A What would you do in the woods if this happened question.

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Okay...I'm sure that this question could get me laughed at, and some could claim that it is a waste of time to post it, but I'm gonna do it anyway darn it!

This is especially applicable to hunters or hikers in the Western U.S.

Let's say you were out in the woods, armed for Elk or similar sized game. Suddenly, about 75-100 yards away, you see a large, dark shape walking upright. It doesn't look like a bear. In fact, if you look twice, you would almost swear it looks like, well, Big Foot. You haven't been drinking(or smoking for that matter)

What would you do? Would you shoot it, knowing that the person that could deliver a Big Foot corpse would be famous for life? Or not shoot because it could be one member of an extremely endangered species? Or not shoot because it could be a guy in a monkey suit(who would be getting what he deserves, but only if you just winged him!)? Or just close your eyes and walk away, and forget you ever saw it?

Or worse, shoot me for posting such a silly question?

I am just asking because I am watching a Big Foot show on Discovery, and I have occasionally hunted here in Big Foot country in Washington. Having gone weeks at a time not seeing an Elk, which we KNOW are there somewhere, I don't find the idea of a real Big Foot all that laughable. Not sure what I would do if I saw something unusual...but I don't think I would shoot.

Bah...guess I need some sleep.

Greg
 
I don’t shoot “large, dark shapes†without proper target identification. If I ID'd this thing as Bigfoot, I'd probably watch it go by and enjoy my private moment with nature. The "just me and creation" moments are what makes the boonies worth hanging out in, IMHO.
 
I'm pretty sure you know the answer. You don't shoot unidentified upright-walking creatures. If you KNEW if was Bigfoot, I still wouldn't take the shot.
 
This intrigues me. It's been on the news in the last week that some guy's family (now that he's dead) has admitted that he was the guy in the Patterson film, dressed in a realistic suit. He also used fake feet to leave many tracks. Some will assume that he was responsible for many sightings of Bigfoot, and that the animal therefore doesn't exist.

BUT: Bigfoot was legendary long before this guy got up to his tricks, and the FBI lab has supposedly examined hair samples believed to be from a Bigfoot, and they didn't match any known animal. He can't have been responsible for all the tracks, and books I've read note that professional biologists said that some of the tracks were so detailed anatomically that they would be almost impossible for anyone other than a skilled zoologist to manufacture.

Bigfoot sightings come from several regions of the country and from Canada, where Indians have known about the beast for generations. One was captured along a railroad in about 1880, but later escaped. Several reliable men have told of being attacked by them, and some cases are known of human abductions, where the victim later escaped and told very plausible tales of the event.

Personally, I think they may well be real. Would I shoot one? Depends on the circumstances. In self defense? Sure! Fear for your life should be accepted in court if it came to that...

Lone Star
 
Seriously. Bigfoot documentary's have always intriqued me throughout the years and this is the same question that I have contemplated being that I'm in the woods alot during the hunting seasons.

I would not shoot in fear of shooting an imposter or being imprisioned for shooting something that was not legal to shoot. I would certainly enjoy seeing a bigfoot and believe they exist out there, but unless I'm in danger I would not shoot.

Ron
 
I'm with ahenry and others...

Don't shoot without positive target I.D.; otherwise another great nature moment.

Besides, we don't have a Big Foot season here.:)
 
Most cultures in the world have a big hairy man lurking in the woods outside the village. In central Asia, it was "Alma". In England it was just the "Wild Man". In Scandinavia it was the "Orc" (like in Tolkien). In the Himalaya's it's the Yeti.

In this part of Alaska there are stories about the "Oorluck" (trying to spell that how it's pronounced). Which may tie in to the Russians who told bedtime stories about the mongols to scare their children - an "Orlock" is a Mongol warrior. I think the natives may have appropriated the word as they learned Russian and applied it to their older legend.

There are dozens (hundreds?) of other words in various languages throughout Europe and Asia which describe the same thing - a big hairy, smelly kind of a guy who lives in the woods beyond the village someplace.

I once had a friend who did an informal study of the word roots of as many of these as he could find in an attempt to prove a theory of his. He concluded that many of the European and Asian words had similar roots which meant that the concept went back very far in pre-history - at least to the Indo-Europeans, and perhaps further.
His theory was that the whole Bigfoot legend went back to the time when we shared Europe and Asia with the Neanderthal. That period isn't as long ago as you'd think, maybe 50,000 years ago. If there is widespread evidence of Neanderthal from 50,000 years ago, then it's not unreasonable to assume that isolated groups could have survived up until the bronze age, 10,000 - 15,000 years ago.

To cut to the chase... Since these legends are so widespread, the descriptions so similar, and the language roots so ancient, they probably point to a real creature. And the only know creature that fits the description and inhabited the earth during human memory was Neanderthal.

I don't think we have any Neanderthals out in the woods today, but I think the legend is based on memories of a time when he was out there.

Keith
 
OK, at the risk of ridicule I will tell a short version of it.

One winter 23 years ago, down in the sloughs of Lake Eufaula Oklahoma, the 3rd largest man made lake in the world, a buddy of mine and I were on one of our duck hunts. We limiting out early in the morning and decided to drive our duck boat back futher down the slough to scout for more places to hunt.

After following the zig zags in the water made by flooded timber, we came upon a small open area where a very small island had been made due to the lake level being low. We pulled the boat up to bank and he, I and my black lab at the time, got out of the boat and commenced to wonder around, mainly to warm up.

About five minutes later we both hear Kay, my Lab, barking and raising a mighty ruckus. We naturally take off in her direction to see what is going on. We spot her growling, barking and jumping around at something on the ground. Well, I figure she has found her a snake or something small that is laying there and causing her grief, As we get closer I can see there is not a dang thing there so, we slow down and just walk on up to her.

Well, this is where my friend and I stop dead in our tracks. We both notice the tracks that have been made in the soft ground which is what Kay was having a fit about. My friend and I know bear tracks and these were no bear tracks! I put the size eleven boot of my waders in one of the tracks and saw quickly that it only covered 3/4 of the length and was not nearly as wide as the print. I then made an attempt to take the same strides that were made in the soft soil, not a chance, not even close!

We noticed a pungent scent in the air and at the same time I had chills go up my back. I turned to friend and said, did you feel that? He replied, let's leave! Grabbbing Kay by the collar, the only way to get her to leave the tracks, we started back to boat. When we were getting in the boat I noticed a movement in the thick timber to my right across the slough. I turned my head and saw, as descibed earlier, a sillouette of an upright figure moving thru the dense woods, it was large! The first thing that hit me was that there was no form of a hat or cap, because of how cold it was. It stopped moving, stood still, then turned away from our direction and again started moving but, this time it was going away from us until I lost sight of it.

Needless to say, we got in the boat and left. That night, we decided to go back the next day and try to make plaster casts of the prints. As it turned out, the temperature dropped even more, while rain, sleet and ice moved in so, we didn't get to go back the next day and figured even if we did the tracks would be washed out or the lake level would be rising.

So, there you have it. Since then, I have heard only one other story somewhat similar to mine, stemming from around that same area.
 
Get closer, shoot it with a camera.

I've heard the idea that Neanderthal man was the basis of the bigfoot/yeti myth, as well as gigantipithicus.

Try as we might, we western-raised folks for get that in many cultures these creatures are real, though they don't quite live in the world as we understand it. Bigfoot, Wendigos and Banshees live in a part of our world we have a hard time explaining. Call it the place between dreaming and waking, the dreamtime, or whatever.

Ask an Eskimo why he is reluctant to meet a stanger on open ice, or why A Micmac might freeze in his tracks at the sight of a Raven.

"Monsters" allow us to explore, and explain things that are beyond the reach of our "science".

It would be sad to shoot one.
 
A "Wendigo" is a real thing? I mean that legends actually exist about them....

Just saw the movie. Wasn't that great.
 
My iron clad rule on killing is I kill nothing unless I'm gonna eat it or it is gonna eat me. Category 1 includes trapping for fur/hide for clothing but excludes all sentient beings (the cetacians and higher primates, I haven't made up my mind about elephants)and Category 2 includes all self defense and defense of property (varment destruction in defense of crops/livestock).

Therefore I would NOT fire on a Sasquatch unless it was clearly intending me harm despite the fact that a corpse would make me wealthy/famous.
 
Marshall, thanks for the story.

Whether you believe or not, it's strange that at least one law exists on the books that it's illegal to shoot a Sasquatch. I can't recall which state, but I believe it's in the Pac NW.

Anywho, unless something was looking to do me harm, or I could feed it to my family, I wouldn't consider shooting. There were a few interesting threads on the Marlin Firearms forums on this very subject. I happened on the threads just before hunting season. For the first time in quite a while, I didn't feel quite comfortable in the woods in the dark. :uhoh:

On another note, if you did choose to shoot one, you'd better bring enough gun (and it better not have a front sight ;) ). I've also heard and read on other books and sites that these things don't necessarily travel alone. If you put a few rounds into one, you better hope their buddies don't show up to the party.
 
I wouldn't shoot it. Probably get nailed for endangered critter act or something from our local Kommisars. I believe in taking game for food (for myself or others), but not for the pure joy of killing.
 
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