"Do you know what it’s really going to take to find real evidence of Bigfoot?" my friend, author, and videographer Philip Spencer recently asked me in a conversation we’ve revisited many times.
"What?" I asked with only somewhat renewed curiosity. The subject’s become a bit overstated, over-used, over-discussed. We all know the answers we’ve heard and talked about ourselves. But Philip, being a woodsman himself from rural Kentucky, and having spent much of his early life in the wilderness of the Daniel Boone National Forest, had something different to say.
"Well, no one’s probably going to do this, but somebody needs to go out into the most remote areas of wilderness and live out there for months…or maybe even years like an animal. Become part of the landscape. Integrate into the wild to the point that every living thing there gets used to you being there and hopefully even comfortable with you being there."
"Kind of an extreme Jane Goodall approach?" I asked.
"Something like that," Philip said. "But you’d have to have a master plan in place. You’d have to be an expert woodsman, tracker, and survivalist. I mean a hard-core survivalist. One that could almost walk into the wild naked and be able to survive with next to nothing."
"That would be the ultimate hunting expedition," I acknowledged, feeling sure that I’d never have to worry about reporting it in my lifetime, because no one would be willing to take on such a task. It would be the ultimate sacrifice from a very special kind of person that might have to dedicate a lifetime to the cause.
He continued. "You’d also have to be prepared to get dirty and stay that way. You’d be too cold or too hot and generally uncomfortable, and you’d be focused on survival and finding food most of the time…just like any other animal out there. While at the same time, you’d have to be tech-savy and carry cameras and other surveillance and evidence-collecting equipment without being obvious about it. It wouldn’t be easy, but it could be done...
"What?" I asked with only somewhat renewed curiosity. The subject’s become a bit overstated, over-used, over-discussed. We all know the answers we’ve heard and talked about ourselves. But Philip, being a woodsman himself from rural Kentucky, and having spent much of his early life in the wilderness of the Daniel Boone National Forest, had something different to say.
"Well, no one’s probably going to do this, but somebody needs to go out into the most remote areas of wilderness and live out there for months…or maybe even years like an animal. Become part of the landscape. Integrate into the wild to the point that every living thing there gets used to you being there and hopefully even comfortable with you being there."
"Kind of an extreme Jane Goodall approach?" I asked.
"Something like that," Philip said. "But you’d have to have a master plan in place. You’d have to be an expert woodsman, tracker, and survivalist. I mean a hard-core survivalist. One that could almost walk into the wild naked and be able to survive with next to nothing."
"That would be the ultimate hunting expedition," I acknowledged, feeling sure that I’d never have to worry about reporting it in my lifetime, because no one would be willing to take on such a task. It would be the ultimate sacrifice from a very special kind of person that might have to dedicate a lifetime to the cause.
He continued. "You’d also have to be prepared to get dirty and stay that way. You’d be too cold or too hot and generally uncomfortable, and you’d be focused on survival and finding food most of the time…just like any other animal out there. While at the same time, you’d have to be tech-savy and carry cameras and other surveillance and evidence-collecting equipment without being obvious about it. It wouldn’t be easy, but it could be done...
