No Bigfoot in Michigan?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on July 3rd, 2007
From The Daily Press, Escanaba, MI.
Letter: There’s no bigfoot in the U.P.
EDITOR:
I am a native of Wells and graduated from Escanaba Area High School in 1971. I went on to get a forestry degree from Michigan Technological University in 1976 and worked for the U. S. Forest Service, Mead Corp. and Champion International, plus I was the county forester for Alger county in 1987.
Regarding the story about finding bigfoot in the U.P., I have timber cruised everywhere in the U. P. and know it like the back of my hand. I did this for 10 years and not once did I ever see, hear or find any tracks of bigfoot.
Since I was in swamps many times that people have not visited in more than 100 years, if there was a bigfoot, that would be where they would be. I was in many muddy areas in swamps and in lowlands and not once did I see a track of bigfoot.
I also cruised timber around the Marquette area in rainy and sunny weather and found no sign of bigfoot tracks there either, or sightings. I also cruised timber in highland areas everywhere in the U.P and no sign of bigfoot there either.
I have only heard one person in 10 years tell me they saw something that walked upright across a road at night. Other than that, in my 10 years of being in the woods everywhere in the U.P. I saw no sign of bigfoot at all, not even in the Porcupine Mountains.
I feel Matthew Moneymakers’ search for bigfoot in the U.P. is a folly. The real people to ask about bigfoot are the lumberjacks and the foresters, as they are in the woods a lot and know the difference between a bear and bigfoot or any other animal.
If there were bigfoot in the U.P., I would have found a track or some sort of evidence during that time as I have walked many miles of muddy and dry logging roads of all sorts, new and old ones, or would have heard from other foresters of a bigfoot sighting or track.Paul Bader, Green Bay
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
I was in the U.P. last year on vacation in Gulliver Lake near Manistique. Me and my sister were taking an after dinner walk late at night when we heard something make a noise which sounded like “uuuggghhh”. I personally believe there was something there that was neither man or any known animal. For the editor above to say there is no bigfoot in the U.P. is ignorant. There are people that live in mountain lion territory that have never seen one.
A well-reasoned opinion. He didn’t say how many other wild animals he did see during his treks in the woods, i’d be curious how many bears he’s encountered. Also, the one report from someone he apparently knows regarding an upright figure crossing a road should at least temper his “folly” remark slightly. How convincing was the story he heard from presumably a trusted observer?
I believe the book by Wiley (?) concluded that unknown creatures living in that area was a very unlikely proposition, and this editorial opinion seems to fall in step with that. The saga of ‘hiker11’ and his beautiful pictures of enormous, forest covered land just reinforces my view that if bigfoot exists it will be in the Pacific Northwest. Why is it ‘important’ that they exist everywhere? I guess if you live in the midwest and want to have a bigfoot ‘adventure’ it’s more convenient to visit your own backyard rather than get on a plane and head to the Canadian wilderness.
Smacks of arrogance to me. Just because Paul Bader hasn’t found anything, doesn’t mean sasquatch isn’t there. That’s a typical over inflated opinion of one’s own abilities. Quite a few people suffer from delusions of that ilk.
Welp, that cleared that up. There’s no Sasquatch in Michigan. I’m glad he took the time to properly study and research it.
Whew. . .
Now I can sleep better at night.
*rolling my eyes right out of my head*
One person saying he didn’t see anything has no more validity than one person saying he did.
Last week I moved from NJ to Niagara, WI, just 2 minutes from the U.P. border. Actually I work in Iron Mountain, UP. So I’m pretty excited to read discussion about cryptids in my new neck of the woods!
I plan to be tramping the woods after deer and bear this fall, so I’m hoping there’s something here, and that I see it!
“The real people to ask about bigfoot are the lumberjacks and the foresters, as they are in the woods a lot and know the difference between a bear and bigfoot or any other animal”.
So the implication is that anyone’s account, short of a lumberjack or forester, is invalid? Sorry, but it doesn’t always take a woodsman to know the difference between a Sasquatch and other animals. To presuppose so is arrogant, if not moronic.
hey loren & craig & everyone- i realy thought that those 2 new news segments about the bfro in michigan on fox news channel were done very unprofessinal etc by the anchers who interviewed matt moneymaker about his upcomeing michigan bfro bigfoot expedition it realy ticked me off but im glad i got that off my mind, but i guess that how most media is. but i think they can be more better possibly etc next time. michigan forests does have a wonderful histery of sasquatch related activity footprints etc. i hope cnn or msnbc can do alot better interviews with the bfro in upcomeing future the same with fox news. yes i agree with most the above replys as well. im sure this new situation will even get bigger with updates etc.but i guess the media will always treat bigfoot with a nuteral or unnuteral way talking about the bigfoot mystery or other cryptozoology animals i guess we have to learn to get used of media opinions good or bad.. thank you bill green
Nice to know that an expert in the woods not looking for the Big Guy can come out and say he does not exist. I wonder if he knows what a Bear looks like in the woods.
Before we completely dismiss what this guy has written, I’d like to point out that he says he never did “see, hear, or find any tracks of bigfoot”. It almost-kinda-sorta sounds like he may have looked for evidence out in the wild rather than just had a job in the forest and never stumbled on any evidence.
Of course, just because HE never found anything doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.