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Of course, I disagree with you. I don't believe there is any organized coverup and I have seen bigfoot within the last 4 years or so and tracks since then. I think you're going off the deep end driven by the same frustration that leads people to embrace the woo. Real life doesn't fit in one hour episodes or 30 second sound-bites. It just takes as long as it takes. MIB

Explorer : "I have also observed that issue of diminishing BFRO reports from California. But, I don't think it is due to lack of BF sightings or BF activity. I think the diminishing number of reports in CA is primarily due to lack of reporting and secondarily due to lack of investigation. Even in BFRO outings that I have gone in CA, I meet people who had encounters and did not report. In Northern CA I have met people who had sightings who don't want to be bothered. They don't need to prove it to anybody and they don't want anybody nosing around their small town. I agree that some of those reports coming out of the woodwork resulting from the Finding Bigfoot show eventually will make it to the database, but they need to be investigated and written up. This has to be done by volunteers on their time and dime. Also, I have noticed a lot of burnout and turnover among the BFRO folks in CA." I think the CA situation is the same or worse in most of the country. The reasons you list, including infighting in the BFRO and lack of investigator members in certain areas, have been passed on to me as relative to the Washington State situation. For sure if an individual makes a report and is never contacted by an investigator that pretty much ends further reporting from that individual. Those that report, know that investigator contact is part of the process. So if never contacted they know their report has been ignored. So if someone has multiple contacts, they never get into the data base. Just that could explain dwindling reports. Most people, and there are exceptions, if the encounter does not scare them out of the woods, go back out looking for more. This will chap BFRO members here, but if there is a problem getting and keeping investigators, why is the organization run more like a religious cult than a scientific research organization? If you pay for several expeditions, and it does take several, and get the secret nod or is it a handshake, you are allowed to become an investigator and get access to reports. At the same time there are people here with science backgrounds, who do investigation on their own, who would never be considered without paying for the privilege. Just the requirement to pay hundreds of dollars before being considered, pretty much eliminates most who would honestly volunteer. And then there is the necessity to preach the party line or face getting thrown out. They threw Thom Powell out, or was he excommunicated? . Like I said, it is more like a religious cult than anything else I can think of. As often happens, in organizations where individuals get too entwined and controlling, perhaps it is time for the BFRO to install new leadership before the organization implodes? MM may think he owns things but he does not own the members.

My group went out during the evenings during the Sasquatch Summit here in Ocean Shores with a FLIR and came up with some great hits.....on deer.

We are heading out around 7:pm and will be using the thermals all night.

I went today and put two dark ops trail cams on two different creeks. I know most on here think it's a waste of time but at least they are there when I'm not! Look up Browning dark ops 940 HDs and tell me what you think. I tested them in the house with no lights I could not see any light from them so BF would have to see in a different spectrum? They claim that it makes no noise. I have read the posts on here about the reasons most think they do not work but they seem to be getting better every year. I try to hide them the best I can and use cover scent but I am sure BF is better at spotting things that are out of place in their domain!

Just to follow-up on my earlier post and expand on what I meant by “personnel management” issues at BFRO. All BFRO investigators are volunteers. They make phone calls, visit locations, and write reports without any compensation. Expedition leaders do get some money to pay for gas, food and miscellaneous but not much. When you lead an organization that depends on volunteers, you still need to manage them (even if they are not employees) and you need to develop plans for: recruiting the right people and retention, orienting and training (not just on domain knowledge but also to ensure quality control on their interaction with the public), providing incentives and benefits to being an investigator, monitoring their performance, resolving disputes, communicating with investigators and sharing best practices, rules, and lessons learned I think managing volunteer organizations is harder than private companies because you have less leverage on people and in this case the BFRO volunteers are dispersed and semi-independent. BFRO could greatly benefit from an external review/assessment of their management processes used with volunteer investigators. But maybe that is a different business model and wishful thinking in my part. The growing dissatisfaction with BFRO is why there is large number of independent local and state BF research hobby clubs in the US. Yet, BFRO still has the best database out there (even with all its flaws) and no other national organization is available to replace them.

Yes, but did you go anywhere. With all due respect that's what this thread is for and about

Well just got back but no heat signatures other than a few whitetails and some small critters . Would have stayed longer but my friend flaked out on me a couple of hours before we were to leave. I don't mind doing it alone during the day but at night alone it can get a little creepy out there by yourself . I did more driving along the dirt roads using the thermal instead of walking the roads. I cover more ground that way by driving but it's so much quieter just to slowly hike those dirt roads at night.

I'm on the road in the south in some known boogery places. Drove through some beautiful country today and doing some audio drops.

Well, 7.62, planning doesn't seem to work from what I understand Besides been looking for someone in Maine to buddy up with. More motivational and fun that way. And two heads can be better than one. I'll even give them a free book as a show of good faith. I'll even sign the darned thing LOL: You may be right but I would think zooming after the fact would be possible in the Go Pro Editing software. I did come across something that said use the highest resolution possible and then when using the editing software zooming in will still give the 1080p HD output.