Is Bigfoot Roaming the Hancock Hills?

Several sightings start scientific study of sasquatch on Skatutakee.

Is this a bigfoot that was photographed on a game camera

in early March? Dublin resident Miles O'Keefe claims he
also saw one on Sept. 31.

HANCOCK, NH, April 1, 2013 - Miles O’Keefe remembers every detail of that brilliant fall afternoon last Sept. 31, when he hiked up Mount Skatutakee in Hancock.

Weary from his ascent, though only a few minutes from the summit, O’Keefe sat against a huge pine, caught his breath and shut his eyes for a moment.

That’s when he heard it. Just a faint shuffle of leaves, somewhere off the trail.

“The sounds got louder, and I could hear the crunching of twigs,” said O’Keefe, a retired school custodian from Dublin. “It sounded like someone was walking in the woods.”

O’Keefe shouted, “Hey, who’s there?”

Not hearing a response, O’Keefe stood up and peered through the trees. Nothing. He waited a few minutes, took a swig and put the bottle back in his pack. Still nothing. So he shouldered his pack and continued up the trail, wondering if there was a bear in the woods or if someone was playing tricks on him.

Suddenly, he heard a crashing through the woods, something big. Expecting a bear, O’Keefe froze in his tracks and glanced toward the sound.

“It was about 40 feet in the woods and running away from me,” he said. “I could see right away it was no bear. It was about 9 feet tall and running away on two legs, covered from head to toe with dark, black fur or hair. I knew right away it was bigfoot.” 

Big Plans Afoot for Bigfoot 

While O’Keefe’s story sounds unbelievable, some new evidence of a large primate on Hancock’s hills has surfaced and the state’s wildlife agency is preparing to have its own look.

A Hancock resident who wants to remain anonymous claims that his game camera captured an image of Skatutakee’s sasquatch on March 9. The motion-activated camera, which the resident sometimes baits with carcasses, was on a remote part of the mountain when it photographed the ape-like animal.

Until now, N.H. Fish and Wildlife Department officials have been skeptical of periodic sasquatch sightings around the state. Now, the Department's Cryptozoology Program is planning a full-blown biological assessment of bigfoot in the Monadnock Region.

“Presented with recent convincing evidence of this elusive animal, we are now compelled to gather biological data to better understand and manage the population, if it indeed exists,” said Fish and Wildlife biologist Mark Englewood. “So we’re happy to use our extremely limited resources to gain some valuable insight into this curious mammal’s population dynamics and habitat use. Ultimately, we want to know if this presents an opportunity for recreational hunting, as well as some sorely needed revenue for the Department.” 

Mark and Recapture 

Now getting under way, the Fish and Wildlife bigfoot study will focus on Mount Skatutakee and Thumb Mountain in Hancock. It will be a classic “mark and recapture” study, which is a common method in ecology used to determine population densities and habitat use in a given area. The mark and recapture method can be used for creatures as small as a snail and as big as a black bear … or even bigfoot.

“What we’ll do is capture a sample number, tag and release those individuals unharmed, then go back after a period of time and attempt to capture and tag either the same or additional individuals,” Englewood said. “Using standard biological and statistical principles, we can extrapolate the number of individuals per given area. That, and a bunch of guesswork.”

If one or more bigfoot are captured, they will also be fitted with radio-telemetry collars to let researchers study the animals’ use of habitat. Shiny and brightly colored collars will also help the animals find mates.

Because bigfoot are elusive and potentially wicked dangerous, Fish and Wildlife will have the actual capturing done by unpaid interns.

“There are some obvious issues involving liability and reputational risk,” Englewood said. “So we think this would be an ideal learning opportunity for student interns. They would much rather be in the field, anyway, doing glamorous research for which they could ultimately be rewarded with fame, glory and … well, you know, fame and glory.” 

You Never Know What May Appear 

The bigfoot sightings are welcome news to Reed Cabot, semi-retired senior naturalist emeritus at the Barbara P.C. Harris Center for Conservation Observation in Hancock or Greenfield. He points to the value of protected habitats in the center’s Uber-Sanctuary, covering some umpteen thousand acres in 20-or-30-something towns.

“We’ve known for a long time now that, once these lands are protected, all sorts of wide-ranging animals will use these tracts as travel corridors,” Cabot said. “Species like bobcats, black bear, moose, ticks and bigfoot.”

Many questions remain, like, how did this big, hairy animal elude detection for so long?

Miles O’Keefe, who holds the lonely distinction of actually seeing a bigfoot in New Hampshire, thinks he has the answer. O’Keefe has now become somewhat of an expert in sasquatch ecology. Since his sighting, O’Keefe has become a card-carrying, certified bigfoot scientist by the Union of Scientific Sasquatch Researchers (USSR).

“Things appear in the woods when you do what I did that day in September,” O’Keefe said. “Just sit down for a minute and be still. Let the forest settle out and keep an open mind. You never know what may appear.” 

Eric Aldrich writes from his home in Hancock, where you never know …