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Norseman is correct. We do not know what laws apply until (or unless? :)) we have one, have DNA to test and retest. Like many here I've pondered this quite a bit. I don't think they are descended from new world monkeys or anything else that originated here. There's simply no fossil record. I think we are left with two families / themes of possibilities. First, they are a very close cousin to us, a recent split, with rapid evolution such that there are no older fossils because they didn't exist yet and the DNA is so close to ours as to appear merely contamination rather than distinct. Second, they are from a very old, very remote split and have never existed in large numbers, not for possibly hundreds of thousands of years, and they exist only in temperate forests with highly acidic soils that destroy bones / remains rather than producing fossils. I lean toward the first of those though I can't disprove the second. My best guess is, since we know there were at least 4 periods with land bridges from east Asia in the Pleistocene, that they likely crossed in one of the earlier 3, in small numbers, and somehow survived despite extreme environmental pressure. We know that small population and extreme forces of natural selection can push evolution much more quickly than it happens in a larger population. It seems the simplest solution working within the things we've already studied scientifically. I think having irrefutable DNA (which means a body .. I think) would allow us to answer a lot of questions.

Good morning Georgerm......thanks for the reply! I had an experience at my grandpa's place near Dallas in 1959 when I was 6, extremely close encounter and it could have grabbed me if it wanted, but I did get a nice smile from him, so my journey began then. My main hiking areas the last 25 years are very close to my small town, which has almost doubled in the last 5 years to 8,800, we are on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, and I have been researching what I term 'Urbanfoot's' that come into town nightly for food source, there are Cougar's and other predictors too that hunt in town, as the numerous Whitetail Deer are everywhere and quite tame, easy pickens. There are only a few ways the Hairyman can get into town undetected, and they follow the main creeks in deep ravines. Over the years I have bushwhacked my own trails and the Hairyman seems to like my work and uses them, lol. I never put any game cameras or other electronic devices out there, they are well aware of our tech so I never disrespect them with such things and guess they sort of trust me. The Urbanfoots are quite stealthy, no noise, howling or aggression in the city at night. I've been all over the country and off-shore in my research over the years, and is extremely hard to find signs going out to wild places, but the Urbanfoot's are quite predictable in their travels in and out of town, so I can really zero in on their movements. Finding tracks or sign in wild places is hard, but out here the exception is NOT finding any, every time I head out there, something cool awaits me:) There's an area with caves, pretty sure they hang there but not me, I never go to these places. WOW, great artwork! Here are some pics of the area.

I find it interesting to scroll to the bottom of the published report to see who did the investigation. A surprising (to me) number of the recent reports were done by Matt M. himself rather than his investigators. That probably says something though I'm not sure what it is.

I've always found that the number of reports coming from an area is more contingent on the number of investigators than the actual number of reports. In other words, if no one is there to investigate, sightings go unreported. If an investigator is found for that area, a bunch of reports surface. I wish there was something like I-Naturalist where people could report without going through a middleman. I fully realize the flaws, it's just a pie in the sky dream...

I'm sure this is very hard on his family and I wish them peace above all else. It's a sad loss to the community at large as well with him being one of the few credentialed individuals who took this seriously.

I think we have at least one, maybe more, members that have been left in the lurch on BF research teams due to the lack of pre-planning and strategic implementation of a purported detailed plan. So yah, this is serious in your face, risk your life stuff, not ready for TV necessarily at least not in the Expedition Bigfoot sense of the word.

Of anyone I might deem myself "associated with" Norseman, I would expect and trust your awareness and preperation/contingency planning to be on a level above the rest. I very been reading your perspective and experiences hunting for what, 15+ years now, and I take your word on all things hunting. Just saying in case it seemed like I was casting doubt on your statements.