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I for sure would include Florida. I have posted this before, but I had three experiences while I lived in Florida. We lived for a couple of years in Sarasota, maybe ten miles or so from Myakka River State Park, where the "Myakka Skunk Ape" photos were allegedly taken. Here's a copy: _____ Though I live in Oregon, all three of my "experiences" happened in Florida, less than ten miles from Myakka River State Park about fifteen years ago. I was living at a country club / older folks' community called Heritage Oaks while I was in Florida going to school for a couple of years. Whenever I could, I would get out into nature by hiking up at Myakka River State Park and surrounding areas. Beautiful place, but it can be dangerous. There’s a lot of wildlife and it seems everything out there is looking to hurt or kill you. Lots of gators, poisonous snakes, spiders, boars, panthers, and my wife and I even saw two jaguarundis once at Myakka River State Park. My experiences though, happened at the golf course, strangely enough. The first experience we had, I was with my wife and we were out sitting on our screened in porch on the second floor enjoying a cigar and a cold fermented malt beverage. It was very late at night, I would say maybe 2AM, and we had the lights out so I wouldn’t get busted for smoking a cigar. Just talking and relaxing. This second-floor porch overlooked maybe 20 feet of grass, then a retaining pond (lake), and the golf course itself. We could see none of it though, it was a very dark night. Well this night was very quiet. Suddenly, we heard bipedal footsteps sloshing through the water. Big. Deliberate. Not fast, but not slow. It was covering a lot of ground with those steps. Now it was too dark to see, but I knew at the time there are only two things in the water at night in Florida. Gators, and gator food. If you are not one, you are the other. But even though you could hear the sloshing of the steps, you could almost feel the ground thumping as whatever it was moved. It wouldn’t make sense that a person would be walking through the water at night after midnight with no flashlight (or even with one for that matter). But this was no gator. Whatever it was was walking on two legs. As it passed the “lanai”, we were both afraid to even look to see what it was. Not that we could have anyway. But we didn’t even want to get close to the screen. It passed right by us. I would say no more than 30 feet away, max. It never broke stride. We were both too afraid to even speak. And when we did, we whispered and didn’t pronounce our “s’s” because we didn’t want to be heard by whatever it was. We sat there a long while after this thing was gone, trying to figure out what it was. I joked “skunk ape” with her, but the truth was that I was pretty certain that’s what we heard. I have seen deer out there and tons of birds. But this was no deer. No wild pig. Not a bear. Not a panther. It was bigger than those for certain. I still don’t KNOW what it was But if I had to put money down on something, I would have to go with a skunk ape because nothing else fits. That was the first experience. The second and third ones are tied together. Let me set the stage a little. I had an old dog. He was awesome. Always quiet and mild mannered. Unless there was danger. Then he became 120 pounds of growling snarling canine badassery. Mix of black lab, German shepherd, chow, akita, and coyote. I had to walk him when I got home from school. Usually that was after midnight or so. Outside the gate of the community though, there was swamp land, and general native Florida wilderness. When I say “gate”, I mean there was a drop-down arm to block vehicles, but people could just walk around it. Boy, I miss the sounds of the gators and frogs at night! I would take Tucker out there to do his business next to the road. I always carried my pistol because it was scary out there with just a flashlight. This particular night, I was walking Tucker towards the gate to get out to the road to his happy pooping grounds, when he started walking slower. His head was lowered, and he was growling softly. Now we were still in the golf course community, mind you. But right next to a small pond that was completely blocked off with trees. You couldn’t even see this pond. Not even the landscapers went in there. I know, because I was curious and went in there one day. Very thick native Florida bush. Then swampy pond. Almost perfectly circular. Maybe fifty feet across is all. It’s own little nature preserve in miniature. It was right next to a man-made retaining pond that had gators and fish and frogs and snakes and the like in it. As we were passing this pond which you cannot see, Tucker’s hackles went up and he started growling loud, and baring his teeth. His eyes were fixed on the small trees next to us. These trees were maybe 20 to 25 feet tall. Almost like tall bushes, really. Just as I was really realizing that something was in there, that something growled from the cover of those trees. Loud as hell. I could feel it in my chest, even. I could feel my hair stand up. That had never happened to me before, and it was a really strange sensation. That growl was so low in pitch and loud! It was not a gator, as I have heard those sounds before many times. Then the trees began shaking VIOLENTLY. I thought whatever it was was either going to rip them down or come charging out, so I had my 1911 drawn. We backed away from those trees without turning around. I did not want to turn my back to them. My heart was pounding. I was scared crapless. We finally came home from a different route (we actually walked all the way around the community because I didn’t want to pass those bushes again. My wife asked where I had been and I explained everything. She thought it was funny. Well I was not amused. A few weeks went by, and my mother in law came to visit from Texas. We had an extra room, so it was no big deal. She always loved to go outside and see the nature there. She loved to walk the dog, too. I told her to stay away from the “growly bushes” as they had become to be known as. She teased me and I tried to explain I was NOT kidding and I was deadly serious. It piqued her curiousity. Well late one night maybe here or four weeks after the first “growly-bush” experience, we had been tipping a few drinks out on the lanai. It was late, and the dog needed to go out one last time. She volunteered, and asked me to go with her because she wanted to see the “growly-bushes”. I decided to show her where it happened. So foolishly, we headed down there. Tucker again started growling slow and low, with his head down as we approached the bushes. My mother in law started getting freaked out. Then as we got near them, the thing growled loud at us and shook the trees again, exactly as it had done before. My mother in law was terrified, and so was I. When we got back up to the safety of the condo, she swore that she would never doubt me again. Neither of us know for certain what growled at us. But whatever it was, had to be huge to shake the trees like that. I tried shaking them in the day time some time later, and could get them to move, but nothing like what we experienced. The good thing is that I had a witness this time. And she was able to relay what happened to my wife. Now my wife knows I was not joking about it. There are strange things out there. And now that I am in Oregon and my kids are grown, I want to find out. That’s why I go out to the woods when I can and search for these beings. I know they are out there. And I hope to be able to find enough proof to satisfy my own curiosity, which I think will never be satisfied. _____

Yes, this needs to be emphasized. Rivers with wooded riparian zones can present corridors of cover, not just through otherwise open plains, but sometimes through metro areas. Many towns grew at the convergence of rivers. MIB

Fortunately I didn’t need to by a mount. The camera and thermal unit both had a 1/4” 20 thread that I was able to utilize. Out of pure luck the camera and thermal unit were on the same vertical plane so I did not have to shim anything. I just finished making a stiffening plate out of plywood as the plex was not ridged enough. I will add a tripod base next. I have also in tbe past created mounts for a Microphone so that I could use the thermal as an aiming device for the microphone at night. Here are some pics of how I attached them and the stiffening plate.

So here is another option for getting footage out of the thermal units. The Trijicon IR-Patrol does not have internal video. It does have a 9 pin Fischer connector that has a video output. This is a decent feature but then you have to have a DVR tethered to it with a cable. The cable is expensive and could be fragile. A few years ago I decided to see if I could film through the viewfinder of a thermal unit using an inexpensive consumer grade video camera. I made a bracket out of plexiglass l. I cut it on my Laser engraver. This morning I wanted to see if I could do this with the Trijicon. Well to my amazement a couple of the holes allowed me to line it up perfectly. This may not be the most ideal solution but to me it’s better than a tethered DVR. I think I will make another plate that is specifically made for this pair and add a tripod base plate as well.

This work?

Thanks. Not sure how I will finalize the mount yet. I have used weld nuts like these before using a forstner bit to countersink the flange. This allows you to use small screws so you get decent torque ability when attaching the tripod plate.I normally drill a clearance hole for the shaft part and countersink the back side deep enough for the shaft to be flush.

RB, you're in a fantastic area for the state of Nebraska. The heavily wooded areas along the banks of the Missouri (the state's eastern border) have the cover required by the creatures. The various waterways as one heads west in the state have mixed tree and woodland cover. By mixed, I mean there is some suitable cover along the Platte and Elkhorn rivers, but there are also numerous areas nearly devoid of anything but the occasional cottonwood. There may be miles between sufficient cover to allow unseen movement or existence. Particularly this time of year, without crops in the fields, line of sight visibility is fairly uninterrupted. Often, crops are grown right up to the river banks. It would be mighty tough for a lone seven foot BF to traverse, unseen, across the state, let alone a family group. This is true of most of the Great Plains. Again, I'm not discounting the activity you've encountered. You're in area with suitable cover where they could make a living and remain out of sight. I wish you fortune in your research.

A superior posting, NorthWind. Well told experiences, and scary as hell.

Hello, my name is Curtis. I have been interested in Bigfoot pretty much my entire life. I've recently started investigating and looking for this creature in the woods and swamps of South Carolina

Hellos all, I am from Rindge, New Hampshire in CHeshire County and look forward to reading the forum, sharing experiences and maybe meet someone from my area interested in Bigfoot.

well, for starters i dig the map and your assumed territory ranges. what some folks dont realize though is that there is wilderness in the southwest Illinois and southern Indiana maps. i know of 2 credible researchers in those areas and have helped them evaluate evidence from those areas. however, much of both of those states are largely questionable, maybe a migratory route at best? i would add the glades though, lots of interesting stuff has come from the everglades, i would also expand the GA line down to horse creek mills or cypress creek WMAs. ive been in those parts before and they are vastly uninhabited and have TONS of wildlife, biodiverse habitats, and plenty of clean water.

This is one of the best footprints I've ever seen. It was found in northeastern Iowa a couple of years ago by a friend of mine. The cast was shown to both Cliff and Dr. Meldrum and they were really impressed to the point where Cliff had a copy made for this museum. What makes this so impressive is the dermal ridges can be seen and shows up in the cast. First question, can we rule out this is a human track? Based on the size, it is obviously a juvenile print. It was found after a rainy night approximately 1 1/2 miles from the nearest dwelling. It was in the 50's overnight so I would conclude that a child wouldn't be wandering the Iowa countryside barefoot in those temperatures so far from any type of house. The dimensions of the print are also outside of human ratios. The heel to ball ratio in humans is approximately 1:1.5 whereas this one is closer to 1:1 based on my research. Caveat that I'm definitely no expert on human foot morphology so I would welcome those with more knowledge on the topic. There were other prints of this size but this was the best one of the bunch. No larger footprints were found in the area. Fun stuff.

Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Science will show up when you plop a dead corpse on their desk. And they will still be looking for a zipper! I absolutely love it when we tear at each other’s throats. Wooly Booger? Bigfoot IS a paranormal subject as far as main stream science is concerned. Your belief in a flesh and blood 800 lbs ape man roaming the hinterlands of North America is on par with inter dimensional Leprechauns hiding their pot of gold under a rainbow. I commend your woo dar and your willingness to stay away from it. But you are in the paranormal hot tub with the rest of us….. dead skin and all. You might as well get cozy.

I’m pretty sure this is the episode I just listened to on YouTube! I just came across this podcast/YouTube channel about two weeks ago and they have some great guests. I have really been enjoying these episodes where only the guest speaks without interruption.

For those new to the show, like Finding Bigfoot before it and the decsent into pointlessness that was Mountain monsters and others, this one is paid actors playing to ratings. Bigfoot researchers were never the target audience.

I replied on Twiiter and got this response.

Wow, that's ridiculous. With several light sources and people moving around, it couldn't possibly be anything else? Also, rocks never fall from steep river banks for natural reasons?

NorthWind: I do look carefully for anything else that has changed in an area with the tree/branch stuff. Have never seen any hairs, only plenty of breaks, there is a certain type of twist/bend/break to things. We've been having this stuff happen since 2014/15. Obvious (to me) alteration of trees/branches. One possible print in the soil that may have been fingertips/partial palm, inch deep. Since I constantly wander around in the yard, I know what changes. We've had a series of things happen in this area, much of it subtle and non threatening.