Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Shooting Sasquatch, and the Russian Technique


Over the past couple of years I've been visiting an online question and answer forum, doing my best to field questions from the general public regarding Bigfoot. Recently, after responding to a question about types of weaponry I'd use IF I found myself in a situation where I had to hunt one of these wonderful creatures, a Russian fellow who claims to have been involved in several missions to kill these creatures while a member of the Russian military, piped up and related how his unit approached hunting Sasquatch. Since I find this topic fascinating, I thought I'd share the post with you and let you see what all he had to say. Hope you find it as interesting as I do.  

QUESTION: Could an assault-type rifle be used to hunt a Sasquatch?

A weapon like an AR or an AK could be used to hunt bigfoot, but using one of the most common calibers, the (5.56mm) .223, is not advisable. Having a fairly rapid shooting weapon with a high capacity magazine tends to give the shooter a false sense of security. It's always important to remember that a .223 or 5.56mm is designed for taking out people, in a military combat situation, NOT on 1000lbs of pissed off animal. In my opinion, anything smaller than a 30 caliber round (which would likely be a 7.62mm if you were using an AK, or a 300 Blackout if you were using an AR) would require so many hits, that even after firing a 30 round magazine at him, an angry Bigfoot would probably be on top of you, tearing you to pieces long before it would succumb to its wounds. It would indeed die from multiple .223 wounds, just not nearly fast enough to make that round a feasible caliber for Sasquatch hunting.  

Military people (who typically carry 5.56) who have been sent in to bring them down always report that they had to empty several mags at them, but inevitably they also report that occasionally, a member of their team would be killed when a lightning fast creature snatched them up while they were shooting at it. Evidently, that has happened more than once over the past few decades.

Only if I was in a situation where I had no choice in the matter, would I, personally, go hunting one. Unless you are in a group (10+) of well armed and trained shooters, hunting one is a suicide mission. But if one attacked me or someone I care about and I needed to shoot it, my go-to weapon would be a 45-70 lever action rifle. Bullets as big as your thumb with a nice powder charge would do the trick I rekkin. 

If you ever find yourself in the terrifying scenario where you have no option other than to unload your weapon on one these fellers, it is highly advisable that you Do NOT aim for the chest or the forehead. Sasquatch are reported to have a thick, like 4 inch layer of cartilage all across the chest area, as well as an extremely thick brow ridge across the front of their skull, so if you tried doing it anyway, there's a fairly decent chance that all you will do is piss it off unless you get lucky. A skull shot, unless it is a perfectly straight on hit will likely result in a ricochet. 

There is an episode on Sasquatch Chronicles where a hunter tells a story about being attacked by a squatch while walking back to his truck from his tree stand. Around the time he got into view of his truck, a creature came out of the woodline about 35 yards to his right and started growling and yelling at him in a very menacing manner. The hunter says that since he felt that an attack was imminent, he started running toward his truck. Apparently unamused, the Bigfoot took off after him. As the hunter arrived at his truck he tossed his rifle into the bed and started digging for his keys as he stood next to the vehicle. At the same time he got his keys out, the creature leapt up and landed in the bed of the truck, came over to the driver side and lunged at him. The hunter fell down onto his back, terrified, thinking this thing was about to kill him. The creature, still in the bed, was hanging off the driver's side, looming directly over him, still growling and carrying on, seemingly pondering how he was going to kill him. At that moment, flat on his back, 700lb sasquatch pretty much on top of him, the hunter remembered that while hunting he always carried a loaded western style 22 magnum revolver on his hip. He stated that he drew the revolver pointed it directly between the creatures eyes, and pulled the trigger.  When the gun went off, the creature wheeled backward, screamed furiously and repeatedly, then jumped out of the passenger side of the truck bed and ran into the nearby woods. The hunter was then able to open his truck door and get the hell out of dodge. 

Now, the reason I tell you this story, is in regards to where the bullet hit the creature. The hunter says that he saw the bullet hit the brow ridge over the Bigfoot's left eye, near the centerline. However, he is 100% positive that the bullet did not enter the brain case. Instead, he is confident that it ricocheted off that thick boney ridge. Essentially, all he did was surprise the creature, and cause him a great deal of pain, which in turn, very likely saved his life.  

People who have successfully brought one down say to aim just below the chin, or directly at the eye. Otherwise, your odds are low at bringing one down quickly. 

Response from Nicholas Gagarin...
In Russia, anti-Sasquatch squad is composed of 4 men with RPG-7 rocket launcher (HEAT warheads), 2 men with PKM light machine guns (automatic 7.62x54R fire is capable of slowing down Sasquatch significantly, a lucky shot might even hit the head and kill him!), and 1 man with a Kalashnikov as bait.

How we did it in “Baba Yaga” squad back in the '90s was we would get dropped off in taiga of Siberia by Mi-8 helicopter. Usually the noise of the helicopter would be enough to attract the Sasquatches, but our “bait” Vasya (which means Burly man, or Thug) would usually fire his Kalashnikov in air anyway. At this point, if Sasquatch appears, Vasya would run away as fast as possible while rest of squad finds cover. Of course Vasya would be very drunk before the mission, and the smell of vodka would cause the Sasquatch to not be able to detect us as well. At that point, the PKM gunners would start shooting at the Sasquatch as it ran past us from about 50 yards, causing it to stop and attempt to turn around. Then, our RPG men would fire all at once, and usually at least 1 rocket would hit the Sasquatch and amputate a limb or punch a hole in it.

Common strategy if all the RPGs missed would be for Vasya to run directly at Sasquatch while firing Kalashnikov, giving RPGs time to reload. They only carried one spare rocket each.

We lost a Vasya that way once. Luckily we were able to find a replacement.

My Reply....

Thank you so much for the Russian perspective on the topic of squatch hunting. It doesnt surprise me one bit that you used shoulder fired rockets against rogue bigfoot in your neck of the woods.
As for what American assault teams are armed with when they head out to take one down, Im not sure. I havent heard anyone mention in detail what all they took in with them. I do know they primarily had their 5.56 rifles, and one man carries a heavier machine gun. No idea if the American teams take heavier stuff with them like what you said their Russian counterparts had.

In the accounts Ive heard, the group of 8 or 10 men helicopter in, find a trail to follow within 2 hrs, and usually managed to kill the first creature within 5 hrs or so. One story I read described how a group of 12 special forces guys killed an entire family group, 7 creatures in a 3 day time period. Evidently one or two of the family members had developed a taste for Human blood over a 2 or 3 month period. I believe they said that a woman hiker had been killed and eaten, then like a month later a 16 yr old male who was camping was taken and never seen again. Since they could not possibly nail down the precise murderous individuals in the short time they had, they were given orders to take out the whole group. 3 adult males, 2 adult females, and what appeared to be a set of boy/girl teen twins.

Its quite sad to lose so many majestic creatures at one time, but it was deemed necessary by the powers that be.