The Best Kept Secret In America - Does Bigfoot Exist - Washington State Hunters Poll Results

The web site http://hunting-washington.com published a member poll entitled: Bigfoot.....does he exist. I found the results very interesting. Out of 254 responses 149 members or 59% responded that Bigfoot "exist" or "on the bubble...theres a possibility of existence".  105 members responded "is in everyone's head". I find this poll interesting because of the number of reports that come out of Washington State. When nearly 60% think Bigfoot exist or possibly does then that tells me that Bigfoot is more common than we general think.



I have a friend that was a Bigfoot researcher. He moved to my area of the country a few years back and I have had the chance to talk with him on many occasions about his childhood growing up near Mt.St. Helen. I live in East Tennessee and here the subject of Bigfoot is still very taboo, but out in many communities in the North West (Washington, Oregon, Northern California) Bigfoot is part of the landscape.


 My friend told me that the locals see them from time to time. A sighting is treated like the occasional bear sighting.. He said a average conversation down at the local sporting good store could go like this:


Patron A - Hey guys I saw a Bigfoot cross the road below the bridge on the way in.
Patron B - Yea, they cross down there alot
Patron C - Dern Bigfoot, I can't keep them out of my fruit trees, worse than the deer and the bears this time year.
Patron A - Yep, he was heading from your fields (chuckle)


The locals see them from time to time so it is no big deal, it is just part of everyday life, but let an outsider come in and every one clams up. He said no one wants to be made fun of, so its kept a "local secret".


I have found a similar situation in a small community near where my public land research area is located. I have befriended a couple people from that area and have gained their trust. They both have told me that almost everyone in the community has a Bigfoot story. Either someones dad, grandfather, brother, sister, etc. has seen one. The stories are only shared among the members of the community and no one tells outsiders for fear of ridicule.


My favorite sighting told to me by a friend from this area involves a group of juveniles playing and "rough housing" in an open field back in the 1960s.  My friend told me his grandfather had gone back on the property to cut the hay in an isolated field surrounded by woods. He said the field was about 20 acres and when his grandfather started cutting the hay he noticed across the field it looked like some teenage boys were as he put it "rough housing and playing" out in the field. He was puzzled by what some boys would be doing on his property this far away from any houses or roads, but since they were doing no harm he figured they were local boys and when he got around to them he would see who they were. When he came closer to them he realized they were not boys at all, but a group of five or six young Bigfoot. He had seen Bigfoot before so he was not really concerned. As he drove passed cutting the hay the Bigfoot paused and just looked at him as the passed. When he had gone a little way the went back to playing. The Bigfoot continued to play in the field for several more passes, ignoring the tractor on subsequent passes. Then like boys will do they appeared to get tired of fighting and ran back into the woods.


I think the reaction of both the Bigfoot and the grandfather are very telling. The grandfather was not shocked or scared. It was just one of those things that was seen in this area often.




So when the DNA results are finally published or some very clear HD video of a Bigfoot hits the major news outlets, it will be old news to many in America. The boys down at the Bait Shop, might wonder what took us so long to figure it out for a minute or two, then go onto more important things like the big Smallmouth that broke my line last week.

Article by: Scott Carpenter aka Joe Black