Dave: Do you feel there are any differences between desert sightings and sightings in the cooler pine forest areas?

Jon: The only real difference that I see is that on a couple of occasions in Idaho the animals seen were able to disappear into the trees or into the fog. On other occasions the sightings were very similar. The animals were seen from distances of 15 feet to about 800 yards in open country in Idaho. I saw sasquatches here in Arizona in open country from 50-75 yards to 400-500 yards.

Dave: What is the most credible desert sighting that you have ever come across?

Jon: Two stand out for me. A “dark, hairy animal” was seen at night in the same timeframe as my last sighting near the Kino Springs Golf Course Clubhouse “hunched over” and “not on all fours, but not standing upright either”. Additionally, another researcher, Francisco (eldonkey) Garcia from Tucson found one track 1.5 times the size of his own near a pond west of the clubhouse. I also took a picture of a different track. The second sighting was some years ago. Four folks from California came into my camp not far into the Chirachua National Forest early one morning. I never did get their names but they had seen “a black 10-foot tall bigfoot” some 50 yards from the road. I went to the site and then spent 4 or 5 hours following long drawn out “cooing” calls in the foothills. Late that night I again heard the calls but northeast of my camp.

Dave: You suggested earlier that sasquatch might be traveling through the desert areas. Do you think there are any ‘full timers’ or are they just passing through or coming down to lower altitudes to escape the winter cold? Also, if they are passing through, where do you think they are coming from or going to in your area?

Jon: I think that sasquatches aren’t really “full-timers” in what you are likely referring to as desert. Where I live, it’s eroded foothills complete with balancing rocks, deep washes, some cholla cactus, rarely saguaro cactus, some barrel cactus, grass and weeds and the most frequently seen tree…the mesquite. Along the washes at lower altitudes, sycamores predominate. Higher up you’ll find more oak.

It seems to me that sasquatches care very little about the cold. They go wherever they need or want to go to find food and water. Water can be found here, stored in plants and animals, in creeks, washes, ponds and the rare lake. The “desert” here is alive with highly nutritious creatures that run, crawl, slither, hop and fly.

Dave: Some people might say there is no way one person could have had as many sightings as you have had. How would you answer your skeptics?

Jon: The disbelievers would say that it is impossible for anyone to have had any sightings because sasquatches don’t exist. The skeptics, who can’t seem to make up their minds whether or not sasquatches exist, aren’t swayed over to the truth because they won’t be satisfied with any sort of proof except a body. Anyone who is a believer in sasquatches, but doesn’t believe in me just doesn’t know me. When I started my search I wasn’t out to convince anybody of anything. I wanted to learn about sasquatches for my own benefit. Sharing what I know with those who are willing to listen and learn is fine with me. But, I’m still not out to teach anything to the unwilling. That I’ve been interested in sasquatches since 1952, searched for them since 1971, dropped out my doctoral program with one semester to go to spend more time chasing them after my first sighting, and have had jobs ever since then that kept me on the road a fair amount of time to increase my chances of seeing them, all mean nothing at all to some “critics.” What is a reasonable number of sasquatches for a dedicated, obsessed and lucky person like me to have seen? Some number from 0 to 100 is too many for about everybody. Seven used to be a reasonable number for me. Now, the number is 12. Any who don’t like this number can and will believe what they want. Their belief is not my problem.

Dave: How do you go about seeking bigfoot? Is there any protocol you follow or has it just been good ol’ luck that has been with you over the years?

Jon: I’ve been most successful over the years being obsessive in looking for animals as I drove down freeways, highways, county roads, logging roads and two-tracks. Most people wouldn’t “see” a sasquatch because “sasquatches don’t exist.” They’d “see” a stump or a shadow standing on the shoulder of the road. If it moved they’d really be confused. Eventually they might come to think that they’d seen a man in coveralls. I look off the road as far as I can see. I’ve been rewarded with sightings out to 800 yards, but most have been a lot closer. One can’t deny that luck has a lot to do with it. Being in a place where sasquatches are, being obsessive in looking for them and being “lucky” all contribute to sightings. Incidentally, I’ve seen only one sasquatch when I wasn’t on a road of some kind.

Dave: In the Pacific Northwest there are many Native American legends concerning bigfoot. Have you come across any desert legends about bigfoot from Native Americans?

Jon: No. I haven’t. I’ve lived on reservations on three occasions in Idaho and South Dakota. I didn’t hear about legends from Native Americans. I heard about their own sightings of animals and/or tracks.

Dave: When did you become a desert dweller and how has that affected your research techniques?

Jon: I came to Patagonia eleven years ago. What I do here isn’t a lot different than what I did in Idaho except that now I’m able to see farther than before and I tend to start my days later than I did when I was driving logging trucks. I don’t see that it’s hurt my sightings any. I still see a wide variety of body shapes, heights and colors but haven’t seen any white ones here yet.

Dave: Do you prefer going out in the field solo or with others? Why?

Jon: I used to take my girlfriend with me while I was driving logging trucks. That was the best way to work and search for sasquatches. Now I’m doing home maintenance and remodeling…a wee bit more boring for a lady than the logging truck. Now, I don’t have a lady so, I go for a ride at the drop of a hat. It doesn’t seem to be as much fun.

Dave: I have seen lots of talk on the BFF about the Mogollon Rim. What’s so special about that area?

Jon: I have never done any searching there. However, there are at least several climate zones there which means diversity of food resources as well. Temperatures may vary many degrees from the top of the rim to the river and that whole area is one of the least inhabited places in Arizona. It might prove to be an interesting place to look for sasquatches.

Dave: Any ideas on size, shape or hair color of sasquatch?

Jon: Yes, I have done some preliminary work in plotting sasquatch heights based on my sightings and on the sightings of others, which were reported to me during interviews. I’ve gone through sighting reports up to about 2000 and seem to have an interesting bi-modal distribution of heights. When graphed, the heights from 0 to 9 feet make a reasonable bell-shaped curve and the heights of animals from 10 feet up make a second curve in this distribution. This second group is 26 percent of the whole preliminary sample. The reports of hair color of this second group has more white animals with slim body builds, although there are some black and brown animals within this group who were not reported to be “slim.” They were, rather, reported to be muscular but not of a stocky build like “Patty.” One might eventually conclude that this second group is composed of mature males and old males. I need to go through the remainder of reports to date, plot them and apply some statistical measures to how the data fares with more scrutiny.

However, I don’t need statistics to know that a lot of these sasquatches are a whole lot taller than many folks who post profusely on the BFFs are willing to concede. But, in all fairness, they haven’t seen a sasquatch step over a barbed-wire fence, which proved to be breastbone high on me, as if it wasn’t there. This slim, white sasquatch left no hair on the barbed wire nor did it scream in pain as it left useful body parts there. What it did leave were 24-inch long tracks. How tall does a sasquatch have to be do these things?

Dave: You mentioned you gave up a doctorate program to look for bigfoot. Some people would question the sanity of that decision. What’s your defense?

Jon: Hmmmm………Defense?…..”Life is short and uncertain…eat dessert first.” works for me. Doing what somebody else thinks I should do makes no sense to me. Doing what I want to do makes sense. I chose to chase sasquatches. I still choose to chase sasquatches. It’s my life. I choose.