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Yes. A couple years ago he did a seemingly intoxicated pod-cast where he was disparaging of the research community and the topic in general. I came away from listening to him with the idea he would most likely toss aside samples and report negative rather than actually go to the work of testing. No way to know, to prove, one way or the other. I don't have any confidence in him. I also do not trust Sykes. There were "holes" in his work that leave enough room for doubt to drive a semi truck through .. if you understand the subject matter. There is, at this point, no one individual, no one lab, I have any trust in. The only way to get reliable results is to have your sample tested by multiple facilities, "blind", and compare results afterwards. MIB

Do you think the availability of eDNA might promote a whole new wave of evidence collecting? Footprints seem to be the most identifiable "hard evidence" and from what I understand the substrate that they are made in would provide adequate material for an eDNA test. And you would think collection would be pretty straight forward and less prone to contamination. It's even something that could be tested with a control sample by making your own footprint in the same vicinity as the suspect footprint and pulling a sample from that too. It just seems that a sighting corroborated with footprints that could be sampled would have a much better chance of a successful eDNA test - what ever the result.

Colorful characters is a good way to describe most of the principal characters in BF research. . While I think Distotell is pretty dismissive of BF in public, perhaps that is a performance to keep his peers off his back. After all he is concerned about his image in the scientific community. He should have thought of that before his Mohawk phase. Characters abound. Those that run out of actual events and start to make puppets. Someone who wears shorts year round often in sub freezing temperatures. A couple who dress in African Safari costumes to do field work. Those that start crying when they relate their first encounter at conferences then later see demonic figures guarding portals. Those that are now claiming that perhaps BF is a quantum creature. Those that wonder if BF are extra-terrestrial. These are the people that are asked to speak at conferences. A commonality is that many of these are trying to get other people to fund their research so they can in some cases become directors of their foundations. Someplace along the line, self importance and making money has crept in. From the outside we look like a bunch of nut jobs.

This strikes pretty darn close to home. No need for government conspiracy when the BF community trips over its own feet.

For the state of Washington there is a fair portion of report data that describe white, grey and blonde individuals, I do think age rolls into the color pallet but it is not responsible for the entirety of these outstanding reports. One example that comes to mind out of my records there is a particular sasquatch ( most likely the same animal ) that has been reported over 8 times in 14 years in one particular area. This individual is blonde/tan in color and was encountered for the first time in 2003 at the standing height of about 2 feet, about 3 years later it was again seen in the same area ( within 1 mile of the original sighting ) at about 5 feet in height, in 2012 he was again spotted crossing the road about 0.8 miles from the first location and was now about 7 feet tall and thin. Over the past few years this guy has been spotted at least 3 times crossing 2 of the major highways within 12 miles of the first sighting from 2003. It is certainly an assumption that this is the same animal but the record is very straight and the coloration is not common and I certainly don't think they are as common as cows. Another example I can relate is on 2 individuals that seem to visit the Orting river valley and White river drainage as the temps drop, I get reports every late October through November of a black tall animal and a shorter tan animal moving through through the agricultural districts along power-line routes. The most interesting thing is that December hits and reports start coming out of JBLM land near the towns of Roy, Yelm and Rainer, these reports often continue until March. This is a small portion of the data I am working that so far hints on seasonal elevation movement.