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For the most part family and friends have been more supportive than I expected. There are exceptions. Less as time passes. Probably the most problematical person of the past has .. well, not quite "come around", but finally told his own story. What it tells me is that many critics were not honest skeptics, not even honest scoftics, but rather they were terrified believers who wanted it all to go away. While things that were said were hurtful, in context, they are worthy of more pity than anger. MIB

Fly me down there. I can show you where to look. Heck, I'm such a nice guy, I'd even let you test @wiiawiwb's bait on me.

Maybe you should experiment and use a Mojito or Mai Tai as bait?

My significant other is equally interested in the subject and believes that there is something out there. Other people are a mixed bag. Several of my friends in New Orleans were very interested in these sort of things, but I haven't found very many in South Carolina. Many of my girlfriend's family believe in it and have even had encounters. Others laugh at it. At the end of the day, who cares? As long as they are not constantly belittling you or attacking you for your interest, who cares? Several people who I know think that it is silly. And why wouldn't they? An 8 foot tall ape man living undiscovered in the 21st century? No body. Just ambiguous audio clips, blurry video, and easily hoaxed footprints. The topic is represented by the most cringe inducing people imaginable in media. Why wouldn't the average person think that it is kind of silly unless they had an experience themselves? When people look at me genuinely baffled about the subject I can only agree. I don't blame them. A lot of it doesn't make sense. Imagine that you are someone who is slightly interested in the subject. You go onto YouTube to check out some videos... and the very first thing that you come across is Matthew Johnson giving one of his unblinking and unhinged monologues about Zorth. You would walk away thinyk that the subject is crazy too. A friend of mine is considered the world's top breeder and trainer of coon hounds. He has probably spent more nights in the woods than in a bed. He constantly gives me grief about Bigfoot. He's never seen one and believes that it is impossible. But, it's in a joking and loving manner. I also bust his chops about how his wife wears the pants in the family. It's just two guys busting on each other. If you are running into people who want to belittle you in order to feel better about themselves, then you can either ignore it or punch back. "Yeah, Greg. I look for Bigfoot in my spare time. What about you? What sort of #$#@# stuff do you do in your spare time? Golf? Golf??? Golf is for $##@##. Here, let me tell you why". Finally, a lot of people who instantly start disparaging the subject do it because they know that people in general think that it is crazy. They don't want to be thought of as crazy themselves. Get a couple of beers into that same person and just wait for that "Well, there was this one weird thing that happened..." story to come out. A lot of them have had experiences with something ...they just don't want to be called crazy themselves so they don't openly talk about it.

My only personal experience is one trackway found in the early 1970's in California. Forty five years of living in southcentral Alaska and hunting throughout Alaska has produced no further personal experience, with the possible exception of a strange wood knocking that I thought was a moose rapping his antlers on a tree. My family displays what I believe is common; amusement at my interest, but deep down inside, they're open to the possibility, and they fear it, especially the females. They know me, and if I'm so certain, they pretty much accept the likelihood that sasquatches exist, so like a grizzly bear, they are so afraid of them, they don't want to have an experience with them. My youngest daughter lives to buy me sasquatch shirts and such stuff. My Dad, who grew up in a Louisiana bayou, became a quiet believer after the PG film and Argosy article was published. He was the first person who suggested to me to leave them living in peace and forget about "discovery", because it would b best for all concerned to leave them be.

I'm sure the topic has been discussed before, but search didn't find anything. So I apologize if it's been discussed to death before. Out of my entire family, no one else believes. But, they don't judge me or ridicule me for my belief. It's not a topic that comes up often, so not really a big deal. My daughter thinks my belief is entertaining and has bought me a Bigfoot coffee mug and an official Bobo "Gone Squatchin'" trucker cap. They are proudly on display in my china cabinet, lol. My dad lives right where there was a sighting a couple of years ago and I was just out at his place doing some repairs on his home for him and I pressed him on the issue. If anyone was a prime candidate for seeing something, it would be him. He is now in his 80's and was a former professional big game hunter. He used to write for Field & Stream and has been around the world hunting just about every creature that you would think to hunt. Multiple African safaris, dozens of trips to Canada and Alaska hunting everything, a fishing/hunting trip to New Zealand, and even a trip to Siberia to hunt bear. He even owned a couple of bush planes and had his pilot's license with hundreds of trips into the wilderness. When I asked him if he had ever seen anything that resembled Bigfoot, or experienced anything he couldn't explain, he said absolutely not and said if Bigfoot existed, surely he would have seen it or someone else would have shot one. My brother is a Detective for the local county in Idaho and used to be the Woods Patrol Deputy. He had a Jeep that he drove for 3 years at night in the deepest woods in the area, hundreds of miles every week. He knows every road in the county and he said he's never seen anything. Being a cop, he is skeptical of eye-witness accounts and really doesn't believe anything he hasn't seen with his own eyes. My girlfriend is a skeptic and refuses to watch any Bigfoot shows with me. However, I did get her to watch the Missing 411 movie with me tonight on Amazon. She loves mysteries and agreed that the vocalizations recorded by the hunters in California were indeed strange and believable. I've got one buddy who was a former Air Force Special Forces SERE instructor who believes, but won't discuss what he saw. Other than him, none of my friends or family are believers. When I lived in Arizona, I had a good friend that believed. So currently, I'm pretty much on my own. What's it like for others here that are believers? Do any of your family or friends believe? If not, are they at least respectful of your beliefs, or is it a sore subject?

Hey JKH, hope you and the family are well:) I've been trying to breed her to a wolf for years, thought it was a slam dunk as close as he got, and I kept trying to call him over closer too. Since I split with the wifey, Lulu thinks my bed is hers now.

Here's a brand spanking new video just uploaded which features audio from the very first Sasquatch conference ever held. The Conference took place in 1978 at UBC.

That would make a great show....Bigfooting with Lulu, lol. Great idea with the camera, might have to work on that one for sure! Sometimes she attracts other wild things, last time she was in heat, a wild wolf followed us back to the car, as seen in the picture, definitely was a wolf and not a coyote.

I'm stalking skunk apes in south Florida, no luck so far

Here are some prints and Sotol discards from recent hikes.......yeah, I find a lot of prints, most are from an area that I have been researching for over 18 years, and is a fairly narrow corridor coming into my small town.....these are 'Urbanfoots', as I call them, and I know where to find tracks, especially after a nice rain. First pic shows a track way of a Juviefoot I believe, and a few more in the immediate area

Good topic PNW. I was a skeptic when I first found the BFF. I did allow for the possibility and was intrigued by the PGF, but was not convinced at all. It took field research and a non visual experience to convince me. My wife is a believer now, but it wasn't always that way. 15 years ago when we were dating she thought Bigfoot did not exist and that the whole subject was silly. After we got married, she had to accept my squatching trips and started paying closer attention. Once WV Footer and I actually recorded some wood knocks, she started to allow for the possibility. Then in one trip, WV footer and I got followed for about a mile through the woods.... When I got home and told her all about it, she became really interested. She then went squatchin with us a couple of times and once in the deep woods, she realized that the developed landmass is very small. That convinced her and now she's very supportive.

All of my family and friends have listened to my adventures and only a few are either skeptics or don't hold an opinion. The lion's share ask me all the time what's new and my close friends go sasquatching with me. For me, no ridicule at all and most are ambivalent or believers. Once, I had a friend who laughed when I mentioned sasquatch but after I spent a half hour explaining "things" that I had seen or heard he became very interested. He's not one of the guys who goes on expeditions with me but always asks me about them. Some of the footprints I've seen, all of the wood-knock replies I've heard, all of the red-eyeshine incidents, the rock-throwing incident, and the thermal-video recording has occurred when I've been out sasquatching with buddies of mine. That has served to raise the eyebrows of other friends of ours who don't join in on overnight or weekend expeditions and our collective description of those events has them interested. People are more likely to believe in something they've seen or experienced themselves. I think the simple truth is most of my family or friends are believers but most are also profoundly afraid to be in the woods at night. They're scared, gladly admit it, and won't ever be in the woods at night. It's one thing to drive to a location knowing you can jump in the car and hightail out of there. It's a horse of a different color to backpack miles into a location knowing you're not leaving until morning. One friend was very curious and joined several of us on an overnight. We went back to an area a good distance from humanity where several of us had an red-eyeshine incident a few weeks earlier. As I'm glassing a remote, small pond with an intensely narrow-beam flashlight, don't we have another red-eyeshine encounter. I said, "Brian, get over here now." He dashed over, saw the eyeshine moving side-to-side and, "I knew I shouldn't have come!". He was secretly hoping nothing would occur and was scared to death the rest of the evening. He'll still do day-time excursions with me but, to this day, he will leave the woods before the sun sets.