Leaderboard

When I worked for the Forest Service back in 1974 and 1975, I had no concept of what the agency's stance was on bigfoot. While on the job, if I had a sighting, I would have reported it to my boss who was higher up in the district office of the Rogue River National Forest of Medford, Oregon. He probably would have told me to not report it to the wildlife officer since this would put my job in jeopardy. My annual job performance review was coming so I would not have reported it to those higher up in the chain of command. Since my annual review was coming up, and if I reported the sighting to the wildlife officer, I probably would have been fired for disobeying my immediate boss. I would guess the Forest Service has not changed their stance presently, and they call bigfoot a mythical creature for a reason. This means they are not real, so they have no effect on Forest Service policy. Work someplace else if you don't understand the policy.

^ This. ^ Moreover, even within certain agencies (like the Army), few have the odds of encountering these creatures. But some do. I've used the example of Ft. Lewis, Washington. It's right on ground that is surrounded with regular sightings, is actually on ground that looks like a migration/movement area, has plenty of recorded sightings itself, and has been an Army post for over a hundred years. If sasquatches exist, and if that area is as density rich as reports indicate, and with the Army being there for a century, there are people within the Army family who know about it. I was an Army soldier (engineer), and then an Army civilian on Ft. Richardson, Alaska, for 35 years. I worked for the engineering organization that literally owned the post. We signed off buildings and lands to commanding officers of various units, but we were ultimately responsible for them (and we held the tenants responsible for proper use and damages). I was an "outside" engineer. Roads, grounds, railroads, bridges, etc. We had an environmental branch which included a Natural Resources Officer, who was responsible for wildlife. He set the hunting regs on post in cooperation with the state fish and game agency. Ft. Lewis has/had the exact same organizational structure. If sasquatches exists, they exist there at least in movement through the place leaving sign and encounters with soldiers and Range Control. Eventually, the Natural Resources Officer is going to know and share that knowledge with the Public Works Director, who will then share it with the Commanding General's Chief of Staff. Where the knowledge goes from there is certain to vary. But my experience is that's how it looks at the lower, local end. I'm also pretty well versed in what we call "unofficial lines of communication". All of us civilians, unlike both the enlisted and commissioned active duty personnel, worked there for decades. We didn't come for a three year tour, and then rotated out. We owned the place. Literally. And we worked together for decades. We were like brothers and sisters. We still are. And we talk to each other. Some word gets around. Some is hush-hush. Depends on what it is, and who you trust. On Ft. Rich, we talked openly about the wildlife. Those of us in the exterior trades and activities had regular contact with the bears, wolves, and moose. Lots of it. And we shared those experiences with others. If I saw a sasquatch, would I have talked? Yup........to a few folks. Certainly not all.

Based on my reading of hundreds if not 1000+ reports, I am a firm believer that the Federal Government as a whole fully understands BF and for reasons you can only guess feels it is best not to reveal them and even protect them where possible. For instance, what are the legal or even constitutional issues if they are some form of relic hominem? Even worse, what if they have an alien origin (which I do not believe but there are plenty of BF/UFO related reports). I have seen them and ran in to them multiple times over the last 30 years in NC and NJ (and may have a den/hunting blind build by them 100 yards from my back yard) and no longer care to get proof of their existence. I doubt I would reach for my camera or phone if one posed for me. Just leave them alone like they leave me alone when wandering through the woods.

In terms of the impact of the arrival of europeans, you can't diminish the probable damage done by the foreign antigens, which may very well have killed off the the vast majority of sasquatch, at least those within close enough proximity to the natives as they became afflicted. The Europeans practice of laying blankets infected with yellow fever and the like across trails could have transmitted these diseases to the Bigfoot just as they did to the native americans. It may have taken longer to pass between them due to their more widespread distribution. There's estimates of 90% mortality rates amongst natives (even higher in south america) if this applied to the sasquatch, perhaps their rebound was slow, then as whites killed off the majority of upper level predators, and deer populations began expanding, eventually to the point of overabundance, then the sasquatch had plenty of prey, little predator competition, and more empty land to move into, reclaiming old turf, thus expanding their numbers once again.

A struggle for me is the close human association in terms of alleged DNA results. And yet the morphology and behavior are not so similar. Almost not inside the parameters of the Homo genus at all. I say almost because while Homo Erectus used fire and stone tools? We don't know often they were used. Or if groups lost the ability because of topography and resources as they moved. All great ideas to ponder.👍🏼

The pieces do not fit neatly. There's always something we have to willfully ignore, something that it doesn't look right to ignore. I've often wondered if bigfoot wasn't a Homo erectus descendant, tiny population cut off in North America and forced by extreme climate to drift genetically quite rapidly. That much has been shown to happen in other species. That could account for the Cerutti mastadon site, for example. It could account for the lack of ancestral fossils in North America as well. It could potentially account for the DNA samples coming back as so near us they appear to be contamination or environmentally degraded rather than as a separate species. However, like every other answer, there seems to be a problem. In this instance the problem comes up if we try to equate bigfoot here with Almasty, yeren, maybe yowie .. because those from Europe and Asia, maybe Australia, are not separated from the larger H. erectus population in the same way any in North America would have been and continued connection with a larger population would have buffered out that sort of truly rapid genetic drift. There just is not a good, clean answer so far.

Denisovan

I tried to find a thread about early Homo sapiens, and this was the most appropriate find. I thought this YouTube video on Bear Cults was great! It fit so much of everything I've been taught or discovered about religion, anthropology, and bears, and was just a great video in general. Enjoy!

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.

I'm pretty confident that it would be absorbed, and I wouldn't hear squat about it again. Almost universally, sensitive information that I was involved in was absorbed by management, dealt with confidentially, and it remained quiet. And I remained quiet about it as well, and that confidentiality served me well with management.

When I say Government, I mean the people who control it. Whom ever has the power to stigmatize a subject. Project Blue Book claiming a UFO is nothing more than swamp gas. People who make April Fools jokes on the official U.S. Forest Service website about Bigfoot. Etc. This isn’t the actions of low level people. This is an active decision by the people who run the show.

They don't have to silence them. All they have to do is attach a stigma to it. Which they have done so. This was going on with Commercial Pilots who had witnessed UFOs reporting it to the FAA. It was a great way to get your medical pulled. Step out of line and things will get hard for you. We know this tactic from other fields. If your a witness your either mistaken, a liar, a drunk or you belong in a padded room. There is zero chance in 2026 that the government doesn’t know Sasquatch exists. Military, Border and LE surveillance has picked up anomalies 100 percent. 🤷🏻‍♂️ We have them on highway cameras and even a eagle cam. There is no doubt in my mind there is better footage archived somewhere. So why the pushback? Why the obfuscation?

Hey Wolfjewel....I have found lots of these over the years but no lab, these real creatures are better off as cryptids IMO, acknowledgement will only take some of the fun away, plus the restrictions that follow, long live the Hairyman!

For a long time, my best places to go involved a secluded pond. Wood knocks, audible movement around the pond, and red eyeshine. They work for me because people are less likely to be there especially when it is not easy to get to. I've decided to get an ultralight canoe, or more properly called a packboat. Short and light enough to be portaged. Get out on the water in the dark and silently paddle then stop, drift, and listen. Use the thermal to scan the shoreline. It enables you to get to spots on the pond quickly that would not be possible if trekked by foot. Moreover, the flashlight and noise while walking would immediately give away your position. I'll order in the next month or so but won't get it until next year. Looking forward to it.

The first fossil of a chimpanzee wasn't discovered until 2005 in the Rift Valley of Africa by Nina Jabloski and Sally McBrearty. This discovery only unearthed three teeth in spite of billions of chimpanzees having lived in Africa. If we all agree there are fewer sasquatches than chimpanzees, then the odds of finding sasquatch fossilized remains are likely one in many trillion. Better time spent doing other things, mathematically speaking.

And here is a chew.....gotta have lots of DNA.