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Back to the original question. NorthWind and I once investigated a sighting location at a lake camp. A (presumably) old sasquatch with a limp was seen dumpster diving numerous times. I'd guess scavenging, eating roadkill and pets kept outside would be much easier than taking a human. I would bet they have an idea, that if one of us goes missing, multitudes more will show up searching, which bodes ill for them. And, yes, I do think they are that intelligent.

RIP to another actual scientist who believed the Sasquatch species exists, and a good human.

Careful, Frisco85132, that's an attack on the poster, not on the argument.

Let’s leave the supernatural talk for the supernatural section please! Thanks! 👍

My response to the OP is based on 40+ years of wandering the Idaho woods, hunting, and carrying various firearms in the military and law enforcement. I am also a competitive shooter with plenty of trophies, own more guns than most local police departments, and regularly carry in the woods while doing Bigfoot research. My most often carried defensive arm is a Sig Sauer P365 9mm subcompact that holds 12 rounds. I am very accurate with it and it goes with me nearly every trip into town. When I am hiking in the mountains, then I am carrying a 10mm pistol. I have several of them, but most often I have my Springfield Armory XDM Elite OSP 10mm 3.8"... When in the woods, rarely do I also have a long gun if just hiking due to the extra weight. But, if camping or in an area where I suspect larger predators, then I will bring along my woods carbine. It's a Henry Black rifle in .45 Colt loaded with 300gr hard cast bullets going 1300 fps. It will take care of any critter I may come across. As to the subject of defending against Bigfoot... Physically, I think both of my woods carry firearms are adequate in terms of penetrating an 800+lb mammal enough to stop a threat. But... I think the majority of encounters have such a strong psychological component to them that makes the stopping power of whatever firearm the witness is holding pretty much irrelevant. I had a good friend of mine text me a few weeks ago and jokingly ask me what firearm would be adequate against a BF. She then asked if a firearm would even be an effective deterrent against a BF. And then she admitted she had just had a terrifying encounter while out jogging in the Oregon woods with a BF and was scared to go back into the woods. She spoke of the infrasound and mind-reading experience she had that made her think that even is she had a firearm, she wouldn't have been able to use it. Accordingly, I don't carry a firearm as a defense against Bigfoot, but as a tool to use for survival and possible defense against predators.

Well if one accepts the ridiculous notion that Bigfoot is a "woopernatural" space monkey....then I think one should also accept the notion that they would dematerialize/vibrate to a different frequency of matter/jump into a portal/float off on an orb, or simply allow the projectile(s) to pass through them ala Kitty Whatzername from X-Men long before a bullet, slug, or load of buckshot hit them, so the choice of caliber is moot. If, however, on the other hand, you are one who disregards the woopidity and accepts the very real possibility that they are, in fact, an apex predatory omnivore or an opportunistic omnivore with at least the ability to harvest mammal or pescatarian protein when it's convenient...then the possibility remains that they will ****** a hairless tool using ape such as a human if it is low risk high reward. As for a firearm, I carry a Glock 20 in 10mm with Buffalo Bore Big Game ammo when I am out in the field for ANY reason, whether I am hunting deer or fishing. Less because I think Bigfoot is going to prey on me, though I allow for the possibility, but more for the very real possibility that a black bear with a ****** attitude and general disposition may want to nibble on my ass. If "attacked" by a Bigfoot, the reality is that you're probably going to be dead before you knew an attack was coming because it's probably going to be from ambuscade and done by the Grand Master Gold Medalist Hide And Seek Champion of the world. BUT...the Ape Canyon account tells us that one was shot and fell into a gorge, and when the miners were allegedly attacked, they used their rifles and shotguns to drive the "Mountain Devils" away, so there is a presumption that guns DO have an effect on them and they won't "woo away on a moonbeam". Hell, even if you believe Justin Smeja killed not one, but two mind ya, TWO of them....then...the possibility that guns work on them like any other biological critter remains. Now, the bad news....the ONLY way that any firearm would be of ANY value is if you have at least a little warning, and even then, 99% of gun owners are barely competent to carry a gun and not shoot themselves in the foot on a range, let alone during an adrenaline dump facing a dangerous animal charge/attack. Over 27 years as a police officer having to review literally hundreds of videos of person to person gun fights from stores, etc....the probability of emptying your gun concurrently with your bladder and bowels are about the same while missing every shot. Sorry if the truth hurts...buuuuuut...there it is. Most people survive because they were the luckiest and least incompetent combatant. When in a dynamic critical incident, you will ALWAYS default to your level of training and as the extreme vast majority of gun owners don't get ANY training beyond MAYBE a hunter safety class, or a CCW class taught by Joe The Tactical Plumber, then the default will be "draw gun, **** pants, miss target, panic, empty magazine or cylinder, scream like a chick". Generally lifelong hunters who don't get "buck fever" are exempt from this, trained competitive shooters, or prior military with combat arms/deployment MOS are fairly stress inoculated too, but it also depends upon keeping up with training. I have been in several critical incidents during my career where other officers who were not "gun people" who placed a high value on training were next to useless in a gun fight, so I am not ******** on John Average Gun Carrier. I am ******** on other cops too. But....It's not ALL bad news even for the 99% who are a danger to their own feet in a high stress situation. Based upon not only my own face to face encounter were I am convinced that the revelation of my pistol is what caused the one I was staring at to flee, there have been other encounters where the BF/SQ took off when the presence of a firearm was discovered...so I believe, based upon this, that a visible firearm probably has a deterrent effect. So, if I were part of the 99%, I'd carry a 12 gauge shotgun or a big old hawg leg in a hip holster so it could be seen as a deterrent to a hungry, opportunistic BF/SQ.

Here's one time:

Jane Goodall was with Mary and Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge. She switched to behavior and studied apes and chimps and others. An amazing life.

I was a cop for 27 years. I carried, in one flavor or another, a Glock model of some sort/caliber depending upon the whims and tides of the agency. I started with a Glock 17 in 9mm in 1990, then the department became convinced that we needed 40 cal, so we went to the Glock 22 in 1994, then for what seemed to be about five minutes in the early 2000s we went to the Glock 21 in 45ACP..........then back to the Glock 17 in 9mm again. Ugh. That said, I trust the Glock platform 100% and have carried Glock on duty, off duty, shooting in multiple competition disciplines for over 35 years and now since I am retired from LE and a practicing attorney....I still carry a Glock 19 in 9mm. That said....in the woods, mountains, or desert....I carry a Glock Model 20 in 10mm with Buffalo Bore Hard Cast 200 grain TCFP. It screams out at 1300fps, penetrates deeply, and gives me 16 rounds on tap with a pair of 15 round magazines on my belt for very little weight cost versus ballistic payload, and weight is a consideration because of two knee and a hip replacement as the result of a line-of-duty injury. But, let's be clear....I don't carry to defend myself from a Sasquatch primarily....it's probably 10th down on my list. The reality is I am convinced that they are dangerous, but not aggressive unless you push the action and so I consider the likelihood of having to engage one to be incredibly remote just based on the number of interactions I have had (1 in 1993) compared to the thousands of hours I have spent in the woods, mountains, and desert over the decades. Add to that the credible interactions that others have had where no one had to shoot one. Ape Canyon notwithstanding, but let's face it Fred Beck shot one of them, so yeah...they's be pissed. I'm not convinced Justin Smeja shot one as he claimed, so I am not going to say he did or he didn't, only that I am not convinced he did. So, the reality is that I carry my 10mm as insurance against bear, mountain lion, feral dogs, wild hogs which I consider to be the most likely threat, and of course humans with bad intent. Looking back to 1993 when I had my face to face encounter, with decades of hindsight....the thought I had back then that I was going to have to defend myself from the Sasquatch was PROBABLY initiated by ME and my body language or a scent I gve off that caused a defensive posture reaction response in the creature. I had been a cop for 5 years by this time and my thinking was "threat focused" and "threat management" and "aggression response" and the stimuli of being face to face with something I didn't believe existed back then, or at least didn't believe was a "Michigan Thing" reset my brain clock in a microsecond and my whole reality changed. I am still nine out of ten toes in the "no kill" camp, and I sure as hell don't want to ever be forced to shoot one. I'd like to see another one, not just hear wood knocks and a couple of suspected vocalizations, and see some suspected prints...but just have that moment where I could experience it again and NOT be thinking "tactically" but more like "Okay, what can I learn?". Sorry for the long post. Once I got to typing, I got too lazy to stop.

And? What's your point? If you read what I wrote, you would also see that I included LEOs in my statement. I speak from experience as a 27 year police veteran and actual shooter with over 30 years in USPSA, IDPA, ISPC, 3Gun, and PPC. Armorer, custom gun builder and trainer at not one, but two academies. So, I am not speaking from inexperience or ignorance. Yay, you got to put your two cents in. Add another five bucks and you can get yourself a latte...but the fact remains that the extreme vast majority of gun owners are woefully ignorant of their safe handling, let alone competent to mount a defense in a dynamic critical incident. I am 110% PRO 2A and don't even believe any state or municipality has the authority to regulate ownership or carry...in a free society the burden lies on the citizen, but the fact remains that people simply make the choice NOT to get training, choose NOT to practice what they learned in training, and make the choice NOT to gain any level of competence. How many post critical incident videos have you had to professionally evaluate for either prosecution or defense? How many dynamic critical incidents have YOU been involved in? How many times have you had to sit through tens of dozens of hours of post critical incident testimony or deposition? How many times have you sat in a courtroom as an expert witness, or as a consulting attorney for other attorneys in self defense cases? And finally, how many books have YOU written on self defense law, techniques, and post critical incident survival that have been court recognized and accepted? (For me, so far it's TWO of those). How many CLEs (Continuing Legal Education) have YOU written and delivered to other attorneys after you retired from LE and went to law school? (For me....nearly a dozen written with ten times that delivered). So yay....you ran a gun shop. Good goobledy goo for you, but don't pretend doing your chicken dance from behind a retail counter and not on the range or in a courtroom and dropping a faux anecdote about poorly maintained weapons coming from LEOs is anything less than mouth waddling because of personal hubris.