It's that time of year again, always around Halloween, when articles about bigfoot appear. On a recent trip to Colorado, my wife bought USA Today and one of the featured articles was "Sasquatch" and a new Discovery feature to be aired in January on Discovery Channel. A local "clinical psychologist" named Matt Johnson has seen it in the Siskiyou Mountains in Oregon and has been capitalizing on the experience.

The statistics that amaze me are all the sightings: Wa-263, Ore-116, Ca-204 and the other states where everyone has sightings. Must be the new moon and cheap wine For instance states like Wi, Il and Tx have 16,13, and 38, respectively. No one wants to be left out. One remarkable thing is that Ak only reports 11, a pitance for all the bigfeet running around up there or do the locals call them bear .

My wife asked a question which was interesting. If all these states have open hunting seasons, sometimes several times a year, why don't the hunters see the animal or signs of it???

Be interested in comments especially from Wa, Ore and probably BC, as most of the especially large "bigfeet" are out in the western mountains.

It's really not at all surprising that Washington, Oregon, and California have had all of these sightings considering that these states have huge populations of alkaloid-ingesting, tye-dyed fruitloops who still believe that they're on tour with the Dead. It would be interesting to see the sightings figures for Eugene, Oregon.

I'm not sure how many bigfoot sightings we've had in Pennsylvania. I'd have to ask my sherpas. I think that we get the occasional Jersey Devil on the eastern side of the state? Anyway, all I know is that if I happen to see a bigfoot, he's going down and I'm hauling his carcass back for everyone to see and I'm having him tanned and hung on my wall.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Aquavit:
[QB]It's really not at all surprising that Washington, Oregon, and California have had all of these sightings considering that these states have huge populations of alkaloid-ingesting, tye-dyed fruitloops who still believe that they're on tour with the Dead. It would be interesting to see the sightings figures for Eugene, Oregon.

Dear Auqavit
On behalf of the majority of Oregonians that hunt, fish, listen to other music besides the Dead, stay in Pennsylvania and live your blissful, ignorant, intolerant existance. We don't like your kind!

ZM

Well, I'll just relate this for the Hell of it.

When I was up in Manitoba last year for bear, there was a sasquatch sighting. It was a big deal, locally, and news crews were dispatched... the works.

Well... the guys I was with, locals, were telling me all this -- about how there were people being interviewed, a footprint was being photographed and a cast being taken of it, et cetera -- and I was like, well, kind of chuckling because... well, I thought it was "commonly accepted" that people like that were just plain nuts.

All I can say is, the reaction was as if I had just made a sexual joke about one of these guys' daughters, or something.

They did not understand my "sasquatch humor." Straight faces. Totally not amused. I'm here to tell you, SOME folks take this stuff REAL SERIOUSLY!!!

So, um... I kind of shifted gears and acted like I was some rube who really didn't understand life as it was, nodded my head in agreement a lot, and asked questions like I was one of the believers.

As soon as possible, I steered the conversation toward something else. All I can say is, this sasquatch stuff is dead serious in some circles.

Russ

I don't know as if you need a license for them here in Montana. Once they were tanned, you'd sure have a spiffy set of long johns.

I don't hink I'd shoot one. They may not taste very good, and then who do you give the meat to? Food bank?

Aren't they also called "skunk ape" in some places?

Wouldn't wanna eat that!

Okay...The Sasquatch was not just a myht to the natives that lived on BC's coast. They existed, they were spotted every now and then, and their Grandmas told the young guys not to shoot them, just leave them alone.

I'm not the "believer" type, but I also think that there are alot of things in this world that humans have no clue about. (Hey, it wasn;t that long ago that asbestos was considered a "safe" insulation material! )

Apparently, the word for Sasquatch was the same all along the BC coast, despite there being a dozen different languages in use.

In Clayton Macks book "Grizzlies and White Guys" he speaks of Sasquatches very matter-of-factly, like only a fool wouldn't believe in them.

Maybe they used to be real, and have died off,or maybe they are myth. Either way, they make good scary campfire stories!

Aquavit,

I found your post a bit amusing, since I live in Eugene, Oregon. I hate to admit it, but there are way too many of the people that you described living here. They all are on the city council and refer to their "jobs" as "activists". They, along with their liberal cohorts in Portland, are why we just elected a very liberal democraP governor. The Dead have been gone a while, and a lot more people need to remember that.

That being said, there are also a lot of hard-working, conservative people in Eugene too, and let's not forget that it is still the Timber capital of the world.

About the Bigfoot/Sasquatch issue....In summer of '97, I was logging in SW Oregon, near the small town of Sitkum, and a van full of long-haired people with clipboards, cameras, and notebooks showed up on the landing. I walked over to see what was going on, and they replied that they were from the "Portland Bigfoot Society", and there had been a rash of sightings in our immediate area and wanted to know if any of the crew had seen a bigfoot or bigfoot tracks, signs, or droppings. They were prepared for a full scientific investigation. I promptly escorted them off of the property to ensure their safety. Have always had a good laugh about that situation.

Supposedly there are numerous bigfoot sightings in the Smith River Drainage southwest of Eugene, but I attribute that to the extensive marijuana plantations, psychoactive mushroom growing areas, and possibly sightings of me during the summer, since I'm a big guy and a bit on the hairy side....sorry if that was too much info for you all.

OK..enough of that, but kind of a funny topic to discuss.

Joel Slate
Slate & Associates, LLC
www.slatesafaris.com

7mm Rem Mag Page www.slatesafaris.com/7mm.htm

While hunting some swamp around Blountstown Fl my friend and I came upon a wild hog that was ripped to pieces. Not in parts but in BIG chunks, it looked like it went through a combine. We told my buddies grandfather about it and he grumbled something about the "skunk apes" hating wild pigs and killing them for the heck of it. When pressed he was dead serious about it, and told us not to go back to that swamp anymore.

Well there have historically been alot of sightings in my home area. Nothing lately that i know of. In the not so distant past though there was supossedly a Big foot "hunter" in nakusp for a while searching the area and he made a bunch of casts of big foot tracks and left saying he was certain there was a big foot in the area but he couldn't track him down.

Personnally I think it is bull shit. I spend monday to friday 24 hours a day in the most remote areas in southern BC and have never seen anything even suspicious. Black bears sure stick when they have been eating the juniper berries, but never a track or anything.

As for shooting them, from what I know about those things is if they do exist there is no open hunting season so therefore its poaching. If they do exist they are endangered so its poaching. And if it is just a guy in a suit its murder.

Oregon has turned into Northern Northern California in the larger towns.

What about the Windigo legends of the Canadian natives?

Ric,
What about them? I love this stuff!

I read some old book on them.

It talks too much about how people might bring them from their subconcious or something...

Have anyone heard of that one dude (hunter I think)who was kidnapped by a family of these?!

I can relate a tale of a genyouwine Bigfoot sighting. Bear with me. This was in eastern oregon and we were on private ground with permission. (All names have been changed to protect the guilty.) We were suposed to use an old broken down barn for our camp shelter. Seems like some squatters got there before us, and apparently they had permission to hunt he place as well, but not necessarily the use of the barn.
Anyway, the guy was being a real jerk about it, even to the point of threatening to pull a gun.
To make sure we didn't take over the barn, he left his wife there to "guard his possessions." Yet he left the poor girl "unarmed". Anyway, it was a bit of a cold night and her "man" had not yet returned from town. I guess he liked to drink with the boys. Anyway we were having a few snorts of Jack Daniels when the conversation turned to bigfoot. Somebody got the great idea that "D", a large hairy individual, should strip down to the altogether and run screaming like a banshee though one end of that barn and out the other and quickly disappear into the brush. Werll, we all agreed that it was a swell idea and that's what happened. First off, we started yelling that, "Look, it's Bigfoot!" and then "D" ran through that barn like a bat out of hell screaming all sorts of strange sounds. It was raining like hell, which washed out his footprints, he disappeared back into his tent and dried off, got dressed and rejoined the group. About that time, the guys wife came into our camp and refused to leave till her husband came home. Of course, we were duly sympathetic and consoled her. She even joined us in a few snorts of old JD. Sure wasn't like her nasty ass old man. He finally came back about 2 AM, loaded to the gills. He wasn't too happy about his wife being in our camp. They left the very next morning, never to return.
Thus, you now have a true account of an actual Bigfoot sighting.
Paul B.

Here's the Windigo story. There was usualy a root of truth in an Indian legend, and this probably relates back to the starving times and cannabalism among the Northern tribes.

"Ok. Here's a Swampy Cree story."

Among the people, starvation is a way of life, and the monster that haunts the winter is the cannibal windigo. Cannibals are often women, and so it is with windigoes. Eating human flesh makes them grow large and strong, and when they have become truly windigo they go into the woods, in the dead of winter, and grow stronger, feeding on the hunters and wild game, hoping for a child now and then. They become naked and their hair grows to a long mantle around them. Their flesh freezes and their hearts freeze hard as stone. They harvest the village that was their home, and they eat what little game there is around. They are hard to kill. Arrows bounce off their frozen skin.
So it was, long ago, in the cold of winter, that a widow, the mother of three children, became a windigo and ate them, her children. All day, looking at them, she saw plump geese. That night, she killed the geese. She fled from the village in the night, carrying a bone of her eldest son, and took up her home in the woods. For weeks she raided the village, preying on unsuspecting women, the elderly, and the children, striking secretly, until at last the old ones of the village declared that they were victims of a windigo. By then she was tall as the trees, her eyes red coals and her hair a thick, black blanket. She had begun to take solitary hunters, cutting their throats with her horny nails and tearing off limbs to carry back with her to her cave in the woods.
All winter she preyed on the village, until all were starving, and no one dared enter the woods. A little girl decided, after both her parents were killed, to throw her life away to destroy the windigo and save her village. Steady Runner, her name was, and she slipped into the forest and set a trap, a small trap, to catch a weasel. Weasels are fierce creatures, not much bigger than mice but they hunt rabbits. Her weasel was a tiny one, and she put it in a little bag and went on, into the woods, making noise and offering herself to the windigo.
Soon she heard the sound of a huge creature coming rapidly behind her, crashing through the trees and breathing hard, running. No one had been into the woods for almost a week, and the windigo was very hungry. When it was almost upon her, she raised the bag to her mouth and swallowed the weasel. She could feel it, biting her stomach, struggling to get free, even as the windigo seized her and raised her to its mouth. The monster ate her swiftly, not even aware of the tiny furry animal inside her young body.
A few days later, four hunters, nearly dead of starvation, ventured into the woods. There they found the windigo, dead, a hole eaten through its chest. The weasel had torn through its stomach and gone upward, drawn by the pounding blood, to the windigo's heart. It ate the cold frozen heart to sustain its life and when the windigo fell at last, dead, it ate its way out and fled to the woods.
So the village was saved.

The fact that there's a lot of unpopulated, desolate, open wilderness in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Northern Calfornia couldn't possibly have anything to do with the sightings.

You clowns in Pennsylvania have Amish sightings all the time. You suppose it's because of all the bibles??? Or maybe because that's where the Amish live???

IF there are Sasquatch . . . They live in the Northwest. Let it be said they have the good sense to stay out of Pennsylvania.

thats one hell of a story. I like that one.

First off,I hope whoever shoots one of these bigfoot uses a 30/06,just so we can say "ya the aught six can handle anything".

Secondly,anyone that does shoot one of these things,probably won't have to work for a while,provided he doesn't go to jail. The goverment would either take it from you or some group or organization would pay millions for it.

The biggest problem with shooting a big foot,is after they strip the ape suit off the silly bastard thats wearing it. Your ass is going to be locked up.

Does bigfoot exsist? Hell no! With the human population as it is. You'd have some sort of real evidence by now,rather then a bunch of half assed films and questionable plaster casts of who knows what?

Anyone that has been around hounds especially blood hounds,knows the capabilities of these dogs. If bigfoot exsisted someone would have run one down by now with a hound. The stories are entertaining though.

Don`t fuck with all of us deadheads,I`m probably more of a conservative than you are and I don`t even consume alcohal or tobacco,I know a large percentage of them are doped up super liberals,but don`t judge us all.Jerry also played some of the finest bluegrass music to be heard.Old and in the way was one album that got the old timers selling again.and the band is still alive in at least 3 different formations,I wear my N.R.A. hat and my love to smoke a prairie dog shirt to most shows,if they don`t like it I give them the same salutation as I gave to you.even though my hair is long my neck is still red and I`m a proud vet.hell I`d take the dead over ol noisy Nugent any day and he`s supposed to be "one of us"to those that never saw the band perform,I`m sorry for you,and as we say in northern Michigan,if you don`t like the music,don`t buy it,or was it eat shit and die.

Ric,
Great job on the story. Thanks for the effort!

Right on bigbelly. Long live the Dead. My all time favorite band for 25 years. What a long strange trip it's been.

Jeff

I'd very much like to know if any of the members have seen or know any credible individuals who claim to have seen BigFoot or experienced something that gave them pause?

Many years back, there was I fellow I knew, only casually, but I felt him to be of a serious nature, not at all prone to blow his own horn or seek the limelight by bullshitting. After hearing through the grapevine about this fellow having had an "incident" along this vein, I caught him alone one day and asked if he was willing to share it with me. After looking down at the ground for a few seconds, he snapped his head up, tears welling, and said: "Nick, I saw it. It did happen and I still can't sleep through at night". He started the car, drove away and never mentioned it again.

I keep an open mind on such things, perhaps because I'd love them to be proven true one day but also because there are some truly compelling stories out there.

"Florida does have "panthers" or cougars, a more likely candidate for the pig slaughter."

I don't know if I'd buy a cougar doing it. I have them make kills on my property fairly regularly, usually deer. One scratches my entry way marking its' territory as it passes on about a three week circuit. I've seen him laying on the deck a couple times.
The only thing left of a kill is a neat pile of hair, as they first pluck all the hair a mouthful at a time before eating. The bones are generally all eaten, except for the skull cap. I don't think they would have left any pig sicles laying around. Human disturbance won't drive them from a kill easily, either. Several years ago I was at a three D archery shoot down in the Swan Valley. A lion made a kill on the course between the time the last target was set up, and the competition began. The kill was covered up with forest duff, and we just kept back from it. After the lunch break, on the secound round, the lion had returned, and ate every scrap, as there was the tell tale signs of a lion feeding, and no drag marks where it would have moved the kill.

More on the Windigo.

Other tribes carry the legend a bit further, giving the Windigo the power of transmogrification from man into usually wolf or wolverine form. They would follow the wilderness travellers, especially those travelling near water, and kill and eat those who weren't alert.

And on the Dead...

I'm a Dead Head from way back, and as a musician, play alot of thier bluegrass songs. It seems all ages like them. I'm not a druggie, either, by the way.
Just a good ol' Montana red neck that likes good music.

Gentlemen,

I'm sorry if I painted all Deadheads with a broad brush, but living in Eugene, it's easy to do.

I was always happy when the Dead came to town, because as an enterprising youngster, I was able to make A LOT of money when I'd haul down my BBQ, a cooler full of hamburger patties, and a cooler full of soda pop. It seemed that many (not all) of the people in attendance had an unusually high level of hunger.....interesting....

It is never boring living in Eugene....but I don't mind the few months a year I spend in Namibia and RSA.

Joel Slate
Slate & Associates, LLC
www.slatesafaris.com

7mm Rem Mag Page www.slatesafaris.com/7mm.htm

Actually it is illegal to kill a "big foot" in one of those NW states. I can't remember which. I was watching one of those 3 a.m. tv shows on the Discovery Channel and they said that one of the states actually had laws on the books against killing them. I think it was Oregon.

HI,

I am wondering if any sightings have been in Alaska. I would think so, but never really hear anything in AK about big foot?. Thanks,Kev

Bigfoot is REAL! I have a bunch of books on him. Its good reading.

One guy claimed he was on BC's west coast prospecting. He would go out for the day and when he came back his belongings were disturbed. So he thought it was an animal. He would hear it at night so he decided to bring his Winchester M94 30-30 into his sleeping bag. He tried to stay awake but dozed off.

He woke up inside his sleeping bag. Something was dragging him and his rifle was under him. He fifured that he was being dragged by a strong animal and it walked for hours up hills with no problems.

He was finally let go by the animal. He got out of his sleeping bag and saw 4 Bigfoot(feet). He spend some time with the Bigfoot(s). He said the father had a chest like a barrel. He believed the family wanted him to screw the daughter Bigfoot.

One day he decided he was going to try to escape. He gave chewing tabbaco to the father. Papa Bigffot was getting sick from the stuff and he made a run for it. The mother tried to stop him but het took a pot shot with the 30-30.

He got away and spend several nights in the woods. I shoot some spruce grouse which made him sick. Some loggers found him and he told his story.

This is more or less the story. I haven't read it for several years.

I think there is also a story where Teddy Roosevelt (yep the "big stick" president) or his hunting party had a run in with a yeti (sasquatch or whatever).

I don't believe it either. Now the Jersey Devil is another thing altogether!

ah don no nuttin bout bigfoot butt ah sawl elvis et the gas stashun duther day....cheers...bud

If there was a fool inside a monkey suit I think he would be getting out of it real fast with the 300 Win Mag pointed at his chest!

Pranks end when a gun is pointed at you.

BUT Bigfoot is real and one day I will prove it. He like BC Kocanee beer.

Have you ever been in the mountains or the forest, walking along, listening to the Chipmunks, the Jays, an occasional Crow or Raven. Hearing the wind in the treetops. Then, all of a sudden, everything stops. No birds or animal sounds, no wind, no sound. You feel like you are the only one left in the world. Except, someone or something is watching you. Something you can't see, but you know it is there. You can feel it. A Sasquatch?

Well I have a true story about Sasquatch.

When I was an undergraduate at Washington State their was an Anthropology Professor named Grover Krantz. Dr, Krantz was a real believer in Sasquatch, Yetis, Bigfoot etc. and convinced a lot of his students of their existence.

One example I remember was his estimate of no more than 2000 in all of North America. He would point out that if their were only 2000 Black Bears in N.A. how many would be spotted?

Anyway, one day I was hanging around with a couple of buds who were Anthro Geeks and they got a call from Dr. Krantz about a sighting in Orofino Idaho, a couple of hours drive down the road. He stopped by and picked us all up and off we went to this sawmill about 5 miles outside Orofino where we talked to about a dozen workers who all swore that they had witnessed a large Sasquatch and a smaller one at the mill. They had walked into the site late in the afternoon the previous day and peeled the bark off of the Pine logs and ate the inner bark.

They were there for a couple of hours and then wandered back into the timber. We took about a hundred sets of plaster casts of the footprints while Dr. Krantz interviewed the witnesses.

I had one cast of each footprint until I moved a few years ago and they were broken. One was about 20 inches long and the other about 14. Both were deep and made by something heavy in the dry ground.

Did these mill workers make up the whole story? Did they make all of the tracks? I don't know, but I hope their are Sasquatch out there.

I think if there was any Bigffot out there they have all been abducted by aliens by now.

Maybe they are real but I've never seen anything here in BC. I've covered some of the most romote ground in Southern BC, never seen a track or anything that made me pause.

The hounds are an excellent point. They would run down a sasquatch so fast he wouldn't know what hit him.

markus,
You just made me think of something. What if Sasquatch, Skunk Ape, Yeti and such actually are the aliens?! Would that not serve to explain the widespread sightings,the coinciding physical descriptions and the lack of success in proving their existence?

I wonder if there have been reported bigfoot sightings in or around area 51. Phew! Heavy stuff, this.

So is the daughter still available?or after a really bad shave is this where rosie the rug muncher came from???just food for thought.