WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.960 --> 00:00:10.480 Big Food and on with Cliff and Bulbo. These guys are your favorites, 2 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:21.440 so like say subscribe and raid it live stock and on USh today listening watching 3 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:30.079 Limb always keep it squatchy. And now you're hosts Cliff Barrickman and James Boobo 4 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:34.000 Fay, Hey Bobs, how you doing today? Man? Good Cliff, 5 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:36.880 things are generally good. I got out to the woods a little bit this 6 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:39.640 week. Didn't find anything, of course, you know, just but I 7 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:41.960 had to go. I had to go to the woods, man, it's 8 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.359 just good for your soul. I went to three or four of my favorite 9 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:47.640 spots in one day. It was a long, long day. Man drove 10 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:50.640 all the way down the clack Miss almost all the way to Big Bottom. 11 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.920 There's a great spot out there. It's not just a spinal tap song. 12 00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:57.640 It's actually a location down there called Big Bottom. Were you pulling cards? 13 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:59.960 No, no, no, no cards or anything like that. Just want 14 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:02.399 to go walk around? You know a few of my favorite spots. Got 15 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:06.000 the Secret Swamp going down there, a few other locations. So but I 16 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.359 didn't find anything. But you know what I did find that I thought was 17 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:12.480 interesting. And now mind you, it has been dumping rain dumping and dumping 18 00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:18.599 rain like that atmospheric river or whatever fancy term they're calling it nowadays, has 19 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:23.480 been just going wild, right, But despite of that, I found our 20 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:26.200 own footprints from May and June, you know, and there it was a 21 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.480 super saturated soil. Yeah, and you know, it took me a little 22 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:33.439 while, like I found, I found one possible thing, because there's a 23 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:37.719 swamp down there that I found juvenile tracks in, and I also obtained a 24 00:01:37.879 --> 00:01:42.400 juvenile sasquatch handprint from very very close to there, Like it's certainly the same 25 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:46.480 animal, certainly undoubtedly the same animal, like one hundred yards apart, and 26 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:49.239 the trackway was going to the place where the juvenile handprint was discovered. And 27 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.359 by the way, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, and maybe 28 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.159 listeners can to help me out with this too. I believe this is the 29 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:59.040 only juvenile sasquatch handprint on record. I could be wrong about that though, 30 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:01.319 but that's what I believe at this point. I would love to know about 31 00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:05.159 another one. So if you, if in your listeners, if you happen 32 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:08.080 to know about another juvenile sasquatch handprint, I would love to know about it. 33 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:12.319 But anyway, yeah, so I was down and there and poking around, 34 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:15.159 and I found one thing that maybe was a footprint, and I was 35 00:02:15.159 --> 00:02:17.120 looking at it and I said, I don't know about that. It could 36 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:21.199 just be a double stepping, like some sort of composite as we call them, 37 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:23.639 where more than one impression of something else makes it look like a larger 38 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:27.759 impression, you know, but nearby that, I said, well it is. 39 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.159 And I started looking at that. Oh this is about ten inches long. 40 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:32.400 This isn't And it took me. I had to look at a couple 41 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:35.879 of different impressions, and I finally figured out, oh, yeah, these 42 00:02:35.879 --> 00:02:39.319 are hours. This is left over from May and June when I was here. 43 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:45.560 So I thought that was really interesting how long footprints like that can last. 44 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:49.919 And the soil was super saturated. This was probably a foot and a 45 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:53.599 half from the creek, so the soil was muddy and super saturated. And 46 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:58.120 I was very impressed. And it's just another thing I got to take a 47 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:00.919 note on. It was very, very impressed at the longevity of our own 48 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:05.319 footprints when they're deep, and these sunk in probably four to six inches at 49 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:07.439 the time, and they're still there. They're still there. They're not real 50 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:12.719 clear, but they were clearly that my own footprints are Nico's footprints. I'm 51 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:15.800 not sure who's, but I thought that was interesting. It's not directly Sasquatch 52 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:20.080 related, but I think it is a valuable information for people like myself who 53 00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:23.840 are out there looking for footprints in the ground to try to remember it's like, 54 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:25.199 well, you know, other things could be there. You know, 55 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:29.280 you have to kind of think about who's been there recently, and also who's 56 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:31.159 been there five months ago, three minles. What is it's November now, 57 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:35.919 So June, July, August, September, October, November, five months 58 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.159 have passed, four or five months have passed, and my footprints are still 59 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:43.000 visible there. I love going to the same places over and over to see 60 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:46.039 how like how long it takes something to degree, because it just gives you 61 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:49.599 more info from when you're out tracking, you know, a similar situation you're 62 00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:52.039 looking at, Well, how do you think those are you doing? It's 63 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:57.159 like they got just more things you can draw on. Yeah, that's about 64 00:03:57.159 --> 00:03:59.800 it. Looking forward to CRYPTIDCN next weekend, by the way, Yeah, 65 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:01.800 the preepy people management stuff, A lot of good people are going to be 66 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:04.800 there. It's it's going to be a fun, fun job. Melissa's coming 67 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.560 out with me, so that's going to be a lot of fun as well. 68 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:10.719 Got a great house sitter for Sochi, so I'm excited about that as 69 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:15.120 well. But yeah, look looking forward to doing that, seeing some old 70 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:16.879 friends and all that sort of stuff. I spoke to Tom Shaye for a 71 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:20.519 while today. There's always interesting things going on in Tom Shay's environment. But 72 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:24.240 he's going to bring a thing or two to help me with some work. 73 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:28.839 I'm doing some a footprint that I'm kind of look. I'm looking next year, 74 00:04:28.839 --> 00:04:30.519 I'm going to revamp my presentation. I think I'm going to be doing 75 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:34.160 something on hand casts because there's been a four or five years since I've done 76 00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:38.000 something on that. There's a lot of new information going on with hands, 77 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:41.399 so I'd like to focus on hands for next year. So Tom Shay is 78 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:43.399 going to help me out with a couple of things that he's going to bring 79 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:46.199 from his collection anyway, So that's what's going on. Man. I'm just 80 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:47.959 kind of rambling about bigfoot stuff, but that's what I do. But enough 81 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.120 about me, man, what's up. I'm just excited about the guests we 82 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:54.959 got coming on today. I know this is going to be a good one, 83 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:58.360 because this is this guy. Man. I've had the pleasure of meeting 84 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:00.759 Chester several times now. I don't know, I don't think I know him 85 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:03.600 well enough. We haven't interacted enough to say like we're friends when we hang 86 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:06.000 out, but like, he's great. I love the guy. Every time 87 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.639 I talk to him, I learned some cool stuff. But the thing here 88 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.120 with me which makes me excited about having Chester on is that I've heard about 89 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:18.720 Chester for years and years and years and years long before I met him. 90 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:24.600 You know, he is kind of this this like this mainstay in cryptozoology in 91 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:27.240 general, and it is absolutely a pleasure to be able to have him on 92 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:29.319 finally. I don't know why we didn't think of it this sooner. Honestly, 93 00:05:29.959 --> 00:05:31.879 he's a naturalist. I mean he wrote for like hunting magazines, outdoor 94 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:35.160 magazines. He's like a real naturalist. He knows what he's talking about, 95 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.680 Like he really knows how it avery down in Texas where he's from. I 96 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:44.120 mean, he's good, dudes, smart, he's you know, he's got 97 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:47.319 good ethics, good morals and smart, you know, so he knows what 98 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:50.279 he's doing, he knows what he's looking at and he can explain it. 99 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:53.439 Yeah, so with that, I think we should just bring him on. 100 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:58.120 Man, ladies and gentlemen, meet Chester more longtime cryptosologists and all around rad 101 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:00.360 dude, finally making this a hear ands on Bigfoot and beyond. Chester. 102 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:04.199 Thanks so much for coming on the show with us. Greetings from the mosquito 103 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:09.279 infested swamps of southeast Texas. It's an honor and privilege and beyond with you 104 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:12.759 guys, all right, you know, honor and privilege is all ours, 105 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:15.240 my friend. Thank you so much for making some time for us. And 106 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:17.240 I'd be fun to talk with you guys much less get out there and you 107 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:19.920 know, be able to communicate with the people listening to the program and all 108 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:26.959 of our shared collective love all things wild and mysterious. Yeah, absolutely so. 109 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:32.079 Ye mean you you are like this renaissance man of cryptozoology, because you 110 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:35.759 know, there's a few other people in the field that kind of represent what 111 00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:39.160 you do, but in a different way. Like I'd say, Lauren Coleman 112 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:43.720 is probably up there because he has such a huge, varied interest in various 113 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:46.360 critters all over the world. You know, Ken Gerhart comes to mind because 114 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:50.040 he's a generalist. Boys, Texas. Yeah, exactly, and you are 115 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:54.680 one of these because you have your fingers in everything pretty much. I mean, 116 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:58.000 Bigfoot is just one little sliver of the pie that you serve yourself every 117 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.600 single day. Is there anything that you're you're not interested in? I don't 118 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:05.000 know, man, you know, it's just I love nature. I mean, 119 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:09.720 I think I came out of the womb of nature fanatic, grew up 120 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:14.480 hunting and fishing and learning about conservation and watching like Mutual Omaha's Wild Kingdom and 121 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:18.720 Jacques Cousteau specials, and you know, at that time, the Patterson Gimlin 122 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:25.639 stuff was everywhere in the seventies on shows, and saw our Argacy magazine, 123 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.439 and then I saw the legend of Boggie Creek when I was six, and 124 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:31.439 that kind of just set the idea that there are mysteries in nature. And 125 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:33.800 then, of course, growing up in the South, you can't help but 126 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:38.959 hear about black panthers and giant catfish below dams and all kinds of stuff. 127 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:43.160 And pursuing a wildlife journalism career, which I've been blessed to be doing since 128 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:46.639 I was nineteen, writing about you know, quote unquote mainstream wildlife stuff. 129 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:51.160 Then to me, like looking into the mysteries was just a natural thing because 130 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:57.439 you go to a hunting camp, these topics pop up and it's it's just 131 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:01.680 a natural extension what I do. And I'm so dang cureusius guys. Well, 132 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:05.040 I think that's one of the commonalities of all bigfooters for the most part, 133 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:09.040 is that we have this undying curiosity about this thing, you know, 134 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:13.720 and sometimes it's focused on one animal. Sometimes it's like you you're a generalist 135 00:08:13.879 --> 00:08:18.199 all sorts of unknown mysteries, because to engage in nature is really literally to 136 00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:22.279 engage in the mystery, no doubt about it. So do you remember your 137 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:26.079 first cryptid hunt? So to speak? I know, I know that I 138 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:28.399 don't want to only focus on cryptids in this conversation, of course, but 139 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.959 you know, our audience is largely bigfooters and all that sort of stuff, 140 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.759 so we'll start there. Yeah, there's lots of normal animals around, but 141 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:37.960 like, and I'm sure a lot of these other cryptids are normal animals as 142 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:43.279 well. But do you remember the first time that you took a cryptid seriously 143 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:46.440 enough to actually mount some sort of expedition. It doesn't have to be professional 144 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:50.440 level or anything. To go look for evidence or perhaps citing of those animals. 145 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:54.919 Yeah, I mean it's something that's been proven to sort of be back 146 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.360 out in the wild, and that is the red wolf here in southeast Texas 147 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:03.600 and southwest Louisiana, to cleared extinct in the wild in nineteen eighty only lived 148 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:07.600 in zoos in a little population they restocked from fourteen animals they captured over in 149 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:13.240 like North Carolina. But people kept seeing them. And my first ever published 150 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:20.279 story was an investigation I did of a red wolf sighting and I saw myself. 151 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:24.200 I saw and I wrote Texas Parks and Wildlife when I was a junior 152 00:09:24.200 --> 00:09:28.600 in high school about this sighting, and a very kind biologist normally they blow 153 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:31.639 you off about stuff like that people but said there were probably animals still with 154 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:37.279 some red wolf DNA. The problem was hybridizing with coyotes. And the first 155 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:39.960 thing I ever did like that was red wolves. And then I got to 156 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:43.120 break the story in twenty eighteen when they found there was red wolf DNA still 157 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:46.039 existing here, So that was like coming full circle on that one. We 158 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:50.000 heard the red wolves when we were in Louisiana. That's what they told us 159 00:09:50.039 --> 00:09:54.320 they were. They're definitely still wolf. The funny thing is they call them 160 00:09:54.320 --> 00:10:00.080 now, some of the biologists call them non coyote canids. And I remember 161 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:03.120 running a picture of when I got on a trail cam in a newspaper when 162 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:07.120 I wrote for newspapers and running and they said, oh, it's a biologist's 163 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.720 emails that possibly there's no way that's a red wolf. It's got to be 164 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:13.960 a coyote because it has coyote blood in it. And my reply was, 165 00:10:13.399 --> 00:10:16.480 if it can't be a red wolf because it has coyote blood, how could 166 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:20.200 it be a coyote that has red wolf blood? And that's kind of the 167 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.039 struggle you always have as some of the official while well, that was the 168 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:28.000 first thing that would be on the mysterious side of that. And then like 169 00:10:28.039 --> 00:10:33.960 in nineteen ninety nine, my cousins had an encounter with something they thought was 170 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:39.360 a mountain lion in East Texas, giving this crazy vocalization and scared him to 171 00:10:39.399 --> 00:10:41.360 death. And I went out in the woods with them, and that was 172 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:45.799 probably the first thing that I could do to be tied into Bigfoot. How 173 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:50.240 So, so I go out there with him the next night and my one 174 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:52.840 cousin's you know, like a live wire man. He's always you know, 175 00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:56.480 he's real keyed up, and the other guys very calm, and the calm 176 00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:00.639 one. I shine this light down in this creek butt and I'm about to 177 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.320 say I think there's a deer down there. I saw like eyes shining, 178 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:07.120 and he just takes a Ruger ten twenty two of the thirty round clip and 179 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:09.399 just fires it, and he's going crazy, and I'm like, dude, 180 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:13.519 what are you doing? He goes after what we heard last night, I 181 00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:16.879 know, a human's eyes don't glow. Everything else is getting shot, and 182 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:20.679 I'm like, he had a real encounter with something. And then did I 183 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:22.919 don't make any noise he shot at? Did he hit anything? He was 184 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.080 just going crazy. It was like his Ramble moment. He was genuinely freaked 185 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:31.080 out because of the vocalization. But dial this back to me. That was 186 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:33.919 nineteen ninety nine. Let's go back to nineteen eighty four when I was like 187 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:37.440 ten, Me and my dad and my uncle and aunt were rabbit hunting on 188 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:43.639 the same property and this thing growled at us for like five minutes. And 189 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:46.759 my uncle, who was a marine sixty eight sixty nine of my dad both 190 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:50.799 vets, both armed with twelve ages, got out of dodge and I remember 191 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.600 asking Daddy what was that. He goes on, Uncle Bill's bulls must have 192 00:11:54.600 --> 00:11:56.840 been hung up in the fence, and I said, let's go help it. 193 00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:01.879 And I'm trying to my dad and then he said it must be a 194 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.399 bear, because sometimes bears would come back into East Texas from Louisiana. And 195 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:09.480 then me and him later on had the same kind of vocalization. And the 196 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:13.440 closest thing I can tell you this is the Sierra Sounds very close to some 197 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:18.879 of the Sierra Sound stuff, and that's basically what my cousins heard. And 198 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:22.320 then that kind of went into some early research that I did out there in 199 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:24.919 Newton County, Texas and stuff like that. So it just it just kind 200 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:28.000 of started talking to people. They started talking about footprints, they started talking 201 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.240 about sightings and stuff. So that all kind of began right there with that 202 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:37.440 report. Very interesting so is that that location has a long history of encounters 203 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:41.000 as well. Well. What we heard, I don't know. I can't 204 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:45.159 say what I heard because I didn't see it making the vocalization, but some 205 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:50.600 of the sounds on the Sierra Sounds were that noise there not the chatter stuff 206 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:52.399 here, but like the guttural stuff, it was definitely the same kind of 207 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:56.159 tone. And when I played him that later on, they said that's what 208 00:12:56.200 --> 00:12:58.240 they heard as well, and that was just an area that's had a you 209 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:01.519 know, as I come to find out, a ton of activity over the 210 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:05.679 years. But you know, bigfoot is a word you used at the time, 211 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:09.919 mainly in the Pacific Northwest. And you said bigfoot to people. They 212 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:13.360 kind of looked at you, and I said, you ever see anything weird? 213 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:15.840 And I remember a guy saying, I don't know about no bigfoot, 214 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.240 but one of my buddies saw a booger down by the Sabine River. And 215 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.960 so what did this booger look like? Well, he had some coyotes had 216 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:24.600 become up to his garbage can at night, and he went out there for 217 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:26.480 the twenty two and one night to shoot the coyotes and this thing stand up 218 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.360 about seven foot tall behind the garbage can. It runs off down toward the 219 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:33.080 river. Because that was a booger. So you know. Then, of 220 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:37.919 course, the media Bigfoot's now known to be all around the country reports of 221 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:41.120 them so sometimes and back in the day it was almost like just ask people 222 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:46.240 if you see anything strange that kind of stuff. Yeah, especially not in 223 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:50.360 the Pacidic Northwest. Yeah, if you're on the Pacific Northwest, saying hear 224 00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:52.759 anything weird? Do you ever see anything weird? You ever hear you know? 225 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:58.120 Like that comes off a lot better than have you seen Bigfoot? Yeah? 226 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:01.360 Yeah? Yeah, And people talk, So that was that was an 227 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:03.360 interesting learning curve for me, just talking to people and saying, hey, 228 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:07.240 seeing things strange, anything weird, anything unusual, And a lot of times 229 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:13.679 they would have her story and it was often pretty compelling stuff. Stay tuned 230 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:18.679 for more Bigfoot and Beyond with Cliff and Bogo. We'll be right back after 231 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:28.159 these messages. Now, is that how you get most of the leads on 232 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:30.799 various things to follow up on? Is just talking to people? Or do 233 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:35.679 you do you look for like printed accounts or how do you go about choosing 234 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:37.840 either it could be a Bigfoot thing or could be you know, ivor rebuild 235 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:41.639 wood woodpecker. It doesn't matter, like, how do you get the leads 236 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:46.159 or is there so such a variety of ways that you can't even narrow one 237 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:50.320 down. It's a great question, Like I really don't do sasquatch research anymore. 238 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.840 My only sasquatch stuff of do anymore is taking kids facing special challenges on 239 00:14:54.039 --> 00:14:58.879 like terminal illness on expeditions. That's kind of my sasquatch stuff I do now. 240 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.200 But the other stuff, and going back to when I first started, 241 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:05.519 was I would often just put something out in the media. You know, 242 00:15:05.559 --> 00:15:07.759 that would be my starting point, because you know, if I have a 243 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:11.240 chance to be published in front of one hundred thousand people or whatever and say, 244 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.600 hey, you know, any reports of X, Y and Z or 245 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:18.240 whatever that would help. Now you do that, you get a lot of 246 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:20.159 game camera photos and videos, which is wonderful. I've been doing a lot 247 00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:24.399 of that with cat stuff lately. And I would also look at a lot 248 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:26.480 of stuff. Used to go back to the library a lot and look at 249 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:30.759 old books and look at old microfilm and stuff like that, and just try 250 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:35.440 to find historical database of like you know, in patterns. I'm a journalist, 251 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:37.480 so I look for patterns. You know. I would see, like, 252 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:39.759 you know, there's this weird report over here, there's this history of 253 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:43.159 these large cats being seen a certain ear that not supposed to be. That's 254 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:48.840 usually a pretty good spot to go into. And then you start interviewing people. 255 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:50.799 I really like the one on one part of sitting down with someone interviewing 256 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:54.279 them. You know, that really helps a lot. And so it's you 257 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:58.200 know, it's all of the above pretty much. But now a lot of 258 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.600 the stuff comes to me, so well, I get more stuff than I 259 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:04.080 can handle sometimes to look into, you know, because people know I do 260 00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:07.279 this stuff, and I'm in a lot of different publications and podcasts, so 261 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:11.440 I get a lot of just reports of different stuffs into me, which is 262 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:15.279 great. What's your favorite thing to look into? At this point, I'm 263 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:19.039 really into the cat stuff, like because of some kind of discoveries that I've 264 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:25.639 made in this regard. You know, the black panther phenomenon in America is 265 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:29.919 really intriguing. And what's interesting about it, of course, you know the 266 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:34.840 black cat people see in a television show or a zoo or either melanistic jaguars 267 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:40.840 or melanistic leopards or usually leopards, and of course jaguars are native originally into 268 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:44.320 the US, but you know, there's very few that come across the border. 269 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:49.159 But people see these black cats everywhere, and that's an interesting one. 270 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:53.440 But also people about five years ago, I would get reports people thinking they 271 00:16:53.480 --> 00:17:00.600 saw ocelots and servals and margays and stuff like in Oklahoma, Arkansas and places 272 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:04.920 like that. And it really opened up sort of Pandora's box to like what 273 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:08.759 was really going on out there in this cat industry because I kind of discovered 274 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.720 a few things that like made perfect sense, but it was hard to get 275 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:15.279 to that point that makes any sense, you know. Well, so like, 276 00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:18.960 for example, what like what was so shocking and that you it took 277 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.640 a while for you to come up upon. Well, I'll give you a 278 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:25.319 prime example. You know, I was getting quite a few people saying they 279 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:30.599 saw a cat that looked like an ocelot, And an ocelot is native to 280 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:34.079 the southern portion stream southern Texas, but there's only a handful there, very 281 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:38.079 common in parts of Mexico, Belize and stuff like that. And people would 282 00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:42.000 also use the word serval or some kind of large spotting cat with a long 283 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.319 tail, and there was a lot of reports. Well, four or five 284 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.319 years ago, I started getting you know, cell phone pictures, which usually 285 00:17:48.359 --> 00:17:52.799 aren't that good, but game cam photos are, and I got one from 286 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:56.279 San Patricio, Texas, and I looked at this particular shot and my first 287 00:17:56.359 --> 00:18:00.200 thought was, this is about one hundred miles north of no Oscalot range and 288 00:18:00.200 --> 00:18:03.599 they're not known to be a migratory cat. And I went, man, 289 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:07.400 that looks like an oscalot. Then I sort of cropping and zooming in and 290 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:11.799 went, that's a Bengal cat. What a Bengal cat? So I have 291 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:17.440 three bingle cats about fifty yards from me at our facility here the Kingdom's Wildlife 292 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:23.519 Center. They are a registerable domestic cat that were originally hybridized with an Asian 293 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:30.200 leopard cat. An Asian leopard cat basically is an osalot from like Oceania, 294 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.920 okay, And they're beautiful cats. They're about the size of a bobcat or 295 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:40.279 an osalot. But they bred them into a domestic tabi cat, and they 296 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:44.079 made a domestic hybrid that has a lot of different kind of patterns, but 297 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:48.799 a lot of them have the pattern like an ocelot or an Asian leopard cat. 298 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:52.599 People wouldn't know the difference they saw them. And there are tens of 299 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:56.440 thousands of these in America and a lot of them are going feral now and 300 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.640 they survive really well because they have a little more wild ends thincts. I 301 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:04.400 have purity and purity we've had for seven years. And she is a little 302 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:07.440 for a Bengal. She's small, and she's what they call a snow leopard 303 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:11.640 pattern. She has basically the ocelot looking pattern, but she's white and gray. 304 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:17.039 It has blue eyes, and she can probably get her back feet about 305 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:21.079 seven feet in the air. I mean very agile animals and people. They 306 00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:25.680 look like a wildcat, and so people these things are getting feral and going 307 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:27.440 on out there, and people are seeing a lot of stuff there. They're 308 00:19:27.519 --> 00:19:32.799 right, that's not normally supposed to be there, but they're seeing some of 309 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:36.599 these domestic and designer cats done feral. Is there a name for that? 310 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:38.839 I mean, cryptosology is a studyed by known animals having discovered Is there a 311 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:42.759 name for the study or looking at looking at the mysteries of animals that are 312 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:48.039 known or domesticated and then escaped. Well, you know what, I coined 313 00:19:48.039 --> 00:19:52.119 the phrase about twenty years ago. I just started using it like my own 314 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:55.640 writings and stuff. Known cryptids. In other words, it's something that we 315 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:57.720 know there, it's just not supposed to be where it's at, you know, 316 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:00.680 or you know that that kind of thing, And this is a prime 317 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:04.680 example, and it's integrating into the wild, and there's wild populations. There's 318 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.440 also one we're starting to see now, and that is the Savannah cat, 319 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:12.640 which was hybridized with a beautiful cat called an African serval. And there are 320 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:18.079 some f one hybrids out there that are fifty percent served to look almost one 321 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:21.240 hundred percent served. They're very harder to sing, there's the difference, and 322 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:26.119 they can. They're very agile. They're pretty tall cats. And this stuff 323 00:20:26.200 --> 00:20:30.160 is running around the wilds of America everywhere. And you know, one of 324 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:34.279 my things, guys, is always hated it when someone is very sincere calls 325 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:38.079 a fishing game department or calls a game warden or something and they give a 326 00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:41.400 genuine reporter seeing something like a mountain lion and an area not supposed to be 327 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:45.200 and they get made fun of, right, And I like to let I 328 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:48.759 like to put information out there to let people know, Hey, I'm not 329 00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.519 gonna make funny for what you report. Let's look at what's really going on 330 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:55.799 out there. Not everyone is a wildlife expert, you know, Yeah, 331 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:57.720 but you actually know a lot about it this stuff, and you've been around 332 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:02.400 these animals because you're employed. You have a lot of experience, of course, 333 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.119 over all these years, and I think that's one of the biggest hurdle 334 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:08.279 hurdles, especially you know, long before safe Finding Bigfoot or something like that, 335 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:11.880 people thought they'd be laughed at for reporting a sasquatch sighting. So many 336 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:15.839 of them kind of clammed up. And it still happens today, of course, 337 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:18.880 But people who see things that are unexpected in places where things should not 338 00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:23.079 be oftentimes don't share that story. It's kind of locally known only, I 339 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:26.440 suppose. Yeah, it kind of like, you know, it's like a 340 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.279 shame thing really comes down on people and they don't want to share it or 341 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:33.960 maybe for their profession's sake or whatever's going on, you know, And it's 342 00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:37.039 like the black panther reports. I know, people have been berated for reporting 343 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:41.319 that, and that's that's the one that really gets people's attention. There's a 344 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:45.119 lot of controversy over it, you know, and that's one I think probably 345 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:49.240 has like three to four answers for what the phenomenon is. Well, you 346 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:53.200 know, every Bobo and I have both seen those, and I can say 347 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:57.319 with confidence that the one that I saw was a melanistic mountain lion. That's 348 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:03.640 really crazy because there's never been one observed, never one born in captivity brought 349 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:07.960 to a taxidermis. So that's that's a really interesting thing to you know, 350 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:11.000 to be part of that phenomenon. And that's part of you know, my 351 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:15.160 four or five answers is that the possibility of melanisteques. Was it in Pacific 352 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:19.240 Northwest? No, it's an Illinois actually, yeah. And then the reason 353 00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:22.480 I say with confidence it was a it was a mountain line. And of 354 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:25.519 course yeah, I'm I'm I can say it with confidence and still be wrong, 355 00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:26.599 by the way, whatever that's worth. I don't care about being wrong. 356 00:22:27.400 --> 00:22:30.519 But hill it was. I thought it was a German shepherd at first, 357 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:33.640 like one of those dark gray German shepherds, but it had a black 358 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:37.880 cap on its tail, like a mountain lion does, and it also had 359 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:41.720 black tips on its ears, and then I thought it was black. But 360 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:45.960 when I saw those those markings, I realized that it was a dark, 361 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:52.440 dark, charcoal gray. Yeah, and that makes perfect sense. Like h 362 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:56.920 in captive populations, I've seen some that were almost chocolate color, you know, 363 00:22:56.160 --> 00:23:00.200 like real chocolate, like the Jaguar Rundy, which is a cat I 364 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:06.160 believe was responsible for some of the black panther sightings. They are not really 365 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.440 black, but they're real dark gray, and if you don't have it in 366 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:11.880 the right light, they look solid black. You see them in sunlight, 367 00:23:11.880 --> 00:23:15.160 they kind of look more like they're like a slate colored gray. You know. 368 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:18.240 Oh, maybe that's what I saw then. But it was quite large. 369 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:21.400 It is larger than a a like a big german shepherd, Like I 370 00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:23.319 said, definitely, if you anything bigger than german shepherd, I mean that's 371 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:26.559 that would definitely be more into like you're you know, either like a melanistic 372 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:33.759 cougar or potentially a melanistic jaguar, but which is crazy into its own thing 373 00:23:33.799 --> 00:23:37.240 to talk about that. And but you know, a lot of these people 374 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:41.799 are sending photos of Almost all the ones I've seen are domestic house cats. 375 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:47.759 I saw a black mountain lion in northern California, like broad daylight, just 376 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:51.880 trot across the road, dirt road, just trying to right right across. 377 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:56.559 And it was I know exactly what jaguars and leopards look like a mountain. 378 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:00.240 I've seen tons of mountain lions and do this thing was not a jaguar or 379 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:04.119 not it was a mountain lion, just the whole bill to tail everything. 380 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.680 Well, I'm hoping someone gets one of these on a really good trail cam. 381 00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:12.759 There's a white one captured on trail cam in Brazil which was amazing, 382 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:17.119 have blue eyes. And there was white ones born in the zoo in Belgium 383 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:21.160 as well, which was really cool. There's a picture was floating around for 384 00:24:21.160 --> 00:24:25.960 a long time from Costa Rica back in the fifties of a really black and 385 00:24:25.960 --> 00:24:30.799 white, really really dark at least a very dark brown one. And so 386 00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:34.960 it's interesting, you know, there's all these different things and people are seeing 387 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:38.559 something and I think with the black panther thing, I think people are seeing 388 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:45.519 but I actually think there's potential for some of these feral cat populations to be 389 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:52.559 producing gigantic feral cats, like not cougar size, but you know, thirty 390 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:57.000 forty pound cats. There's some evidence of that in feral cats in Australia that 391 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:00.559 they're getting really big in the wild. Did they found did they find one 392 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:04.279 that was like seventy two pounds or something? They found some really I don't 393 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.799 have the dead in front of it. They were like they were like hues 394 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:11.240 bigger than a lynks size, you know, like big yeah, yeah, 395 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:15.079 but the big long tailed faral cats. And I have a few photos that 396 00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:19.000 in my collection of black cats from Texas that you look at him, that 397 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:25.119 is a faral basically a faral cat, but there's a way longer tail than 398 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:27.960 normal and a different build and a big, stocky build. I got one 399 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:32.559 of my own game camp right in front of a little hog trap I had 400 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:36.640 set out. Wasn't expecting it. But so there's a lot of weird stuff 401 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:38.319 out there. And that's why the cat thing is so intriguing to me, 402 00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:44.440 because there's so many things. And you guys have two incredible reports to potentially 403 00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:48.440 black mountain lions. And then I have a friend of mine who goes exploring 404 00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:52.559 caves in Texas and before he gets to some of these caves, he takes 405 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.640 it's on top of the cave and takes a rock and throws it in because 406 00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:57.400 there's so many faral hogs. Now, he doesn't want to go into a 407 00:25:57.400 --> 00:26:02.119 tight quarter with a faral hog. Right, he threw a rock inside one 408 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.240 of these he's and he used to work at a cat sanctuary, and this 409 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:11.200 huge black cat came out grunting a real guttural grunt that a jaguar does when 410 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:12.880 it ran out and it was solid black. So there's like stuff like that 411 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.440 out there too. So to me, that's always been an intriguing one because 412 00:26:17.480 --> 00:26:19.000 it seems to be, like you said, at Illinois, Cliff, and 413 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:22.119 then Bobo, you had California. I got stuff in Texas and Louisiana. 414 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:25.880 So it's kind of like everywhere. Kind of like the Bigfoot thing, it's 415 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:29.079 everywhere. There's a lot of different answers maybe to what people are seeing. 416 00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:33.799 Stay tuned for more Bigfoot and beyond with Cliff and Bogo will be right back 417 00:26:33.839 --> 00:26:44.799 after these messages. But you know, one of the things that I think, 418 00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:47.640 I read here's and here's and years ago that you were looking into and 419 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:48.759 I said, and wow, that's really cool, and it's also a little 420 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:52.920 scary to me. But then again, I'm kind of scared of weird things. 421 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:55.680 Like the giant ape man thing doesn't bother me at all, but other 422 00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:57.160 things scare me for some reason. And one of the things that I heard 423 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:00.119 you were doing, and I don't know if I've ever spoken to you about 424 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.920 this or not, you were diving to go look for giant catfish weren't you. 425 00:27:04.519 --> 00:27:08.039 Yes, And that has been a that was a fun project. It 426 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:11.480 was about a two to three year investigation that I conducted. It was from 427 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:15.640 like two thousand and three to like two thousand and six, sometimes somewhere in 428 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:21.160 there. And what could happened was for years I would hear, since I 429 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:23.200 was a little kid, here reports of like, you know, the divers 430 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:26.960 don't want to go below Toledo Ben Dam because they were down there working on 431 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:30.319 the dam and these catfish the size of a Volkswagen came up and they were 432 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:33.640 terrified, and it was you would hear these all the time. Yeah, 433 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:37.319 that's scares the hell out of me. Did you ever hear it firsthand though, 434 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:40.039 from something that actually was a diver there? No, No. I 435 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:42.119 asked and I asked and I asked, and I've never gotten the first hand 436 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:47.480 report. But what was interesting, this is the interesting part, is when 437 00:27:47.480 --> 00:27:53.200 I made me decide to do it, was the world record catfish was caught 438 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:57.599 in two thousand and five in text at Lake Texolma on the Texas Oklahoma border. 439 00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:00.880 And it was caught in the winter and it was weighed one hundred and 440 00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:03.839 thirty pounds. It was a blue cat well what about the six hundred pounders 441 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:07.400 of Vietnam. I'm going to tell you about some one hundred and fifty two 442 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:11.839 hundred pounders in Spain in a minute. But this was the biggest nome catfish 443 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:17.000 in America and they kept it live. They wrapped it in the tarka in 444 00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:18.599 the winter, and it stayed alive, and they kept it in this aquarium 445 00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:23.599 for two years. I got to go dive with it, and I talked 446 00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:27.279 them into letting me go dive with it and having a photographer on the outside 447 00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:30.799 and me with my camera on the inside to get perspective of what seeing. 448 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:36.039 The largest nome catfish in America was sitting in front of me. Now, 449 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:38.000 now, before you go on, I want to try to picture this because 450 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:41.680 you said the weight, what'd you say? One hundred and pounds, hundred 451 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:44.839 thirty pounds about six feet long. Yeah, that's why I want to get 452 00:28:44.839 --> 00:28:48.559 to like how big is one hundred and thirty pound catfish? It was about 453 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:51.400 probably five and a half six feet long, was really fat, huge, 454 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:56.119 bigger round catfish. And they gave me some rainbow trout and koi in a 455 00:28:56.160 --> 00:29:00.920 little bag to feed it. Because the divers are trying to start feeding, 456 00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:03.440 and I got to eat that catfish to get out of my hand twice. 457 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:07.680 Got a great photo. And I got this idea because when I was down 458 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:10.559 there, I was trying to keep a rational perspective as you're sticking your hand 459 00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:12.960 out like an idiot to feed a six foot long catfish, right, And 460 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:18.599 this thing swims up to me and gently took it. But looking through my 461 00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:21.759 you know, my goggles, I'm looking at this fish through the water. 462 00:29:22.119 --> 00:29:23.640 This thing looked like it weighed three hundred pounds. You know, it was 463 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:29.480 monstrous up on top of me. So I thought, well, maybe the 464 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:34.160 origin of this could be murky water divers see a catfish of this size or 465 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:37.240 bigger. And that kind of started story. So what I did is me 466 00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:41.160 and Ken Gearhart. I got Ken to go with me on my friend Zero 467 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:48.920 Burley on ba Steinhagen Reservoir. We weren't able to because this was after nine 468 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:52.160 to eleven, to get below the damn access, but we got in the 469 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:56.680 deep hole north of the damn spillway and I took a rope. I wasn't 470 00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:59.079 going to have free dives are pretty deep, and I took a rope and 471 00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:02.359 a tether and led my myself down to the bottom of the water to get 472 00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:04.519 an idea because it was kind of standard water conditions there and I could see 473 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:10.119 about six inches in front of me, and only fish I got to see 474 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:12.039 on that trip were like light mass came by me and they had to be 475 00:30:12.119 --> 00:30:15.440 right by my mask for me to see them. But it was it was 476 00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:18.440 an idea of like immersing myself in these murky southern reservoirs, you know. 477 00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:22.640 But the coolest part came is when I went to Spain in two thousand and 478 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:26.720 five, me and my wife Lisa. I had signed a deal with Magic 479 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:30.720 Circle Records with my good friend Eric Adam, the singer of man O War, 480 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:33.920 and we released the Hunting and Fishing DVD around the world and I got 481 00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:37.119 to go speak in Germany at their fan convention. And so we went to 482 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:42.119 Spain to the Segra River to fish for Wells catfish, which is a giant 483 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:48.000 European catfish, in the same stretch of river that Jeremy Wade did for river 484 00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:52.119 monsters. And I actually talked to Jeremy and got a recommendation where to go 485 00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:56.319 because I interviewed him and we both caught six and a half seven we could 486 00:30:56.359 --> 00:31:00.079 both caught seven footers and I caught a six footer as well. But my 487 00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:02.880 guide, his name was Aid. He had his shirt off, was in 488 00:31:02.920 --> 00:31:06.119 the summer, and on the back he had this big, giant round scar 489 00:31:06.279 --> 00:31:07.880 and I said, what is that from me? He goes, well, 490 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:10.400 I went into the water to get one of the catfish for the anglers and 491 00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:12.799 the wrestler to the bank, and I slipped and it attacked me. And 492 00:31:12.839 --> 00:31:17.640 then he looked at me and told me, he goes the divers on these 493 00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:22.759 reservoirs when they work on the dam going a shark cage. Because the wells 494 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:25.720 mess with all of their dive, their mask and their BC's and all that 495 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:30.000 stuff. I'd be scary as hell. Dude. That freaked me out, 496 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:33.160 man. And you know those wells, we know they get ten feet. 497 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:36.480 The ones we caught were seven, the biggest ones, and they weighed about 498 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:38.279 one sixty at the time. He said, in the winter, those fish 499 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:42.279 would have been probably one ninety two hundred, so monster fish. And so 500 00:31:42.359 --> 00:31:47.640 that was kind of my look at the giant catfish phenomenon. You had reports, 501 00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:52.359 but never the guy who saw as always somebody's uncle's, sister's, cousin's 502 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:55.400 former roommate. You know, I'll tell you that the thing that scares me 503 00:31:55.480 --> 00:31:57.680 the most about it because I'm an a quarrest. I've always had aquariums since 504 00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:00.799 I was a teenager. I still do today, and I you know, 505 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:05.559 so I've gone through my phases. I like nice pieceful mellow fish now, 506 00:32:05.559 --> 00:32:07.680 but I've always I've had oscars, and I've had peacock bass. I've had 507 00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:12.039 all sorts of things in my thanks over the years. And catfish, the 508 00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:15.000 red tailed catfish, for example, is a nice specimen. They can swallow 509 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:21.640 things that are way too big for any reasonable catfish to swallow. And if 510 00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:23.400 they can't swallow it, they'll certainly try. And I just kept thinking, 511 00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:27.880 like someone your size, you know, of going down to deal with these, 512 00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:30.119 a fish your size or a little even smaller would try to eat you, 513 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:36.000 would try to engulf you whole. And that's to me, just seems 514 00:32:36.039 --> 00:32:37.960 like a bad way to go. Well, I saw the guys scar it 515 00:32:38.039 --> 00:32:40.759 looked when that guy said that, I mean, I could see the sky. 516 00:32:40.839 --> 00:32:45.559 It was a round catfish from out shaped scarleway across his back. How 517 00:32:45.559 --> 00:32:49.920 big, like how many how many inches would you guess about like across the 518 00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:54.440 wound. Yeah, it's probably fifteen sixteen inches across. Oh a shark. 519 00:32:54.519 --> 00:32:58.160 But yeah it was big. I mean the ones we caught. I got 520 00:32:58.200 --> 00:33:00.039 pictures of me with the biggest one I caught the out there online, and 521 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:04.480 I mean they're massive. They could swallow. You know, there are guys 522 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:07.319 out there that use twenty pound cart for bait for these things. You know, 523 00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:09.640 they're huge. So you got to thinking about, like, you know, 524 00:33:09.720 --> 00:33:14.160 I could see that happening in Spain and in America. My conclusion was 525 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:19.839 that probably just kind of urban legends started with people seeing something that was of 526 00:33:20.039 --> 00:33:22.559 record size or something like that. I don't think there are any, you 527 00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:27.680 know, eight hundred pound catfish in America, but there could be some that 528 00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:30.440 are quite a bit bigger than the world record that just never came in. 529 00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:34.039 If you ran into one of those suckers and you know, murky water with 530 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:37.480 a dive mask on it fifty feet, that would freak you out pretty bad. 531 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:39.480 Oh yeah, and the water has a tendency. I've done my first 532 00:33:39.480 --> 00:33:43.359 share of snorkeling and stuff. Though. The water has a tendency to magnify 533 00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:45.680 the size of everything in it. Yeah, it does. And so that's 534 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:49.640 why I wanted to go to experiment with the biggest known blue catfish at the 535 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:52.160 time in America. So that was kind of a fun, little little adventure. 536 00:33:52.279 --> 00:33:54.000 And you know, the great thing about a lot of this, it 537 00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:58.680 always gets when you do these media projects like that, It gets people talking 538 00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:01.079 about nature and wildlife consents and stuff. That's always been a very important thing 539 00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:05.000 to me. You know, we know along those lines. Aren't you intimately 540 00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:08.199 involved in this the ivory build woodpecker thing. I did a lot early on 541 00:34:08.280 --> 00:34:15.519 with the Ivory bild woodpecker search. Our area was very much kind of a 542 00:34:15.559 --> 00:34:21.760 hotbed of sightings from about two Iradius and me, and we went out a 543 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:24.119 lot. I got to go out and Sey Sports Topics in two thousand and 544 00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:29.440 two did a search and I got to go out with them for a you 545 00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:31.760 know, and their their search for a day or two. And the guy 546 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:37.559 who got the footage of the ivory bill in Arkansas a few years later, 547 00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:39.320 David Luno, was the guy I was in the field with. Yeah, 548 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:44.159 I spent a day with him in the Pearl River Wildlife Management area. Him 549 00:34:44.159 --> 00:34:46.320 and a guy named Martian Lambertink. He was a burder from I think the 550 00:34:46.440 --> 00:34:52.039 I think Belgium. But we had guys around here that were dedicated birders who 551 00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:55.199 just swore up and down. They would know a pilat woodpecker from an ivory 552 00:34:55.280 --> 00:35:00.000 build they saw ivy bills, and so we did quite a bit on it. 553 00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:02.119 And one of the coolest things was we were out there one day in 554 00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:09.039 an area they tended to make more of a an oval shape I think it 555 00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:14.320 was nesting, and they would rip bark off a tree, you know, 556 00:35:14.360 --> 00:35:16.400 like a rip it off, And there was an area they had a lot 557 00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:22.360 of that in there, and we saw this bird fly and in this dense 558 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:28.119 thicket on the Sabine River on the Texas Louisiana border, and we heard the 559 00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:31.159 tin horn sound that und of an ivory bill. I have never heard that 560 00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:36.440 sound since in nature, and we heard it and there was me and my 561 00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:38.760 dad and my friend Patrick Trumble all that same day. So I'm pretty sure 562 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:43.679 we had an ivory bill a woodpecker encounter. But what I do on ivory 563 00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.920 bills now is anytime I get a chance to talk about birding, I asked 564 00:35:46.920 --> 00:35:51.960 for people to submit reports and stuff like that kind of log and haven't had 565 00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:54.960 much activity on that recently, but a few years back, there was someone 566 00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:00.280 of the Big Thicket National Preserve that swore they saw a female ivory bill, 567 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:01.800 which looks different than the male. The male has the red crest, you 568 00:36:01.800 --> 00:36:06.039 know, and she's like black with a kind of line thing on her, 569 00:36:06.360 --> 00:36:08.519 which I thought was interesting. It's almost like someone would I can see a 570 00:36:08.599 --> 00:36:14.599 mistaking appiliated at a distance, but a female ivory bill is a pretty specific 571 00:36:14.679 --> 00:36:17.519 thing to say you saw. So we're still we're still probing stuff out there 572 00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:21.719 as well. On that. Did you see that a photo out of those 573 00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:23.760 photos out of Florida, of Florida couple, like maybe a year and a 574 00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:28.760 half ago, Yeah, look pretty interesting to me, man, I thought 575 00:36:28.760 --> 00:36:32.000 that they're pretty good. But I dealt a lot with I was dealing a 576 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.440 lot with that Zeis Sports Optics team back in the day. And then we 577 00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:38.960 would do our own stuff up here in all these areas because there's a lot 578 00:36:39.000 --> 00:36:45.079 of river bottoms up here that very few people ever go into. And you 579 00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:47.480 know, there was even talk that some of the I forget which First Nations 580 00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:51.519 tribe used to say they thought that the ivory bill traveled, They would move, 581 00:36:51.559 --> 00:36:53.679 they wouldn't stay in a spot very long. You know, and be 582 00:36:53.760 --> 00:36:57.639 in some of these dense bottom lands, So that makes sense if you had 583 00:36:57.639 --> 00:37:00.440 a low population, a few of them are moving around some music areas that 584 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:04.159 people would never fly under the radar literally, you know, some of the 585 00:37:04.199 --> 00:37:07.119 places you've mentioned about the Ivory Bille Alshards are known bigfoot locations as well. 586 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:10.480 No, dude, Pearl River. When I'm there, there was the Bigfoot 587 00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:15.119 Hunting Club sign on the way in, and it is literally the harlan Ford 588 00:37:16.039 --> 00:37:20.519 you know, in search of Honey Island Swamp Monster Area. You know, 589 00:37:20.599 --> 00:37:22.559 yeah, it's gonna say that's the Honey Island Swamp Monster Area, right right, 590 00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:24.360 That's what I was in there. I was like, this is cool. 591 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:28.800 I'm like cause that episode scared the crap out of me as a kid, 592 00:37:28.840 --> 00:37:30.599 you know, and I was like, dude, this is awesome being 593 00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:34.320 down in the harland Ford area. You know. That was but a lot 594 00:37:34.360 --> 00:37:37.199 of that stuff, and I think what we're seeing is that it links up. 595 00:37:37.239 --> 00:37:43.480 It's like, if you have remote quality habitat for one particular animal that 596 00:37:43.559 --> 00:37:46.360 may or may not still exist, maybe something we don't know exists but also 597 00:37:46.440 --> 00:37:49.960 live there, you know. So I think there's a link to all this 598 00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:52.960 habitat, and that's why habitat is so important, especially things like river bottoms 599 00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:57.599 which are declining because of making reservoirs and a lot of this stuff. I 600 00:37:57.639 --> 00:38:00.679 think it's really important to look at this habitat is you because you can't have 601 00:38:00.760 --> 00:38:04.599 mysteries out there. There's no place for him to live. Yeah, but 602 00:38:04.679 --> 00:38:07.400 back in two thousand and eight, maybe two thousand and six, I started 603 00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:09.000 advocating this. That's when I had a blog and I was really acting up 604 00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:15.480 like blogging all the time. I was advocating this idea of conservation before discovery, 605 00:38:15.639 --> 00:38:20.239 about sasquatches and about how anything you do to save big patches of land 606 00:38:20.280 --> 00:38:22.679 it's going to help sasquatches. And since they're unproven species at this point, 607 00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:25.920 the only thing we can do is protect our habitat. And you don't have 608 00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:30.920 to believe in Bigfoot to protect amazing, beautiful, pristine habitat. So I 609 00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:34.199 think it's one of the great things that environmentalists in general are doing well. 610 00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:37.480 I get the absolutestion for that, brother, because that's I work in the 611 00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:42.800 wildlife world, and whether we're talking about you know, waterfowl or we're talking 612 00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:47.039 about a wild sheep, or whatever. Habitat is always something that's that's being 613 00:38:47.119 --> 00:38:52.960 pressured by development and intrusion and degradation of habitat. I'm actually narrating a new 614 00:38:52.960 --> 00:38:55.639 Bigfoot series my friend's doing called wild Man of the Woods, and the aim 615 00:38:55.719 --> 00:39:02.039 of his whole series, Paul Pazinski's doing it is to bring the habitat thing 616 00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:07.320 into people's you know, to make them think about it, you know, 617 00:39:07.400 --> 00:39:10.880 because these mysteries are out there. I mean, I can't remember guys ever 618 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:15.360 driving by a wood lot or a river and not wondering what is out there, 619 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:20.880 you know, And that's that's what motivates me, you know, other 620 00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:23.840 than working with kids like we do in a wildlife That motivates me. And 621 00:39:23.960 --> 00:39:28.079 to think that we're losing it's pretty sad. But the good news is there 622 00:39:28.119 --> 00:39:30.239 are people. I think people are getting a better look at you know, 623 00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:34.840 hey, that those woods that used to hunt is now a development, or 624 00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:38.119 that place they used to hike is now a ste lodge. So I think 625 00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:42.039 we're getting some positive traction on that. And I think you're right, whether 626 00:39:42.079 --> 00:39:45.159 you believe in Bigfoot or not, Man, it won't be there if it's 627 00:39:45.159 --> 00:39:50.559 a parking lot, you know, stay tuned for more Bigfoot and Beyond with 628 00:39:50.639 --> 00:40:00.360 Cliff and Bogo will be right back after these messages. Bigfooters in general or 629 00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:05.159 people are just whether they're the researchers are just aficionados of the subject in general, 630 00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:07.199 are a force of good essentially, if we can just start kind of 631 00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:09.519 focusing on like, yeah, you know, bigfoots are important. We can't 632 00:40:09.559 --> 00:40:13.800 protect them as a species, but we can protect where they live, and 633 00:40:13.840 --> 00:40:19.800 by doing that we're helping everything else that lives here and also frankly ourselves well 634 00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:22.119 you know, and you guys actually tie into this. We do a ministry 635 00:40:22.119 --> 00:40:28.239 outreach for kids called wild Wishes, and we grant wildlife encounters for kids who 636 00:40:28.280 --> 00:40:31.880 have a critical illness, traumatic loss of paran or sibling. Kids in Foster 637 00:40:31.960 --> 00:40:35.880 we even had the privilege of working we're girls that have been through trafficking, 638 00:40:36.440 --> 00:40:38.840 and we've granted in almost ten years, two hundred and twenty five of those 639 00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:45.719 wishes. Wow. The third wish was a bigfoot expedition. A little boy 640 00:40:45.760 --> 00:40:50.440 named Jackson, and I took him into the Big Thicket National Preserve with his 641 00:40:50.519 --> 00:40:52.400 family and some of their friends, into an area where I filmed the Animal 642 00:40:52.519 --> 00:40:58.400 X episode with my friend Natalie Schmidt back in five. Yeah, and I 643 00:40:58.440 --> 00:41:00.360 did that one, you know, And we were out there. The kids 644 00:41:00.400 --> 00:41:04.480 actually found a mountain lion track, which is really rare to find out there, 645 00:41:04.519 --> 00:41:07.559 and there's a couple of possible vocals bay in the distance. But as 646 00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:08.880 we drove out, I told him it's a long drive out, guy, 647 00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:12.199 that's late. It was about one o'clock in the morning. I'm gonna stop 648 00:41:12.239 --> 00:41:15.599 at three places and do some calling. I'd forgotten I was gonna stop at 649 00:41:15.639 --> 00:41:17.840 three. I was about to leave the exit the area. My dad goes, 650 00:41:17.840 --> 00:41:21.880 hey, you better stop again. I'm oh. I stopped and pulled 651 00:41:21.880 --> 00:41:25.840 over and I let her yell out, and this vocalization came barreling. It 652 00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:30.599 couldn't have been more than thirty or forty yards from us. Everybody jumped back 653 00:41:30.639 --> 00:41:35.239 in the cars and it changed other people's paradigm of life. And they're just 654 00:41:35.320 --> 00:41:42.199 little kid who had lost his brother recently, smiling this incredible smile. Well, 655 00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:44.559 we became good friends with that family. This is where you tie in. 656 00:41:44.639 --> 00:41:50.679 But I met you, Bobo at the Willow Creek Bigfoot Symposium in three 657 00:41:51.000 --> 00:41:54.639 and this kid wanted to meet you guys, and the finding Bigfoot producers reached 658 00:41:54.639 --> 00:41:57.360 out to me if I want to be on an episode, and I didn't 659 00:41:57.360 --> 00:42:00.000 at the time, but they asked me about the on hall in Lufkin, 660 00:42:00.039 --> 00:42:04.800 Texas. So I say, can I bring this kid up there to meet 661 00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:07.559 the you know, to meet you guys. And we pull up and you 662 00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:08.760 never even know how the producers are going to live for the word you know, 663 00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:10.800 what's going to go on, and I said, I told the kid, 664 00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:13.920 I said, I met Bobo a long time, and they don't know 665 00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:15.880 if you'll remember me or not. We pull up to the building and you're 666 00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:21.840 out on your phone talking to someone's kid's face lights up and we get out 667 00:42:21.920 --> 00:42:25.760 and you hang up the funny go ches or more what's up? And took 668 00:42:25.920 --> 00:42:30.280 you, took him in and introduced him to Cliff and Renee and it made 669 00:42:30.360 --> 00:42:36.599 the kid's life. And we've done recent Bigfoot expeditions for kids. So that's 670 00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:39.000 pretty much my role now, and doing Bigfoot stuff is taking kids that have 671 00:42:39.079 --> 00:42:44.400 had hell on Earth a few times already maybe to go look for something fun 672 00:42:44.440 --> 00:42:46.360 and fantastic. And I never got to tell you that I started. Just 673 00:42:46.360 --> 00:42:50.960 want to salute you for you guys, for making that kid's life. Oh 674 00:42:51.079 --> 00:42:52.920 man, that's the best part of the show. I do find even now, 675 00:42:53.000 --> 00:42:55.880 actually, after all these years, I find that really the only practical 676 00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:00.199 use for whatever fame we may or may not have is making other people smile, 677 00:43:00.360 --> 00:43:05.599 honestly, Yeah, especially kids. Yep, it's a beautiful thing. 678 00:43:05.639 --> 00:43:08.880 And I have still the picture of view and him some of my Instagram somewhere, 679 00:43:09.280 --> 00:43:13.159 and every once in a while I run into him, and you know, 680 00:43:13.199 --> 00:43:15.440 he still talks about all that. And we took a family out to 681 00:43:15.480 --> 00:43:20.440 the Big Thicket back in September, had some crazy stuff, had sticks thrown 682 00:43:20.440 --> 00:43:24.199 at us that was kind of cool, and some vocals and they had they 683 00:43:24.199 --> 00:43:28.719 saw some weird stuff on thermals and so you know, it's one of the 684 00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:31.800 things we're doing. And you know, the Lord has really blessed my life 685 00:43:31.840 --> 00:43:36.599 to get to work with Wildlife. And I love kids and I hate what 686 00:43:36.679 --> 00:43:38.840 happens to kids in our culture. And you know, not everybody's going to 687 00:43:38.920 --> 00:43:43.639 be the you know, the quarterback of the head cheerleader, and a lot 688 00:43:43.639 --> 00:43:46.320 of kids that are the one that aren't don't feel like they fit really get 689 00:43:46.360 --> 00:43:52.440 into the stuff because Bigfoot's an outsider, you know, and they really draw 690 00:43:52.440 --> 00:43:54.840 out of this stuff, and those are the kids I'm drawn to. And 691 00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:59.000 you know, taking kids on these expeditions and stuff like that, through our 692 00:43:59.400 --> 00:44:00.719 through our out each has been a lot of fun. You know, it's 693 00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:05.199 been it's just been really really cool and a very good positive to do for 694 00:44:05.239 --> 00:44:07.000 the community. You know. Now, don't you have a nonprofit? I 695 00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:09.960 mean that that's what you're you're talking about this right then? This is an 696 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.480 offshoot of our nonprofit. Yeah, you can get more information on that at 697 00:44:14.559 --> 00:44:17.320 Kingdom Zoo dot com. We are are we are the Kingdoms Zoo Wildlife Center. 698 00:44:17.360 --> 00:44:22.199 That's our facility, and we have our wild Wishes program and Higher Calling 699 00:44:22.239 --> 00:44:25.599 Wildlife outreaches and they all tie in together, just different like Higher Calling Wildlife 700 00:44:25.599 --> 00:44:31.320 does, like conservation expeditions for kids with photography, Wild Wishes grants whatever wildlife 701 00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:35.280 encounter they want to meet. I mean, I've got pictures of the wall 702 00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:37.679 here in my office of a girl getting to pet a white lion cub which 703 00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:40.639 was really cool, and a girl getting to go in a desert, big 704 00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:45.239 orange sheet capture with Texas Parks and Wildlife Man, And that's that's my heart, 705 00:44:45.320 --> 00:44:49.599 man, That's that's just so cool to get to see life changing through 706 00:44:49.679 --> 00:44:52.800 encounters in nature. Okay, well, you know I'm not as classy as 707 00:44:52.840 --> 00:44:54.000 you, so I'm just gonna solicit for on your behalf. Like, since 708 00:44:54.039 --> 00:44:58.119 you are a nonprofit, people can give you money as a tax deductible thing. 709 00:44:58.199 --> 00:45:00.760 That's deductible, baby. So if you have a up one hundred extra 710 00:45:00.800 --> 00:45:02.599 thousand dollars laying around in your pocket and you want a good place for it, 711 00:45:02.639 --> 00:45:05.960 I know one. I think it's right here, man, so that 712 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:09.440 I feel free to give lots and lots of money to this situation here because 713 00:45:09.480 --> 00:45:13.719 it's nonprofit, because it's good for you, tax deductible, and it's making 714 00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:16.400 a difference to the future as well. So you didn't You didn't come out 715 00:45:16.400 --> 00:45:19.480 to say it, Chester, But that's why I'm here. I've got no 716 00:45:19.559 --> 00:45:22.320 qualms about saying that. Man. I'll tell you what. I will give 717 00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:25.480 the web address kingdomszoo dot com. There you go. But uh oh, 718 00:45:25.559 --> 00:45:29.239 what happened there? That's crazy? But uh, thank you. And you 719 00:45:29.280 --> 00:45:31.639 know, like I said, you guys, because you both got great spirits 720 00:45:31.639 --> 00:45:35.119 about you and you're in real friendly with people. I mean, you never 721 00:45:35.199 --> 00:45:37.519 know who you're going to meet out there. That's you know, been through 722 00:45:37.559 --> 00:45:43.199 something that day. And because whatever, you know, whatever celebrity any of 723 00:45:43.239 --> 00:45:45.840 us might have for being on TV show or writing a blog or a podcast, 724 00:45:45.880 --> 00:45:49.519 if we can make someone's life better, that's always a plus. Man. 725 00:45:49.960 --> 00:45:52.000 Yeah, at the end of the day, that's what it's really all 726 00:45:52.039 --> 00:45:54.119 about, I think for sure. And doing some good for the animals too 727 00:45:54.159 --> 00:45:58.079 as well. Yeah, you know, like I said, man, the 728 00:45:58.079 --> 00:46:00.559 thing I'm doing with Paul, we're want to get conservation word out and tie 729 00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:05.039 in the bigfoot thing because so many people are into it and then people click 730 00:46:05.079 --> 00:46:07.360 with it. I mean they go they know that they go to some spot 731 00:46:07.440 --> 00:46:12.519 they had this amazing sighting, and then that site's gone, it's wiped out, 732 00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:15.039 it's you know whatever. Then there's part of them it's like lost, 733 00:46:15.199 --> 00:46:20.199 you know. And like so it's a great way to get people into nature, 734 00:46:20.400 --> 00:46:22.519 and you know, it's always better outside, guys. And when you're 735 00:46:22.519 --> 00:46:25.320 talking about going out in the woods to day, I was in here doing 736 00:46:27.239 --> 00:46:30.360 meetings and stuff all day on Zoom and all kinds of stuff and writing all 737 00:46:30.440 --> 00:46:32.239 day. But I went out right before I saw you guys. In my 738 00:46:32.320 --> 00:46:35.840 pond next to my house, I went fly fishing for thirty minutes. You 739 00:46:35.840 --> 00:46:37.840 know, I had to be outside. That's what it's all about. You 740 00:46:37.880 --> 00:46:39.960 know. I was going to say I forgot, I keep forgetting to bring 741 00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.519 us up on the podcast. But I went up to Bluff Creek for the 742 00:46:44.559 --> 00:46:47.880 Patterson give On film site, and the fire on the map went right through 743 00:46:47.880 --> 00:46:53.400 that area. Then we heard from a Forest Service official that the film site 744 00:46:53.519 --> 00:47:00.159 was gone. And then I spoke to some more biologists and foresters and fire 745 00:47:00.199 --> 00:47:04.679 crew. They were just leaving the Bluff Creek area. They're going to lock 746 00:47:04.719 --> 00:47:07.519 the gates behind us, like we were the last guys out there at that 747 00:47:07.679 --> 00:47:13.760 spot. And I was talking with the forester and he said that the site 748 00:47:13.760 --> 00:47:19.800 would say that the guy in charge owner actually diverted resources to save the film 749 00:47:19.840 --> 00:47:23.000 location and it's burned within like less than one hundred yards of it is burned 750 00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:28.280 out. Wow, that's incredible, man. Yeah, So they actually went 751 00:47:28.280 --> 00:47:32.079 out of their way and just shifted manpower to save the film site. Man, 752 00:47:32.199 --> 00:47:36.400 that's great. That's incredible and does my heart good. Yeah. I 753 00:47:36.440 --> 00:47:39.719 was stoked. Yeah, absolutely, man, And you know that's the you 754 00:47:39.719 --> 00:47:42.960 think about that. I mean, when I stun I never forget me and 755 00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:45.239 my dad walking down to that spot, and I'm like, oh my, 756 00:47:45.039 --> 00:47:49.039 you know, and I had Bob come to speak at my conference that I 757 00:47:49.119 --> 00:47:52.840 used to do, the Southern Crypto Conference in two thousand and four, and 758 00:47:53.280 --> 00:47:57.159 taking Bob out to my areas, which was kind of cool. But just 759 00:47:57.239 --> 00:47:59.960 talking to that guy and having been the spot, you know, it was 760 00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:04.440 like it connected me with something that was amazing. I'm like, that's was 761 00:48:04.480 --> 00:48:07.960 a fundamental thing in my childhood and to think that it was saved is a 762 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:10.920 wonderful thing. You know, yeah, on purpose, Like it wasn't just 763 00:48:10.960 --> 00:48:15.039 like a random because before when there were fires close up there, they never 764 00:48:15.119 --> 00:48:20.199 cared like you know, they try to. They Lows Camp, you know, 765 00:48:20.280 --> 00:48:22.519 the campground out of that that was always like the base of their operations 766 00:48:22.519 --> 00:48:25.760 in that area. So that area, you know, would get saved just 767 00:48:25.800 --> 00:48:30.119 for that alone, but they never, like I remember when there was a 768 00:48:30.159 --> 00:48:32.320 fire coming down from the north there a few I don't know how Low many 769 00:48:32.360 --> 00:48:36.360 years ago, but several years ago, and I was talking those things you 770 00:48:36.440 --> 00:48:38.199 got to save that. You got to cut it off right there on that 771 00:48:38.400 --> 00:48:40.960 ridge. It's gonna come, you know, it's coming down there, and 772 00:48:42.079 --> 00:48:45.239 that's a historic site. You know, it's like that's that's world history there. 773 00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:50.000 You know, it's it's a they had no time. They just did 774 00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:53.840 not care at all, those guys what a historic site it is. Yeah, 775 00:48:53.880 --> 00:48:55.719 for sure, I want to go there this spring. Actually, I 776 00:48:55.719 --> 00:49:00.679 haven't been there in forever since back then. You know, Bob is such 777 00:49:00.719 --> 00:49:04.559 a great guy. Actually, the outreach we do. We brought a girl 778 00:49:04.719 --> 00:49:08.199 up to Craig's conference in Texas Bigfoot conference the last time Bob was there, 779 00:49:08.239 --> 00:49:12.960 and Bob presented her one of the you know, the copies of the tracks 780 00:49:13.559 --> 00:49:15.840 and he signed for her. And I got a picture of me and Bob 781 00:49:15.920 --> 00:49:21.079 and Emily and her mom right there with that just shows the heart of the 782 00:49:21.119 --> 00:49:25.159 good people out there in the cryptozoology and bigfoot community. You know. So 783 00:49:25.480 --> 00:49:28.440 what's next for you? I mean, I know, I know that you 784 00:49:28.480 --> 00:49:30.800 have a steady job, and you've got this fantastic organization that you work with 785 00:49:30.840 --> 00:49:35.559 and everything. Do you have anything on the horizon that you're really looking forward 786 00:49:35.559 --> 00:49:38.239 to, like maybe perhaps another expedition or maybe somewhere that you're speaking, or 787 00:49:38.280 --> 00:49:42.719 some film project that you're working on. Besides I know you mentioned the narration 788 00:49:42.880 --> 00:49:45.679 when the wild Man, I think, yeah, I'm doing that that's wild 789 00:49:45.679 --> 00:49:47.880 Man of the Woods. It's on YouTube. I'm doing the narration. I'll 790 00:49:47.880 --> 00:49:52.760 prob'll be helping with some writing coming up. It's really fun we're doing. 791 00:49:52.800 --> 00:49:57.760 We're already planned expeditions for our outreach next year. We're doing in June EST's 792 00:49:57.760 --> 00:50:00.280 Park, Colorado, that's our normal one we do. We're gonna be going 793 00:50:00.320 --> 00:50:07.280 to the Smoky Mountains and doing one in October, and probably doing Southern Florida 794 00:50:07.760 --> 00:50:13.320 in late July early August. So that's already getting arranging those things going on. 795 00:50:13.719 --> 00:50:17.519 And next year is our tenth year anniversary of that Wild Wishes program will 796 00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:22.840 probably cross the two hundred and fifty kid in the program mark And just you 797 00:50:22.880 --> 00:50:28.119 know, I got my podcast Dark Outdoors, and we're gonna have season three 798 00:50:28.159 --> 00:50:32.960 of that coming up in February. And Dark Outdoors raises awareness to dangers in 799 00:50:34.000 --> 00:50:39.800 the outdoors, ranging from serial killers to traffickers to dangerous wildlife and weather conditions. 800 00:50:39.840 --> 00:50:45.480 And that's won several awards from different press organizations. And I'm really excited 801 00:50:45.519 --> 00:50:47.719 about Overca coming up for season three on that one. I gotta check that 802 00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:52.119 out. Yeah, where can people listen any major podcasting platform, whether you 803 00:50:52.159 --> 00:50:55.679 listen to Spotify, Amazon, you know, Apple Music, you know it's 804 00:50:55.679 --> 00:50:59.760 on all of those. And the way I do this one is I have 805 00:50:59.760 --> 00:51:01.840 to do and see so much research involved in it. I can't just put 806 00:51:01.840 --> 00:51:05.920 one out every week or two, So we do seasons. So it's be 807 00:51:05.960 --> 00:51:12.840 season three starting in an eight episode run in February, and the first episode 808 00:51:12.880 --> 00:51:16.800 on this was about Ted Bundy and it was the guy Steven Michau who set 809 00:51:16.840 --> 00:51:22.159 across from interview Ted for six months how he actually took women into the woods. 810 00:51:22.880 --> 00:51:27.400 And a friend of mine found a tree carving way off trail mule deer 811 00:51:27.480 --> 00:51:31.360 hunting in Utah and it said Ted Bunny nineteen seventy four and that was the 812 00:51:31.400 --> 00:51:35.519 year he escaped to prison in Utah and went to hear the National Forest. 813 00:51:35.639 --> 00:51:37.800 So got me to thinking, what would happen if you run into someone like 814 00:51:37.840 --> 00:51:44.800 that? And I kept running into I actually had a situation in Trinity Klamath 815 00:51:44.920 --> 00:51:50.280 National Forest area there in the Emerald Triangle back at three when me and dad 816 00:51:50.280 --> 00:51:53.000 went there for that Bigfoot event and got chased off a mountain up there. 817 00:51:53.079 --> 00:51:57.559 It was crazy. So we're trying to raise awareness to that stuff and had 818 00:51:57.559 --> 00:52:01.559 some pretty compelling shows you know, if you had that California Fishing Game guy's 819 00:52:01.800 --> 00:52:07.480 former fishing game official that was dealing with the cartails down like just outside the 820 00:52:07.480 --> 00:52:12.079 Bay area and then up in northern California. I actually I've been emailing him 821 00:52:12.119 --> 00:52:14.880 back and forth to do a show with me. He really lays it out 822 00:52:14.880 --> 00:52:17.239 there for this area, dude. I mean, he was telling me some 823 00:52:17.239 --> 00:52:20.679 stuff and some emails he said, you know, he was on the road 824 00:52:20.719 --> 00:52:23.480 doing something he's probably gonna end up being on season three of the show and 825 00:52:24.199 --> 00:52:28.119 wild stuff, man. I mean, just the level of things are going 826 00:52:28.119 --> 00:52:30.400 on. Because someone asked me, hey, Chester, what's the most dangerous 827 00:52:30.400 --> 00:52:32.400 thing in the woods that I don't even think And I said, people, 828 00:52:32.840 --> 00:52:37.800 yeah, And so that came. That turned into a podcast and it'll be 829 00:52:37.880 --> 00:52:40.800 a book next year is gonna be a book on dark outdoors. So that's 830 00:52:40.880 --> 00:52:45.440 all coming up in twenty twenty four. My friends, what's the scariest thing 831 00:52:45.480 --> 00:52:47.559 that's happened to you out in the woods. I'll just say that the scariest 832 00:52:47.559 --> 00:52:53.599 thing that's happened to me out in the woods involved me driving a rental car 833 00:52:54.280 --> 00:52:58.840 eighty miles an hour down the mountain in the middle of the night. I 834 00:52:58.880 --> 00:53:00.119 don't want to poop on your prey here, but let's save that for the 835 00:53:00.199 --> 00:53:04.199 member section. I think that sounds like a great topic to go into the 836 00:53:04.239 --> 00:53:07.800 members, give them a little something special there. Yeah yeah, so let's 837 00:53:07.880 --> 00:53:09.760 let's let's let's save it for that one. That sounds great. You know, 838 00:53:09.760 --> 00:53:14.719 I go to say, two chesters, if you if you got those 839 00:53:15.039 --> 00:53:19.199 making wish whatever your your foundation kids, if you ever want to do something 840 00:53:19.199 --> 00:53:21.760 at Bluff Creek, Be and Clip would definitely be down for doing that with 841 00:53:21.800 --> 00:53:24.320 you guys. Man, that would be mind blowing. And that's actually a 842 00:53:24.400 --> 00:53:29.440 dream of ours, is to take us some kids into that area and that 843 00:53:29.480 --> 00:53:31.239 would be incredible. So let's collaborate on that and make that happen for a 844 00:53:31.239 --> 00:53:35.440 couple of special kids. Awesome, you guys are great. Man. They're 845 00:53:35.440 --> 00:53:37.480 gonna make me cry. I'm a big cry baby about kids. If I 846 00:53:37.519 --> 00:53:40.039 can't make if I can't make one person cry a day, I can't sleep 847 00:53:40.079 --> 00:53:45.599 all at night. Yeah yeah, yeah, I've heard that before from people, 848 00:53:45.639 --> 00:53:49.000 but that's usually me though. It's usually I cried myself to sleep, 849 00:53:49.000 --> 00:53:52.400 honestly, some sort of like fetal position thing until and weep myself into slumber. 850 00:53:52.719 --> 00:53:57.039 So in the member section, you're going to tell us your scariest encounter 851 00:53:57.199 --> 00:54:00.400 driving. That also could tell us your scariest animal encounter crypted or known. 852 00:54:01.320 --> 00:54:05.440 I'll give you both knowingly encrypted. How about that? Yeah, yeah, 853 00:54:05.480 --> 00:54:07.320 we need them both so our listeners out there. If you want to be 854 00:54:07.360 --> 00:54:09.679 a member and hear these special content sort of things, all you have to 855 00:54:09.679 --> 00:54:13.760 do is go to the website there at big Foot and Beyond Podcasts and follow 856 00:54:13.760 --> 00:54:15.760 the links to membership, or mister Matt Prut, our producer, will put 857 00:54:15.760 --> 00:54:20.400 the link in the show notes below. Chester, Thank you so much for 858 00:54:20.440 --> 00:54:22.960 coming on the show. I'm looking forward to the member section conversation and then 859 00:54:23.079 --> 00:54:25.960 exploring this topic a little bit further. Hey, thank you guys so much, 860 00:54:27.239 --> 00:54:30.199 real honor and privilege. You guys are awesome, and you know, 861 00:54:30.239 --> 00:54:32.880 it's great to be able to collaborate and do some great things for some kids. 862 00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:37.079 And thank you guys for being a fun and very informative voice out there 863 00:54:37.119 --> 00:54:40.079 and that you're doing great work. Oh, thank you, thanks for coming 864 00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:43.480 on, Chester. Yeah, it's been too long since we've hung out, 865 00:54:43.519 --> 00:54:45.519 so man, it's good to talk to you for sure. Yeah, looking 866 00:54:45.519 --> 00:54:49.000 forward to seeing you get in person too, right on Chester. All right, 867 00:54:49.039 --> 00:54:52.559 folks, that's Chester more so check them out. He's got some good 868 00:54:52.559 --> 00:54:54.119 stuff going on. He's been in this a long time and knows what he's 869 00:54:54.159 --> 00:54:57.599 talking about. If you want to hear what, we're going to have on 870 00:54:58.000 --> 00:55:01.400 Beyond, big Foot Beyond on Patreon from Remembers right now the fish of y'all. 871 00:55:01.880 --> 00:55:10.840 Keep it Squatchy. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Bigfoot and 872 00:55:10.880 --> 00:55:15.280 Beyond. If you liked what you heard, please rate and review us on 873 00:55:15.320 --> 00:55:20.159 iTunes, Subscribe to Bigfoot and Beyond wherever you get your podcasts, and follow 874 00:55:20.239 --> 00:55:24.039 us on Facebook and Instagram at Bigfoot and Beyond podcast. You can find us 875 00:55:24.079 --> 00:55:29.960 on Twitter at Bigfoot and Beyond that's an N in the middle, and tweet 876 00:55:30.039 --> 00:55:34.320 us your thoughts and questions with the hashtag Bigfoot and Beyond