Smithsonian.com

Image: Ben Cumming

Bigfoot is pretty elusive. Humans have searched for him in earnest since 1951, when a photographer snapped a picture of a footprint that he claimed must have come from a Yeti. Since then, there have been countless sightings of the big beast.

Just yesterday, some people in Utah might have seen it:

But most likely it was a bear. Critics call something like this “blobsquatch”—a blob that your brain turns into Bigfoot since that’s what you want to see.

What those Utah campers really needed was a Bigfoot hunting drone. Yes, it exists. Smart Planet writes:

Earlier this year, a researcher at Oxford offered to conduct DNA analysis on remains purported to belong to the legendary beast. And on Monday, Idaho State University approved the “Falcon Project,” a proposal by faculty professor Jeff Meldrum to build a remote-controlled blimp to locate evidence of Bigfoot’s existence. However, the school and state research institution won’t foot the bill, which Meldrum estimates would cost somewhere in the ballpark of $300,000 to carry out. Instead, he plans to raise the funds through private donations from supporters of the project.

Of course, Meldrum doesn’t think this is a waste of time or money. He told the Idaho Statesman:

“People say, ‘You are paid by Idaho State and you are doing this?’ But this is legitimate research. This could be one of the most outstanding questions in natural history and human anthropology that we have today.”

Meldrum wouldn’t be the first to take to the air to find Bigfoot. Last year, Bigfoot hunters on Animal Planet did the same:

And these guys flew a UAV plane around looking for it:

So far, no luck. But if anyone can find Bigfoot, it’s probably the drones.

More from Smithsonian.com:

Yes, We’re Actually Still Looking for the Yeti
Did Bigfoot Really Exist? How Gigantopithecus Became Extinct