Jacob Threadgill

The Clarion-Ledger

For Brandon resident Don McDonald, the question surrounding Bigfoot shouldn’t be, "Does it exist?"

“If we were just out to prove things, we could’ve solved this a long time ago,” he said.

McDonald has been a researcher for the Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization for over a decade. The GCBRO is more interested in protecting citizens from the violent Sasquatch than swaying public opinion.

“We have the no-kill side that want to string us up and tell us (they) hope we shoot each other,” McDonald said. “They don’t understand that some of these things are just plain mean.”

The exploits of the GCBRO will be chronicled in the Destination America show "Killing Bigfoot," which premieres at 9 p.m. Saturday with an episode located outside of McComb.

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McDonald said he came within about 50 feet of a bigfoot a few years ago in Jasper County, near the Tallahala Wildlife Management Area.

“It was 50 feet from us, just standing there with a full moon behind it. It was a nice, peaceful encounter and there is no way in the world I would shoot that animal.”

The first season of "Killing Bigfoot" will run for six episodes, two of which were filmed in Mississippi. The show will also air an episode in central Mississippi in a few weeks. McDonald and the GCBRO have continued their quest, and are actively investigating cases that could be featured on a second season of the show, including an encounter near Pascagoula.

Homeowner Eunice Ackerman contacted McDonald through his “Bigfoot in Mississippi” Facebook group and alerted him to a potential Bigfoot sighting on a trail cam, which she'd installed after a few creature sightings.

McDonald and the GCBRO arrived to Ackerman’s property to find common signs of what they say are Bigfoot encounters: wide trails in the woods, much larger than that of a deer, made with flat feet; and bent tree limbs nine and 10 feet in the air.

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“We don’t go to an area unless we know the creatures are there, because we get a lot of false reports,” McDonald said. “We look for tree limbs that have been tipped instead of cracked. If you’re walking through the woods and try to be quiet, you are going to tip that branch so you will be stealthy next time through.”

Ackerman's neighbors told McDonald that they had a pitbull whose head had been smashed in, another sign of a bigfoot encounter.

McDonald then examined an image from Ackerman’s trail cam, which potentially shows the face of the furry creature. He stopped short of saying the photograph was proof of bigfoot.

“It’s very hard to catch them on camera,” McDonald said. “We believe they see in an infrared spectrum, which most of your trail cameras use to set off their trigger mechanism.”

The pilot episode has aired 90 times over the last year, and McDonald is excited for the full premiere of the show. He hopes it will reassure people who’ve had bigfoot encounters that they’re not alone.

“I’ve talked to people who are terrified to go outside their own homes at night without a gun and a flashlight; that’s just not right,” McDonald said.

Contact Jacob Threadgill at 601-961-7192 or by email at jthreadgil@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Watch 'Killing Bigfoot'

When: 9 p.m. Saturday

Channel guide for Destination America in Jackson:

Dish: 9457

Comcast: 466

U-verse: 1465

DIRECTV: 286