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If things in the woods go silent, most likely it's because you're there.

One will hear and read this commonly when on the subject of BF: The forest went completely dead silent when a BF was sighted. Let's assume this anecdote is true. Why? Why would song birds stop singing, chipmunks stop chipping, bees stop buzzing, and tree frogs stop croaking just because a BF was nearby? Makes no sense to me that many animals and insects in no danger of being foraged on by BF would suddenly go absolutely quiet when BF is in the area. And all species and genus of animal and insect act the same, at the same time, even when BF is no threat to them? That all animals and insects are even aware of BF's presence at the same time in the same general area would strike me as pretty amazing, too. So, what's going on with this 'silent forest' thing? I gotta believe there is more to the story than meets the eye...er, ears. MNSkeptic

Hoaxing is so rampant in this field because the people continue giving them the benefit of the doubt, regardless that they've committed obvious hoaxes. It's like a never ending circle of being fooled, but it almost seems like people want it that way.

You need to spend some time in the deep woods. I don't think you have an adequate frame of reference.

Ok, so I'm not the only one imagining nothing.

<Unfortunately, that is how it goes with anything strange that happens> Agreed Pistola. I was hunting once and thought something was throwing rocks at me, small pebbles actually. That was close to 40 years ago but I still remember it because it was so odd. I chalked it up to birds dropping them from the trees above me. So while I'm a skeptic on BF that's probably why I don't write it off as "can't possibly exist". Like a lot of others here, we're just looking for explanations to strange things we've witnessed.

Not a coverup. Just avoiding headaches. Peer pressure to "not talk" about it. Not unlike one's experience with skeptics on this forum. The experience I had at Fort Lewis in 1983 was like this. I knew what it was, but all it did was scare a couple of REMF privates. Was I going to report it up the chain? No way. In my experience, if you bring it up people will rib you when you're in a group, but confide in you one on one. Usually, the last thing you want to do is take a firm stand on it when interacting with the group as a whole.

While I have not been to Bhutan (though I would love to go), I have been to Nepal. I spent two or three weeks in the country, and most of it was in the Himalayas at a small village called Pangom in the Arun Valley. I knew the area was remote, but there's nothing like being there to really drive that home. There were no roads whatsoever. We had to be helicoptered in to the site and picked up at the end of our stay. Our gear was transported by these strange yak/cow hybrids escorted by Sherpas who walked for days to get anywhere. When tensions with a neighboring village arose and police were needed (Bobo was accused of angering the gods and causing a torrential downpour and the resulting landslides), they had to walk from a nearby village downslope and it took them over 12 hours to arrive. Not only is this area huge, but the terrain is extremely rugged. The mountain slopes are ridiculously steep and covered with leech-ridden semi-tropical vines with pokey thorns and worse. The people who live there mostly lack electricity. They live a subsistence living by catering to tourists "trekking" through the mountains and by growing potatoes, cabbage, and other crops. Most of the folks who helped us were illiterate. Ranae spent a week before filming in Bhutan and she reported that the situation there was more or less the same in economics and geography. I feel that my assumptions about Nepal would largely be accurate to describe Bhutan as well. To me, it's a wonder we hear of ANY yeti sightings. The people of the Himalayas are far more preoccupied with surviving than reporting sightings to outsiders of animals they know live there. Most of the mountain folk know people don't think yetis are real, so why should they care what scientists think unless they can make a living guiding for them, or being porters? They go to bed at dark and wake up at sunrise. They aren't out in the woods at night. They are wonderfully simple, happy, and compassionate people living a small life in a huge mountain range. Who would they report a sighting of a perfectly normal animal to, anyway? Even better, HOW would they report it (it's a two-week walk to Kathmandu)? I imagine such an action seems like quite the hassle to a Sherpa trying to put food on his family's table. Just because Westerners don't hear about yeti sightings much doesn't mean they don't happen. I have to question whether or not yeti sightings are in fact in decline, or have remained more or less quietly steady over the years. Just because a news article says so, it doesn't make it true. Just my two cents from having actually been to the region. If you're interested in reading my field notes from Nepal, they are posted on my website here: http://cliffbarackman.com/finding-bigfoot/finding-bigfoot-episode-guide/finding-bigfoot-season-four/finding-bigfoot-season-four-abominable-snowman/ Cliff