The hit monster-hunting show, Finding Bigfoot, just wrapped up its second season on Animal Planet.  The show has been making a huge footprint in the ratings, finishing up as one of the channel’s top-watched shows.   Granted,  they have yet to find indisputable proof of giant wood apes, but that has not slowed the BFRO investigators down one bit.  Filming for Season 3 is almost complete and after a six week break, filming for Season 4 will begin (this time taking the crew worldwide instead of just combing the backwoods of the U.S.).

I had the opportunity to visit the Finding Bigfoot set this past weekend, as they shot an upcoming episode in Yukon, Oklahoma.  As customary on the show, they held a “town hall” meeting where they asked the locals about their sightings in the area.  You might not figure Oklahoma as very ‘squatchy territory, but you may be surprised at the number of reports that have come from this area over the years.  One of the most intriguing involved a casino security camera that caught a large, hairy bipedal animal on tape as the creature lurked near a food dumpster out back.  One of the Native Americans that worked for the casino was able to produce additional photos, hair samples and other evidence which obviously excited the FB investigators.  The tape was only seen by a few outsiders before the casino owners destroyed it (or hid it away) and the photos have never been released to the public, although I was able to see one of them a year ago, and I can say that it’s definitely one of the more intriguing photos that has been produced.

the investigators get ready to meet the townsfolk (photo by Chris Buntenbah)

the witnesses stayed after to point out their sighting locations on a map (photo by Chris Buntenbah)

After shooting the town hall meeting, which drew nearly 150 fans (more than would even fit!) the four investigators – Matt Moneymaker, Cliff Barackman, James “Bobo” Faye, and Ranae Holland – gladly signed autographs for an hour, illustrating the popularity of the show.

Bobo signs autographs (photo by Chris Buntenbah)

Finding Bigfoot airs regularly on the Animal Planet network.

For more info, visit their site:  http://animal.discovery.com/tv/finding-bigfoot/

the cast even bought copies of my book - Bobo and I take a photo op to show it off (photo by Chris Buntenbah)