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My likes are -- That he is telling peoples stories with the intent to help people not be ashamed and afraid to share the stores publicly and that people are following that lead and choosing to stand up for themselves and not fear ridicule. (this has its limits but I like the general trend). I also like that he is a professional hunter and knows what he is talking about being deep in the woods. He is often 9 days travel off trail out in the woods for days and days at a time. I respect the level of knowledge and abilities doing that requires and IMO it makes any encounters he claims to have more trustworthy. I like that he is bullying the bullies (provided he is right about who and what these people are as Ive already stated). I like that he speaks about not needing any official agency or the public at large or any scientist to recognize the existence of Bigfoot in order for us to know it exists because thousands of good people (along with some hoaxers, liars and crazy people) have seen them and say so. I agree with the sentiment here completely and it comes as a relief to hear more people speaking about it. I like his point about not needing to focus so much on IF they exist but to get to the point of finding out why (if there is a cover up type reason) we don't already know as a society. Dislikes are-- He seems to judge everyone who doesn't think exactly the way he does about the overview of the topic. He picks on Jeff Meldrum and others for wanting to do "research" and try to prove their existence when we already know they exist. I really dislike this take of his as it is self centered and immature. Scientists and researchers provide an essential service to humanity and it is hard to see how he could think otherwise when it comes to this topic. I dislike him picking on everyone who takes money to take people out to and have an experience with bigfoot. Admittedly I don't know much about these groups and who they are but I am assuming some are legit. I find this especially hypocritical seeing as how he takes money to bring people out into the woods to give them an experience with hunting...... His general overall bravado about his opinions on the whole topic and quickness ot have disdain for those who think otherwise.

I had a similar situation happen to me in my research area. I had come out nearly to the trailhead after spending the day. I had not seen anyone all day. A guy on a mountain bike came off the mountain behind me and hailed me down. That surprised me because the trail is pretty difficult on foot and I had never seen anyone on a mountain bike traverse it. He asked me where he was and how far away the trailhead was that he had left his car at. It was 7.5 miles back over the mountain on the trail and was about 12 miles on roads. He did not want to ride over the mountain again. On the roads, his route would start out on a forest road, transition to three different county roads, and take several turns towards the parking lot. I asked him how he managed to get where he had no idea where he was. He was supposed to meet some friends to ride with and they did not show up. He struck out on his own without a map or any clue where the trail would take him. He must have thought it was a loop. . I tried to explain the road route back and got a look that told me he would never remember it. He then asked if I had anything to eat or drink. He had brought none. I gave him a power bar and what water I had left and he left me on the bike. I got back to my truck loaded up, and passed him grinding away down the forest road looking very tired. . I went past him and just knew he would get more lost than he was. I stopped and offered him a ride to where his car was parked since I had to go past there anyway. I have no idea if he had any clue how lost he was and learned anything from it. I hope so.

The amount of people who go out into the woods without the slightest preparation or knowledge of the basics of survival is shockingly high. If anything, Paulides' advice on going hiking (not going alone, carry a firearm, have a PLB) will hopefully resonate with some of the people who read his work. He has fleshed this advice out lately to include survival blankets, matches, energy bars, etc. We were in the Chattahoochee/Nantahala area (I think) one time, several miles in, when we started hearing something big moving through the deep brush. We started hearing what sounded like mumbling, so we obviously go on alert and stop. Out of the brush stumbles a couple, scratched all up and arguing with each other. The woman was wearing some sort of Lycra workout clothing and at least had tennis shoes. No pack or anything. The guy had some sort of man purse with him, but no visible water and was wearing some sort of flip flop type of footwear. We kind of all just looked at each other for a second, and then the guy kind of rudely asked where a particular trailhead parking lot was at. My girlfriend was more familiar with the general area than I was, so she told them that it was about 12.5 miles away. There were a few turns that they would have to make on the trails, but as she tried to explain the directions to the guy he rudely said something like "FINE! I GOT IT!" and started to walk away. I tried to ask if they needed help...food or water or something...but he turned around and goes "I SAID THAT I GOT IT GOD#@&$#!!!". Off they went down the trail arguing the whole way. The impression that I got was that the guy took his girlfriend out for a day hike that turned into more than he bargained for, they started arguing about it, and he wouldn't admit that he was in over his head. As the walked away I told my girlfriend to remind me to check the news to see if there was a story about missing hikers when we got home. We marked the location that we saw them on our GPS and went on our way. Near the parking area at the main trailhead there is a box to drop hiking information cards into detailing the time of your hike etc. We stopped by there the next day and filled out an index card detailing the interaction, description of the couple, location/time etc. Put our numbers on there in case anyone needed to talk with is if there was a couple reported missing. Never heard anything so I guess they eventually made it out. Maybe certain people need a little fear if not respect for the woods drilled into them.

I have been monitoring the site since the beginning of march until now. I am glad to report that the spring time nests are back, although moved due to human encroachment, and the bigfoot themselves are active again. FTC

For better or worse, FB seem to be the go to place to hear about events. There is also a conferences section on this board. I would say start with what is local to your area, not just conferences, groups and gatherings and work outward from there.

Yeah I saw that myself. Not quite sure why I would receive a downvote for welcome a new member.

I DO certainly understand what you mean and how you mean it. But think about it. Popularity is only significant to those craving it. It's kind of like giving attention to a bully. In this case he craves attention. I don't give him any. Sure, he has a bunch of sycophants lapping up what he's dishing out, but in the end, it's meaningless. Neither my, nor your lives, are really harmed or improved because of him. It's all just "Dust in the Wind" kind'a thing.

Why? Sadly, it's just the internet and blow-hards will take swings when-ever and where-ever they want. He's just one more little fish in a big pond. He can pontificate all he wants and the world will just go right on being fine. There's really nothing that significant about this guy.

We have heard the metal on metal sounds before deep in the woods. Obviously it could be campers nearby who are staying nearby, but we have never been able to find them. Still doesn't rule that possibility out. One of the areas with activity that we have been going to recently has old homesteads from the late 1800/ early 1900's that were abandoned deep in the woods. The whole area was encompassed into the national Forest. There are ample amounts of small metal objects that are mostly rusted away but are still sturdy enough to bash against something. It's pretty cool when you are way off of the beaten path and following a game trail to come upon the long rusted ruins of an old still. Or find a stone chimney that is still standing in a sense patch of forest with no other signs of a homestead around it. A species that did not have the ability to shape metal, but had opposing thumbs to pick up the objects, could easily find pieces of metal that still were intact enough to smack against something. However, just like with any other sounds with an unseen source, it's interesting but not definitive proof of anything. Just like wood knocks. We have heard them a few times, but it could very easily be a group of people who are just out of sight fooling around. FB has forever put the idea of bashing wood against trees and making calls in the woods deeply into the minds of the casual Bigfoot Hunter. I will say that the metallic noises are much more unnerving than the wood knocks, especially after dark.

Welcome aboard @dereknichol

Like I mentioned elsewhere, the vast majority of the people who thrust themselves into the Bigfoot limelight are thoroughly unlikeable and don't bring much of interest to the table to justify their notoriety.

I have looked at the various wilderness areas in Washington State from the air and quite frankly cannot figure out why some were designated Wilderness in the first place. Sometimes chunks of land near them are far more interesting. Indian Heaven is one of those. I have wondered if they are simply BF hotspots and by the wilderness designation, logging is avoided, road travel does not happen, and only a few backpackers make it in there every year. Back packers are easily avoided by resident BF and even if seen, the backpacker probably would just think it cool that they saw one. I have even wondered if the prohibition of low flights over the wilderness area is more to keep something from being seen from the air than bother a few backpackers who probably are bored with the trail anyway.

And, of course, that works both ways. Government can't keep the sasquatches inside their "reservations", either physically or morally. Government learned that the hard way with tribes of various ethnic homo sapiens. The most efficient way to not deal with a problem is simply to deny that said problem exists. That becomes exponentially easier if that problem rarely presents itself, both because it rarely occurs and it intentionally avoids you. But even denying the existence of sasquatches doesn't prevent government from setting habitat aside for them indirectly. Knowing that these creatures thrive best and wish to be away from us,, simply creating wilderness areas within our forest lands under other pretenses achieves the goal. There is no need to officially call such an area The Sasquatch Heaven Wilderness when calling it The Indian Heaven Wilderness Area............