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More stuff for your pack(s). The knives are made by Victorinox, nicknamed 'vicki' knives, they are wicked. Don't be fooled by the small size. Think of them as 'long' scalpels. The knife without sheath is $7----$8. You are going to be taking notes. The 'reporters notebook' fits in your hand. You can carry them in the Kinesis reporter notebook pouch, $4.95. And that 4 color BIC pen that you have not seen since grade school. Field notes are not necessarily black or blue ink. Emphasize important details with other colors. I am not a big advocate of bear deterrent spray ( unless it is 12 gauge ). The Orion brand plastic 12 gauge pistol works for flash bang shells (yellow ) to scare animals and the red shells are red flares for distress signaling.

This thread is to share knowledge of equipment and gear that folks might know about or have rigged for themselves. Things don't have to cost an arm and a leg to be effective in the field and a little ingenuity can go a long way. I will be sprinkling some of my own gear and things that I've come up with that I either have created or purchased along with the reasons for my decisions or applications. Might be interesting to see what others have come up with in the quest for our Hairy Friend

How do you aim your trail cameras? I use an optical gadget with several nicknames: "Secret Spy Lens", "Sneaky Pete" lens. Made by Spiratone, the Circo-Mirrotach is a right angle mirror viewer made for cameras. Long out of production, they can be found on ebay for about $20. I place the unit backwards ( non camo end ) over the lens area of the trail cam and the target area is displayed at me, standing at the side of the cam. The image is reversed. I added camo, mesh and scuffed the surface to reduce reflections on one unit. Use one to look sideways and fool the animal that is watching you. Not too many remaining. There are smaller right angle gadgets available.

Modern humans can grow to almost 9 feet tall. I think that other species in the genus Homo which were obviously more robust than we are were capable of such heights as well. Of course without a more complete fossil record it's impossible to know for sure. But I think the basic question is...... is it possible that Bigfoot is a member of the genus Homo based on morphology? I think that answer must be yes. I have always argued that its behavior is what argues against its inclusion into the Homo line. (No fire, no stone tool manufacture) A Neanderthal skull looks like a pretty tough costumer (top) until you match it up with a Hedielberg man (bottom). Then they as refined as a sports illustrated swimsuit model....

Cow bells. "Needs more cow bells". I visit a hardware store that has cow bells and cow magnets. Not common in Seattle. Cow bells have a nice tone. However, if your cow bell perimeter alarm goes off and sounds like an Olympic downhill ski race, you are in big trouble or big luck.

What is not to like about hearing that. Mainly because it is so true. It is easy to break a twig. It is far more difficult to break a bundle of twigs.

Maybe and maybe not. I pretty well nailed down a small active area and would spend most of my field time there. I got very intrusive and pesky. I kept having interactions and when I tried to get one to break cover I got growled at. With me pestering them and clear cut logging closing in, I could not figure out why they simply did not move away. I expressed that on the forum and got some good suggestions as to why. Birthing area or nursery area were good suggestions. I decided to investigate that specifically then I discovered a collapsed lava tube. Figured that maybe the area was active because they had a cave shelter or a birthing /nursery area in the lava tube. However following the lava tube I discovered what I think was the reason. A year round artesion well was bubbling up out of the lava tube. Pure water available year round was of value to them and why they frequented the area. There may be reasons BF hang out in some given area and tolerate human pressures. Perhaps as in my case, the reasons can be discovered.

Q 1: Yes and no, it is a mixed bag on that one. Some investigators want to crank out a report ASAP and others will hold back until they believe they have a bit more substance. Q 2: I do believe that many good reports fall in good hands ( not all see the light of public day ) but this is not always the case. Q 3 & 4: Investigators have freedom in the cases they take on and leadership does not ( from what I have seen ) step in and take over. The investigator can request to partner with ranking members for assistance in a case. Q 5: Yes, they can hold the case long term as they see fit, they are putting in their time and money into checking out these situations and most often use their own tech to monitor.

I work for the USGS, I work down the hall from the liasion for USGS/States, he can get you current maps/lidar/topography for any state......through one of his other Liasion partners for other states. I can assist in matters like that.

Good post, Nathan! I have also seen BFRO leaders in CA, OR, and WA come and go. Not sure if I would pin the main causation of their exit on their frustration with lack of progress. Although I agree that frustration with lack of progress is a big part for why most people interested in this topic loose interest. Many of the BFRO leaders that I have met are smart, professional, and dedicated. Those who have exited the BFRO organization have arrived at their own personal conclusion for many different reasons. Some of them realize that the BFRO model is not the best model to capture evidence (for example 10+ people hiking at night with red lights making whooping sounds and banging trees, which is typical in past BFRO expeditions that I have attended). Some of them realize that the BFRO model is more of a social organization with all the politics associated with it and they are not interested in that. Some of them have experienced extraordinary events that they cannot explain and that do not fit the BFRO “model”. They are either rejected for their “woo beliefs” or realize that they are not being honest with themselves by continuing with the organization. Some of the realize that the BF phenomenon is more difficult to crack than they thought and are not willing to spend the time, energy and family sacrifices required to make a small dent. Some of them realize that they are putting a lot of time, resources, and money into an organization whose benefit to them is limited (ego trip as leader, social network, access to private database) and that is not moving the field forward. Some of them feel they can do a better job with by themselves or with a smaller group of local dedicated researchers. I wish we could interview and do a real statistical poll on all past BFRO expedition leaders/investigators to find out why they exited the organization. It certainly would be insightful. If I was in charge of BFRO, I would conduct exit interviews of people who leave the organization to keep statistics and learn.

Anything that keeps returning to a location with folks trying to kill it, and making a fool of all them is not the dimmest bulb in the pack.

I think it is better that those not committed to the search DO drop off. Get them out of the woods and reduce the traffic for those who are willing to find the time and energy to do so. Victory doesn't always come immediately. You chip away at it and seize even the tiniest of victories. A partial impression in the ground in an off-trail area, a noise at night you can't attach to anything known, disturbances in vegetation on a faint game trail, and more. You build on it. I wish for fewer people out there not more, so the reduction in active BFRO members in the field is music to my ears.

hiflier, go to Campfire Chat, 9 down is my thread "Sasquatch as Official State Cryptid" . 1970, 3 years after the PGF, Gov. Dan Evans signs a joke proclamation to make Sasquatch the state monster. State government has been sitting on it for quite awhile.. In 2017, state senate bill 5816 was/is a bill to make Sasquatch the state crpytid. It did not make the floor for a vote. I am not sure if the bill is dead. If you want to send a lot of emails, I suggest that you email the State senators and representatives. They are located between the Cascade Mountains and Olympic Peninsula------- centrally located to big hairy mammals. Good luck with the emails.

An old cliche`. I prefer to use lines from the king of one-liners: Yogi Berra; "When you come to a fork in the road, take it" and "If you do not know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else". It is not possible to hurt my feelings. I only have one feeling remaining. I have no problem with tweaking forum members ( within the rules ). This forum used to have a 'flaming emoticon' but it was taken away. The old days had harsh episodes. In the past, I been very busy with work. I am gearing up for an active 2019. I am modifying equipment currently and will have some posts. Stay tuned and visit tar pit more often.

To be honest, many have suffered from a lack of success and as result gone Woo ( a free ticket out for the brain when you have done everything and still come out with nothing ), they no longer not see the need to chase reports or data. They think they can have a habituation site in the side yard next to the bird feeder. If they have not gone Woo then they simply drop the subject out of frustration, doing anything for 8 to 10 years with no direct success can eat at a person. They come in with preconceived notions about how things are going to happen and become disappointed. Failure is the biggest blow in this subject and eventually wipes away almost every name under the title of researcher. The truth is these are not creatures you can just go find and film. They are likely very rare, fear human contact and just plain don't hold a position in any given place long enough to be advanced upon. People have a hard time grasping that something is better at the game then they are. The fear of failure or being wrong is the only thing that keeps money and time from this subject.

Waiting on the hypercritical post later tonight where you tell us we aren't doing our part

I'm Louisiana Cajun/Creole.........IOW, "mixed race". I find homo sapien race issues amusing at times, boring at other times, and infuriating most of the time. My family will "tap" anybody of the opposite sex, and we've proven it over and over. Even though I married a very white Danish/English woman, I do tend to prefer dark meat in both fried chicken and women. If I run across them in the forest (chicken, grouse, or dark women), I salivate profusely...........

This is not about FB/FB. Just look for the shin rise. Its something humans can't do.BF has a thigh longer than a human's and a shin that is shorter. So the shin has to come up higher than a human's does. You see it almost immediately in the beginning of the clip. Ignore the rest of the commentary- just concentrate on that. BTW if you can see the BF walking, this is the easiest way to tell the difference between a hoax and the real thing.

Yeah, VAfooter, I read that one the other night. That is a tough one, too. That's a seriously chronic drawing in that report as well. I respect Bigfoot, and admire them as I presently understand them to be. What I have learned on the BFF since becoming a member is that this could be a potentially hazardous hobby. I base this on 3 factors I'd never considered until reading accounts such as these in this thread. 1 - I learned early on that the creature wasn't just some benign animal that is always peaceful. While most usually seem to be peaceful, stories like the ones listed here where the Bigfoot are forcibly entering and destroying homes, attempting to beckon young folks to windows and forcing their arms through window glass shows me that some are up to no good. I suppose that Bigfoot have psychopaths and killers within their population, just as humans do. 2 - Whenever a human and a large, powerful animal come into contact with each other, there's always the potential for injury or, if the animal is predatory, becoming prey. There are people killed every year by cattle, horses, cougars, bears... It's bound to happen. If a down-on-his-luck Bigfoot were to be starving, what's to say it wouldn't attempt to harvest a young human? Even if its intentions were peaceful there's the possibility of injury for a human being around a large, powerful animal, just as it is with elephants. 3 - Bigfoot doesn't want to be my friend, and I'm not so sure I want to be his. Any creature that's cunning enough to motion toward a youngster at a window is probably sinister enough to harm it. If these things really exist, they don't seem to mix well with humans. They avoid us for a reason, and perhaps we should do likewise. I look at it like this - A lion doesn't want to be my friend, it wants to do the things a lion does. I know that I can never befriend a lion, not really, anyway. A lion will always be what it is and do what it does. The potential for a mishap is always present. Now, I'd like to see a lion, even though I know there's a degree of risk involved. I'd also like to see a Bigfoot, and the same can be said for the element of risk. I'd love to see and/or video a Bigfoot, and I'm trying hard to do just that. However, I am attempting to prepare myself for the probability that this thing isn't going to just walk up and hand me a bouquet of roses and an apple pie. I know that there is a certain level of danger if and when I were to ever encounter one. The risk is bad enough under optimum circumstances, but when you have a creature like Bigfoot accosting and stalking people, especially children in their homes, there's a sinister element involved. This isn't some lumbering elk or cow that just happens to be outside of your window, it's a cunning, calculating creature that has enough intelligence to plan to do what it does, and what it plans to do if afforded an opportunity. I see the stories like these as a warning. I read and tend to pay attention to signs and examples because they provide information that may be valuable down the road. It is a bad day when you have events going on like the ones in this thread.

And on that note, no response yet on my second email to the Washington State Department Of Natural Resources regarding their visit to the Olympic Project's nesting site.