Yeti “Nests” Found in Russia?

[frogmarch]

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/yeti-nest-russia-evidence-2190/

snips:

Bigfoot researcher and biologist John Bindernagel claims his research group has found evidence that the Yeti (a Russian "cousin" of the American Bigfoot) not only exists, but builds nests and shelters by twisting tree branches together.

"We didn't feel like the trees we saw in Siberia had been done by a man or another mammal.... Twisted trees like this have also been observed in North America and they could fit with the theory that Bigfoot makes nests. The nests we have looked at are built around trees twisted together into an arch shape," Bindernagel told the British tabloid The Sun.

Bindernagel was part of a small group of scientists who visited western Siberia to examine evidence of the Yeti in October. That group made headlines around the world for issuing a statement that they had "indisputable proof" of the Yeti and were 95 percent sure it existed based on the evidence – a few strands of hair – they found.

...

There's even more reason to be skeptical of Bindernagel's claim. According to Sharon Hill of the Doubtful News blog, another scientist who participated in the same Russian expedition concluded that hoaxing was afoot. At a Bigfoot conference that Hill attended last month, Jeff Meldrum (a professor of anatomy and anthropologist at Idaho State University who endorses the existence of Bigfoot) said that he suspected the twisted tree branches had been faked. Not only was there obvious evidence of tool-made cuts in the supposedly "Yeti-twisted" branches, but the trees were conveniently located just off a well-traveled trail.

A friend of mine named J.D. Smith had this to say about these mythical animals in an article he wrote in the 1960s for Whole Earth News:

"I figure the way to catch a Sasquatch is with a saxophone. Bigfoot is a critter, right? Critters are creatures of habit, so you just get a saxophone and a grubstake and get up on top of a mountain somewhere in Bigfoot country, and every evening about sundown you play the saxophone. The ground squirrels are going to come running right away then the otters and deer and bear after awhile, and eventually, if you are habitual about your playing, everything with ears is going to come check you out, So, if there is a Sasquatch in your area, it's going to show up. Shit, the worst that can happen would be that you would learn how to play the saxophone."