Since you did ask...the Bauman incident can be found on many Bigfoot websites that feature the "classic" stories of Bigfoot or simply do a Web search for the "Bauman story." Former President Theodore Roosevelt had heard the story first-hand from Bauman himself when Bauman was quite old. Roosevelt was impressed enough by the story to include it in his book "Wilderness Hunter" written in 1892. Though it might not be common knowledge today, Theodore Roosevelt wasn't merely a "great white hunter" of Victorian times, he was exceptionally well-read, was indeed a very good big game hunter, and was something of an expert on all mammals. He had contacts with all the significant learned men of his day and wrote more books than just "Wilderness Hunter." (Whereas in this age, many of our Presidents don't have the time to read save for a few "briefs" and usually manage to write only one or two books that tend to be autobiographical in nature and written with much outside help typically just to polish up their image for posterity). That Roosevelt actually believed that such an animal as Bigfoot probably did indeed exist, shouldn't be taken as lightly as some tend to make it.
As far as Bauman, he was simply a trapper who along with his unfortunate partner decided to go look for beaver in the vicinity of the Wisdom and Salmon Rivers located along the border of Montana and Idaho. They chose the location they did, which was an area that other trappers avoided, thinking that beaver there would be more plentiful especially if other trappers were avoiding that area...and they were correct in that assumption. (Bauman's delay in getting back to camp earlier when his partner had gone ahead of him to break camp after they'd decided to leave the area was due to the fact it took him several hours to clean out three beavers he had caught in his traps) If you are wondering why other trappers didn't like trapping in this particular area, apparently the previous year a hunter's body had been found in that area half-eaten. While it could have been a bear, anything that gets the better of an armed man tends to discourage others from putting themselves in similar positions where an unfavorable outcome may incur. Apparently, Bauman and his partner were willing to take the risk...after all there were two of them. Other than trapping for beaver, these men didn't do anything extraordinary to bring on the wrath of Bigfoot save not understanding the "warning" of having their lean-to smashed and gear thrown about. It probably wasn't in their favor either that Bauman had fired at the "thing" outside of their lean-to during their first night there.
Posted on Oct 1, 2002, 8:45 AM from IP address 205.187.136.93