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I am a long time poster and visited for several hours a week and that was at the height of the Finding Bigfoot show so volume of interest is drastically lower today as most other shows are completely faked and fabricated. I personally checked in to see what field research methods, techniques and ideas are being tossed around out in the woods. Couple other points to note. 1 - Forums are dying as human attention spans decrease due to overstimulation by social media. 2 - Video media as a format ( youtube, patreon, tiktok, live streaming ) is eating forums for breakfast, direct commentary and long format video scape covers most of the discussion points and theories. 3 - Field research efforts these days are ultra weak sauce compared to how " the community " use to address the subject, most now sit around and slip into " cant get them on camera, must be paranormal " or they simply do nothing of effort to get out and search for evidence. Bigfoot is a campfire hobby with very little actual pursuit these days. We do have a couple die-hard guys still here but the volume of activity has always been around PGF debate and field research and now post the lockdowns, people are preoccupied and distracted by seahawks games, vacations and what ever other primary hobbies people engage in these days. The vigor and thrill of walking around in the dark and looking for prints is gone for most or waved away by the embrace of weak minded woo " experiences " that are create insulated FaceBook groups for self worship. No red circles required to figure that out if you check in on all these media sites. I now check in like once every other month to see if anything is going on research related and it seems that the spring has dried up and personally, this drives me nuts because we have more tools today than any point in history. This concludes my rant, lol.

One of my best friends lives in the La Grande, OR area and has for many years. He's a former USFS employee and his wife is an emergency room RN. They are prolific outdoorsy people who have spent most of their lives camping, hiking, hunting, horseback riding, and working in the mountains of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Super great folks. My friend and his wife have been skeptics of Bigfoot and whenever the subject came up, we would joke and laugh about it. They were both respectful, but just didn't believe. They had spent decades in the woods with no encounters, so couldn't wrap their heads around the concept. That all changed for the wife on Sunday. Her husband and his Navy buddy were with me at my family cabin in Idaho for the weekend, while she stayed in Oregon to take care of their horses. On Sunday, she decided to go on a hike/run in the mountains. What happened and what she saw/experienced is not exactly clear. She messaged me and asked if a firearm was a deterrent to BF. I said it depends. In most cases, a person having one means they are more likely to avoid you, but not in all cases. She then said that something happened and she wasn't sure what, but she is terrified and traumatized, and very confused. I was at work, so couldn't call her, but we messaged back and forth and she left an audio recording explaining why she was being vague about what she saw/heard. This is the location she gave me of the incident: I'll try to share what happened, but it's still unclear. Her husband returned home while we were discussing it and she understandably unloaded everything on him. Hopefully I can get more details after she recovers from the incident. Basically, she was in a pretty remote area doing a hike/jog as she is a fitness fiend and very active. She was wearing brightly colored athletic shorts, and a bright athletic top. She said she suddenly became aware of something large in the nearby trees/brush due to a vocalization that she described as both far away and at the same time, also nearby. She also indicated that there was some brush/trees being disturbed; something large was crashing through the trees. Her first thought was that she had surprised an elk. Whatever it was, it was very large and moved very quickly. Her words... "I think it was an elk crashing and then wolves but everything happened at once and I've been scared before, but never shaking head to toe... I heard grunting/growling but it was a ways away. At first I thought it was an elk, then crashing, then two howls or something. I realized by the second one it wasn't an elk." "I thought it was wolves but knew something wasn't good and I've had cats stalk me and other weird stuff but the fear I felt was weird." She indicated that she got into a stranger's pickup that came along, which she said she would never do unless she was terrified. Then she added this... "The weird part is its all confusing, I just remember crashing, grunting, and 2 howls and total body shaking lol like I don't remember it all which is also weird... all of the noises close and far... the guy that picked me up said I looked not OK." She then left an audio message that went into more detail about the strangeness of the incident due to the emotions she felt and a weird "connection" to whatever was in the woods. She was much more articulate and intelligent sounding in the recording than in the texts. I've known her for 15 years and she is extremely intelligent, rational, calm, and afraid of nothing. Current ER nurse and former rodeo queen who does horseback trips into the wilderness. In the audio file, she describes feeling like whatever was out there knew exactly where she was and what she was thinking. She stated that the sounds she heard were felt in her body, and she felt completely exposed and helpless. She also reiterated that she has had numerous encounters with predators over the years in the woods and has never felt anything as terrifying as this. She also says she may have seen something, but so much of the encounter is "missing" in her mind. Her reaction to anything disturbing in life is to research it. She does a deep dive on a subject until she feels properly educated about it. She was in the middle of this while we were messaging. I told her about infrasound and the effects it has. She said she found references to it and confirmed that's what she felt, but at a deeper and more psychic level. She said she was on the BFRO website and looking for encounters in her area. I encouraged her to make a report. She wanted to be sure it was anonymous. I assured her it was. I showed her pics of the tree I discovered the day before her encounter and she said she had seen the same thing. And she had seen the weird tree stacking and trees shoved into the ground with the roots sticking up. We ended our conversation with her apologizing for not believing me before. She said she believed deep down, but didn't want to acknowledge it because she didn't want to be afraid to run in the woods alone. Now she is. I hope she filed a report and I am planning on going down to visit soon and check out the site. It's great that now I have another friend that also believes, but I feel bad for her and her husband. Her love of the woods and her perception of the wild has been completely changed for the rest of her life.

Hopefully, given some time to process, that change won't be a bad change, just awareness. It was a similar concern .. what's my risk level here? .. that got me into research in the first place some years before I ever heard of BFF. Proving / disproving existence, validating / invalidating the PGF, blah blah blah .. means nothing to me. What matters is living vs dying and from what I've learned, dying is more likely on the highway driving to the trailhead than it is from hairy bipeds in the woods. Good enough. I hope she'll come to a similar conclusion, find peace with sharing the woods, and not be deterred from her regular activities.

A couple of years ago, our group was putting on a conference in north western Wisconsin. We had Dr. Meldrum lined up as the keynote speaker, and I weaseled my way into picking him up from the Minneapolis airport and was to drive him to the venue. I was so excited because I would have him entirely to myself for several hours. I had so many things I wanted to talk about, but alas, Covid hit and the conference was canceled. I never got the opportunity to delve deep into my favorite topic with him. Fast forward to 2023, I got a call 2 weeks ahead of the Minnesota Bigfoot conference asking me if I could be a presenter, as Dr. Meldrum was scheduled to appear, but had the health episode TD-40 mentioned. I said yes, and made sure everyone at the conference knew how much I admired the man and honored him during my presentation. Sad day, all around.

I have. That ain't it. Seems to me it would be useful to move away from Standing's already-demonstrated hoaxes. Find something new to beat each other up over. Hoaxers CAN potentially see / report something real, what he says is not automatically null and void, it is merely that he's dug a hole and whatever he produces has to be of greater verifiability than what a person with a clean reputation has to produce.

I did a day long Jeep trip over the Freezeout pass in Idaho last week. Dang close to grizzly country on the Montana border. I took a picture of the two guns I brought with me... A Marlin 1894 carbine and a S&W Model 686. Both in .357 Magnum. I did not feel under-gunned at all. I have spent nearly 50 years in the Idaho wilderness camping, fishing, hunting, shooting, exploring, hiking, ATV riding, off-roading, and just plain relaxing and enjoying nature. All of those activities were done while being armed. In all those years, I was threatened with violence, or felt threatened maybe 4-5 times. Twice was by animals/Bigfoot and the others by people. The worst was a few years ago when me and my dog Rowdy camped at a remote spot on Bonami Creek in a pop-up camper, and a pack of wolves came in and surrounded our camp at night. I was blissfully unaware of the threat having downed a couple or a few 7&7s while listening to satellite radio by the fire. Rowdy was a 105lb Lab/Great Dane mix who was afraid of fire and nothing else. He normally stayed away from it and would lay down behind me as I sat near the fire and drank. But that night, he decided to lay very close to the fire and my rifle... The next day, I awoke with the worst hangover I have ever experienced. I thought I had been shot in the head with a .22. I poured out the remaining Seagrams 7. After I drank a bottle of water and downed a few aspirin, I stumbled outside to the camp and observed Rowdy diligently walking the perimeter of camp, sniffing and marking his territory. I got dressed, grabbed my rifle, and headed up the crude trail behind our campsite. Rowdy was busy peeing on everything and sniffing furiously... I followed him about 25yds from camp and suddenly realized why he had acted so strangely the night before by staying close to the fire, and why he was so obsessed the next day with marking his territory. I found a piece of wolf scat that was very fresh and left while the wolf was in motion and moving away from our camp. It had to have been left within the past 8 hours. I began doing a search of the area around our camp and found sign that a pack of wolves had come in the night before and walked around the perimeter of our camp. No wonder Rowdy was acting so strange the night before! The rifle I had was a Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt, with a Surefire weapon light attached, 6 extra rounds in the butt stock pouch, a green dot optic, and smoothed action. Pretty much the perfect weapon to be holding when a pack of wolves comes in.

I watched it. There is way less “con” going on with the 411 books…. Than trying to convince the Canadian government THIS is a real animal.

Yep. Unless of course one is forgiving the many hoaxes. I believe that is called naive. The Muppets is the most laughable. Of course if one takes the subject serious probably best to move on from any and everything Standing.

I also did a one day 185-mileJeep trip through some very remote Idaho backcountry. No BF sign, but some beautiful country...

Todd Standing =Red Flag.

The article bot caught this story from a number of news outlets. https://www.syracuse.com/statefair/2025/08/searching-for-bigfoot-at-the-2025-nys-fair.html It caught my eye when perusing the list of vendors, considering entering our car club next year to raise interest in classic cars of the little British variety. Charles "Snake" Stuart has an exhibit at the state fair featuring a preserved "Bigfoot corpse" behind plexiglass. Includes a paid appearance by William Shatner on an old TV. Charles certainly sounds like my kind of weirdo and I hope to meet him and his clearly fake body of a Bigfoot. (Sorry, Charles.) I haven't visited yet. But I'll certainly report back if I do. The fair runs through to Labor Day, Monday the first of September in Syracuse, NY. If you do attend, grab some local delicacies, salt potatos, speedies, garbage plates, chicken riggies, etc.

Yeah, don't get used to that from me... Healthy skepticism is warranted and needed in this field or else people will be thinking that we'd all buy that bridge in Brooklyn they want to sell us.

I'm a follower of Stefan, but he gives short shrift to the Cerutti mastodon evidence. I appreciate his skeptical nature. I'm not knowledgeable enough to render a decision on the Cerutti mastodon evidence, but lean towards its authenticity.

No, times have changed. Photographic evidence isn't going to cut it.............

I represent that remark!

I was just listening to episode 180 of Bigfoot & Beyond. Can't give you a time mark as I was otherwise engaged, but the guest, Joe Perdue, discusses being an employee of a West Virginia government agency (probably state parks or DEC) and discusses his supervisors' reaction too, and limitations on, Bigfooting on the job. Basically, he could not initiate any Bigfoot discussions and if sightings were reported to him, he could take the reports for his own personal use, but they didn't want them as official records, such as injury reports at the park, bear sightings, etc.

I don't believe that. Norse is 100% correct: It has to be a carcass, and delivered........to somebody........ Photographic evidence is as worthless as testimony. If the Patterson film, complete with casted footprint evidence, site visits by several independent parties afterwards, and in a location with a 12 year history of footprints (that exact size and shape) and sightings isn't enough to get government or Science to invest a hoot, forget photography.

^^^ Answered on p.25, 15 pages ago. "A Green Beret presence for a missing child is unprecedented." This is why I like primary sources – the Wikipedia article on the Dennis Martin disappearance has several links to contemporaneous newspaper articles on this case and the Case Study at fn 17 talks about the Green Berets as well. The SF Soldiers were already in the area for training. Could have been a Q course class (don’t know where they did those in the 60s) or it could have been a Group just training in the deep woods, but it does not appear that they were sent there to look for DM. They were there, and in an on-the-spot decision, decided to train by searching from what I can see in those reports. Unless there was a government coverup to hide why they were .... oh wait, wrong thread!!

... they're lying by omission.... Man, you just dated yourself!! :-) Young'uns should brace for seeing the world in black-and-white... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9H_cI_WCnE

Glad to see the BFforum back, was getting worried.....will start posting some back logged photos, here are some interesting impressions, from small to large.

I can’t help but imagine him enthusiastically questioning Roger Patterson right now.

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

My favorite interview it was so genuine Meldrum. RIP!

Oh my how tragic. I recall David Paulides stating that on a bigfoot cruise that Jeff had serious heatlh episode and had to be life flighted away.

Did you catch my post somewhere on the forum about the drone flying above my driveway? It was the electric coop flying a lidar drone, collecting pics on vegetation in the right-of-way and easements. I'm really glad I didn't shoot it down (the impulse to do so was strong.........I guess I'm addicted to wing shooting doves too much ). I followed it to the operator and talked to him. It was a very expensive looking drone, and bigger than my impression of it while it was flying.

That's a pretty exhaustive list of possibilities, but there really is no end to the possibilities. See the quote in my signature list: (........"If a person is convinced our government is in cooperation with Aliens, the sky is the limit on what else can fit that narrative." - Backdoc.........)

Meldrum wrote about a personal encounter in his Legend Meets Science book. In 1997 he had a non-visual encounter in Northern California involving something coming into his camp at night and leaving large footprints. I didn't get the impression that this experience converted him into a knower but it probably nudged him in that direction. Standing may have tipped him over the edge. I'm ambivalent on Standing. I remember watching his Discovering Bigfoot documentary and thinking he seemed to push Meldrum into supporting Standing's claim of being the Jane Goodall of Bigfoot. Standing would keep encouraging Meldrum to do things to deepen his commitment, such as put an apple in a tree, do a Bigfoot call, confirm a foot impression is a Bigfoot print, or admit that he saw that shadow and it was a Bigfoot. It all seemed suspicious to me. A couple months ago I wrote about the anatomy of a hoax, and honestly I think Standing's behavior shows a similar pattern to Hansen's regarding the Minnesota Iceman, and unfortunately I think he may have been using Meldrum's desire to believe in Bigfoot as a pathway to convert Meldrum into a champion for Standing in the Bigfoot community. As @Huntster says, though, this is all conjecture. Here's my post for those interested. I'm not above a little self-promotion. https://thesocialbigfoot.substack.com/p/the-art-of-the-hoax

My sidearm for hunting, woods walking has been a Ruger Blackhawk .357. IF , I were to go searching for Bigfoot I would also carry a 12 gauge pump with alternating 00 and Brenneke slugs

Welcome to the Bigfoot Forum.

I don't "know" anything. I am open minded and have formed my opinion based on the account of thousands of others personal accounts.

Where is your proof of this accusation?

I meant to say thank you also for going to the trouble of finding and attaching the clippings. Sources are immensely important and people who are willing to engage cogently with rational, well thought out ideas are the reason I joined (and the reason i believe- (tip of the hat to bill munns))

Because they're anal and, by nature, insecure. If there is something going on in their area of authority, they want to (1) know what is going on, and (2) control it. That's just who and what they are. All true. Sasquatches really aren't much trouble for anybody, on post or not. You get the occasional person getting freaked out, but that's about it. They're the perfect creature to ignore. You're correct. I bolded the civilian part because it's important. I know you're an Army guy (career?). I was a Public Works (DEH, DFE. etc) guy, exterior. The Natural Resources Officer is a civilian guy (at least on Ft. Richardson). The civilians are the continuity, and the Command bring the agenda. I suspect that when the first report of a Sasquatch on Ft. Lewis that got to the Post Commander (not the Commanding General), "a re-write" was immediately ordered because he WAS NOT going to be "the guy" to bring this up to the major command........and this is just how it has gone forward. "People in government" know" but "government" (as a total organization) doesn't.......because they don't want to. (That said, yes, the Commanding General most likely got briefed behind closed doors by the Post Commander...........because that's how those guys roll..........)

We have tested for ultrasonic and EMF and have got them damn near zero registration, we have not tested for infrasound. The only sound we know the system makes is a small mechanical click once every 45 minutes as the sensor refresh takes place. The only times we have had animals become aware are by scent ( always bear ) and feeding directly next to the camera lens and likely hearing the sensor refresh. We do occasionally highlight in stills the animals looking in the general direction but they do not actually seem aware of the system. We have videos up that seem to demonstrate they are oblivious to it in 99% of cases.

First hello. I may be one of those people you mentioned. In my case, there just is not any evidence of BF in my area (north central NC) to report in the last 3-4 years. Also, I have stopped studying them as I have believe after 5-6 encounters and reading 2K plus reports I have it pretty much figured it out and honestly I do not care about the fight. Yes, BF is still out there, please leave him alone and for FFS stop running around at midnight making calls to try and lure him/her in. It does not work.

I full believe that our government knows full well what these beings are. I don't believe for a second that has anything to do with shutting down commercial forestry or access to the forest. Biologists only know about the animals they have studied. This has more to do with religion, social upheaval and the government maintaining control.

^^^ If a Hunter shot Bigfoot maybe they should just claim self-defense. If Bigfoot is determined to be essentially human, one can actually claim self-defense vs an attacking human. After all what kind of doctor does one take a sick Werewolf to anyway?

Bears are a lot smarter than folks think. But their bully attitudes and unsatiable appetite overwhelms their intelligence.

#1 Love the video. #2 A few years from now it is going to get really difficult to tell what is fake and what is real. This illustrates how good these vids are getting. Imagine a video 20 years from now; especially one made for harmful purposes vs comedy purposes.

From Outside Online, July 2016. It's a long article; the full .pdf is attached. The Outside Online website at https://www.outsideonline.com/featured offers good information on a variety of outdoor activities. Who knows, they may even have more Bigfoot articles. 2016 Outside Online Article.pdf

Thanks for the accurate comment Norseman and MIB. Read below some facts about America's declining timber industry and what Trump is doing to get rid of many timber production regulations by signing executive order 14225. If bigfoot is ever labeled as an endangered species will it shut down logging. Bigfoot probably likes logging because bigfoot eats deer feeding in clear cuts where brush and berries flourish in sunlight. "Mar 15, 2025 · The U.S. imports roughly 25% to 30% of the lumber it consumes each year. Up to 90% comes from Canada." google "We rely on lumber from Canada because the U.S. cannot supply enough softwood to meet its own demand, and Canada is one of the largest softwood producers in the world. While it might be possible to switch to importing more lumber from other countries, none has Canada’s large production capacity." google Is the timber industry over regulated? Executive Order 14225—Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production | The American Presidency Project "Sec. 3. Streamlined Permitting. All relevant agencies shall eliminate, to the maximum extent permissible by law, all undue delays within their respective permitting processes related to timber production. Additionally, all relevant agencies shall take all necessary and appropriate steps consistent with applicable law to suspend, revise, or rescind all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, settlements, consent orders, and other agency actions that impose an undue burden on timber production." executive order Does this mean the endangered species act will be watered down?

^^ Funny, I think aliens traveling near earth (if they exist) see us as the microbes in the petri dish.

I confess I have NEVER considered Bigfoot any kind of "Human". I never thought of Bigfoot as a ape-like MAN. I have always thought of Bigfoot as a man-like APE. Because of this, I have never really considered any ramifications of bigfoot being essentially human. If I gave it some deeper thought, I honestly don't know what I would believe about how it would affect government, society, laws, and so on. It could very well change my mind. Coming from the Bigfoot-is-an-animal mindset, it makes sense how I- and anyone who sees Bigfoot the same way- could dismiss any high level of concern government and Bigfoot. Anyone with my bias is going to conclude the same thing. I never really considered another possibility.

Now, that right there is World Class wit! I salute you, and am jealous that I didn't come up with it. If you are not opposed, I think I need to add that to my profile signature........properly accredited, of course........ Nor do I, because I don't believe extraterrestrial aliens are visiting this planet. However, IF they were, I'm absolutely convinced that government would suppress that information from the public, and........ ..........they may very well be using the illusion that it is aliens flying around in secret military craft that they themselves are creating and experimenting with in our skies. Understood. You've done well to make that clear over the past few years that these questions have been discussed, and it's a very valid foundation of skepticism. However, I believe you are somehow missing the magnitude of another extant human species still sharing our planet, and which is nearing extinction. The worldwide political response to such news would be every bit as a concern (even if different) to national governments as the discovery of extraterrestrial aliens. There is no requirement for sasquatchery to rise to the level of fear that ray-gun toting aliens bring to the table to accept the possibility that government is suppressing the "discovery" of sasquatches. Indeed, I fear "human rights lawyers" MUCH more than I fear phaser-toting aliens, primarily because I KNOW "human rights lawyers" exist in numbers far, far greater than the numbers of sasquatches, I know what dangers they pose to both human society in the macro as well as to a dying race of primitive humans, and I don't believe phaser-toting aliens exist. Agreed, and back at 'ya. Think of our discussions on this an unqualified repeat of the Owens/Huxley public debates on Darwinism/evolution, which just happened to coincide with the acceptance (not "discovery") of the gorilla (imagine that co-incidence!)...........

If a person is convinced our government is in cooperation with Aliens, the sky is the limit on what else can fit that narrative. This position makes it much easier to believe any action needed downstream from that same government. If I don't happen to believe the Aliens-Government thing at all as we both know. This makes me less likely to believe the government knows about Bigfoot and is keeping it quiet. I can agree our government would do some of the things you might imagine involving areas of National Security. Again, the Magnitude is the defining issue. The funny thing is I am more than willing from my perspective to open the door to your position provided I was given a good enough reason the issue raising to a level like national security. (There is that darn Magnitude again). Once someone is convinced of the Close Encounters world, anything they dream up is always possible. Such a foundational belief makes your type of conclusions much easier to believe. Since I am convinced our government WOULD do a massive UFO cover up should they exist, I just happen to require any other issue rises to that level. It is all about the magnitude, as it should be. It's not "silly" at all. I respect where you are coming from. I don't know how else to say it but I don't buy the first thing (Government-Alien-Connection) so I can't buy the second thing (Government coving up Bigfoot). If one buys the first thing then they have the mental currency to buy just about anything. I have found sometimes discussing these things with those convinced came come across as an attack on what they happen to believe. This isn't the case. It's just a respectful disagreement.

I don't deal with browns like a few of you guys do it's just blacks . I've probably had at least 100 encounters with them over the years that includes on my property . I never had to use spray because they they always just run off . Just one time I had an aggressive one on my property and it was the only time I feared it was going to attack my dogs . i grabbed the spray because I kept a can at the back door because honestly I don't want to kill it if I don't have to . After a bluff charge it finally took off with my dogs barking it at it but I was armed with my pistol just in case . Most times just me waving a broom and saying get out of here works