A subject near and dear to my heart...
I studied with the guy that was perhaps the sole scientific supporter of finding a Bigfoot/Sasquatch. Follow the link for his obituary:
http://www.rense.com/general20/foot.htm
The case for the existence of Bigfoot is not whether it was a hybrid of sorts, but rather a case for parallel evolution with regard to bipedalism. Dr. Krantz hypothesized that humans and
Gigantopithecus were only distantly related and that Bigfoot may have been more closely related to Orangutans.
The latest fossil evidence for Bigfoot is dated to about 300k years ago and most of the fossils are teeth found in Chinese apothecary shops. A jawbone gave more conclusive evidence that the giant ape was bipedal.
Dr. Krantz reconstructed a skull from a jawbone cast and hypothesized the creature had a cranial capicity of about 600 cc or about half the capacity of a human. It was not particularly intelligent, was nocturnal, subsisted on things such as pine needles and did not hibernate. It occupies/occupied a similar niche to the black bear, but was more active in the winter and avoided direct competiton by having a different habit than the bears.
He gave names to some of the footprint specimens such as "Cripplefoot" and would look for new individuals by their distinctive footprints.
Indians may say only that they have smelled Bigfoot when asked about whether they have seen them and they regard the existence of the creature as a fact.
The smell is said to be acrid and repulsive...so if you are out in the forest of the Northwest and you smell something really bad, consider that you might want to look around in the daylight for some large impressions in the dirt somewhere.