STILWELL, Okla. – The annual Oklahoma Bigfoot Symposium offers a chance for Bigfoot researchers and believers in the large, hairy mammal to meet and discuss the evidence. But organizer Darren Lee said while COVID-19 has put the kibosh on this year’s event, he hopes to bring it back next year.

In the meantime, he said, enthusiasts can supplement the lack of a public gathering by doing a little research and potentially going on a hunt themselves. But Lee said skeptics and believers alike need to be prepared before they go off searching for the ape-like creature.

“I really don’t recommend people going out and doing this without learning more about it,” said Lee. “You don’t necessarily just have Bigfoot to worry about. You also have the human factor. You might be out there and stumble across a meth lab or somebody’s marijuana patch. There’s all kinds of dangers, and bad things can happen to people.”

In fact, Lee and a group were once at a “listening post,” and instead of Sasquatch, they saw a caravan of trucks and SUVs come down a trail nearby. After about 20 minutes, the group could smell the odor of meth being cooked.

“So we quietly packed up and got the heck out of there,” he said.

Those interested in taking a deeper look into Bigfoot can start by doing online research, while keeping an open mind. They’ll also want to find an established group, said Lee, who has been doing it for a while and can answer questions.

“There are a lot of people out there who think they know a lot, but it’s just what they’ve seen on TV, and it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “Unlike a lot of other conferences where they bring in celebrities, we have people who talk about their actual research.”

Over the years, the Oklahoma Bigfoot Symposium has been a venue for enthusiasts to share thermal footage, audio recordings, pictures, and other evidence of encounters. It makes the group a good place to start for those who are serious about learning more about the mythical creature.

Searchers can visit the woods hundreds, if not thousands, of times and never see evidence. But just one encounter could turn someone into an avid believer. Lee said he’s had 26 run-ins with a Bigfoot.

“When you figure up the odds, .006 percent of the time I’ve gone into the woods, I’ve had an encounter,” said Lee. “It’s not face-to-face encounters. I’ve seen them off in the distance, but there have been a couple of times they got pretty close. So I’ve become a firm believer in them. There are some who are believers because they’ve recorded obvious Bigfoot sounds on recorders, but they’re still out there trying to get their first encounter.”

Lee and others are convinced a family unit of 20 to 30 Bigfoots live Cherokee, Adair, and Sequoyah counties. The area is also known to have black bears, but Lee said it’s not difficult to tell the difference between the two.

“A couple of years ago, during deer season, we had a hunter who thought he saw a black bear sitting down in a field,” said Lee. “Even though he wasn’t supposed to shoot it, he did. It stood up on two feet and was about 7 to 8 feet tall, and turned around and screamed at him and walked off. When one turns around and looks at you, you figure out real quick that it’s not a bear.”

People can look for tracks on the ground, but that’s not always as easy to find as other evidence. If the terrain is rocky, Lee sai, it’s rare to spot a footprint.

“If you go to a wooded area that’s substantial, you can probably find some of your own evidence,” he said. “You could look for tree structures or what we call ‘tall-boy trails’ – where something really big has been walking through the woods and has created a trail. That’s where the sticks and branches on the trees are broken off about 7 to 8 feet high.”

The curious could start by finding literature such as Lee’s “Bigfoot Field Guide: Starting your own Bigfoot Research.” They could also find more information by going to okbigfootsymposium.com. Lee said the symposium may decide to have virtual event later this summer, but no decision has been made yet.