Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Woodboogers....?!

[Sipsey]

I believe melanism in the species is conferred by a dominant allele, but it still only accounts for a small percentage of the total population. This site says 5%:

https://blog.nwf.org/2018/05/excited-about-black-panther-are-we/

I'll also say that in all the photos of Sasha Siemel I've seen (legendary jaguar hunter) he's pictured with "normal" Jaguars. And that man killed a LOT of kitties.

I'm not disputing your claims to have seen something. I've got level-headed family in Alabama that swear they've seen the same. And I know for a fact we have big cats. I just find the black cat phenomenon to be puzzling. It's very specific, and right there between plausible/implausible.

And yes, it'll make you a touch nervous when you hear footsteps in the dark and wonder for a second if it's old Bagheera come looking for ya. I've been assured by biologists that I'll never hear the cat that kills me, if that makes ya feel better.

Here’s a site that has a study of melanistic frequency in a captive jaguar breeding study and a link to the photo and paper published by the biologist I contacted.
http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/catspecies/blackjaguars.html

http://dinets.info/blackjaguar.htm

 

[SaddleUpPartner!]

Never seen one or had any weird experiences. But my dad, who grew up hunting the UP of Michigan, seems to believe. He saw something back when he was in his 20s. He still won’t talk about it though. Very unlike him.

That sounds suspiciously like a black bear.

 

[SaddleUpPartner!]

I believe melanism in the species is conferred by a dominant allele, but it still only accounts for a small percentage of the total population. This site says 5%:

https://blog.nwf.org/2018/05/excited-about-black-panther-are-we/

I'll also say that in all the photos of Sasha Siemel I've seen (legendary jaguar hunter) he's pictured with "normal" Jaguars. And that man killed a LOT of kitties.

I'm not disputing your claims to have seen something. I've got level-headed family in Alabama that swear they've seen the same. And I know for a fact we have big cats. I just find the black cat phenomenon to be puzzling. It's very specific, and right there between plausible/implausible.

And yes, it'll make you a touch nervous when you hear footsteps in the dark and wonder for a second if it's old Bagheera come looking for ya. I've been assured by biologists that I'll never hear the cat that kills me, if that makes ya feel better.

LMAO

 

[Wirrex]

I was backpacking on Mt. Rogers with two friends about 10 years ago. To make a long story short, we camped on the summit our second night and decided to go off trail straight off the top of the mountain and follow the GPS to the truck instead of following the trail and camping a third night. The top of the mountain was pretty open and easy hiking. Two hours later we were as far off any trail that you could get and in the thickest rhododendron forest you could ever imagine. We couldn't see even a couple feet in front of us. It was horrible trying to navigate the tangle of crap with backpacks on. All of the sudden, we hear something get up and move off in front of us very slowly. We took a few more steps and found ourselves in a tiny clearing of rhododendron and were standing in a huge woven nest of rhododendron branches. The nest was a big oval bowl about 5 feet long and 4 feet wide. All the branches of rhododendron about a foot or two higher than we could reach had been freshly broken off and used to make the nest. The dusting of snow was melted inside the nest. We could still hear the occasional crack and snap of branches within 30 yards of us as the animal moved slowly around us to the left. The prints in the snow were not at all clear since we were on such rocky nasty ground but I swear they looked just like ours coming into the nest. Like big human tracks in light dusty snow. There is no way any human could have been where we were and no way a human short of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could have reached the branches that were broken to make the nest. We researched the area when we got home and found zero North American animals that make that kind of nest. The closest thing was some type of Ape. There were of course many sightings and info on Bigfoot in the area. I have a picture of the nest and a GPS way point marked, but other than that, just a story to tell. Who knows!

Out with it!

 

[Nutterbuster]

Here’s a site that has a study of melanistic frequency in a captive jaguar breeding study and a link to the photo and paper published by the biologist I contacted.
http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/catspecies/blackjaguars.html

http://dinets.info/blackjaguar.htm

That's interesting. But unless I'm reading wrong, the 5% statistic (6 according to your sources) stays true for wild populations. Domestic cats do seem to trend pretty strongly towards melanism, which would imply folks are seeing pets and zoo critters turned loose? Or am I missing something?

I know Alabama has its share of backwoods zoo's.

 

[huck72412]

Preposterous I say !!!!!!

Chewbacca is the only real Bigfoot to ever exist. And that rascal lived outside of our Milky Way with my dream woman. I Love You Princess Leia !!!!!!!

 

[Dewey]

 

[huck72412]

 

[Sipsey]

That's interesting. But unless I'm reading wrong, the 5% statistic (6 according to your sources) stays true for wild populations. Domestic cats do seem to trend pretty strongly towards melanism, which would imply folks are seeing pets and zoo critters turned loose? Or am I missing something?

I know Alabama has its share of backwoods zoo's.

Yea, I’m at a loss to arrange science with my sightings. It’s kinda like the huge tracks a friend came across in a remote area of my swamp. He took photos with a measuring tape next to them several years ago, huge. I thought we finally had proof. Took some real head scratching and track comparisons. Turns out a small tornado had dropped a tree on a wolf pen a few miles away. Just wolf tracks, but without claw prints they fooled me, for a while.

If you ever come across a large cat track, here’s a drawing for comparison.

 

[CDennis]

The nest picture is on my other dead laptop, but I have a printed copy of it. I'll take a pic of it on my phone and post it. It was really weird.

 

[sojourner]

Back to Bigfoot, where are my PA peeps at? We are third highest sightings.

https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/ne...-1300-sightings-have-been-reported-in-pa.html

 

[bfriendly]

The nest picture is on my other dead laptop, but I have a printed copy of it. I'll take a pic of it on my phone and post it. It was really weird.

If you can find it, I’d love to see it!

TTT, love to see this topic refreshed.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Fun read. I can't comment on bigfoot or anything like that, but I can say that I heard a story from a high school classmate's father that I have a hard time dismissing knowing the sort of man he was. It relates to what he called a Black Panther. To preface this, the man was a responsible, serious and sober man. He was the quiet sort of man that if he told you something it wasn't a joke. He related an incident of a very large black cat, he said 150 to 175 pounds that he had seen around their deer camp in east cental Mississippi not far from the Alabama line. I was told the story in the late 1980's early 90's and apparently this had taken place 12 to 15 years prior to that. The cat was hanging around their deer camp at night eating the gut piles from the deer they dressed, and he thought that was what brought it around. He said he saw it once at night as it crossed briefly in the light of a light pole near camp, and it also did something like break into a trailer after dragging some cinder blocks away from the door. Sorry, it's been a long time since I heard the story. He said he and another guy sat up a few nights over the gut pile trying to shoot it, but it seemed to know when they were there and when they weren't. It apparently moved on and nothing ever came of it. They also started carrying the guts way off from camp since they were a little spooked by the cat.

 

[bfriendly]

Only 3 things I can add are
1) my friend heard a howl one morning while we were heading out on the North end of Pinelog WMA. It was a cold and frosty morning so I already had my ear muffs on and didn’t hear it. It freaked him out a little and he is still upset I didn’t hear it…..lol

2) Walking out a gated road at Pinelog one day saw a few bear tracks that were fresh. Very cool, but then, Over to the side I saw a big barefoot track just a few days old. It was huge and made the hair on my neck stand up and really freaked me out. I was never so afraid in The woods like that before.

3)Teeing off out on the backside of Sugar hill golf gourse. From there, there were woods all the way to the chattahoochee river, South of Buford dam. After the 4 of us had just teed off, we’re heard this scream. It started off as a low deep gutteral growl and crescendo’d up to a high pitch scream that sounded like a woman being tortured(yes, that one). All of us were like WHAT THE BLANK WAS THAT?!? It was in front and to the right of us and the golf course continued the other direction. We avoided the woods where the cart path went beside and I even think one of the guys who hit it in the woods dropped on the other side of the fairway, with no objections from us..I’ll never forget it But it was 20+ years ago.

Nothing definitive certainly. i Totally believe they are real. I’m in the camp that even if most of the thousands of tales tracks and stories are fake or imaginary, it only takes 1 to be true for them to be real. If you think they are over there, but not where you are at, I’d say you are highly mistaken…….like give me a break. If there were any critter that could find it’s way to the next best spot and “spread out”, it’d be the big fella.m

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I can add that I have personally seen a bobcat that had a body the size of a yearling doe. Most are not anywhere near that size.

 

[shmelton]

About 10 or so years ago there was a Florida Panther shot on West Point lake by a hunter. West Point is on the GA/AL line probably 50-60 miles South of Atlanta. The hunter said that he feared the cat was going to attack him, when he reported it to the DNR. The DNR claimed it to be an escaped cat, but after an autopsy, and a DNA test they figured out it was a FL Panther. The DNR then pressed charges against the hunter for shooting and Endangered Species. By the time it was over, I think the hunter was fined $100k,l for sure, and maybe 10 or so yrs in jail. I guess yall can figure out the moral of this story.

It really wouldn’t surprise me if Panthers were all over AL, and GA. I know some guys on the AL coast that have claimed to see them several times on country roads and in the backwaters of the bays. I’ve also heard stories all my life about them being seen by the old timers in fields, and crossing rds.

 

[The_Fit_Ness_Monster]

Idk about Bigfoot we don’t have them here, Rougaroux has the woods on lock here. Lol

 

[shmelton]

I can add that I have personally seen a bobcat that had a body the size of a yearling doe. Most are not anywhere near that size.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[The_Fit_Ness_Monster]

I can add that I have personally seen a bobcat that had a body the size of a yearling doe. Most are not anywhere near that size.

This was a lanky one I had behind the house, but I’ve seen a couple around here that I didn’t even know they could be as big as they were.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

He's one I got a picture of. Medium sized.