Original subtitles

my name is Ivan Marx the film you're

about to see is authentic it records the

last 10 years which has changed my life

I stumbled on something that I could not

believe at first but soon realized it

had significance on me and everyone

around me which could not be ignored or

underestimated the Eskimos called the

subject of my story Bushmen the Colville

Indians of upstate Washington called him

sasquatch the who paws of northern

California called him OMA but right now

let's just call him Bigfoot

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mmm

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this is my country

I've spent all my life in areas like

this as close to the animals as a man

can get

I built my home here there ranch horse

I'm prejudiced but I think it's just

about the prettiest place I've ever seen

then there's me she's a rare woman she's

the only woman I know who'd put up with

the animals I used to bring home like

those coyote pumps and raised them just

like they were her own

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yeah we shared more ups and downs than

there are in the High Sierras those were

good days simple clear-cut you see I'm a

track and believe me I'm the last of a

vanishing breed

I know tracks like the FBI in those

fingerprints I specialized in renegades

killers of livestock and sometimes

people

I didn't kill for sport I went after the

right animal so innocent ones might be

spared

I learned trapping but my dad shoulders

back in Illinois at that time I worked

with a gun territory tariffs or federal

game warden when they had a renegade

they know who to call there was a time

me and the dogs got called up all the

way to Kodiak Alaska there been reports

the bear had been killing the cattle now

I know there and the Kodiak happens to

be one of the most beautiful on God's

earth

takes a lot of grub to feed him 9 feet

tall up to a ton and weight no need for

him to be killing cattle though he's as

fine a fisherman as you'll ever see

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the ranchers were getting $5,000

bounties on these so-called cow killers

so I moved in to set things straight

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I met a rancher who said it ain't Kodiak

killing my cattle I finally found

someone I could talk to he said Bigfoot

straight-faced as could be

he said Bigfoot's been killing my cattle

Bigfoot I checked a carcass and saw the

cow it died natural the Bears just fed

on its remains found out after the grass

was waterlogged none of protein cattle

died of malnutrition Kodiak Bigfoot

people always want their questions

answered in such neatly wrapped little

packages well I'd heard about Bigfoot

some abominable snowman who'd wandered

across the Bering Strait before the Ice

Age I couldn't believe a grown man would

tell me a Bigfoot was killing what a

bunch of hogwash

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I didn't mind at all putting distance

between me and those crazies in Alaska

and felt good to be with some sensible

folks like Peggy's brother an Arizona

University wanted us to track down a

javelina hog for research a small

critter the vicious

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well I told my brother-in-law about the

wilds Bigfoot story Cody heck but ya

didn't respond as I'd expected he said

don't be so quick to make judgments

there's something I want you to see he

took me to what Indians called the land

of petrified wood they're carved in a

rock were drawings of a creature with

big hands and big feet exactly as I had

heard Bigfoot described the drawings

were 700 years old they told how

creatures the Indians called stick man

had come in the night and stolen the

Indian children the Indians abandoned

the village in fear

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first the ranchers now my brother-in-law

my head was reeling was Bigfoot and that

stories are just so many words so I soon

forgot about him till I was up tracking

a mountain lion and I found these tracks

they look much like human footprints but

they were 18 inches long six and a half

across the ball of the foot five and a

half at the heel

they were the hugest I'd ever seen

tracks were so deep they had have been

made by at least a 500 pound animal the

hair I couldn't identify it

the toe prints were spread around small

rocks and dug into the earth

showing whatever made them could cover

pretty rugged country and the stride was

enormous 52 inches in length man's only

30 they were fakes

somebody would have had to drag a pretty

big machine over pretty rough country to

make him and they would have left their

own tracks

I saw where a creature had stumbled

there was a handprint but no sign of

claws there was oh man like I was

mystified so I made plaster cast and

sent them with the hair to a lab for

analysis well I tell you I was glad to

get home her pups were growing and they

didn't give us much time to think about

everything that had happened

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you

I was called to chase a renegade bear up

north this time I wasn't so eager to

return to the mountains Tess had shown

the hair samples and tracks couldn't be

matched with any known animal I was

uncomfortable the animals were even

acting strange I soon found out why I

found the bear I was looking for but not

in the condition I expected another

track just as I had seen on the mountain

there between its teeth the hare stamped

a 600 pound bear that it stood eight

feet tall lying by the side of the crate

its neck broken

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now I wanted to find out everything I

could about Bigfoot I advertised for any

information or leads you can't believe

the number of stories people had to tell

my friends laughed at him all okay I'd

laugh too but things were different now

I had to figure out what was fact and

what was fiction there are reports of

creatures twelve feet tall

800 pounds that prowled on two feet

now that's absurd scientifically

impossible

no creature that size or weight could

even stand upright and as for tracks you

can't imagine the number of kids I found

running around the woods making plywood

fakes tales of hunters being ripped

apart

campers kidnapped and never heard of

again

but four features all the reports shared

were the dark hair the domed head the

large footprints and the glowing red

eyes

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nature's my home how could some missing

link be wandering around up here without

me knowing it I was good to get back at

the mountains is it a couple of my pets

I tried not to think about Bigfoot but

it was tough to shake it wasn't two

minutes before my friend had vanished in

the wood

well I said I'll never but I couldn't

find him anyplace

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I came to a bridge and they're beside it

another track pray

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legs were moving before I realized what

I was doing my god believe what I see I

had to get in closer

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the nauseating musky odor made it

difficult to breathe but I had to find

out what I'd seen getting dark time was

growing short

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I'd seen big feet what the hell was I

doing I was here alone

without a rifle without anyone knowing

where to find me

with a 500-pound 8 foot tall

vicious creature they had to get out get

some help

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I had to show people what I'd seen the

footprints

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it was just the cat I had never been so

scared in my life but my friends

couldn't laugh now wait'll they saw the

tracks

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the rains came

wash the tracks away

hurry hurry get your Bigfoot burger -

burgers

now people's attitudes towards Bigfoot

made me mad I'd seen it matter of fact I

felt I'd been singled out to find it

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where do you begin

Jackson Hole Wyoming a suspicious set of

tracks I really thought I was on to

something older 500 on the side of a

mountain

the tracks are funny things a small

discriminate get snowed over and before

you know it it's gigantic

here the supposed Bigfoot was a little

old coyote the Redwoods an endless

source of silence if this creature were

here where did it hide I searched in the

Kings form by the roots of the ancient

trees

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here were perfect shelters large dark

mists occlude hideaways to recover from

injuries refuge for many forest animals

from the elements protected privacy when

giving birth

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hundreds tree games but no tracks bones

or unusual droppings

no clues at all I had to be wasting my

time but there was a statue carved in

Redwood it's image was based on hundreds

of sightings collected over the years

and it was exactly like the creature I

had seen myself

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Oregon Coast reports of Bigfoot feeding

during the run of the night fish the

shore was secluded food was plentiful it

seemed a perfect place for the secretive

Bigfoot so I waited you don't know what

it is to wait till you've been attract

finally a gold king with the first sign

of the run and right behind it you never

seen so many fishermen

my secluded beach turned into Coney

Island only way Bigfoot could chew up

here was wearing swimming trunks

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one bum steer after another how was I

supposed to know which lead to follow I

was running out of time

and I was running out of money as we

left I felt like the waves were laughing

at our backs

then came our hottest tip yet we

couldn't turn it down Snowbird warned us

of an upcoming storm but I was too

excited and ignored it the area was rich

with wildlife and why not Bigfoot

plenty of food plenty of cover this time

remote from man there it was my efforts

had paid off and this time I was ready

for him I wasn't ready to find out it

was just a there staying up past its

winter bed time what was happening to me

any Boy Scout knows how people's eyes

play tricks on him in the woods I was

like a gun happy hunter that makes a

ten-foot Grizz out of a charred old tree

stump even the Snowbird was laughing and

why should here I was a grown man

running around the woods chasing some

fairy tale I felt like a fool

well I was out of patience and I was out

of money so I took a job up in the

wilderness round boss burg Washington's

at a photograph a cinnamon bear in its

natural habit you want a bear here's a

bear piece of cake

I always got what I said after except

Bigfoot then I saw it a deform version

of the track I'd seen so often

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there it was final face to face with

Bigfoot you was the domed head just as

others had described it a thick Dartford

protected from extremes of weather and

allow it to pass unnoticed in the night

I saw it photographed it but scientists

challenged my it it stood up under every

conceivable test some reveal rugged

terrain is the cause of the skin heals

polio as the cause of the limp but my

documented evidence wasn't good enough

for the experts experts who still asked

how could such a creature survive where

does it live show us it to remain what

is it eat experts who challenged my word

but claim credit for my film and

profited by it on lecture circuits now I

didn't care for these people but I was

haunted by their questions

what an experience

now I had to start finding some answers

creatures tracks disappeared at the edge

of a beaver swamp only sign of animal

life was the geese migrating north for

the summer I wanted the satisfaction of

bringing that unchallengeable proof

still where to begin I found several

other creatures had passed through the

area all heading north could Bigfoot be

a migratory animal

I plotted all the reliable reports

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there actually seemed to be a migratory

pattern extended over thousands of miles

this were true I'd have some means of

predicting the creatures movements and a

good chance to find some answers to my

questions

Bigfoot always stayed in very Rocky

Mountains and isolated terrain the

greatest number of sightings and the

only ones of the Bigfoot young were in

summer above the Arctic Circle could

that be were Bigfoot migrated to breed

if I move rapidly I might find a clue

before season's end

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egg and I took our camp and planned a

document every step we took the Lava

Beds Mota California the Bigfoot were a

migratory animal my theory had to hold

up all along the way a tract centuries

old preserved in the lava my theory was

working and I wondered how Bigfoot

survived the violent eruptions that

brought the lava rock usually nature

provided me clues I saw these two little

ground squirrels so much in love they

took no notice of me or the dangers

around

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the male's natural instincts drove him

to cover these same instincts started up

in the wounded squirrel

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nature was reminding me of her basic law

survival

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the same will to survive must have

somehow kept Bigfoot goat throughout all

these years but where did the creature

go if it were injured the caves Mount

lassen

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the Hat Creek Indians believed they were

inhabited by an evil ape-man now I was

hot every step along the way brought me

new clothes it's too late in the season

to find the creature here now but I'd

soon catch up with him above the Arctic

Circle

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egg and I found the people up north

different they encouraged me took my

search seriously like the Lumberjacks to

the mountain men like myself the first

into the midst of the wilderness which

meant first with stories of Bigfoot most

of their sightings came at the time of

year I'd anticipated they were sure when

Bigfoot past because strange happened

was followed in a nearby valley herds of

goats come and perform a ritual suicide

sure enough the goats were there looking

as if they were grazing normally but

actually eating pounds of dirt was one

gulp of water the earth turns to cement

and they died lying in the shadow of

Bigfoot edged in rock 26 feet high and

the wolf his only known travelling

compare

but went on in this valley Bigfoot

passed through went against all the

natural laws of survival

and the rock formations - massive - then

shaped by man presented another totally

unexplainable natural phenomena

to those who cried for Bigfoot to exist

goes against every bit of scientific

data known to man I could now say how

much more there is to know either close

to the adventurers who'd left their

calling cards at Watson Lake as they

crossed into the Yukon and even closer

to those who'd made a similar journey at

the turn of the century to set out after

something they didn't know where to find

but knew was out there someplace with so

many pouring into the Yukon during the

gold rush it's no surprise there'd be

such a rich source of stories about

Bigfoot

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for the first time in my life I

understood what made people like that

tick it's more than gold I guess we all

need a frontier to explore don't

necessarily have to go off into it just

makes you feel kind of good knowing it's

there thousands of these people came

from everywhere

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tent city sprung up where no man had

ever even walked if Bigfoot came here to

keep clear of man its seclusion didn't

last for long such a rich source of

information had to bring new leads sure

enough an old miners story told how the

glaciers up there were the burial

grounds of the Bigfoot that would

explain why there were no remains the

creatures carried their dead over

thousands of miles just to deposit them

in crevices that opened it up in the

spring feed for can you imagine

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I went there searching for some remains

I did find tracks so I had to be close

I found bones had told many different

stories but none of Big Foot the

constant movement of the glaciers could

either question danger washed them to

the sea

burial grounds of the Bigfoot I thought

of the people who were the source of

these stories their friends called him

crazy

and some of them might have been but you

wouldn't believe the extremes they went

to for their fortunes roaming in the

unexplored I guess it wasn't so tough to

believe Bigfoot could have gone to

similar extremes for a far more

instinctive basic drive as burying is

dead so many questions well I sure

understood what drove those miners as

they sailed up the river and pursuit of

gold for I'd soon ride the same river in

pursuit of Bigfoot the miners were gone

now but I knew Bigfoot had to still be

around the frequency of current

sightings meant he'd somehow survived

the disease the white man brought into

the wild the tuberculosis measles

that white out whole tribes of Indians

and Eskimos

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he'd even survived the violence reaching

out from the boomtowns

now I understood why Bigfoot steered

clear of man he had to in order to

survive

however vicious the creature might be I

gained a lot of respect for the elusive

Bigfoot and its ability to endure but if

we were to find we'd have to get to the

furthest outpost of civilization

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when we ran out of Road we saw the

remnants of the old pioneers giving way

to the machinery of the new thousands

were now pouring back up to the new gold

rush for the black gold oil how much

longer could Bigfoot avoid all these

people where would he go next

I can hold on him heading north

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well traveling had been tough so we

treated ourselves to the fanciest hotel

in town there Yukon Frieda her sketches

were based on recent sightings and

descriptions of Bigfoot from that very

area

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as we started our journey up the river I

thought of the statues and drawings I'd

seen in Arizona California Oregon

Washington British Columbia the Yukon

and now above the Arctic Circle all of

them resembling the very creature I saw

myself they were too similar over to

vast an area to be coincidental but

these images weren't good enough for the

experts below I still had a lot of

questions to answer there were no

grocery stores up here so we ate off the

land or purchase fish from the Eskimo I

knew I could get my answers from these

people cuz stories of Bigfoot were as

plentiful as the food one man told of

the strange day his mother died in a

cabin like this family and friends

gathered to await the passing of her

spirit

at night they heard a soft scratch at

the door there was Bigfoot chanting in a

strange tongue everyone was terrified

the spirit of his mother who was

speaking through the voice of Bigfoot

they must abandon their homes which they

did the next day an ice floe changed the

river and waters now flow over the

village once stood I asked to see this

area hoping for a sign of Bigfoot the

man said if you wish to see the king of

the animals he breeds in the mating

grounds of the Alaskan moose

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the Moose came as if a sign reaffirming

the man's words

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up the river by a salmon we a lone

Eskimo greeted us with the words Bigfoot

is not here how did he know what we were

after he told a tale about a trapper who

killed a creature in the early 40s

bringing the wrath of Bigfoot down upon

his people

he said one night I was caught out on

the trail with only a few minutes of

Twilight left the lights began to shine

in the sky they were bright travelling

was good

then the snow turned red at the north

south east and west rivers of blood

flowed across the sky and down into the

snows it seemed to be the last day of

the world Bigfoot was punishing us for

bringing its sorrow

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back then the good white light rose from

the north what followed was a battle of

a thousand wires white light was the

spirit of Bigfoot left to die by the

trapper had returned in the formal white

Raven to protect us from the red wrath

of its breathing brothers if you travel

the river you may see him and if you do

he will bring you luck

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then the native gasped pointing to a

bird soaring above us the legendary

white Raven the fisherman said Bigfoot

smiles upon you you will bring word of

him to the people below

mine was really at the next village the

natives were waiting for us he had heard

about the white Raven and wanted to show

us their secret sacred figure

here it was again he told us how Bigfoot

was their friend their friend how do

they think such a violent creature could

be their friend they told how Bigfoot

always carried the bodies of men killed

loss in the Arctic winter to the edge of

the nearest village to be buried by

their own kind when I asked where I

could make contact with their friend

they said in the land of shining eyes

they warned me not to violate Bigfoot's

domain I reminded of the white rape so

they taught me a chant on the night of

the full moon and promised I would see

the glowing eyes Bigfoot

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well I wasn't going to have a thing to

do with any chanting so I set up

walkie-talkies 300 yards from the tent

monitor any movements on the tundra

during the night at the first sound I'd

have a jump on the creature

then the wait the land was lush with

vegetation a perfect feeding ground

berries lichen gnats bugs millions of

fish not just a land of ice and snow I

understood why Bigfoot and so many

animals flocked to the Arctic to breed

raise their young but this land was

strangely silent where were the animals

my transmitter had been thrown 15 feet

and the tundra held no tracks days

passed I felt like a fool but now I'd go

to any ends to conjure up the creature

soon peg saw what she thought were two

car lights approaching

I was caught in the darkness but pay

guided me toward the lights I had to

find out what it was and we realized our

the shining eyes this time I couldn't

let Bigfoot escape

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but dawn broke and it disappeared behind

a rainbow

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this was too much

I melt like I was coming apart of the

seams

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here I was an experienced mountain and

all my life acting like a spook tender

what I still had a thousand questions

and so few answers I couldn't

concentrate my head was spinning with

tall tales folklore I no longer knew

what to believe I had to get away from

the others and be by myself

there were the salmon back after ten

years of living in the sea to spawn and

the exact place of their birth and then

to die they reminded me of those had

seen it Kodiak

in the days when I was a pure tracker

stuck to nature signs wasn't so confused

with all the legends and stories of man

there were geese my first clue a Bigfoot

migratory pattern I began to feel close

to nature again and I knew that's where

I'd find the answers to my questions and

the caribou king velvet off their

antlers released swamp gas from the

tundra to glow in the night

then I saw what must have been the

monarch of the north I was terrified it

could crush the likes of me with one

swoop but it was the most magnificent

animal I think I've ever seen he didn't

seem to notice me as he made a clearing

he sharpened his horns as if to prepare

for combat I thought he'd come for me

now

instead he dug a pit marked it with his

scent this attracted cows from all over

the area and seemed to warn other Bulls

to keep away the cows declared

themselves his by covering themselves

with his scent I'd made it the mating

grounds of the Alaskan moose when no man

had ever been before and possibly the

breeding grounds of Bigfoot some young

woman seemed a little overeager and

found a monarch defending his territory

against all intruders

while others waited for the right moment

to move in

then he saw me and luckily a match for

the monarch challenged him for his

powers and territory

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those who'd waited now moved in while

the Bulls were fighting nature made sure

there'd be a good crop of calves come

spring

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finally the monarch triumphs

now too preoccupied to give any notice

to me he gathered his cows and according

to the law of nature

the strongest began to breed I was

deeply moved by what I had seen but

still no sign of Bigfoot the salmon lay

dying in the streams signaling the end

of the breeding season time was running

out so we took to the air

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the Arctic winter could close us in at

any moment so we had to move fast

why couldn't I find this creature was my

theory wrong when I saw the expanse of

space below

I laughed anything could be out there

they'd found Stone Age men in New

Zealand through a prehistoric fish being

pulled out of the Persian see my god a

primitive man walked out of the mountain

the 70 miles from the capital of

California there's so much territory yet

to be explored

we found undiscovered wrecks of men

who've tried to break into this

wilderness and were never heard of again

I couldn't think of the risks everything

I believed in was on the line

suddenly the pilot went around

Harry was a young Bigfoot frozen like a

tree

we raced back to the river but he

slipped away seeing the young Bigfoot

confirmed my theory I could now roughly

predict the creatures movements the crew

celebrated the sighting but it wasn't

enough for me I knew I needed to

document Bigfoot's habits the young

Bigfoot's tracks led me from the rift to

a lush meadow he passed through a herd

of grazing musk ox

I wondered what Bigfoot fed on maybe he

ate vegetation to what finish I'd seen

him by a river of course he could have

been cleaning himself or drinking

because he could be a predator one of

these oxen had last him half the winter

Bigfoots behavior still held many

mysteries but now it was just a matter

of time before I solved them

winter now closed down on us in earnest

we were forced to move south just like

the animals

the Carib gathered for their migration

maybe the source of food for all the

meat-eating animals that followed

if Bigfoot were a mediator he'd feed

uncharitable too if I could prove that

he did I'd have a clue to the place he

held in nature if I could film it I'd

have the kind of documentation the

experts demanded whatever his happens I

knew the road would be paved with danger

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there was devastated by the slaughter of

the caribou I kept thinking of Bigfoot

in its migration

it had to be protect it could be wiped

out before I had a chance to study it

how could I get protection for something

so few believed existed

I needed that unchallengeable proof I'd

first set out for was no sign of Bigfoot

with the Carroll it must eat vegetation

or fish the perfect place

beavers swamp in the spring

I got there early and planned to stay as

long as I could I used every trick I

learned over my years as a trapper and

carefully covered my scent with ammonia

Beaver swamp the geese if my theory was

right Bigfoot would follow shortly I

searched for the perfect place to set up

a blind when I found it I moved in and

set up my cameras day after day I waited

and soon grew jealous of the other

animals freedom I was stiff chilled to

the bone but I was determined not to

make a move that might warn Bigfoot of

my presence

what if he didn't come

damn have more land in the woods

the Sun hadn't come up yet it was hard

to make out what I'd seen at first

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Bigfoot standing no more than a hundred

yards from my blind I began to shake all

over I could barely keep hold of my

camera he was awesome then behind me

another schwarber possibly younger how

many of them were there was i surrounded

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they were the most extraordinary

creatures I'd ever seen I now knew why

the Eskimos called Bigfoot the king of

the animals the older large one was

seven feet tall 450 to 500 pounds his

domed head and long dark hair just like

the other creatures I'd seen his older

was overwhelming the same thick musky

scent that first led me to Bigfoot so

long ago the young one was no more than

five and a half feet tall 250 pounds if

my guess was right probably on its first

trip away from its northern breeding

grounds he'd probably never seen a man

before if he saw me he could panic and

attack then I looked around and realized

the other animals were carrying on

normally if danger was around they would

have fled

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just as the Eskimos had said Bigfoot is

a benevolent creature

it doesn't even attack feed on other

atoms it seems to only vegetation

sometimes fish here it was before me

pulling up the tender swamp grass with

its hands remarkable huge hands that

seemed capable of grasping scooping up

drinking water splashing to rid itself

of parasites I done it here I was again

with Bigfoot unchallengeable proof my

theory had worked it is a migratory

animal and I now have the documentation

of its habits I needed

now we can begin to understand the place

this creature holds in nature

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a raccoon came out to start his days

hunting I knew the nocturnal Bigfoot

would soon return to the cover of the

forest

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[Applause]

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you

I once again said goodbye to this

mysterious creature that has somehow

outlived its natural role endured the

tests of time now left to wander the

land elusively

with a strange will to survive

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oh I still have plenty of questions and

I'll continue my search for the answers

now I assure I'll no longer get so

caught up in the problems of my research

but I'll lose touch with the wonders it

reveals

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you