This was recently emailed to me. I found it quite interesting so I am sharing it here by permission of the author. I hope everyone else finds this as interesting as I did.
Brandon Garrett
Giants In America By Stewart Taylor
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Just Some Rambling and Thoughts
So what elements can constitute as typical bigfoot behavior? Well there is really no clear answer to this question because the variables seem to out way the constants in so many ways. Much too many things need to be taken into consideration like habitat, climate, type, and so forth.
Let us consider first what we do know as the constants and start from there.
Known constants
1) hairy
2) muscular
3) omnivore
4) curious
5) mimicry
Now these are things widely debated but do seem to regular constants or if you will near constants. Aspects we can generally rely on in most if not all cases. Now comes the hard part, trying to figure out where these constants or near constants correspond to the variables.
Region and variety seem to be the key aspects here and often with much overlap leading to much more confusion. Whether you subscribe to the PG film or not really has no relevance in the behavior aspects from region to region as far as I am concerned so please no comments on it lol. What I personally am looking at are the collective data of eyewitnesses.
When considering the fact that almost every culture around the world has legends of the same kind of creature with some variation in behavior and appearance we have to look deeper into the constants mentioned above to find the correlation between them all. Whether or not they are the same species, subspecies, or different species all together is yet to be determined. My money is on different species but that is only my opinion at this point until more data is presented in a scientific and reputable manner.
It is no secret that many animals of the same species will often adapt to its environment to survive. There have been many well studied and documented cases of this world wide as well. So we know that environment and habitat play a major role in the lives of these animals. Survival of Fittest as Charles Darwin would say. Whether you accept Darwin evolution or not really is not the question, as for myself I am a devout and strict Christian, but the truth is Charles Darwin was on the right track on many things and we do have to give him his credits because there have been many things including even medicines that might not have been discovered if it was not for that naturalist on the Beagle.
But yea back to Bigfoot, lets not get off track here lol.
Regardless of your region and what your local name for these creature is, whether it be bigfoot or sasquatch, or any of the many local names in the USA, of Yerin in China, Alma in Russia, Kapre in many parts of South East Asia, Yowie in Australia and so forth the same is still the same and the differences are still the differences, these things can not be denied.
Now let us talk about behavior. Here in my south east part of the great nation of Texas, and yes I know Texas is a state but my Texas brothers and sisters know what I mean lol. Any way what is mostly little known is the fact that most sightings here are sightings like any other place with their individual circumstances but many encounters are actually quite aggressive, and this goes also with other states in the south. Why this is only speculation still at this point and I am not going to state my opinion on it yet.
As far as hunting habits go we know that these creatures usually hunt as a group of three or more individuals separated by some distance to each other, fifty yards or more, out of sight of each other but still within earshot of each other. Feral hogs seem to be the prime prey source followed by deer. Aggressive behavior is the norm with a sense of curiosity. Curiosity is a sign of intelligence which along with other things myself and others have witnessed leads me to suspect a high intelligence in these creatures, with some less intelligent as well. One can kind of expect the intelligence level with the same fluctuation as in human to human and all other animals as well. I can use this example my mothers dog Abby is a black lab and extremely smart but very aggressive, my dog Peaches is of the breed New Foundland and being a large breed is dumber than a wet sock but the sweetest most loving dog iv ever seen, really she is just a big cuddle monster and everyone’s friend. The same is true it seems with bigfoot, each individual is different with varying degrees of intelligence and differing personalities.
So how can we put this into perspective? Well we really cant to any sence of sureness but used as a model of bases we can get a better understanding and have a basic model to work with.
Living Dinosaurs in Texas
Is it true that maybe, just maybe there are still dinosaurs alive today in parts of the world? It sounds kind of ridiculous to some but to others it is plain fact. Iv been interested in the living dinosaur phenomenon for some time but never really delved too deeply into it till recently. I started doing some web searches on the subject and have discovered a lot of interesting stories. We all know about the ropen in Papua New Guinea, and mokele-mbembe in the Congo, as well as the most famous of them all Miss Nessy herself in Scotland along with her many cousins taking up residents in so many other lakes around the world. Well Im not going to really dwell on all of these. My focus is more local, as in Texas where I live and most of my research is centered.
I am going to make clear right now that none of theses stories are in any way my own research, and I am not going to write them out in my own words. These are stories that I found quite interesting researched and written by others and all I am going to do is copy the website links so anyone else who might find this subject interesting as well can easily find and read them.
I hope y’all find these links as interesting as I did.
http://http://www.monsterislandnews.com/flyingdinosaurs.html
http://listverse.com/2014/04/16/10-bizarre-prehistoric-cryptid-sightings/
http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/quet.htm
http://www.nwcreation.net/dinosdragons.html
http://forteanzoology.blogspot.com/2009/06/lindsay-selby-texas-lake-monster.html
http://paranormal.about.com/od/livingdinosaurs/a/Did-Pterosaurs-Survive-Extinction.htm
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/03/more-on-us-neodinosaurs.html
I hope ya’ll find these links and stories as interesting as I did. My thanks to the authors who did this research and wrote these articles. Gives me a few more things to go looking for.
Brandon Garrett
WHY PLAY HIDE AND SEEK
When it comes to trying to figure out why bigfoot type creature are so elusive things can get pretty complex and quite confusing. There are many different opinions and theories out there about it. Some make a lot of sense while others can be a little out there.
I have been asked many times about my thoughts on the subject so I am going to attempt to explain my thoughts here. I do not think it has anything to do with a conscious want to avoid humans but rather instead a subconscious need to do so, more like an instinct.
We are talking about something that lives in the wild as a wild animal does and is going to utilize the same terrain and environment that any other wild animal in the same environment would do and in the same respective way to survive.
Regardless of your personal beliefs about these creatures we call bigfoot and their origins there are several constants that need to be recognized in the reports.
1) They are always in or close to cover
2) They camouflage them selves very effectively blending in with the environment
3) They can move fast and quietly when they seem to want to do so
These characteristics are the same with many other animals living in the forests of the world as well as many of the indigenous people also inhabiting the forests of the world. These characteristics are methods to survive.
In prey animals you will see a general instinct to avoid the predator and in predators you see the general hunting instinct to stay hidden from the prey. The rabbit that avoids being eaten by the bobcat has the potential to live the longest and the bobcat that avoids detection by the rabbits it is hunting eats more rabbits raising its potential to survive longer as well. This is also true in human hunters as well, the same principles apply and the same natural instincts are involved. Many of techniques used are learned by the young and passed down or taught by the parent but the instinct to survive is always there.
Brandon Garrett
The Opposing Perspectives
Who is right and who is wrong? Maybe both are right and both are wrong. What I can say for certain is when considering the arguments and often times down right fights over differing views when it comes to bigfoot. It would appear that there are as many opinions on the subject as there are people talking about the subject. Most often on certain social media sites and forums.
The problem with this is not one of these people truly knows, it is all their own opinions based on their ideas and beliefs. In fact no one at this point truly knows. There is nothing wrong with believing in any certain way, that is your own choice. The problem arises when people allow their personal beliefs to affect their evaluation of the evidence and then proceed to fight with others about it with the premise that I am right and you are wrong because I believe this way and you believe another way.
The fact that one believes one way, whether it be a religious belief, a scientific based belief, a philosophic belief, or whatever should make no real difference in the end. The over all discussion needs to be based on what the evidence suggests to each person reviewing it with out any bias based on these personal beliefs. When there is a bias based on personal belief everything will tend to lean towards the supporting of that belief. It should not matter if each person agrees or not on what the evidence suggests to them because with no bias there would be much more collaboration of what the evidence suggests. With an open minded collaboration much more can be accomplished.
If we are to reach a goal that I think most are wanting to reach by what they claim by studying this subject then this would be a beneficial step in that direction. After all bias is eliminated and a careful examination done.
Brandon Garrett
Some Thoughts on Sounds
Everybody knows the forest is full of sounds. What all of these sounds are and what is making them can be a question asked by some people. Most people who are well experienced in the outdoors can identify a great deal of the sounds that they hear. Fishermen, hunters, hikers, campers and so on hear a great deal of the forest sounds on a regular bases doing what they do and know from experience what is making a great deal of them, yet seldom all of them. Seldom if at all you will ever find a person, no matter what their experience or degree of education that can identify every sound they hear in the forest, especially at night.
The reason I bring this up is this. Familiarity is not always knowing and knowing is not always familiarity. There are animals that make some interesting and often unknown and seldom heard noises, such as foxes, deer, many birds, coyotes, and so forth.
In most cases and in most areas the strange sound being heard is probably a known animal. The sound may be one that is only made during a certain time as in a mating call during that animals perticular mating season or perhaps a distress call when the animal is hurt or whatever the case might be.
Now to the bigfoot.
It is important to listen to all of these sounds in the forest that you hear because bigfoot will often mimic a lot of them. We all know about the barred owl sounds and hoots, but the same goes for other birds and animals as well. Listen closely to every one. It is far too easy to disregard an owl or a coyote pack as just that. The key is to knowing the true sound made by the said animal and knowing the mimic. Often times it is hard to tell the difference and sometimes it is actually quite easy.
I have heard bigfoots communicating back and forth in a mimic of a bird before and would of thought nothing of it if it weren’t for the fact that it was night and the sound was was a diurnal bird. a little while later my suspicions were verified as one walked past my tent. Another time a friend and I were down in a slew at night looking foot prints in the mud. We heard what sounded like leopard frogs talking back and forth to each other, no big deal frogs do that. It wasn’t until I saw one step out from behind one tree then go behind another then follow us all the way out back to the road making the same sound as we walked along the river back out that I was certain that the bigfoot was making this frog sound.
I have on many occasions witnessed people totally ignore what is obviously a bigfoot mistaking it as a common animal and also just the opposite as well, mistaking the obviously bigfoot for a common animal. We all have done this, I have, You have, we all have. It happens all the time. That is why it is so important to pay close attention to every sound you hear because not all bigfoots mimic as well as others do and you can sometimes figure it out pretty easy if you know what to listen for. That comes with practice and experience.
Just my quick thoughts on this.
Brandon Garrett
A DEGREE OF UNDERSTANDING
Can we understand what is going through a creatures mind as it watches us? Can it understand what is going through our minds?
I have thought about this often and still have no clear answer to these questions though I feel there must be some sort of mutual understanding there, if not mixed with some confusion as well. I have to wonder if our body language is expressing a message to visiting observers at our camps at night. Do they understand the emotions that our body language is expressing or is it merely by our voices and words? Do they understand at all? Many will say that they do understand our language and can speak it themselves. I have no doubt that mimicry is possible but as far understanding and speaking I myself have doubts there. Many animals do communicate through body language as well as sounds, both verbal and nonverbal. I know from experience that what we call bigfoot does the same. Tree knocking, rock clacking. chatter, howling, woops, and so forth are all used in communication by some means. Now for something that I witnessed myself that I can only speculate on is hand gestures. I was camping in a research area with some members of my team when I heard a sound near camp. I reached for my night vision and looked in the direction of the sound as normal. Most often it turns out to be a common known animal, though mundane still fun to observe. This time it was a bigfoot that I was able to see standing there near camp. I watched it and slowly moved closer. It took a few steps closer to me as well then stopped, and moved back towards a tree. Got behind the tree and crouched down and began waving one arm up and down as if it was conveying a message to others of it kind. I can only speculate on the message being conveyed as get down before your seen. Though I could not see any others besides this one who I could see very clearly even crouched down behind the tree it stuck out from both sides because the tree was barely a third of the creatures own circumference, I have to speculate that there were others there that this one was communicating with using hand gestures. This was the first and only time I have witnessed such an action myself though I have heard other accounts from other witnesses of similar actions. Now I have to wonder if this gesture actually meant to them what it would mean to us. Was there another meaning to it that I am not understanding because I am looking at it through my own cultural understanding and from doing this missing the true meaning of such a gesture in their cultural understanding? The same way as in many human cultures what is conveyed as a friendly gesture to one is conveyed as an insult in another. These are things we have to take into consideration in the field studying these creatures. Though obviously very close to human in many respects they still do not live the same way we do. I hear too often people talking about them as if they wake up in the morning, take a shower, and go to work the same as us and then others talk about them being savage monsters out of a movie killing, raping, and destroying all in their path. To me from what I have observed personally I have to find some middle ground there. They are like us in many ways but they are not us at the same time. They may be humonesque in appearance and in some behaviors, maybe even in thought capacity as well, but as far as lifestyle goes there is a major difference there. Most of us live on foods bought at a grocery store not giving much thought to how they got there and where or even what they were before they got there. With them they have to hunt, kill, collect for themselves like any other wild animal. With that kind of lifestyle/culture there are going to be major differences to the way things are looked at and understood between them and us. We may never truly understand their communication but if there is a chance we one day can we are going to have to try to put ourselves into their world and understand it first. Theirs is different then ours by far. We need to stop thinking in the terms of our own culture, religions, likes and dislikes and attributing these to them. Instead we need to learn about, engulf ourselves, and try to survive in their world, the natural world, only then will we ever have a chance to possible understand them on a more common level and make sense of their communications and they ways.
Brandon Garrett
Just A Few Helpful Hints and Tricks I Have Learned Over the Years
I decided to put together a list of helpful tricks that I often use with good success while in the field. Iv been asked many times for advice on these subjects and decided I would put this together to help everyone out that might want to employ them. These are little tricks that I often employ myself and have found to be very effective.
Depending on your location and eco region not every thing I present here might work as effectively for you but that is another aspect that really needs to be taken into consideration as well. Each region is different in it’s ecology and biodiversity. This is a major consideration that is often ignored by people. What works in one location may not work in another, this I believe is due to the habitual differences, and with different habitats you have different animals adapted to them respectively.
1. The light versus dark debate-
Well it has been my experience that having light in the camp has drawn in more activity closer to the camp then if I keep it dark. If I keep a lantern on in the camp at night I have found that it seems to gain more attention towards the camp especially if other nearby camps are completely dark. I think this is probably because there is usually always human activity going on in the camp all night long. While some of the team is asleep some are also awake as well. Being a curious being they seem to be attracted to that activity and seem to know if there is light then there will be activity as well and they sometimes seem to gravitate towards our camp for this reason I suspect.
2. Flashlights-
Many people will say no flashlights at all because you need to be totally dark when walking out there at all times. Well I disagree about this for these reasons, first yes a red light is great to use to see where your going and it prevents your loss of night vision and should be employed most of the time, yet the periodic perimeter sweep of a bright white light can often times reveal animals that you never knew were there simply because your red light didn’t reach out far enough to see them and you could not hear them. It is a major misconception that you will hear animals walking around close to you. That is not all ways the case. There have been quite a few times when I or a member of my team have noticed a deer or other animal there that none of us had heard and otherwise may have never known was there if it were not for a sweep of the area with a flash light from time to time.
3. Being stealthy-
I have found the being stealthy in the woods is not always the way to go when hunting for bigfoot, yes if you are hunting for deer, hogs, or any other type of game then you don’t want to make much noise while stalking your prey but when it comes to hunting bigfoot then make some noise. You are hunting a predator with a high curiosity not a skittish prey animal. Your not going to scare them away as many people seem to think. You want them to know your there because again you are playing with their curiosity. Consider it like a mind game, your baiting them but instead of putting out tasty treats that they care nothing about you are the bait and that they want to see just as much as you want to see them. Yourself is always the best bait for bigfoot. Noise is vital if you look at the reports its more often the campers or hikers or just regular people acting normal that have the best sightings and encounters. Yes many hunters do as well but these encounters are do to them coming up on them by accident most often. It is the people acting normal that most often have the best encounters and I have tried both approaches myself and have found that the normal actions have led to the most encounters. Stay alert to what is going on around you but make the appearance that your not and they will come much closer to you more often.
Can We Relate To Bigfoot
I often wonder while scouting trails if there is any possible way we could actually relate to bigfoot on a psychological level. My guess is probably no. I would love to be able to do so but lifestyle differences itself shows it would be highly unlikely if not impossible. We can take information gathered to make educated guesses as to certain behaviors, reactions, and sometimes anticipate movements with occasional somewhat accuracy, yet as for certainty there is no possible way. Us like many others researching little known species must rely as much on luck as on our collective knowledge.
In order for us to be able to fully relate to them we would have to live their life in their world from birth. That being said, no matter what yours or mine woodland knowledge or experience has been it still is not enough. We can only work on speculation and luck at this point. There is nothing else.
Personally I suspect they are very near to us on the human scale, most likely relic human ancestors that have survived without going extinct like science tells us they did. I could be wrong here but it makes the most sense to me at this point. So if we are to fully understand them and get into their brains we have to look at what is known about our human ancestors, what is known about ourselves, and what is known about living apes. This might seem disrespectful to some who believe they are humans and I mean no disrespect what so ever but the truth is human or not they still live primitively not modernly. This is something people have to understand. A ape lives in the wild and bigfoot lives in the wild. A ape lives and survives in the wild partially by living by what would be considered primitive means. Chimpanzees for instance live almost a hunter gatherer lifestyle. It could be in some ways considered very similar to the lifestyle many human ancestors are thought to have lived. I f you take what is known collectively by many bigfoot researchers and what is known about many ape species then there is an obvious parallel there.
Us modern humans live in our apartments, houses and so forth, many of us still hunt game and even gather wild edibles when need be. The major difference here is we as a society rely more on cultivated plants and farm raised animals in most instances. Cultivation can be and ,rightfully has been considered the mother of culture and civilition. Yet that is our culture and civilization as modern humans, we can not mistake them for us. This is something I see too often. What we consider culture to us they may may not. This is something we have to take into consideration. We can not say they are uncivilized simply because they don’t live by our rules and on the flip side we can not say they are either simply because they resemble humans in appearance, partial behavior, and some ways intellect. This is simply not possible because we can not fully know their mind. All we can really do is speculate based on reports and if lucky enough then also observation, unless one of us out there was raised by them from birth and grew up in their ways. So far I have yet to find anyone of credibility who has done this.
Quiet vs Noisy
Some say when in the field it is imperative be extremely quiet and others say to act normal and make a little noise. I was discussing this with a friend not too long ago and decided to write a post on it expressing my views for anyone who might be interested and find it useful.
Well here are my feelings on this topic. I think it is best to use a combination of both noise and quiet. I believe that making some noise and acting more like regular hikers or campers, who though you remain very aware of the surroundings, yet you are pretending not to be is the best strategy while moving around through the forest and when at camp. My basis on this is that most animals will be aware of your approach and move away, which is a good safety measure as most know in areas where bear are a common animal. While since most animals will move away bigfoots which show to be very curious by nature, which is in itself a sign of intelligence, and with that curious nature and the fact you appear preoccupied(though in reality you are not), it might give them a reason to approach slightly closer to investigate you and your party then they might would under the alternative. The less likely you appear to notice them the more likely they are to get into closer proximity believing themselves to be less likely to be noticed by you. Though this is purely theory and I very well may be wrong here but I have found it to work.
Now here are my feelings on being stealthy and quiet. Most predators will move with stealth when stalking up on their prey so I would assume that when being stealthy and appearing to be stalking through the forest a bigfoot would associate you as a predator and keep a distance. Though it would dominate you with ease and be very aware of that fact you would still appear as more of a threat then otherwise. Appearing as a threat to any thing living in the wild with wild instincts tuned to survival as its main premise would react accordingly either with avoidance or with the potential of attack. A threat is the last thing you want to be perceived as being if you are looking to get as close as safely possible which most are wanting to do.
Now for the mix. Regular talking and laughing at times and when something of relevance is heard then quietly listening, preferably with listening equipment like a parabolic microphone attached to a digital voice recorder and I often use a camcorder for recording as well. When things get quiet again start making a little noise again yourselves to get their attention again. They will probably be watching from right out of your field of view and hiding even in the dark, though with luck you might get a glimpse or with a lot of luck a full out sighting of them as they investigate you.
Brandon Garrett
tunr 