in the grass. Looked like it anyways.

  

I stopped, told this fellow "Black bear over there, let's go right close to him, lets walk right up to him." We were on the dry land about 150 yards from the water. "Black Bear are stupid," I told him "You can get right close to them. See how close you can walk up to him." I started walking up to that black bear. "Just stay right behind me" I told the American guy. The black bear was about a quarter of a mile away when we first saw it. I made a big circle like toward the bear. When I got closer, not too far now, the hunter grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me back. "Clayton, that's not a black bear" he said, "that's a Sasquatch." He keeps on saying, "It's a Sasquatch." I didn't say nothing. I started walking again. I said "Stay right behind me." We was only about 75 yards away.

"Clayton," he said again, "that's not a black bear, that's a Sasquatch!!" I knelt down on the ground, I turned toward him, "what do you know about Sasquatches?" He says, "I come from Northern California, we get them in that country in the big mountains that get snow on them. Those mountains in Northern California which have glaciers on them. Some people hunt them" he said. I said "How do they look like?"   


 He said, "well you seeing one there now, that's a what they look like." I started walking again. I get pretty close now. Then that black bear stands up on both legs and he looks at me. I keep going closer. Gee, I was pretty close now. He started looking at me, making no noise or anything. I feel the barrel of a gun against my cheek. I pushed that hunter's gun away from my face. "Don't shoot him," I said.


The hunter whispered in my ear, "Look through your scope and see how he looks like." I turn the scope to 4X and close *#151; four times closer than a naked eye. I looked through that scope, I look at his mouth. Little white thing in his mouth, looked like rice. I look at his lips kind of turning in and turning out, the top and the bottom too. I look at his face and his chest. The shape of his face is different than a human being face. Hair over face. Eyes were like us but small. Ears small too. Nose just like us, little bit flatter that's all. Head kind of looks small compared to body. Looks friendly doesn't look like he's mad or has anything against us. Didn't snort or make a sound like a grizzly bear. On the middle of his chest, looked to me like a line of no hair, hair split apart little bit in the middle. Skin is black where that hair split apart. It was a male I think. I can't, no way am I able to shoot him. I had a big gun too. Big gun, a .308. I aimed, had my finger on the trigger, and pointed it right at the heart. One shot would have killed him dead, just like that. I couldn't shoot him. Like if a person stands over there, I shoot him, same thing. No way I can kill him.

My mother told me don't ever shoot a Sasquatch. If you shoot them, you gonna lose your wife, your mother or your dad, or else your brother, sister and all your children will die. It will give you bad luck if you kill them. Leave them walk away. That's why I don't want to shoot one. My mother had seen them. She hears them too. A lot of Indian people saw them in the old days when there was many boqs. Nowaday, they are dying off, maybe white man's disease, those left alive are moving north. My brother in eastern tribe say they are no more.

After we see it, we just leave it. That Sasquatch went in the woods, went in the big timber. He took off fast. Looked like he used his hands when he took off first, like a hundred-yard runner, looks like it. Pulling himself up with his arms, with his hands first, looks like. He never made a sound. Just moved off into the heavy timber like a fast moving shadow.
               
Next day we had a look again around where that Sasquatch was eating. We wondered to ourselves, "what was he eating?" He pulled that grass and right at the root of the grass is a little round seed. Looks like a little grains of rice. That white boy called it sweet grass. That was what he was eating. That was the last Sasquatch I actually saw but I hear them and lots of stories about Sasquatches. I was happy that American hunter from California saw a Sasquatch. He was happy he saw the Sasquatch too. 


And more of his experiences : 


I use to own a bigger boat. One time I took a basketball team to Ocean Falls, Bella Bella and Klemtu. Took about 25 boys. They hired me to do this. I have to be careful, don't travel in bad weather or else you get into trouble, sink and lose that many boys. I was coming back from Klemtu, it was getting late, we get past Brynildsen Bay and we hit a strong wind blowing out from South Bentinck. I turned the boat around and go back to Brynildsen Bay. We're going to wait 'til it is nice and take off to Bella Coola in the morning. The boys didn't like that, they wanted to go home that night. "No I'm the boss," I said. The wind was strong and there was too many of us in the boat. I heard Sasquatch live in that bay area. Willie Hans got to the bow of the boat and tied the boat up good. I decided to cook something to eat. We plan to leave early in the morning before the wind came up. Art Saunders, he yelled at Willie Hand, Sasquatch!!" Willie Hans raised his head up high and said "Baaaa qaaaa" — are you there?"  


Sasquatch answered right away, "Haii haii haii." Just like he called his name in our language. We call the Sasquatch "Boqs." The thing answered right now. The whole bunch of kids jammed through the door — they can't squeeze through the door fast enough — but that was about 14 years ago. I also hear Sasquatch in Skowquilz River Valley. Not too long ago, a hunter and his wife came in. I took him to South Bentinck. He was a poor shot, he can't hit nothing with his gun. Good gun too, twelve hundred dollar gun he said. I showed him a black bear, bang bang, he missed. Show him a griz,— bang bang, missed all the time. He can't hit anything. One day we talked about Sasquatch. "Ah bull****," he said. "No such a thing as that in the world." He asked me how it looks like. I told him about the black one I saw in South Bentinck. Look like human being, body like human being. He said, "it's all bull****." His wife get mad at him, "don't call it bull****" she said. "You never see one in your life that is why you don't believe? I bet you never see a wolf either." She was right, he never did see a wolf in the wild. I tried to get him a bear in South Bentinck, we did see a lot of bears but he can't hit them — missed all the time. I told my son-in-law, "let's go to Skowquiltz." It's easy to hunt there, easy hunting, lot of black bears there." So we went to Skowquiltz River Valley. Same as always. It was getting dark in the evening when we got there. Starting to get dark anyways. I took this guy out and I sat down on a log, waiting for a bear to come out. I saw one right away quick. A black bear, he wanted to cross the meadow in front of us. "There should be black bear over there do, do you see any?"  


 "Yeah, let's take a look-see" he said. We went to a meadow waiting for the bear but he never did show. Lots of bear sign, ground all dug up but no bears anywhere. We went back to the same log and sat down again. Suddenly a sound scared us bad! Real awful noise. Looks like a bluff up above where the sound came from, "Awwwoooo Wooo Wooo." That Sasquatch was talking but I couldn't understand what he was saying. Real deep voice. Then the hunter asked me "what's going on over there?" "You don't believe in Sasquatches?" I said. "That there is one you a hearin' now!" "You're hearing one, but you still don't believe it? That's what it is. Maybe they lost each other, trying to call its mate maybe, it's his wife he's trying to call." No answer though. Just a big deep voice. Awful sounding voice this time, scared me. Usually I'm not scared in the woods. As long as I have my gun I'm not afraid. But that voice sure scared me! I start thinkin' maybe it's a ghost or spirit or something like that. Cougar don't sound the same as the Sasquatch. I can tell the difference! Porcupine sounds like a woman crying sometimes, but that Sasquatch cry is different than porcupine.

Mack included the story of his brother's encounter:

My brother saw a Sasquatch. (My brother's name is Samson). Standing face to face about a foot and a half apart! He was on the tide flats here. He was working the boom there. Early shift in the morning, 'twas fire season, had to go across to the other side, the Old Town site side, at about three o'clock in the morning. Samson met that old Sasquatch right on the road. Samson stopped, the Sasquatch stopped and they just looked at each other. And Samson, he wouldn't tell anyone about it for a long long time. 
  
Clayton Mack shared some of his thoughts about sasquatch :
           
Sometimes I wonder what kind of animal is a Sasquatch? Half man, half-animal I think. Just like a man but can't make fire, which seems to be all. You know all the Indians up and down the coast have the same name for Sasquatches, Bookwus, (Bukwas) or Boqs. Many different languages, but same name for the Sasquatch.  

I  think they live in caves in the winter, hibernate like a bear. I don't think they like fish up here. Sasquatches got strong smell, smell like a pig they say. I never smelled it myself, never did in my life. But a lot of guys smell them. They see them and smell them, I saw one in the South Bentinck up close, but I never did smell nothing on him. Maybe the wind was blowin' the other direction. The way a Sasquatch finds out how far apart each other is, is they pick up a stick and hit a tree with that stick. Makes a spooky noise. You will hear "bong" on one side of a valley then "bong" when another Sasquatch answers from the other side of the valley.


There are Sasquatch hunters, quite a bunch of them. They try and get a Sasquatch. Some of the Sasquatch hunters have come to see me and one guy said to me, "You tell me where I can get a picture of a Sasquatch. If I can get it, I get 125,000 dollars." "What are you going to do with that picture?" I asked him. "Make millions of copies of it and kids they will buy that and put it on their shirt," he said. That guy stayed with me awhile. Look like there is a lot of money in that Sasquatch hunting business. I want to join them someday. One day that Sasquatch hunter, he needed money to buy grub to go back in the mountains. He was hunting back of Salloomt River valley. He wants to buy oranges for bait. He claims that Sasquatches like apples and oranges. He didn't have any money to buy this stuff he wanted so he said "can I use your phone?" "Yeah, okay" I said. And he phoned a man down in Agassiz, who was hunting Sasquatch too. He get through to the guy okay and I hear him say he needs over eight hundred dollars, he tells that guy to send the money to the Credit Union here in Bella Coola. He got it just like that! Over a thousand bucks by the time he traded in his American money for Canadian money. 


I think there is still a few Sasquatch families around. Up the Talchako River, Kitlope River, Skowquiltz River and in South Bentinck. They travel long ways, cover a lot of ground in a day. I think someday someone will get a Sasquatch. I could have got one long ago if I wanted to kill one. I just couldn't kill it. I couldn't kill one for a million dollars, a Sasquatch looks too much like a man.


Nancy


"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

STILL TALKING TRACKS

drawing by Jeremy Moore

One of the best reports on tracks that John Green ever received was in a letter sent to him by Jack Woodruff in September, 1967.

I would like to just quote from that letter as it shows you just how important tracks are to research. And how casting them can help you have time to study them more in depth later on.


So, with thanks to John Green and Jack Woodruff :


"On the morning of August 15 I discovered the footprints of four persons along the river bank at this location. I measured these footprints, made casts of four different prints and have these casts in my possession.


"The casts are of three different people or sub-humans,. Two of them are perfect in every detail and the other two are of the fore part of the feet. One of the perfect casts is of a small child, I should judge about three or four years of age. The other is of a full grown adult and is a foot in length, four and a half inches wide at the ball of the foot and has a three and a half inch heel. This footprint or cast is perfect in detail and distinctly human.


"The two casts of the fore part of two foot prints are not identical. One seems to be of an adult, matching the footprint described above. The other cast is of a huge footprint. This print was a full six inches across the ball of the foot. The big toe is huge and well defined and the other toes show up as being big and powerful.


"The print was made along creviced bedrock, and although the entire footprint showed when discovered, only the fore part of the foot was well enough imprinted in a sandy crevice to show in the cast. I measured this print carefully and it was a full fourteen inches long, very wide and appeared to have been made by a very heavy man.


"There were six prints left by this barefoot family. Two of the prints were of children but one of these was spoiled by a careless viewer. It was the footprint of a child about eight or nine years old. The other print was of a huge adult and this one was spoiled by a raccoon stepping on the sandy ridge and caving it in. I am confident I have casts of the male of this family, the mother and the youngest child.


"These prints were made Monday night, August 14, between seven-thirty p.m. and eight a.m. the following morning. I would guess they were about six hours old when I found them.


"There is no possibility of measuring the stride of these visitors as I did not find any two prints in a a succession that would be made by a person walking. The bed of the east fork of the Coquille River is bedrock, sandstone. These people are very canny about stepping on sand bars or any place when they would leave prints. All the prints I found were made in shallow crevices filled with sand and fine gravel. I scouted the bed for half a mile in either direction and came up with nothing. This in spite of considerable trapping experience in a misspent youth. These people do not walk where they can be trailed.


"The casts of the adult feet show huge callouses. The smaller adult cast could be that of any civilized woman except that she was barefooted in one of the roughest creek beds in Oregon. Her cast does not show anything extraordinary except size but the other cast is unbelievable. The old boy must be tremendously strong, judging from his footprint."


Nancy


"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."


Source : "Sasquatch, the apes among us" by John Green

HOW TO CAST A TRACK

To cast or not to cast. That is the question.

People's  opinions on casting footprints varies. Some don't bother for various reasons. Some make that a complete study.

They can be valuable evidence. A properly done cast can help you determine how many sasquatch might be in the area. You can also chart the growth of an individual by recording the size each time you make a cast. It can help a researcher determine how big of an area a sasquatch travels through. Or how often he may be in the area.

It can also be a teaching tool. There may be times that after you have cast a footprint, after further examination, you discover that either it was a misidentified print, or even a fake. Having a cast to study can help you learn to read tracks.


A properly made cast offers evidence that is valuable in other ways. They can be examined by others and can help support your claims of sasquatch activity. Many casts made will contain dermal ridges. These are similar to fingerprints and can help identify the individual that has been in the area. [Hospitals used to add the baby's footprint to birth certificates to help identify the babies. Helped keep mix-ups to a minimum. My original birth certificate has my footprints on it. I know I'm me. LOL]


The dermal ridges found on some of the prints don't appear to to belong to any known primate or other type of animal.  If there is enough detail on a cast, it points away from the print being a hoax or faked, and helps to lead to the conclusion that you have cast the print of something unknown.


Once you have determined that you would like to cast the footprints then knowing what you need and how to do it follows.  [Yesterday's post talked on everything you should do before casting a print.]  Once you have completed your examination of the prints and the area surrounding it, you are ready to cast the print (s).


Also, make certain that the area will be secure. You will not want the track and casting process disturbed by people passing through or by animals. If there is loose debris in the track itself, carefully remove it from the track before continuing. If the debris has been pressed down into the track, do not remove it. Doing so will only damage the track and your cast will be flawed.


So, what will you need to make a cast.


First determine a medium for making the cast. Some use Plaster of Paris, others recommend Dental Stone.


Dental Stone can be purchased online from any dental supply house. It dries quickly, and dries strong. It seems more expensive, but you will use less in casting a track.  Plaster of Paris needs to be thicker, and can break more easily. And is heavier. It also tends to crumble and it is said to degrade at a faster rate than Dental Stone.


You will need to carry something to mix your medium in; because of the size of the tracks you will be casting, you will probably need a bowl.  You will need water and  something to make a 'collar' from to put around the track [some fashion one out of plastic containers and reuse them. Others use cardboard.] The collar is used to create a 'wall' around the track to hold the casting material. It will make a thicker and more stable cast. And less likely to crack. If you have several collars with you, you can actually leave the collar on each track until you get home and remove it there. And you will need a cup of some sort to use in measuring the amount of powder and water when mixing the medium.





Now to cast the print.


First, place the collar around the track. Overlap the two ends slightly and secure them with a paperclip or tape. If you can, press the collar slightly into the soil around the track. Be careful not to disturb the track. This should keep the casting material from running under the collar.

casting without a collar.

Next you need to mix the casting material. This will be a 2 parts powder to 1 part water. Add the powder to the water, not water to the powder. Your mix should be like pancake batter. As soon as  the powder is added to the water, it starts to set. Stir the mixture for 4 or 5 minutes, making certain all the lumps are gone. After mixing, tap the container [bowl] full of the mixture on the ground or other hard surface to remove the air from it. You will actually see the air bubbles come to the top. The more air removed from the mixture, the better the cast will turn out. And now  you're ready to pour the mixture into the track.


Avoid pouring the mixture directly onto the track so you will not damage it. Pour it on the ground next to the track. It will run freely across the track and gradually fill the form. Now comes the waiting. You can use this time to further examine the area around the track(s) you have found, looking for further evidence. Or even for more tracks.


Let the track set for at least half an hour. The longer it sits, it should allow for a better cast. As it dries, it will change color from a glossy white to a duller shade. To test if the cast is dry enough to pick up, try tapping your knuckle on the top of it. If it makes a "ceramic" type sound, it is safe to pick it up. If it still feels a little moist or you get a hollow sound when tapped, let it sit for a little while longer and test it again. Depending on conditions like weather, it may take  as long as two hours for a cast to be dry enough.





The cast is now dry and it is time to lift it from the ground. Lift it from opposite edges from beneath the cast itself. If the track was in mud or another softer ground type, you might need to dig a little under the cast.  Prying the cast out from one end will likely break the cast. Care is called for. [And why practice is recommended. LOL]


Placing the cast in a plastic bag or into a box for the trip home is recommended. Once you have it home, take it out of the container so that it can dry thoroughly.  An old baker's wire cooling rack with clean paper on it would work nicely. The cast still needs to let the excess water escape and if you keep it in a sealed container, it will not dry properly.


If you use Plaster of Paris, do not scrub the cast to clean off the dirt as that will remove any of the fine details the cast may have had. Dental Stone is stronger and easier to clean. A light rinsing from a garden hose should remove the loose dirt nicely. Do not handle the cast for at least a week. This will allow it to set completely and will deminish the chance for damage. 

Once your cast is dry, you can label it on the top. The date and other identification can be written on it for easier referral in future study.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."


thanks to : octrackers.co; bigfoothunting.com; and others.

EVERYBODY KNOWS TRACKS

Everyone knows that there are sasquatch tracks. Just as with any other being or creature out in the wilds, there may be tracks left behind. It is your responsibility as a researcher to learn about tracks.   

Know the animals in your area. Be aware of what may be out in those woods and fields. Learn their habits, their calls, other sounds, and their tracks. A good tracking guide is useful here and should be included in your pack.


After you have examined the track(s), and you have determined it may be a human-shaped footprint, take a second closer look.


If there are multiple footprints, check each on for variations on toe postitions, shapes, and if they are partial or full prints. If it is made by a real being, the foot will not make exact same prints each time. Fake feet will probably look much the same in each impression.




You will want to check the print for compression lines. These are the tiny cracks in the inner top-most part of the track. These will indicate if the track has been made by a flexible foot.

You will also want to check the track for impact ridges. These cracks will form on the outside of a track. They are caused when something hard and rigid, like a fake foot, a wooden one, is stamped down hard on the ground.


You also need to check the print for tampering. Has dirt or leaves or twigs been removed to clear the track? Are there marks showing that the track may have been shaped? Does it look like the soil has been pushed or formed around or in the track?

Know about the area. Have people been through there? Is the print placed where it would be very noticeable if someone walked by? Is it near a picnic area or a hiking trail? Is this an area that someone might choose to do a hoax or trick you? Who might know where you were going that might think this a good joke to play on you? Or even to hoax you in order to call you out and discredit you?


Is the area of the track a likely place for a sasquatch to have passed through. Has there been reported activity? Are there other signs that point towards a possible sasquatch being in that area.


A hoaxed or misidentified track can be very convincing. And it may not be evident at first. That's another reason to properly document the track. (The first being that when you document all your "evidence" you have a clear record of all your research. You may feel that you will remember every investigation that you participate in. Trust me, time and repeated research will dull your memory. Dates will blur and time lines become confused. A research diary and proper documentation will help you remember things a little more clearly.) Proper documentation will help you examine your evidence more closely and help you present it to others for their consideration. In the end, you will make a much more informed decision.

Documentation includes, photographs, measurements, field notes. Include the day, the time, location, weather, what drew your attention to the evidence. What you may consider "too much" information will not happen. There is NEVER too much information when documenting your field research.

Sometimes we are lucky and find multiple tracks, a "trackway". A trackway can extend for miles, or it can be a length of a few as three or four tracks. If you should be lucky enough to find a trackway, it would be wise to have your documentation and research habits well set by then so that it becomes automatic to you.

I cannot emphasis enough the need to MEASURE the tracks. In a pinch, yes, a dollar bill or cigarette lighter or a driver's license or water bottle could work. But if you can carry any of those items with you, you can just as well include a measuring tape and a small notebook and pen or pencil along with a camera of some sort.

Measure the track (s). Measure the width, the length and how deep it is. Measure the width at the toes and at the heels. If more than one track, measure the distance between them. That will give you the stride.

Photograph the track (s). Take a shot from all directions, including straight down. If a trackway, you want to include photos of the entire trackway. Use something (small marker flags are good) to mark the location of each track in the photos.

You'll want to look for and make notes of obstacles that might cause a change of direction of a trackway. Record the direction the track (s) are going. 

Cast the track (s). If more than one, cast both right and left tracks when possible. Cast as many tracks as you can of both feet.  This will allow you to later examine them further to note the differences as the walker advanced.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

Tomorrow : How to cast a track

Thanks to : bigfootfieldguide.blogspot.com; octrackers.com; bigfoothunting.com

FOOTPRINTS 101 -- Courtesy of John Green

"Sighting reports are generally far more interesting than footprints, but they are not of equal quality as evidence." -- John Green

There have been, and hopefully will be, many filed footprint reports from around the world. And undoubtedly, many of those preserved can be chalked up to miscellaneous depressions in the ground that were never footprints and many footprints that have been made by other animals and even overlapping tracks. There are also many prints that have never been properly documented, improperly cast, or not even examined by track experts.


However, I agree with Mr. Green. Even after all the questionable and all the misidentified are eliminated, there still remains hundreds of good tracks that have been collected, photographed, documented, studied that remain unattached to known species.


Tracks can present an apparently simple problem but it's one that has never been solved. It should be easy to prove what is making them. But it hasn't happened. If they are all being made by humans, then humans should have at some point been caught making them. That has not happened.


John Green knew of several instances where tracks were declared genuine, only to have someone come forward claiming that they had faked them. The culprits even produced the equipment they used and demonstrated how they did it.  In my opinion, sometimes they could prove they faked them, other times they didn't. Sometimes I think some would step forward to claim they did it, just to muddy the evidence.


There have also been times when the faked tracks were obvious. Rarely are the faked tracks impressive-looking. And although  it has been shown it can be done; it is not all that easy.


Green also talked of the giant rubber feet that can be purchased from "joke" shops. There is no real strength in them in order to make the toes and heels make a deep impression.


Carved wooden feet were popular for awhile. They would be mounted on an old pair of shoes and the person would go stomping around. Green himself tried this method, and also tried fiberglass copies of actual footprints. Some of the soft materials that were tried worked fairly well, but it was not possible to create any illusion of individual toe movement.  If there were more than one track, it would be obvious that all the prints had been made by the same rigid objects.

Ray Wallace's wooden foot

For one experiment, Green used a really good pair of wooden feet that weighed close to 200 lbs, put a man on them weighing more than 250 lbs. (total of over 450 lbs) That man could not make a single track in sand worth casting. In loose, dry sand, there was no shape. When the sand was wet and packed, the fake feet still did not sink in very far.


Green reasoned that the weight problem could be solved by a hoaxer with enough ingenuity. But combining a cure for the weight along with managing an individual toe movement will not be that easy.


He gives as an example the tracks made from the Patterson Film area. He had casts made from nine different tracks from that set. The distance between the big toe and the little toe varies by almost an inch. It would require a device or technique to duplicate that, and to do it with an impression deep enough to show weight. AND add to that, taking 6 foot strides and walking up and down hilly and steep areas and getting past logs three foot from the ground. Green offered a reward to anyone who could duplicate that footprint track, showing him how they did it. NO ONE ever came forward to claim that reward.


What would give away tracks made by someone wearing carved feet? First of all the middle of the print would not sink in very far. It is possible to put all the weight on the heel and on the toes to make them dig in, but not on the center of the foot. Second, if an attempt is made to produce long strides and deep prints by bounding along, the toes dig up a lot of loose dirt or sand and leave it heaped behind the toe prints.


Some prints that appear to show just four toes might be just a case of the little toe not showing. The toe might be small enough that it might fail to make a very deep impression.

There are several products currently out that present problems for many researchers. Among them are the new running shoes and a few products that are being sold so that "you can fool your friends" about a sasquatch in your backyard.

 

John Green tended not to put much emphasis on most tracks made in the snow. Most times there is no way to be certain of the conditions of the snow when the tracks are made. Therefore it is impossible to judge just how much weight was involved in making them.  The stride of the steps is of course  a factor, along with any obstacles, such as logs and fences along the trail. It is also difficult to judge the size of the prints due to melting. And identifying the tracks is more difficult if much melting has occured as it blurs the lines and individual impressions could combine making a track look bigger than  originally.


Advantages of snow tracks is that it is easier to see if anything or anyone else should cross the trail as it would be difficult to fake some tracks and then walk away in the snow. The tracks in the snow can also indicate some of the activities of the being making the tracks. This would include things like going to a stream to drink, digging through snow to reach grasses to eat.


Green  had a theory that the scarcity of tracks could only be explained by assuming that  sasquatch deliberately avoid making tracks most of the time.
Another factor to take into account is the terrain. The type of soil, the amount and type of ground cover also determines if tracks can be found. Sometimes the only sign that something has passed through is a scuffing on the ground. A slight disturbance in the ground cover.


"When tracks are found it often seems as if the creature making them had just decided 'to heck with it' and thrown caution temporarily to the winds." -- John Green

Nancy


"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

RICE, MINNESOTA SIGHTING - December 2017 BFRO 58895

artist version of sasquatch crossing road at night.
not based on this  report


In December 2017, a man saw a figure in his headlights as it crossed the road in front of him.

The witness was headed home from visiting with his father-in-law when his headlights suddenly illuminated a figure crossing the road. The headlights clearly showed him the legs of the being. He clearly saw the calves and large feet. The upper torso was shadowed but he could make out a large, mammal-like shape. He estimated it to be 7 1/2 to 8 ft. tall, about 3 ft wide and maybe 500 pounds.


The long arms seemed to reach almost to the knees; the arms swung as the shape used only four steps to cross the two-lane highway. The witness could also make out long, black matted hair on the figure. He also conjectured that it was moving between the river and the forest which the highway passed between.


The terrain is hilly and heavily forested. There is abundant wildlife in forest, field and stream. The witness was unclear if there are any caves in the area but stated that there were numerous abandoned farm buildings throughout the area.


The witness on another occasion, while hunting near Onamia, Minnesota at a wildlife management area, also near Rice, came across some footprints that he believed unusual. He found two of them. One was on a hard packed trail and was barely visible. The second was in soft sand and was about 42 inches away from the first. It measured 15 inches long and 6 inches wide, 3/4 of an inch deep, with visible toes. [BFRO investigators thought this might be a bear track].

photo courtesy of witness and BFRO
report # 58895



The witness also talked of the vocals and sounds that he had been hearing for over a year from his house. The house is in a remote location outside of Rice. Among the sounds have been howls, growls, knocks, and even chatter. The woods are only 45 yards from his patio.

A last note : the witness is an outdoorsman and is familar with the tracks and calls of the known animals in the area.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

Source : BRFO.net



FOOTPRINTS 101 - courtesy of Dr. Jeff Meldrum

"Much of what is learned about mammals in the wild comes from the stories that can be read from their tracks and other sign." -- Dr. Jim Halfpenny, as quoted in Meldrum's book.

Mammals are some of the most elusive creatures that are on this planet. We know they are out there. But how many do you actually see?  I know they have reported black bears in my area. How many have I seen in the flesh? Zero. Yeah, I see deer, maybe even up to a half dozen at a time. They tell me there are hundreds in the area. Skunk? Not for several years, except as road kill. Opossum? Road kill. Rabbits? One or two, here and there. Again, hundreds said to be around. Coyotes? We're told we've been invaded in this area. In the past 10 years I've seen Two. Yep. Two.

I can balance it with being told no bobcats in the area and claim the one that tracked my injured cat up to my backdoor. (Don't worry, years ago and that was the last day any of my cats were outdoor cats). Yep. No bobcats. And that one looked me straight in the eye. No mistake on what I saw.

So, sorry. Side-tracked. (Pun intended).

On to sasquatch tracks. Dr. Meldrum gives us three main things to look for : toe movement, midfoot flexibility, pressure ridges.

He goes on to say that the resemblance to a human footprint ends mostly with the inner big toe being aligned with the remaining toes. Sasquatch prints are typically flat with no consistent indication of the true hallmark of the human foot -- a fixed longitudinal arch. The sasquatch foot is relatively broader and the sole pad is apparently thicker, comparing it to a human foot. The heel and toe segments are disproportionately longer.

A sasquatch displays an exceptionally long stride, often with the footprints one directly in front of the other. Most modern Euro-Americans leave lines of alternating right and left footprints separated by some distance, referred to as a straddle, or step width.

A sasquatch print shows a lack of difference of pressure indentation beneath the heel and ball as in an arched foot (human). The sasquatch prints tend to be uniform in depth.


Sometimes the print may indicate a more ape-like midfoot flexibility.


Meldrum also reminds us that a sasquatch print is not an enlarged human print, but "appears to represent a uniquely adapted primate foot associated with a distinctive mode of bipedalism, one that may well have evolved independently although roughly in parallet to hominid bipedalism".


Well, now to a quiz. Real or fake?  You decide.

"For me as a wildlife biologist, it's the tracks that we depend upon for the existence of an animal in a study area. We don't usually see the mammals, but we do see their tracks. In the case of the Sasquatch, this is the most compelling evidence we have." --

 Dr. John Bindernagel

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."