The Wildmen of Texas

We have posted on this blog about the Texas Bigfoot as recently as A month ago at:
http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/2012/03/eastern-bigfoot-ambush-tactics.html

However the matter is rather more involved than it might appear and very much a parallel to the situation of the "Skunk apes" in Florida. Another article focusing on the "Ape" aspect shall follow after this one. This is the part concerning the more human types of creatures and in some cases they are very human indeed.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Tracking Down San Antonio's Mystery Beast

http://www.texasbigfoot.com/reports/report/detail/160

In the wooded hills west of San Antonio, Texas, Bigfoot hunters are on the prowl, convinced specimens are lurking deep within Garner State Park. Investigators Troy Hudson and Chase Robinson of The Bigfoot Investigation Group out of Dallas have spoken to several witnesses who have had brushes with some unexplained beast at the state park just south of Leakey, TX. One man claims he saw one of these hirsute hominids dash across Highway 83 in December 2006.

LEAKEY, Texas - Last fall, after several people called police saying they saw something that looked like Bigfoot on the Northwest side of San Antonio, we were contacted by a group of men who call themselves Bigfoot investigators. They said they're convinced that Sasquatch is here and probably always has been. So, our Delaine Mathieu said -- prove it!


Last December, a homeless couple in San Antonio called 911 saying they saw something in the woods off Highway 151 and Culebra. "I would be a liar if I said I thought I knew what it was, but I don't know. I know it picked up that deer and walked," reported the caller. Police checked it out, but nothing was ever found.
Troy Hudson believes Bigfoot is here. He used to work for the Department of Homeland Security and now runs TBIG -- The Bigfoot Investigation group in Dallas. "I've been in the woods a lot as a child and I've seen things I can't explain to you," Hudson told us.
We set up camp with him and his colleague, Chase Robinson at Garner State Park in Uvalde County near Leakey -- where a man in a truck reportedly saw a Bigfoot on Highway 83 in 2006. "It was in December, early December around 10:30pm," Hudson said. "He was messing with something and he happens to look up and notices movement." He says the creature ran across the highway and disappeared.
"But that sounds crazy!" Delaine told Hudson. "That sounds almost ridiculous, right?" Hudson told her there are too many witnesses, too many reports across the country, too much documentation, too much data that suggests what are these people seeing?
Crazy is a word Troy and Chase say they hear a lot in their line of work, but there are several Bigfoot investigative groups in Texas like TBIG -- determined to find Bigfoot. "If people in Vermont are reporting a tree knock and a whoop as well as someone in California, Florida, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas -- it only leads you to believe that there's something out there."
And to the unbelievers out there who call these guys nuts? They say, just go on an expedition. "Try it. Before you condemn us, go out and try it," Chase told us. "See what they see and listen to the sounds of the night."

http://www.woai.com/content/troubleshooters/story/Searching-for-Sasquatch-here-in-South-Texas/aJhIXu33q0alyTOxki9rXQ.cspx

This past December, several people in San Antonio claimed to have reported a hairy, bipedal primate of some type that left behind tracks. Presumably, Hudson and Robinson's assertion is that the creature(s) emanated from within the 1420 acres of the Park

Tracks Talk Of Bigfoot Presence in SE TX

Possible Bigfoot tracks found in southeast Texas raise hopes for members of the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy (TBRC). As part of the organization's Operation Forest Vigil effort, the tracks were discovered May 7, 2010 in a remote area of the piney woods that blanket the eastern portion of the state. The prints measured roughly 12 inches in length and seem to possess the requisite "mid-tarsal break" so often spoke of when discussing those creatures collectively referred to as "Bigfoot". To read more about this expedition's find, go to

http://texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com/2010/05/possible-sasquatch-tracks-located-in-se.html

 Monday, May 10, 2010

Possible Sasquatch Tracks Located in SE Texas

I just returned from a trip to the Piney Woods of SE Texas. The purpose of the trip was two-fold. First and foremost I was looking for potential camera locations for the TBRC's Operation Forest Vigil project. The secondary purpose, as always, was to look for any sign of our target species; the sasquatch. What a trip it turned out to be.

I, and one other TBRC member, arrived at our destination mid afternoon on Friday 5/7. We established base camp at reasonably remote spot in the forest and settled in for the afternoon. We relaxed a bit and had a bite to eat while we waited for the sun to set. The plan was to wait until 10:00 or 11:00pm and then drive the back roads of the area hoping to catch a sasquatch attempting a crossing. This is exactly what I was doing when I had my visual in May of 2005. We ran the roads, with video camera rolling, until about 3:00am. We did not have any luck as we only saw deer but did identify an area that we wanted to return to explore the next day. We returned to base camp at that time and called it a night.

We did have a large visitor of some kind at base camp that night. I managed to sleep through the visit but my partner heard something heavy approach us sometime prior to daybreak. He did say he was almost positive it was a hoofed animal. Whatever it was snorted and then quietly made its way back into the forest. My partner did sit up and try to catch a glimpse of the visitor but did not manage to do so. In all likelihood it was just a buck or maybe a hog (though they smell so bad their visits are usually easy to identify). Again, I slept through the whole thing and my friend didn't think enough of it to alert me. Things didn't get interesting until the next day.



We slept in a bit the next morning and didn't get geared up and into the woods until shortly before noon. A cool front had come through during the night and the day was perfect for hiking with temps in the upper 70s to the low 80s. We returned to the area we had identified the night before, parked my truck, and hiked into the woods. We were pleased to find several very nice looking spots for future camera deployments in short order. While looking for additional camera spots, we located a creek that winded through the area. This was a great looking creek bed. The bottom of the creek was easily 10-12 feet below the forest floor. We quickly realized we were looking at a wildlife super highway. Animals could walk up and down the creek bed and be totally invisible to anything or anyone above. We dropped down into the creek and quickly began locating wildlife sign. We spotted raccoon, opossum, deer, hog, and coyote tracks almost immediately, which confirmed our feeling that this was a travel corridor.



We followed the creek as it meandered through the woods and soon came to a small sandbar against the wall of the gulley where the creek took a sharp bend. In the packed sand we saw numerous impressions that resembled footprints. There were three different sizes. One very large set of impressions measured 14-15 inches in length. There were only two of these impressions but they were very wide and impressive. Also present were several impressions that measured 11-12 inches in length and several more impressions measuring only about 8 inches in length. The two smaller sets of impressions were not as wide as the big set but more numerous. We were sure we were looking at bipedal prints but the tracks were pretty degraded so we could not be absolutely sure as to what made them. We continued down the creek and continued to find impressions. It seemed every time the creek took a bend we would find impressions in the areas where the silt had been pushed up against the walls of the creek bed forming sand bars. We did not find any more of the largest individual's impressions but continued to see the tracks of the other two individuals. We continued another 200 yards or so when we located another group of tracks. The smaller impressions were everywhere. The little guy/gal seemed to be running around having a fine old time. There were only a couple of tracks of the larger individual. It was as if the adult had been patiently standing and watching the smaller individual frolic about. That is pure speculation, of course. What is not speculation is that one of the prints left by the larger individual is the clearest and most pristine track I have ever seen in the wild.



The print measured 11-12 inches long and clearly belonged to the same individual we had been tracking. The toes were crystal clear. The track showed little to no evidence of an arch. The track was only imprinted into the sand a half inch or so. However, the sand was packed extremely tight and our boots barely left any imprints at all. The big toe was huge and showed a slight divergence from the other four toes. We photographed the track from every possible angle and continued to track the pair until the creek split. The two of us split up with each of us following a separate branch for a hundred yards or so. I located one more track, belonging to the smaller of the two individuals, but that was it. We continued down the creek but found no other sign of the pair. They either exited the creek bed or backtracked and took the other branch. All together we were able to track these two individuals for more than a quarter of a mile. It was truly a remarkable track way.



There can be no doubt that we were following the tracks of bipedal individuals. There can also be no doubt that they were either humans or sasquatches. There are simply no other possibilities in my mind. If you study the photos of the best print provided here, I think you will agree that these are the only two possibilities.

I can't divulge too much information on the area where the tracks were located due to the fact that the investigation is active and ongoing. I can say that the portion of the creek bed where the tracks were found is very remote and is not close to any road or home. The forest floor and creek bed were both littered with debris such as rocks, sticks, sweet-gum balls, and pinecones that would make it an unlikely place for a human to go barefoot. When you add the possibility of poisonous snakes, the area is home to rattlers, cottonmouths, and copperheads, the likelihood of people traipsing around without shoes seems very unlikely. The possibility that a family was out on a hike and decided to enter the creek to soak their feet was considered. However, not a single sign of human presence was noted. There were no shoe or boot prints to be found. The individuals traveled in excess of a quarter mile without shoes of any kind. The facts that the tracks were found in an a very remote location, that the terrain is extremely inhospitable to barefoot walking, and that the area is home to several species of poisonous snakes make it unlikely, in my mind, that humans made the tracks.

Certainly, it is possible humans are responsible. People do strange things to be sure and turn up in unlikely places. While a stop on a sand bar in the creek and a quick soak of the feet seems possible, a barefoot stroll in excess of a quarter mile down this creek bed stretches credibility.

As I type this entry, three TBRC members who live in the general vicinity are at the sight casting the track. If all goes well, I will have photos of the casting up soon. I am hopeful that we can discern once and for all if the maker of the track was human or not.

More as it develops...

Rusk Co. Texas 2000, Auburn and darker  brown Bigfoot

http://www.texasbigfoot.com/reports/report/detail/160

Above, Texas Bigfoot Face (Mask) Mock-up. Below a chart showing Bigfoot sightings in Texas: actually more seem to be seen along the Rio Grande and are NOT being represented on this chart.

Bigfoot Image on TV from Texas BF Site

MarionCountyTX_BF Has a sort of cowlick up in back.

The Texas Wildman has several characteristics much the same as in the Eastern Bigfoot, but then again it is typically not nearly so large and is more often about the size of an average human being, although the taller ones are also reported. In the drier regions another variation turns up, which tends to be thinner than the rest of the usual reports.
Here is a report from Dave Hogan posted in my yahoo group Frontiers of Zoology from a few years
ago:

My encounter took place over 40 years ago in Irving Texas. I dont
remember my exact age but I had to be 10 to 13 years old which would
make it 1962 to 1965. All directions, sizes and times are approx but
close. A few things arent real clear in my memory, I think it was a
male but I am only 80% sure and I never saw him standing so I would
say he was probably three and one half to four and one half ft and
one hundered and one hundered and fifty lbs. now to the encounter.
My friend and I were out in the country plinking with our bb guns
when I saw something black jump into a creek that was to our left
(west) out of the corner of my eye. The creek was 300 to 400 ft away
so I told my friend that I was going to see what it was. I arrived
at the creek and was looking at the south end of a large drainage
pipe. It was to steep and deep for me to climb down at that point so
I had to walk south 15-20 ft to an area where I could climb down.
Between me and the pipe there was a bend in the creek so I had to
get past the bend before I could see the pipe. I stopped 2 to 3 ft
away from the south end of the pipe. At the north end of the pipe
(about 15-20 ft away) there was a creature covered with blackish
hair squating with its head down as if sad or scared. I just stood
there looking at it when it raised its head and looked up and out
its end (north) of the pipe as if to see if we had passed by. Then
he lowers his head again for a few seconds, then he looks to his
left (south) and he sees me. All of a sudden he shoots out of the
pipe and for a millisecond I could see the bottom of his feet and
dirt falling from the side of the creek. I have never seen anything
move so fast. I must have started yelling because my friend,that was
still waiting above the creek started asking what was wrong. It took
the bf about a half a second to climb up the bank and about a minute
for me. After I climbed the bank I was talking to my friend and he
said he felt like we were being watched and it scared us so bad that
we started running and didnt stop for a mile.


--This seems appropriate to our current discussion of the Orang
Pendek. It is a small hair covered creature (possibly an ape)
And as a mater of fact one of the Indiana encounters my brothers and
I investigated in the 1970's concerned a creature whose tracks were
reported in a local creek bed and which was supposedly holed up in a
drainage culvert that emptied out into the creek at that point. It
would help to know if this Texas creature had human feet or ape feet--
the witness mentioned that he saw the feet in particular.
(Upon further questioning the witness did specify it had human feet)

[It seems that this discussion had almost hit upon the conclusion the the Skunk Ape was similar to the Orang Pendek, but the idea remained in limbo until this blog recently confirmed the idea]
A lot of photos are available at a Texas Wildman site which appears to be orphaned from its originating site:

http://fob.l7space.com/twp/

Sketch of BF from the back

Unusually good 12 inch track from Harrison County, Texas

                                                                  Bent-trees formation

Unidentified Hair Samples

Samples of wild tubers dug up and each one with a human-shaped bite out of it

This set of footprints seems to have been made with the feet more on edge than usually. This may have been done to decrease the surface area of the tracks and thus make the tracks harder toi find.

Several sets of smaller, more normal human-sized tracks are common. These might be thought of as normal human adult or child's tracks but many are of the NEANDERTHAL type and are found in areas where walking barefoot through the thorns, briars and brambles would be pretty much unthinkable for modern men. I remember one witness winced as he described tracks of one such individual that evidently ran straight though a patch of spiny cactus. Whatever is making these tracks is way tougher than the rest of us..

In the following set of casts, a Bigfoot creature (or person rather) has dropped down onto his hands and knees under cover and so a clear cast of both hands was made. The proportion of the fingers and the thumbs is much the same as in the "Icemans" hands.

The following tracks are out of the smaller series and some are very clear. The one at top is a good match for Neanderthal tracks found in the clay of a cave floor in Italy.

Some more pretty clear photos in the mud. At one point the small Bigfoot has put its feet together in preparation to make a jump.

A purported photo on the left and a display model labelled "Texas Bigfoot" on the right. I don't know if the photo is actually real but it is a most convincing image and it very closely resembles some drawings of the Florida Skunk Ape.