Bigfoot Sightings in Montana: Do you Believe?

My teenage kid loves watching that reality TV show about Bigfoot. I always tease him about it. He thinks Sasquatch is real and I always give him a hard time about it, peppering him with questions like:

• How come no one has ever been able to get a clear photo?
• How come no one has ever found a dead Bigfoot in the woods? Not even a skull?
• How come they've never been caught on a trail cam?
• How has MT FW&P never spotted a Bigfoot from a helicopter during elk, wolf or bear surveys?

My skepticism runs high. We also debate the possibility of "aliens" or life on other planets. I don't rule that out, simply because the universe is so immense that I think it's pretty tough to say without a doubt that some form of life doesn't exist elsewhere. But Bigfoot? Come on, man. Wouldn't somebody, somewhere have gotten concrete proof by now? We humans have done a pretty good job of exploring most of our country, including some of the most remote wilderness areas.

My opinion about Bigfoot has changed today while I was researching info for this blog. Have you ever checked out the Bigfoot Researchers Organization? OMG, you should. I just killed about two hours, reading through eye-witness accounts of some pretty wild reports around Montana. It turns out, Montana is a bit of a hotbed for Bigfoot sightings. The most reports (9) come from Missoula County, with the most recent in June of 2018. Followed by Lewis and Clark County with 8 reports, the most recent in 2015. A number of other, mostly mountainous, counties around the state have a handful of reportings.

I still think the Bigfoot TV show is largely staged (like most things on "reality" TV). But after reading the dozens of accounts reported on the BFRO page, and the detailed follow-up reports from the investigators who operate the website, I've come to the conclusion that either: everyone is lying - not likely -  OR there is something out there that many reputable witnesses have seen that is not a bear or a person in Bigfoot suit.

Examples of Montana witnesses to these strange encounters include a retired Special Forces military member, a Federal wildlife employee, college researchers and a mix of "normal" everyday people. Not tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy nuts.  Almost all of them are avid hunters, outdoors people and hikers knowledgeable about Montana wildlife. Here's an excerpt from one sighting:

My family and I have been camping out on the edge of the Lolo Nat. Forest (Rattlesnake Wilderness) for the past few weeks. During the past several nights we have been having encounters with some sort of animal which we first thought was a bear. However, durring the daylight hours we have been finding many young trees literally being broken which we have numerous pictures of. We are camping in an area which is 9 miles up a dirt road near the Sheep Mountain trailhead. Several of the broken trees that we have been finding are very close to our campsite while others are up and down the road. There has not been any strong winds in this area for well over a week but yet these trees are broken several feet up from the ground which as anyone well knows, is not normal. We keep hearing something large and heavy walking through the brush and rocks have been thrown at one of our tents. We are all very much in the belief that we are being visited by a sasquach.

That is one of the milder accounts. What do you think? Have you ever seen or heard something strange in the wilderness of Montana? We'd love to hear your story.