I don't know whether or not a great ape exists in North America today, it's possible, but probably unlikely.
However I have to take issue with most of the naysayers common arguments though because they just don't stand up to scrutiny.
Trail/Game Cameras: Sure there are tons of trail cameras out there today, but most of them are placed in common hunting areas not that far from sizable human populations. Let's be serious, if Sasquatch does exist, they are going to be found as far away from humans as possible. That eliminates 75% of the continental USA, they aren't going to be anywhere near the South, or on the plains, or on the densely populated coasts. There are only a few places left in states like MT, MN, ID, WA, WY, where there are dense forests where you can still truly get a long, long way from civilization. I've backpacked deep into some of those wildernesses, and guess what? Once you get more then 3-4 miles past the trailheads, I can pretty much guarantee you won't find any trail cameras. Game cameras are used by hunters, and most hunters don't go that deep into the backcountry because they simply don't have too, and also many of these areas are Federal Wilderness areas which means no ATVs which makes them less popular with many hunters.
Now if we forget about the States and look at Canada... anyone who has flown over it can tell you that it's hard to describe vast tracts of untouched forests in BC and NWT. There are areas up there so vast and so remote that it's very easy to imagine all kinds of undiscovered species. I'm sure there are some mountains and valleys there that few if any man has ever set foot in.
Never found a body/bones: This is the argument that I find most ridiculous.
One thing people who spend time in the woods learn is that nature is VERY good at cleaning up after herself. In wintertime in the Tetons, I've seen an elk carcass that was 90% intact at sunup, completely disappear by late afternoon when I went back. Between coyotes, wolves, bears, raptors, badgers, wolverines, martens, fishers, etc... carcasses DO NOT last long in the wilderness, and what the predators and scavengers don't clean up within a couple days, the ants, other insects and micro-organisms clean up in a week or two.
Let me pose a question. How many folks have seen bears in the wild? Of course many, many people have. In my trips I've seen dozens of bears in the wild. Now ask, How many people have seen a bear
carcass, one that died a natural death (not hunters, or hit by vehicle) in the wild? I never have. I'd bet out of all the folks who have seen bears in the wild, less then 1% of them have seen a bear carcass in the wild. Now that's with bears, an animal we know there are hundreds of thousands of in North America... and we expect to find dead remains of a great ape where they may only be a few hundred??? Then of there is the theory that they may bury their dead, which is not unheard of in other primate species.
Anyway, I could go on. But those are the arguments I say pop up in this thread, I just don't feel they hold water at all. Does Sasquatch exist??? I don't know.
But critical thinking tells me it's possible. After all the Mountain Gorilla in Africa wasn't discovered until 1902, and there are areas in North America that are perhaps even more remote then central Africa.
