Need help in Central Texas Options

[BigTex]

The flash-flooding has also exposed some interesting fossils as well. These poor creatures seem to have been caught in some kind of lava flow long ago, with their flesh being burned off immediately, and leaving their bones in the flow. Are there any fossil hunters that might want to comment on these photos?

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[BigTex]

This week has been the best weather for hiking in a long while, and the wet conditions is a welcome relief for print work. Here's an old log that was torn up last night, and a 'little foot' print nearby. The rotting logs have grubs and other tasty critters hanging in and around them.....mmmm.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[ShadoAngel]

BigTex,

In a couple of these photographs of the footprints you've been finding, it looks like the big toe of the footprint is separated from the other toes. Is this a trick on my eyes, or does it appear this way to you as well? IIRC, in the footprint that we found, the toes appeared to be all in a row. You think it's all the same creature ["junior", as it were] walking/standing differently and/or in different soil or a different creature?

[BigTex]

Hey Shado.......the print above/below wasn't in good shape, and appeared to have had something happen to it after it was laid down.......maybe the same or some other animal came through there and disturbed it. The track we found was much better for sure. The toes appeared to be in line; however, the print seemed a little larger, if anything. I was looking more at the front part of the track above, and the whole may be parts of two different impressions. This would make sense, it was in close proximity to the busted up log. There was leaf litter mostly around the log, and only a small area with exposed moist dirt. The heel appears to end northwest of the white rock, not very clear on the picture size above.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[NewMexRog]

You might be on to something Rog, and I have certainly wondered the same thing. If you were going to be carrying anything of weight back in those days, the creeks would make sense, and would be easy to relocate in the future. The picture below shows what appears to be an arrow carved in the rock, and is located in one of the smaller creeks in this area.

Big Tex,

I responded to your PM before I got to this thread, havnt a had chance to get to the forum in a couple of days.

That does appear to be a Spanish direction symbol and from what I can tell from the photo (the down sized picture doesnt give much detail) the smaller white rocks appear to be quartz with some mineralization, which is another good thing. Back in the day of the Conquistadors these treasure location symbols where a secret code known only to a select few. Modern treasure hunters have deciphered the code and made some remarkable finds. I started looking for references to the old Spanich treasure symbols as part of my search for the Lost Adams Diggings thinking maybe the Spaniards had also found the deposit. I have two books on the symbols and there meaning "somewhere", I'll explain the somewhere in a minute but, I have stumbled across Spanish treasure symbols a few times and followed them up. I only follow them for any great distance if I find one of the symbol's for "ORO". Usually, I follow the directions up to a point and then cant find the next symbol. I dont know if natural causes over the last 400 years has erased them (flash floods, land slides, earth quakes etc.) or if someone else on the trail has just made them disapear to keep others off the trail. But twice I have followed them to a satisfying conclusion (sort of), on one the deposit had been found in the late 1800 hundreds and is now a fenced off patented mining claim (patented means now private property) on the the other I found the old mine but, it is in (what is now) a wilderness area, which means totally hands off by federal law. You dont want to get caught carrying out even a mineral sample, if you are caught, you are in some serious deep sh*t! I'm getting old and arthritic so I cant sneak and creep like I usetacould!

I'm getting long winded again so I'll try and cut this short (and all the dogs just started raising hell, so there's something out there thats not welcome, I'll check it out in a minute). Now I'll explain what I meant by "somewhere", when my daughter moved out on her own a year ago, my wife went on a massive home reorganization (oh the dogs are barking at a helicopter, I just heard it, thats probably not welcome either) since all our book cases are full, she boxed up all the books I had stacked in out of the way places and put the box's in lots of other places! So I have no clue where the treasure symbol books are.

Big Tex, I will send you a PM with my email address, if you are interested send me the full sized picture and I will find the books and let you know what it means. In the subject line of the email put "treasure symbol?" so I wont think it is spam. Also let me know in the email if you want me to post the meaning here or by PM.

I appologize for the long winded post that is off topic for this thread.

Rog

[vilnoori]

very interesting lead! And could those be barefoot people prints? Or ungulate scrapes? We always should try to rule out the ordinary before jumping to an extraordinary conclusion.

[Mulder]

very interesting lead! And could those be barefoot people prints? Or ungulate scrapes? We always should try to rule out the ordinary before jumping to an extraordinary conclusion.

First, we have to keep in mind what BigTex said about the track being in poor condition. Based on some of the previous tracks he's photographed, a visual inspection tells me that the proportions are wrong for a human footprint. Sassy tracks are much wider through the back half of the foot than human tracks are.

As for it being an ungulate scrape, it doesn't appear to me to have any sign of a "tail" or "mound" (where the dug stuff is scattered "behind" the start of the track).

BigTex, has there been any activity of late around the "kill zone"? Also, you said you never mentioned it to your friend at F&W. May I ask why? Are you concerned that he might have to take official notice and it would mess up your investigation?

[Wheellug]

very interesting lead! And could those be barefoot people prints? Or ungulate scrapes? We always should try to rule out the ordinary before jumping to an extraordinary conclusion.

In that area you have cactus just about every few yards/feet it seems. The rocks are sharp in many areas and you do have plenty of critters of the snake variety about.
If someone was barefootin-they would have to be pretty darn carefull, slow, or have some damn tuff hide. I grew up in the area and did a bit a barefootin in the country side. Learned the hard way.

[BigTex]

You are right Wheel.....it would do a number on your bare feet. I have worn creek shoes before, so I could walk down the creeks, but those were too painful. I wear my older proper shoes now, and just get them wet. Water is still running pretty good........here's a nice waterfall.

Also, haven't been over to the kill zone in several weeks, and figured I'd give it a little time before I go back over there. And yes Mulder, don't wanna make any reports.......heck, they will think I did it! That seems to be the official mentality these days, plus this is my little study area.

This post has been edited by BigTex: Oct 24 2009, 09:10 PM

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[BigTex]

One more quick note, and to answer Mulder more completely, I DID report this strange activity at the kill zone to the head city sanitation guy, and he said he was going to "look into it"........and I will just leave it at that.

[BigTex]

Hey all........been laid up for a week and a half with a bad back, was mowing the lawn, and did something to it. Finally got back out for a short hike yesterday, but still pain with every step. It's also been a while since I have ventured over to the Kill Zone, and figured I will only go over there once or twice a month. It will be interesting to see if the deer carcusses start collecting over there, with the start of deer season, which would indicate dumping.......we'll see.

Here's a picture of two large dog/wolf prints, probably a female, followed by a male. They were quite large, especially the male print.......absolutely huge! The prints are almost on top of each other, and hopefully you can see the detail. I have seen a male & female Red Wolf in the area before, no mistaking them either, and these tracks are probably them.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[vilnoori]

In that area you have cactus just about every few yards/feet it seems. The rocks are sharp in many areas and you do have plenty of critters of the snake variety about.
If someone was barefootin-they would have to be pretty darn carefull, slow, or have some damn tuff hide. I grew up in the area and did a bit a barefootin in the country side. Learned the hard way.

Yeah, I hear ya. As a kid I barefooted it my first 9 years on the grasslands of West Africa. There were plenty of snakes, army ants, scorpions, thorns, cacti, animal droppings, human droppings, chicken droppings, ok, well you get the picture. You developed a careful tread and a very sharp eye.

[BigTex]

Great weather for hiking.........been walking down many of the streams looking for sign. Here's the fence and sign for the water treatment plant discussed a few posts back, not much of a fence.....as can be seen.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[FanofSquatch]

Just read the whole thing, and WOW! This is interesting, with a level headed researcher on the job this is a great thread. Have there been any very fresh kills in the zone? Other than the dog they seem to be just bones. With your knowledge of big cats are you able to rule out them as the culprit or would you still consider them a real possibility? I appreciate your efforts in posting up all your findings and pictures I think this is one of the best ongoing reports in a long, long time.

[BigTex]

Thank you for the kind words FanofSquatch........it inspires me to do more! Haven't been to the 'Zone' in a few weeks, but will this weekend. The only real head scratchers are the number of kills in such a small area, and the manner in which most are killed. Doesn't appear to be much tooth & claw used to kill most of the victims, and the whole scene just seems very out of place. It does not look like the work of a big cat either. The bodies all have signs of major bone dislocations; neck, spine, and legs, almost like they were pounded by something powerful.......a car, sledge hammer, or powerful large fists. I still haven't ruled out dumping of road kills - which would explain some of this - or poaching. One thing I have noticed of late, and ony because the ground has been wet for about a month, and ideal for leaving prints........the two large dogs/wolves have been leaving prints all over the area, and near the kill zone. When dry, which is most of the time, they wouldn't be leaving such obvious sign. They are REALLY making the rounds, and always the same two, probaly a male and his bitch! Don't think it would be them either though.

Also, and this is kind of freaky.......I had some guys approach me several years ago about putting some of my work on a Bigfoot documentary they were doing. They never finished it, and I totally forgot about it until one of my buddies said that he saw me on youtube talking about Bigfoot, and I said NO WAY! Well.....yes way. I searched, and sure enough there it was. These film dudes made a small deal for youtube I guess, and does show some of my other gear & opinions. If anyone is interested, check it out, and tell me what you think.......search 'Bigfoot, True Believer', on youtube, and I think the link will come up.

[FanofSquatch]

I see now where twisted necks are mentioned, road kill I would lean towards no mainly for the reasons you stated that it just wouldnt make sense to haul a dead animal more than 20' off the road. I would think a road killed deer would have shattered legs and ribs. Poachers dont make a whole lot of sense either there would be more evidence pointing towards them. Do you ever hear distant gunfire when you are out? Anyhow I've spent my two cents here, keep posting and I'll keep reading.

[BigTex]

Hello all.......went on two hikes over the weekend, and one took me through the Kill Zone - no new arrivals. It is quite possible that my inquiry to the city sanitation department did 'solve the mystery' indirectly, we'll see, but not a whole lotta activity over there since my call to them approximately 6 weeks ago.

The rain continues, and keeping everything wet........lots of animal tracks. The huge 'dog' prints are all over, and probably were all along, just not enough rain normally to detect a patern, like now. There is also the tracks of a hog that must truly be a monster. Lordy, absolutely don't want to run across that bad boy. Forgot my camera that day, but will return to get some pictures of those.

Here's another large 'dog' print, a large poop pile with hair & bone, and another torn up old log.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[jamin19]

Also, and this is kind of freaky.......I had some guys approach me several years ago about putting some of my work on a Bigfoot documentary they were doing. They never finished it, and I totally forgot about it until one of my buddies said that he saw me on youtube talking about Bigfoot, and I said NO WAY! Well.....yes way. I searched, and sure enough there it was. These film dudes made a small deal for youtube I guess, and does show some of my other gear & opinions. If anyone is interested, check it out, and tell me what you think.......search 'Bigfoot, True Believer', on youtube, and I think the link will come up.

I saw the video BigTex, and I thought it was very interesting! I do like the camera hat and a lot of your research techniques. I also think you might be correct on some of the capabilities of the big guy. It would explain a lot.

Is there anymore of the documentary video elsewhere?

Cheers,
jam


edit for spelling

This post has been edited by jamin19: Nov 9 2009, 07:41 PM

[BigTex]

Hey Jamin, I was surprised the short video was even out there. I have left two messages with the guys who made the video, but no call backs. They were planning an hour long documentary, and included other researchers as well. Maybe this was a teaser to gauge interest, who knows. If I ever get a hold of these guys, I will ask about anything further. There was some other cool footage they took I would use for sure. They hung with me for several days, including an overnight camping trip up on the Brazos River, in Palo Pinto County Texas, and is where I had my visual VERY close encounter.