I'll leave part of this for the deer hunters out there,I went once nearly froze to death,didnt go back. Instead of trying to track BF which seems to be a rather iffy thing to do anyway.how do you find one let alone track one ?I've decided it may be more beneficial to keep track of their food sources.Fruit orchards/groves,water sources,and deer populations and routes.the first two are easy they don't run away from the glare of my headlights the third (the deer) a little harder, but even I can do it.Its just a matter of paying attention to where they appear repeatedly and make the jump in logic that this may be a natural area where the deer congregate or travel,that and the DEER X-ING signs on the side of the road.(Like the deer can read these and know they're only supposed to cross here ? )anyhoo.To the hunters,I ask is there a better way to track the deer populations than just noting the area where they seem to frequently be ?or is that the best way to do so ?It has seemed to work better for me this way over the last few weeks as I've seen what may be some signs of the furry guys lately,instead of driving around on the backroads at night,unfortunatly what I have found is nothing that is 100% conclusive,and within a weeks time I'll have decided that it was something else.Before the Q's to that pop up I'll answer,A Tree break/twist,Possible footprint trackway its hard to tell in the area I was in,And a break-thru in a fence line,it actually looks like a large object ran straight through it and its near what is the possible trackway.The thing is (as he talks himself out of it once again )I talked to a guy who hunts here locally and he says that several folks have seen a large wild boar in the 300 + lbs. range.so the second part of my question to the hunters or someone who may know in general.Is it possible for a boar of this size to double track over his own prints to make them seem large enough to be mistaken/mishapen enough to be an option as a possible Bf print and would the hog go through the fenceline or turn around and find another route to not risk the possible injury from the barbed wire?As always all comments/thoughts/Ideas welcome.

As for bigfoot, so for deer.
Find the food, with cover nearby, and you will find concentrations of deer. Most areas, deer love farm crops, so particularly if you can find isolated farms in forested areas, that will be a hotbed for deer(and maybe bigfoot as well)
Look also for natural travel areas such as fence lines, points, break lines in woods(area where two different major tree or vegetation types meet), ditches/creek beds, ridge lines,...the list seems endless, but once you get some time in the woods under your belt, it really does become easier.
Look down alot, for tracks and droppings. Dropping count is a better indicator of deer population than tracks, because a relatively few deer can create alot of tracks given time and the right soil conditions, but high numbers of droppings means lots of deer, or at least a concentration(and a feeding area as well).
Lots of leg work in likely areas will provide the best first hand knowlege of high deer population/concentration areas, due againg to high droping counts.

I can't really answer this one, since we only hunt deer on horseback with hounds over here (at least until the government ban hunting with hounds)

It is *very* rare to come face to face with wild deer over here - in fact, the only time I have ever had that experience was last year when the local forest was re-opened following the foot & mouth disease closures - I was probably the first human in the forest for 3-4 months, and saw plenty of deer activity where I had never seen them before - they had obviously got used to not having humans around and got complacent.

So, the only way any of us will ever find BF is to make sure we are well off the beaten track. I am beginning to side with Krantz about most sightings being of rogue males that push the boundries of BF territory, which is when they come into contact with the human world.

Paul

I have just read this fantastic news story.

We had some severe storms across england and wales over the weekend - the worst for several years.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_698398.html




perhaps this is the answer - wait for the weather to change, and leave the door open for Bigfoot !!

Paul

Hmm, I wonder if a tent or small structure were set up in known bigfoot territory and lived in for a while, then deserted with a motion sensing camera left behind, if we'd see any large hairy bipeds come sneaking around?

The BFRO tried something similar (a false campsite) in their recent Oklahoma expidition: http://www.bfro.net/avevid/ouachita/opreport.asp

Just a thought...

Jim, as far as hog tracks possibly being confused for something else, about the only thing you may get mixed up on is between hog tracks and deer tracks.

I found an excellent site with hog information: Jesse's Hunting Page and if you scroll down the page, you'll see a photo of a hog track that will illustrate what I mean. Also, you can usually tell when hogs are in the area if you locate places where they've been feeding. If you've got oaks that are dropping acorns, check those out first as just about everything in the woods will eat acorns. You'll know if hogs have been at it because you'll find patches of ground that will look as if they've been gone over with a roto-tiller.

As far as "herds" of deer are concerned, I haven't noticed deer in sufficient enough numbers to consider them a herd here in the Florida panhandle. The situation may be different in your end of the state though. Don't get me wrong, there are a buttload of deer in my area, they just tend to travel in smaller groups. Usually no more than half a dozen together at a time with bachelor groups usually having around three bucks in tandem with each other. Nightwing tagged the deer question well though. If you find an abundant amount of droppings, chances are you'll be in the areas where the deer are. Look for thickets in the vicinity that would make good bedding areas and once again, check the oak hammocks first for sign. Also, any trails leading to an oak hammock are good places to watch for activity. (Deer activity, that is. Don't know how well that strategy would work for spotting a squatch.)

Sounds like a good plan overall. Good luck!

in regard to bipto's comments:

i have seen evidence of deer using barns for bedding areas....yes, it was during deer season.......i also have one lone report of a sasquatch sleeping in a shed just outside of st. maries, idaho.............................

I read a report in a book a long time ago about an old abandoned shack that someone had approached one day. There was a terrible smell and the person backed off without entering it. A few days later they went back and the smell was gone and they opened the old rickety door of the shack to find that the entire floor had rotted out or had been removed, as in broken out on the inside, and there were branches, grass and leaves packed down inside the hollowed out floor of the one-room shack where "something or somethings" had been apparently sleeping.

Arkansan, that is creepy!!!

There's also a Florida account in which a couple of kids found an old semi trailer in an abandoned orange grove that had an overpowering stench in it. Later on they actually sighted a bigfoot although not in the trailer, it was nearby.

Ghosts in an old abandoned house would be bad enough, but bigfoot???

For real, Fishy.

I guess there is always the possibility some old bums had used the shack, but you never know.

Why would bigfoot be different from other animals? When given a chance, and after quite a while of observation to make sure the prospective shelter is really deserted, why wouldn't they move in? Makes me wonder about old mines, as well...

Hey bipto, "any port in the storm", seems to be Bigfoot's motto. They are obviously a creature of opportunity.

A friend of my son told me his mother had a sighting when she was a teenager here in Northern California. She and some friends were out doing some hiking in the woods near their hometown when they came upon an isolated, abandoned farmhouse. As they entered the house, with much noise and commotion, they observed through the rear window what his mother described as a Bigfoot, walking off across a field away from the house and into the woods. The experience frightened everyone involved, and they all quickly fled. The house was near Oroville, CA.

That’s all I have to say about that. Forrest Gump

Do we know if researchers are poking their heads into old buildings like that? Seems like a good thing to try, assuming you're OK with getting arrested for trespassing or breaking and entering!

me thinks you best ask landowners for permission! That actually works if you are nice If you tell what you are looking for though.... maybe they won't be nice....

Uh oh...

First in Tennessee...

And now in Idaho...

When will these creatures just learn to leave us alone?

Good thread!

I like Bipto's idea of camping and then leaving the camp with a game cam nearby.
Might be something to try next summer!

And those old abandoned buildings....gotta take a look.

RB, did that sighting by your son's friend's mom ever get reported anywhere?
You got a location on that one?
-- Tom

Here's a thought,
Maybe we should consider that sasquatch is a predator.
Deer will go wherever there is stable food,and remain until the season changes or the food is gone.Their food doesnt run away.
We should probably liken them to foxes and other solitary hunters.Although I cant be certain that they are always solitary hunters.Could be more like wolves.
Anyway,for them to stay in one place too long,they run the risk of their food source and their own security being compromised.Eventually someone is going to find a shelter.Deer herds move on.To be constantly moving on to unwary hunting grounds is the best.
Ive heard wolves hunting.They get extremely loud when going in for the kill.The chances of anything edible sticking around after that is not likely.After that you wont hear them back again for some time.
I know that with deer you have to"hunt the sign"area.With predators its the opposite.One of the only ways to get a wolf is to bait it,or be faster than him on a frozen lake.Trapping is one way that works but I dont agree with it.
So does all this help?probably not but possibly the reason that sign is so rare is that they are already long gone by the time we find it.
From what Ive read and heard so far,we would do better finding out where these 'territories' are from local natives.

As far as bigfoot being a "creature of opportunity," maybe some nice landowner should build some leanto's on his land to draw them in.

My brother takes it one step further and says that we should take some park benches to the middle of the forest for bigfoot to sit on...of course, in order to get the best prints, they would have to be freshly painted!

As far as deer density goes Jim, when I was in High School
in WI and attending a class in enviromental studies, we learned
that the DNR used gutpiles and droppings as two methods of
counting deer. They used a chain of appropriate length to
give them one side of an acre to mark off a chunk of land on two
sides. After the acre was marked off they would then count the
number of droppings (summer if I remember right) or the
number of gutpiles (shot by hunters and gutted on spot and counted
in late winter or early spring). Both methods used to get density
per acre obviously. Still requires a little leg work though

Could do what I've been doing lately, looking for scrapes on
brush and trees. Fresh stuff gives you an indicator that bucks
are in the area.

Thats why i tell people to poke their nose in ANYthing in the woods that can provide shelter, wooden crates, old sheds, barns, houses, car, trucks , truck bodies, buses, ambulances, train box cars, rock overhangs, upturned trees, mine shafts, under bridges, and depressions in the ground.

You never know ......