When a creature is believed to exist by so many people, has so many witnesses, and so many casted footprints archived, eventually when we do not actually catch the beast, we begin to have theories as to why that is. Here are just a few theories out there. I'd be curious to see which ones jive with your mindset.
1. Hoaxes: A family came forward with a Bigfoot wooden foot stamp that supposedly their deceased relative had used many years ago to hoax the BF. This reminds me of crop circles. Yes, we could fake crop circles and we could fake BF prints, but it does not explain the variations in the shape and size of the foot, the remote locations where no one was ever supposed to find them. This theory does float my boat as to what ALL BF sightings involve.
2. Bad witnesses: Supposedly, everyone who has seen a BF saw either a hunter in a Ghillie suit or a bear and was confused by it. This does not float my boat either to explain ALL sightings of BF. Unless bears are being trained to have an entirely human shaped body and head and walk nonstop on hind legs like Yogi, I'm not buying it.
3. Giganto: Gigantopithecus Blacki, an ancient relative to man, is often believed to be the origins of the BF creature. This is really a very smart assumption and one that I lean towards. He had to evolve from some creature out there and if man crossed the land bridge, you know that Giganto could have. Man in the Americas evolved into the indigenous race and Giganto evolved into Bigfoot and the ones that remained in China/Himalayas became Yeti. It sounds absolutely feasible and one that I definitely lean towards.
4. Portal/Alien Visitors/Shapeshifters: This theory is a fairly recent one. Places like Skinwalker Ranch in Utah made the concept popular that some kind of ape/human like creatures were being seen descending from openings in the air, some sort of portals. Others have lined up UFO sightings and BF sightings and made some connections that perhaps we don't find BF because he's some kind of alien spacecraft hitchhiker who likes to take rest stops in the Northwest's forests while traveling intergalactically. There is also another set of believers in the concept that BF is a wendigo,or shapeshifter.
This creature may be elusive, but that doesn't mean we have to jump to any crazy conclusions. He, by all descriptions, has a strong odor, hair, a bulk and definite biological makeup. This is not a costume, not an alien that flew here in a big silver craft, and not something that can shapeshift. I understand how villagers might have felt about the mountain gorillas, but their stories of a large man-like hairy creature ended up being the truth. It was not something made up nor something from another solar system, it was a creature of this Earth. When we get right down to it, BF is just a creature waiting to be found.
What we should concentrate on at this point is; what will we do with him? Do you put such a creature in the zoo?