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Not correct. The trap was made by Ron Olson, a bigfoot researcher of decades past. He was a member of a research group out of Eugene, not a "local." It is not made of logs, it is made of sawed timbers with a sliding trap door. Here's a link to a newspaper article in case you wish to read up on it. (I've been to the trap and drive by the parking for it a few times a year. It's a nice walk if you are in the area.) The trap's door has since been rendered inoperable / open. Interesting (to me) stuff about the location ... the trap was built prior to the construction of Applegate Dam / reservoir. Since construction was completed in 1980 the location of bigfoot activity nearby has shifted. My personal best guess reviewing the terrain is that the trap was built on a ridge which was part of a route they'd use through the area. The lake now cuts off that path. Though BF can swim, getting to the water's edge requires exposing themselves to view. I have investigated one report from the upstream end of the lake which seems potentially credible. Beyond the lake is the OR/CA state line; the headwaters of the Applegate are on the California side. It is incredibly rugged country. Just a little west, also in the headwaters, is Red Buttes Wilderness, and beyond, connected, you'll get into the Oregon Caves country. All of this is in fairly close proximity, and mostly with cover, with Bluff Creek and the G.O. Road of PGF fame, Willow Creek, etc. If a person wanted to put some "sweat" into figuring out something useful, they could try to figure out how the BF's are getting from the Siskiyous west of I-5 to the Cascades east of I-5 .. there are essentially NO reports but they have to be getting across that freeway somehow / somewhere without being seen. I've pondered use of railroad overpasses, I've pondered underpasses where roads go under the freeway. These are on private land. No reports. Question .. unanswered .. is someone helping them by deliberately providing a covered crossing point? Sorry .. rambling. This area is personally fascinating, I spent over 20 years living adjacent to it trying to puzzle it out (unsuccessfully) and it remains a bit of an obsession.

Well, I have two historical newspaper articles that were scheduled to come out later, but I just changed that to 1 minute after midnight. Apparently, once I set them for delayed publication, I can't change it back to "publish immediately." Be sure to check in first thing tomorrow (or later today for those in time zones further west) at https://bigfootforums.com/forum/203-more-historical-newspaper-archives/.

A few bigfoots in America are lucky since there is still plenty of undeveloped land such as many areas of Alaska and a few states below Canada. The bigfoots in these areas can avoid interacting with humans if they choose to do so and carry on their daily lives without seeing humans. The bigfoots in other states seem to depend on humans since there are reports of them taking cows, raiding chicken coops, or showing up at night on rural properties. Even though there is plenty of wilderness for them, some congregate on developed property which seems to attract some Sasquatches. Mavbe these Sasquatches have been pushed out of the wilderness by dominant Sasquatch families, and they depend on rural folks for their food and shelter. We just don't have the answers to these questions since we haven't allocated funds to do quality unintrusive studies of bigfoots. Maybe we should develop better ways to determine how we can help sustain bigfoot populations if needed. Many of us cringe when we see animal species going extinct and feel guilty for not doing more to protect a species. We just haven't developed adequate methods to study bigfoot populations so we can determine if their populations are stable or do we need special methods to ensure bigfoots can raise families and keep stable populations? The picture below shows me in my drift boat exploring bigfoot's habitat on the Rogue River of Oregon.

The forest service designs and use to hide timber sales that helps remove fuels that build up in old growth forest and provides fuel for forest fires. Areas to be logged must be in proportion to the size of the drainage basin where the logging will occur. If a drainage basin is over logged then massive erosion will occur that floods creeks and rivers with brown sediment that can wipe out trout, salmon, and steelhead. Each drainage basin can have limited and planned logging which may need to be in public view, so fish are protected and wildfires are kept to a minimum. After a planned clearcut, grasses, brush, and small trees begin to grow back which supplies deer, and elk fresh leaves to brouse on. Bigfoots ability to raise a family and to find food is improved since deer and elk survive on the new growth springing up on clear cut land. However, during hunting season, Bigfoots ability to feed its family is reduced since bigfoots must evacuate prime hunting grounds to avoid regular hunters and hound hunters which forces bigfoot to hunt at night when hunters are absent from the woods. During hunting seasons bigfoots may need to hunt higher in the mountains where deer might be less prevalent and access roads are nonexistent. In general, the lives of bigfoots were probably more difficult during time when pioneers flooded lands throughout America. Bigfoots obvious desire to avoid humans has increased since the pioneer days which could have made them an endangered species that could go extinct. Since bigfoots are so difficult to find and to gather evidence on how they live, it becomes nearly impossible with present means to study them so they can become a documented and proven species. How we avoid killing a male and female bigfoot to prove their existence is a topic for another paper that could include hiring a massive forest workforce supplied with tranquilizer dart guns. Once proven, bigfoots and their habitat will probably receive national protection. Areas close to their nesting grounds will probably need laws to reduce hunting in these areas, build roads away from their homes, and supply food during winter months to prevent them from going extinct.

I don't think it’s magic. I think it’s evolution. They stay away from their cousins that organize into large groups and kill and chop up all prey and haul back to the cave. Like a Army Ant colony. We are the opposite of inept. We are ruthlessly efficient. So they hide. But now us the tool man has walked on the moon, has thermal drones and surveillance cameras everywhere. They are running out of places to hide.

I've pondered this as well. There is, however, one (somewhat humiliating) option .. maybe, rather than them being "magic", we're just more inept than we give ourselves credit for.

Yep. I would probably eat it if I had to. It's legal to eat road-kill here although, I usually just go to the store. Although, with the cuts in food-safety (including a 19% reduction to the FDA work-force) a squished squirrel or, a drowned rat doesn't sound too bad right now.. "No doubt, but Norse is correct that Science as an industry will simply not play ball until somebody delivers a carcass and essentially rubs their noses in it." I agree that Universities, most private companies, governments, etc. are not going to really get involved until Joe six-pack, wife and kids are convinced that they exist. 'Science' is often done by people who are unencumbered by those institutions. I don't know the best way to prove Bigfoot. I think one (or two, if Norse insists ) could be captured alive. I mean if we can capture elephants and whale sharks?? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Regarding the Cerruti site mastadon bones purportedly dated to 130,000 years ago .. mainstream science has the ability to determine whether the scratches / notches in the bone were made 130K years ago when the bone was fresh vs recently when they were being dug up. This is the study of taphonomy. Those markings / scraping / etc are NOT recent effects of the earth moving machinery, those markings were made while the bones were still fresh. That does not settle the question of who / what did them but it does settle the question of when the markings were made. Maybe, or maybe lacking technology, they saw solutions that our reliance on technology trips over?

Wow, xspider1 and Norseman. What a debate that has been civil and neither party has backed down even during the most intense language at proving bigfoot is a real monster. It seems both of you have proved bigfoot is a monster. Seems like most of the audience has backed off while you two have carried on a debate that would heat metal to the bending point. One of the main points that is still not clear is does it take a deceased bigfoot male and female body to prove the existence of bigfoot? Do we agree bigfoot is a real living animal and a new species? Does DNA make the distinction between myth and real living monster? Presently what is the status of bigfoot ............................. myth or monster? Has enough evidence been brought forth for proof of the bigfoot with its own species name? What is the present status of bigfoot? Some claim bigfoot is a myth that can disappear and is abducted by aliens and delivered to Earth's forest.

Sasquatch is an Ape and so are Homo Sapiens. And Apes are smart, very smart in the animal kingdom. Gorillas, Orangs and Chimps all can be taught and use sign language. They all exhibit some form of tool use. But as you say? Subtle differences in morphology and behavior lead to big differences over time. This species was so so close to us but didn’t make it. We out competed them. I think Sasquatch is still here because it didn’t choose to compete with us. It’s related to us but it’s a much more distant a cousin than say a Neanderthal. IMHO.

I agree. It's like grizzly bears and wolves co-existing with large populations of humans. If we aren't willing to accept human and livestock losses, it won't be happening successfully.

I think it’s never ending cycles of overlap. If they yield to us the “good ground”? I don’t think their numbers could be high coexisting with us. This may not have always been the case. The Cerutti mastodon find is pre Homo Sapiens in my opinion. They may have had full reign of the new world until we showed up. What we see now is pockets of survivors from the Homo Sapiens apocalypse? Just a thought. And it didn’t just happen here. It happened to many species in our genus in Africa, Asia and Europe. Homo Sapiens are the last man standing.

That's why it's key to determine their genus after discovery. There is currently no other living species within the homo genus recognized as extant. But if one is discovered, presto!: another human species exists. Their legal status then gets negotiated and legally established worldwide by Science, the lawyers, the anthropologists, and the United Nations. *Hmmmmmm..........maybe it would be better for all if they remain mythical, huh?.......*

If it is classified as in the genus Homo, it would be *human*, so killing one would be *homicide*. But remember, more primitive bipedal apes (Australopithecus, Ardipithecus, Sahelanthropus, Oreopithecus, Danuvius, etc) lived at least several millions of years ago. The earliest homo species was 2.5 million years ago. It is definitely homicide, but not necessarily murder. Murder is defined as an illegal and intentional homicide. Self defense is a legal justification for homicide. But if a sasquatch decides to kill a man? It is almost certainly not possible to legally prosecute the sasquatch for murder if he is also a wild animal.

When I was younger, I had a dream Landscape Architect job with the Forest Service designing a large RV campground and a recreation park along the Applegate River in southern Oregon that took a year to do. I'm 79 now and want to be truthful about memories. After this was completed, my job became irritating and boring. No more parks were on the horizon, and my new job was to fool the public about logging! It was a clever plan that I've kept secret until now. My job was deception and to drive the main national forest highways and mark all the forest areas on a map that one can see from the road. I also marked forest areas behind mountains that were not seen. Can you guess where the plan for public deception is headed? The hillsides marked as unseen while driving the highway were going to be clear cut of all trees which upsets the public because Bamby the deer's forest was going to wiped out with logging and clear cutting. The refreshing forest seen from the highway were going to be preserved and all is good in nature land ................ so the public thinks. Needless to say, I became out raged, quit, and went to a different landscape architect job. My point is deception by the federal government that is also taking place with bigfoot. The forest service hires credentialed wildlife biologist and how many bigfoot reports have you read from one of these biologist? They spend hours driving remote forest roads, and hike on trails and a few of them must have seen bigfoot. Lots of people see them. I have two friends that saw one and I saw one too. See my eye witness sketch is below. Do some internet searches and find even one report by a forest service biologist that mentions or even focuses on bigfoot. One of the forest service's duties is to study and protect wildlife during logging operations. You as a taxpayer are still being kept in the dark when if comes to bigfoot? How do you feel about this dilemma? What is your opinion? Should I have quit the forest service? Are we being kept in the dark? My sighting is below.

It's an interesting thought exercise to consider how the sasquatch species was affected by the arrival of non-indigenous people. First, native Americans lived in groups and villages that were mostly nomadic, and their weapons were close ranged. When Europeans arrived, the Homo sapiens population numbers exploded within a very short period, they established towns and cities that remain and some of which have grown into metropolises, and we now have the capability of shooting them from a quarter mile away. Sasquatches have shared this continent with native Americans for at least 12,000 years, but the past 200 years have changed everything. Indeed, we can even categorize the past 200 years: 1825-1925: Occasional contact with European explorers, trappers, and prospectors 1925-1955: Increasing contact, and the beginning of mass media exposure of the species to humanity 1955-today: An explosion of sasquatchery in the Homo sapiens consciousness, beginning with contact from people penetrating the Six Rivers National Forest timber sales and the modern media

If your right? That was pretty ballsy behavior. Bob Gimlin pulled a .30-06 rifle from his scabbard. And most Cowboys would have dumped her where she stood in 1967. Bob certainly could have if he had wanted to. And I am not trying to throw shade on anyone’s experience. But I don't think it’s a either or question. I think they are curious and I think they are masters of the woods. But I also do not think they are infallible either. Just my .02 cents.

Or, instead of hiding, Patty waited for them: more interest in the horses than humans / do a 'lead away maneuver' for any observing offspring to demonstrate human behavior. We will never know. Sasquatch found me.

First Axiom of Sasquatch: Sasquatch find you, you do not find Sasquatch. For example, campsite activity instead of running around a watershed or two. A fixed campsite uses less gas. Motor vehicles are an attractive curiosity. You must be a normal Human ( well, there goes that approach ). Smoke from the fire, the smell of food during cooking are good olfactory signals compared to urine from four legged species. Fooling them does not work. Other members of your animal inventory may show up. Most importantly, you must be on good terms with Ravens.

There is another possible angle to that which goes back to what I was trying to say about "animal vs person" ... essentially self-aware and planning vs just reacting to natural conditions. That angle is willful deception .. deliberate actions meant to direct our attention somewhere they are not and at something they are not so that we are chasing what we imagine bigfoot to be rather than what bigfoot is. As long as we are looking for the wrong thing in the wrong place we're not going to be too successful finding it. And, since we are exactly not too successful finding it, I think we should consider deliberate misdirection more seriously. Just. My. Opinion. (Of course.) I don't think we should stop following whatever leads we get but I think we should consider, as we do that, whether we've been "had" yet again.

Well, yes, but I also have "but but but" perspectives on these .. as you'd expect. I remember something Thom Powell wrote .. he said thing guerilla, not gorilla. I talked to him about that at the Richland conference more than a decade ago. His notion is there's a difference between a merely shy animal and something that goes to great, planned, deliberate ends to avoid us. That lemur is an animal, not a kind of person. In that context, comparing the two situations is not really apples to apples. Regarding coverup .. again, I haven't seen any signs of it despite a lot of interaction with both government officials and working in academia myself. So far as academic suicide, 'tis true the faculty at Idaho State tried to take Meldrum's tenur .. that's basically attempting to take away his retirement as well as his professional standing, so it is a real thing, but it is academia itself, not government, and it isn't being done under threat, it is done because his peers perceived his actions as making them look foolish by association with him. Mass delusion ... is a thing I've considered. The question is .. as I frame it .. is it possible there is something genetically broken in every human that causes us to have the same hallucination? It has to be something every single one of us has, genetically, not just an occasional twitch, because it manifests essentially identically in every person that has it happen. It crosses cultures, it crosses centuries, it crosses oceans .. yet the symptoms, the "hallucination" itself, remains essentially fixed. This can only be genetic wiring if it is mass hallucination. That also doesn't account for tracks, for audio recordings, etc. Plaster does not hallucinate. Audio equipment does not hallucinate. So .. possible but not very probable.

No. I work alone. The trade that I worked in is not exactly one for scientific discovery. My BS meter is finely tuned.

Last summer ( 2025) my wife and I house sat for my former school superintendent while she and her husband went to Africa. A photo safari. They sat down for lunch after a morning excursion and Jane Goodall walked in and started talking to the group. What a great experience that must have been! Then Dr. Goodall passed a little more than a month later.

Apparently, you would be surprised at how well they can dupe the masses.

The opposite happened in the Bluff Creek area of Six Rivers National Forest where the PGF was shot. Now, in winter when Bigfoot tracks can most easily be found, the area is closed "to prevent the spread of Phytophthora lateralis, a non-native pathogen that causes Port-Orford-cedar root disease. See my point #2:

1) Support behaviors and beliefs that makes as many people as possible believe the species to be mythical. 2) Limit access to areas where the species has its densest populations. 3) Don't discuss the issue officially, and if it comes up, ridicule it and remember Point #1. 4) Do not fund any research into the existence of said species.

If government will go to these lengths to protect certain trees (especially just maintaining the secrecy/remoteness strategies), would they do likewise to protect a rare human sub-species? I think so............

Ever hear of Bush Meat?

No doubt, but Norse is correct that Science as an industry will simply not play ball until somebody delivers a carcass and essentially rubs their noses in it. And I submit that is just one of the reasons why government has decided that the best thing for them as a species is to remain a myth. And frankly, it's my opinion that aliens are science fiction, and Science (as an industry) is playing ball on that field because every base hit equals Big Money, government is managing game for spinoff technology, and the taxpayer plays because they have no choice.

Homo sapiens are primates, too. There is evidence that they do, and if so, that would pretty much narrow them into the genus Homo.

I know it’s not a joke prediction but, I predict I’ll find my first track!

What if they know bigfoot are human? That would open a HUGE can of worms.

I believe 90%-95%+ of the Bigfoot eyewitness reports are seeing something real with only about 1-5% being outright liars and hoaxers. What I struggle with is not being sure what they saw. Is it a bear? Is it some other misidentification? That part of my brain I will call the BAD COP Then the GOOD COP part of my brain tells me, "Do you really think ALL of these people- every single one is wrong? Are they all mistaken?!" The GOOD COP part of me understands there only needs to be one of these reports to be real for Bigfoot to be real. Just one single report. For those who have had an encounter please forgive my struggle between the GOOD COP and BAD COP. I have never had such an encounter and honestly would never want to until Bigfoot in the public is a well-establish universal fact.

Scouting dozer line today! It was supposed to rain today but its just cloudy. We are up on Tyee ridge above the Entiat river.

Thank you. Whenever I start doubting the existence of Sasquatch I remember these stories. They can't easily be explained by known phenomena

Thanks, georgerm. I do try to be civil and Norse has a great deal of pertinent, real life experience and knowledge regarding Science and primate biology. We just have a fundamental difference: kill vs no-kill. (That's been going on for decades. lol) I never meant to hi-jack your thread and I think it's a really good one! I will only add that Monsters, by definition, are imaginary or mythical. I don't really agree with that definition because I think there are definitely Monsters on Earth, but we do need a standard of Semantics (as Norse pointed out) that we can either agree on, or that we are forced to accept either way. Bigfoot are scary, no doubt about that. Humans are very scary too, we are The Alpha predator. We can (and probably should) kill anything that threatens us without cause. But, given a choice not to kill Bigfoot just in order to convince Science (and to convince people who know everything already anyway) seems like the best approach to me.

Yes, stay safe!

Stay safe!

Just got called out to the little giant fire over by Chelan. Take care family!👍🔥

Great video—I really appreciate it telling why so many samples are taken. I was privileged to go with a group from Mass. Herpetological Society to see the back storage rooms of reptiles and amphibians at Harvard University’s Zoology Museum. Understanding that scientists and students still use them is fascinating.

I'm talking in circles?? That's ripe. One minute you say it doesn't matter as long as Science gets a complete male and a complete female Sasquatch, then you say Science just needs a type specimen? Again, a type specimen can be (and often is) a body part recovered post-mortem. Only your personal version of Science requires two complete Sasquatch skeletons. "As far as semantics? I guess I have a Bigfoot hypothesis then…..no feelings anywhere." That takes the cake because 1.) you are trying to reduce Science to semantics which is basically the opposite, and 2.) no feelings anywhere? geez Why is it always Bigfoot ripping my arms off? I'm not advocating hunting down a potentially breeding pair, you are. "You on the other hand LOTS OF FEELINGS when it comes to killing “majestic animals” in the name of science!" Correct. When you quote "majestic animals" do you feel as though Bigfoot are not majestic? They're just another every day 10 foot tall human-like Ape I guess.. No big deal.

If Sasquatch can pack a full grown man and his gear up and down the Cascade brambles at 15 mph? I guess that would explain a lot. Because we can never catch up to the hide and seek champion! My mules fully loaded averaged 3 mph in the mountains on a trail. Average load with pack saddle was 250-350 lbs depending on what was taking place. We often were heavier on the way out if we had scored an Elk. To avoid making several trips. 30 miles was a very very long day. 15 mph with a 300 lbs ”pack” off trail is absolutely smoking fast…. And Bigfoot is allegedly 800 lbs and my mules were between 1200 and 1400 lbs. So very fast and very very strong for its size. 800 lbs is the size of a large Pony. Or a Bull Elk. But if your whole life is about killing something and packing it back to a cave or hidden canyon? They gotta get it done somehow. And Grizzly are gonna come sniffing around. The best defense would be distance.

Thanks for approving my profile! I’m actively exploring a vast farmland in Southern Middle Tennessee. Hopefully I’ll have some findings to share here.

Published in the Henryetta (OK) Daily Free-Lance on August 18, 1977; this fills out some more of the stories found by former Forums member Tirademan (RIP) and posted elsewhere by Forums member Gigantor. The headline was probably meant to read "Bear" rather than "Dear."

We do not have proof of bigfoot. We have evidence for the existence of bigfoot. The difference matters greatly. The absolute and unavoidable "math" is this: we will not have PROOF of bigfoot until modern science accepts the existence of bigfoot. These are exactly identical. We have some pretty cool evidence. Some is easy enough to dismiss even if it is incorrect to do so, some is pretty hard to rationally dismiss even if a scoftic would do so.

Totally shocked. Had the honor to eat supper with him in Gardner, Montana one night during a tracking course he presented with Jim Halfpenny. He was such a gracious and humble man. May he rest in peace.

One day the public will have definitive proof of Bigfoot. If this happens Jeff Meldrum will be viewed as a visionary. It will be mentioned how he was ahead of those colleagues who lived in his times. He became respected even among those who were skeptics and essentially modernized the study of Bigfoot. There will be a Meldrum- Patterson wing of the Smithsonian. RIP