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As far as if BF habitat stays open or is closed, unfortunately our present executive government seems to like to emulate the "enlightened ones" that live off shore. China has already established a reserve for their version of BF. Entry requires government approval. We have designated wilderness areas that have all kinds of restrictions. What may happen, might depend on who is President and running the show when existence is proven. Money talks. Forest products companies are the big player there but they seem to be loosing influence due to environmental issues. Again that depends on the current administration policies and leanings. State and Federal forests are treated differently. State Forests in Washington State are being heavily logged and destroying my close research area as a result. Federal Forest logging is at an all time low due to environmental interests. There are a lot of factors at play.

Greetings.......and hope everyone got a visit from Santa:) I got a brief sighting for Xmas........perfect, or at least think I did, and can only put it in the maybe category. Time was about 10:30AM, clear, and about 45 degrees. I was hiking in an area where I had often found prints, and near a good water source. The dogs found the 'unknown' first, flushed it from hiding, and gave a brief chase. This is where I saw something a uniform dark color rise from its hiding place. In a flash, it was over a brushy embankment, and down into a thick swampy area. At the time, I was thinking human for sure since it was on 2 legs. The dogs had stopped dead in their tracks, and stood quietly on top of the embankment looking down into the swampy area. There wasn't a sound, so whatever went down there was hidden close by. I began to get an uneasy feeling as I realized the speed and silence in which this individual had moved. I called down there for whoever it was to respond, and said I was coming down there with the dogs if they didn't. Not a sound, not even from the dogs as they were sniffing the air, and looking down in there. I decided to make a loop around the swampy area, and come in from the backside half a mile down stream. I found a few older prints, a Deer kill, and what I think was a Badger, and all shown below.

There seems to be an inadequate understanding of what it means to prove something, in mathematics, in science, in jurisprudence, in life. Instead, we get this somehow Platonic notion of "Proof." Sasquatch has been proven to me to exist, (generating a psychological state), and to many others (DWA for instance). The evidence and arguments used to prove it to us are varied. Most pass scientific muster, are logical, are statistical, are the most parsimonious, and would be publishable if the scientific process were not so dysfunctional. The work that a number of folks have been involved with around ratio of bone lengths is hard science, and can be justified based on basic anthopological, anatomcal, and statistical grounds. It alone should prove to anyone with the basic scientific understanding, and a willingness to examine evidence in an open minded fashion, that Sasquatch is a real animal. Not all will accept the extent proofs, and come up with far from believable alternative explanations for the evidence. As I like to day, "evidence free" assertions - some quite fanciful. Not all will even review the existing evidence carefully enough, with an open enough mind, to understand it. Fanciful stuff: a legion of costumed hoaxers a legion of fake track makers, in the most absurd places for a hoaxer multiple witnesses all sharing the same hallucination collaboration amongst thousands of story tellers on obscure details to get consistency stilts impossible limb extensions belief that such an animal could not exist belief that such an animal could not stay hidden (surprise, they don't, all of the time) belief that it is easy to find hidden animals in the woods belief that the terrain could not support a large omnivore belief that bones, and bodies of rare animals are easy to find belief that it must have been a bear belief that thermal images throwing nightime rock throwing are not compelling evidence .... You can even be a fence sitter on the Skookum Cast and still be blessed with vast amounts of compelling evidence. There is only one explanation which really honors the evidence, and makes sense - Sasquatch is a real animal. Parsimony and logic!

I was pleasantly surprised last night, at my wife's big family dinner, when my oldest bro-in-law, a retired school principal, responded very positively to my mention of the subject. We got into a fairly lengthy discussion, where he brought up the question of what I thought it might be; neanderthal offshoot, G.Blacki, unknown primate, or what. Turns out he's been following the recent developments in dna testing of ancient fossil finds, like Denisova and Floresiensis, and is genuinely curious. Who knew? In general, I'm not shy about broaching the subject to anyone, as I'm old enough (70) to not give a crap about what anyone thinks of my mental state, nor is it likely to affect my career, being semi-retired, working at what I please, when I please. I guess that's one advantage of being an old fart!