Well, to be fair? There is a lot of hoaxing going on. And the deepfake stuff is getting better by the day.   But a common thing I hear among Bigfooters and skeptics alike? Is why don’t we get any camera trap photos? Well….. we do! We also get tons and tons of IPhone video of a dark figure walking across a slope or through a forest, etc, etc.   To put it into perspective? People complain about grainy FLIR footage shot by a F/A 18 Super Hornet in regards to UAPs…..🤷‍♂️   And then as you say people become enthralled with a photo or video of a cryptid or whatever that then becomes the unrealistic bar by which everything else is measured. In Bigfootdom that’s the PGF. In the Loch Ness monster it’s the surgeons photo. In UFO’s it’s the McMinnville photo. Whatever.   So when you don’t see a flying saucer…. You see a flying cigar? Your sighting doesn’t line up… Or you don’t see a bipedal hominid you see a quadruped ape thing? Again it doesn’t line up.   All I can say from my 53 years of hunting and fishing is that something weird is going on in Pennsylvania AND Kentucky. If the Jacobs photos obviously showed a Bear in its two photos? Non of us would have heard about it. Is it proof? Of course not. But we do have proof of Chimp DNA in a national forest in Kentucky. That’s proof! What is it doing there? That remains to be seen. But without a doubt it’s weird. And if I was standing on my porch in Kentucky and heard or saw a Chimp in the woods? Where would my mind go?    

The soundscape of surveillance cameras is complicated and is obnoxious to the animal world. Noisy, hard to hide and off gas odors. Spiders and ants enjoy the magnetic fields from the batteries. Some plastics off gas formic acid and that translates to the smell of bee hives and ant hills= bear snack. I am not aware of any reports of an anteater going after a trail cam like bears do. Just an FYI; polypropylene and noryl do not off gas or absorb moisture. Cases made of PP by SeaHorse and Pelican have their place. Those cases have thick walls and do well to attenuate ultrasonic noises.   I am reminded of an incident years ago involving trail cameras and small diameter trees in a shallow root ball environment. The researcher checked on the cameras and found the trees had been pushed over and the cameras were aimed at the ground.   The statistics for trail camera sales need different categories. Not everyone is monitoring for a hunting season. Trail cameras are purchased for home / property security. Years ago, trail cameras were very expensive and the selection was limited. A cursory check of on line vendors shows a huge inventory, made overseas and many available for about $50.   I have been watched putting up trail cameras and placing food. They spy on us and spying on them is difficult.  

Nature's version of the jolly roger?

I’ll admit to that.  That’s fair.   Probably doesn’t help that people like me go into considering a trail cam video with a doubting Thomas mind-set.  It might be open minded on the concept of Bigfoot but still assumes any reported cam video might be too good to be true.   Always wonder how likely my wing of the Bigfoot world would accept a new video at PGF- level trail cam should it occur.   Would it be impressive or dismissive as too-good-to-be-true.       

I've noticed that at least some predators seem to avoid traveling the same path as their prey.  On cameras where I get deer, elk and moose; the bears and cougar are mostly seen crossing rather than following the trail.     Blue Mountains of Washington Cinnamon Bear crossing the game trail.