By Janet Bord
From Fortean Times Magazine, April 1997
Hunters might want to shoot a Bigfoot, but Janet Bord finds that many have already missed their target.
The debate about whether or not a Bigfoot should be shot to help scientists better protect the species is not new (see FT93:34). The record of sightings of giant hairy man-beasts in North America goes back nearly 200 years and in that time there have been many attempts to shoot one. As many of the sightings were made by seasoned hunters, it is somewhat surprising that no one has yet produced a body-assuming that the creature now called Bigfoot or Sasquatch really does exist. Why not? Three explanations became clear during my research for my book Bigfoot Casebook (published 1982 and now out of print). First, it seems that many hunters have fired at Bigfoot, but it is often too quick for them and they have been unable to hit it. Sometimes, when the hunters' bullets find their mark, the creature has seemed unworried by their impact, even when shot at point-blank range. In 1924, five men prospecting in Washington's Cascade mountains claimed to have been attacked by several Bigfoot creatures in a canyon. One of the men said that he fired three shots into one creature's head and two more into its body, but it kept running, Gary Joanis was another hunter who fired at a Bigfoot, this one having stolen the deer he had shot! Joanis and a colleague were hunting at Wanoga Butte in Oregon, in 1957, when the 9 ft (2.75 m) Bigfoot suddenly appeared, picked up the dead deer and carried it off under its arm. Annoyed, Joanis fired his .306 rifle repeatedly at the beast's back as it departed, but it gave no sign that it had been injured...unless its "strange whistling scream" was a cry of pain. It kept on walking and Joanis had no choice but to let it go. Fourteen-year-old James Lynn Crabtree was equally powerless when he tried to stop a Bigfoot. Out squirrel hunting near his home in Fouke, Arkansas, in 1965, he encountered an 8 ft (2.4 m) creature which turned to face him and then walk towards him. The boy shot it in the face three times with his shotgun, but it showed no sign of hesitating, so he fled. Two years later, a group of teenagers hunted several Bigfoot which had been seen around The Dalles in Oregon. One of the hunters saw a 7 ft (2.1 m) creature in a crouching position and blasted it in the chest with his 12-gauge shotgun. This knocked the creature down and it rolled over twice before it stood up and smashed its way through a fence, snapping off the fence-posts. The hunters returned the next day to follow the tracks and collect the carcass, but after 100 yards (90 m) they lost the trail as there were no bloodstains to follow. In 1974, a police patrolman fired two shots from his revolver at a 7 ft (2.1 m) as it walked down the road towards him near Fort Lauderdale in Florida. The creature screamed, jumped 20 ft (6 m) off the road and ran away at about 20 miles an hour (30 km/h). Some Bigfoot creatures have tried ot defend themselves when being shot at, as once occurred at Flintville, Tennessee, in 1976. Six men tracked a Bigfoot and fired on it repeatedly, but although it screamed, it gave no sign of succumbing to the onslaught of bullets. Instead, it threw rocks at its attackers before running away into the brush. The next day, 16 in (40cm) footprints, hair, blood and mucus were found. In 1979, Tim Meissner, 16, shot at a Bigfoot he saw in woods by Dunn Lake, British Columbia. He said: "He was about 9 ft (2.7 m) tall, black and hairy. He had a human-like face with great big, glaring, bright eyes and shoulders 4 ft (1.2 m) wide. He stood there glaring at me for at least three seconds. He was 50 ft (15 m) away-so close I could smell him. I don't even know why I shot. I was just scared, really scared. I was aiming for right between his eyes and he went down on one knee and one hand. At first I thought he was dead, but I guess I only grazed him, because he got up and ran away at about 30 miles an hour (50 km/h)." The second explanation for the lack of a Bigfoot carcass us that it is a paranormal creature rather than a physical one. This could explain a strange report from Port Isabel, Ohio. In 1968, three men caught a 10 ft (3 m)-tall, hairy man-beast in the flashlights. It walked towards them, its eyes glowing. One of the men shot it squarely from about 50 ft (15 m) away. The creature uttered a horrible scream as two more shots were fired at it.Then, as they watched, a white mist enveloped it. A minute later, the mist cleared and there was nothing left but darkness-no blood or any other trace of the creature was found. Even more bizarre is a report from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where one night in February 1974, a woman heard a noise ouside her isolated house. She picked up her 16-gauge shotgun, intending to scare away the intruder. She turned on the outside light and stepped out onto the porch. A 7 ft (2.1 m), hairy Bigfoot stood just 6 ft (1.8 m) from her. It raised both hands above it head and, assuming it was going to jump at her, she shot at its midriff. There was a brilliant flash-like a photographer's flash bulb-and the creature disappeared leaving no trace. The third and more believable reason suggested for the lack of a carcass is that some hunters just couldn't pull the trigger because the creature looked too human. One such incident happened near Orestimba Creek in California, in 1869, when a hunter watched a hairy creature swing lighted sticks from his campfire around its head. He commented: "Fifteen minutes I sat and watched him as he whistled and scattered my fire about. I could easily have put a bullet through his head, but why should I kill him?" The same sentiment stopped William Roe from shooting the female Bigfoot he encountered on Mica Mountain in British Columbia in 1955. Hidden in a bush, he watched as, 20 ft (6 m) away, it ate leaves. In a detailed written description, he noted: "The thought came to me that if I shot it, I would possibly have a specimen of great interest to scientists the world over...I levelled my rifle. The creature was still walking rapidly away...turning its head im my direction. I lowered the rifle. Although I have called the creature 'it', I felt now that it was a human being and I knew i would never forgive myself if I killed it." In 1962, a woman on a prospecting and fishing holiday in British Columbia suddenly came face-to-face with a hairy man-beast and raised her rifle to protect herself. She said: "My first fleeting impression was that it was a human with very long arms. But it took me weeks to get out of my mind the look it was giving me from its small, black eyes as it stood there. It was like an ape, but like a human too." And in 1971, Richard Brown, a high-school music teacher, was likewise assailed by doubt when he saw a Bigfoot in a field near The Dalles in Oregon. Through the telescopic sight of his rifle, he watched the creature for five minutes, just 150 yards (140 m) away. He described it as a 10 ft (3 m)-tall, muscular, hairy creature, weighing 600-800 pounds (270-360 kg). Brown, a seasoned hunter, was sure it was not a bear nor an ape. As he lined it up in the scope sight and began to squeeze the trigger, he found he could not shoot it. He said: "It seemed more human than animal." Sometimes the witness realises that there is just no point in trying to kill the Bigfoot. Lieutenant Verdell Veo had several sightings around Little Eagle, South Dakota, in 1977, and on one occasion when he saw a Bigfoot by moonlight he had a strange feeling that no weapon would have been any use.