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I'm not fond of the SRH. I had one of the first ones released in .44 many years ago. Mine had the 9-1/2 inch barrel and often wore the older, heavier Burris 2-7X handgun scope of the day. It was fairly accurate, reliable for 1-1/4th inch 6 shot groups at 100 yards with a rest, but something about the rubber grip, grip angle, etc did not fit me. I much preferred shooting my much lighter 4-5/8" barreled super blackhawk with the same loads. For that reason, I skipped the .454 and .480 versions of the SRH. The Bisley is a whole different breed of cat. It stretches my hand but doesn't actually hurt it. A 50 round session with full power ammo does something. The sensation the next day is somewhat akin to the day after a deep tissue massage where there's some odd sense of soreness from being stretched right to the limit, but it's not bruising nor torn skin. In the long run, my plan with the Bisley .454 is to save the heavily jacketed 300 grain speer and 300 grain magnum hornady XTP for hunting elk (a bucket list item .. handgun elk) and load it most of the year with the medium jacketed Speer 300 grain "Unicor" sort point, Sierra 300 grain JSP, or the .45 colt version of the 300 grain XTP at more typical magnum revolver speeds, say 1400-1450 fps, not mid 1600 fps range. A blackhawk will stand up to elevated pressures in .45 colt, but not quite elevated enough to hit my target level safely, so downloading the .454 seems the way to go ... to me. I don't pack the .454 because of bigfoot. There's nothing I know of that is going to cause me trouble in my area that I can't handle very readily with a .44 magnum. I've had ... I think about 35 ... since college. I lost count over the years. The .454 was purchased because of that roar. I don't know what it was. While I think the probability it is bigfoot is greater than it used to be, it's still no more than 50/50. It's the other 50 that is not bigfoot that concerns me. If it is not, we have something else out there unknown to me. I expect the .454 will also be useful for hunting .. just as the .44s were. So long as I stay out of that one area, maybe 3 miles by 3 miles, where those roars came from, I often pack a S&W 329PD. Because it's under 26 ounces, it's a fast, vicious kicking little monster, but it's for carrying lots and shooting very little .. perfect for backpacking. So far as the "bigfoot army conspiracy" ... I don't know. I do not think you find them alone very often, if you see one, more see you. That aspect rings true. Hearing communication back and forth is suggestive of more than one. Simple math, huh? However, since I don't plan to shoot other than in self defense, and since they seem bent on not making me defend myself, I think it is unlikely that I'll ever have any need to worry about it. If I do, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. This is not an expression of ridicule, merely honest self-confidence. I'm simply not wired like the clowns who cut loose firing blindly into the woods. I'm not inherently fearful. I pack my gun as a reasonable precaution, same as I wear my seatbelt as a reasonable precaution, same as I actually listen when the flight attendant gives her speech, same as I wear a life preserver on the river as a reasonable precaution, same as a wear a ... well, er, uh ... you know what you better do on a "date". If I thought I had specific reason to be afraid on any given day I would stay out of the situation entirely. Just my rambling thoughts on the matter. YMMV. MIB

Far Archer. "Whoa! Any estimate of how far from you it was when it spotted you? Reason I ask, I think these things have better night vision than day vision. Amazing how quiet they can get when they want to". I think it smelled me first. The wind was at my back and blowing right towards it. The brush was so thick between it and me that it could not have possibly seen me or heard me. I was standing dead still as it approached. Us humans douse ourselves with all kinds of scents. Deodorant etc. We must smell like a perfume counter to something living in the woods. The following day I returned to the encounter location and went to where I heard the thud and tree knocks. The ground cover of dead fir needles was disturbed about 20 yards from my initial encounter location. Trying to match the location with the picture, which included sword ferns pretty much coincided with the disturbed ground cover. I am pretty sure where the adult and juvenile were. A year later I went to the same location, to see if there was anything there which may have brought them there. I could not get there. The whole area was overgrown with blackberry bushes. The woods in the PNW is a rain forest and everything grows like crazy. I cannot dispute their night vision. They seem to move effortlessly in darkness we cannot navigate. But if their night vision is so good, their daylight vision must be at least as good as ours. All of my encounters have been in broad daylight. I do not go blundering around in the woods solo at night. The BFRO model of them only moving about in nighttime is flawed. If humans are not present, I think they move about in daylight as much as they do at night. If humans are active in an area, they adjust their tactics and move primarily at night. Above all, they are intelligent and adaptive. Because of their superior night vision, I choose to spend field time in the daytime hours when my vision as good as theirs. \

Sorry for the necro post but I think the phenomenon in the photos BobbyO posted is none other than dwarf mistletoe. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2809040 http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/75500-Arceuthobium-douglasii

Couldn't the same be said for bipto? He offered no evidence, and saying that it was never his intent to do so is not any better than saying that the skeptics can't give anything to substantiate their opinion. Stagnation seems to be defined as allowing others to be critical of unsubstantiated claims. To me, stagnation is humoring the claims of others without asking them to substantiate their claims, all while walking on eggshells in an effort to avoid offending the person making the claims. I've raised my child, so I'm pretty much done with making an effort to boost egos, or should I say avoiding the truth to keep from offending. People have to learn that there is no right to avoid offense, and if they can't post their incredible, unsubstantiated claims to a forum without being able to handle a differing opinion or criticism, and want to take their tales elsewhere, then that's up to them. I wish the guy all the success in the world, but if he can't handle the skeptical and skeptical proponents questioning him here on the BFF, how's he going to handle an inquiry from the scientific community, who'll certainly critique his claims unless... ... it's accompanied by evidence, which is where all of this got started from - Claims that lacked evidence. If bipto wants to return and present evidence along with his claims, or continue to give unsubstantiated accounts, he's more than welcome.