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Second Bigfoot shot? Tour of first body set to start, hunter says

Rick Dyer, who says he shot a Sasquatch in Texas, says roadshow to start Monday in Phoenix.

The man who claims he shot a Bigfoot in Texas says the body will begin an extended tour on Monday, starting in Phoenix.

That's just one of many details Rick Dyer discussed by phone from Las Vegas, where he lives and where his Bigfoot-hunting outfit, Team Tracker, is based.

Dyer spoke about everything from allegedly having a second Sasquatch corpse to the post-mortem shrinkage of the creature's not-so-private parts.

New images of his Bigfoot have also emerged, as shot by Telemundo and as posted by Dyer on YouTube.

Still, the question remains: Is this a real crypto-creature? Or does Dyer, involved in a previous hoax, literally keep spouting tall tales?

Skeptics will have to keep waiting for hard evidence.

Dyer had promised solid answers at a news conference scheduled for Saturday, where scientists were supposed to present findings from their autopsy of his Bigfoot, and DNA results.

But now he's backing off. "We can't get everybody together at that date," but expect one after the initial tour, he said.

He did address why the skin looks odd, even rubbery.

"There's special resin to hold everything intact or else it would just fall off," he explained. "It's on top of the actual skin."

Soon lots of people should get a look.

The tour might begin at movie theaters, where Dyer would answer questions after a showing of the filming Shooting Bigfoot, he said. Whether the creature, whom he's nicknamed Hank, would be shown inside or in its trailer in a parking lot still needs figuring out.

No, people won't be able to touch it.

"Why would you let people touch the greatest discovery of all time, besides women?" he said.

The public has been eager to see the body, he said. After picking it up earlier this year in Washington State, he let folks get a peek at gas stations on the way back to Vegas, as seen in a YouTube video. Recently, he had another showing, raking in $8,200 in just six hours, he said in a Facebook video.

Clearly, Dyer hopes to make a killing from his killing.

Proceeds from this tour might help him capture one alive.

"Yes, because I am the best Bigfoot tracker in the universe," he said.

After Phoenix, the tour will stop in Flagstaff, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and should stay in Houston for as long as six days. Info will be posted at the Ric Dyer fan page on Facebook, he said. Then it's along the Gulf Coast to Florida, where "we have a big thing planned."

No, it won't be at DisneyWorld, he said.

Eventually the tour will expand to visit museums and other venues, including on the East Coast and in other countries.

An unnamed Philadelphia radio station is interested, and "this morning we got confirmation from Germany that they want to make an offer to tour there," he said. Inquiries have come in from Japan and Australia, too.

"We're definitely going to be all over the place. It's going to be amazing," Dyer said.

Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences isn't on his list. "When there is evidence, then it is worth further scientific investigation, but there is no evidence," said Ted Daeschler, associate curator of vertebrate zoology.

No hunting or animal cruelty laws were broken by Dyer, because, as far as Texas is concerned, Bigfoot does not exist, a state official said.

Dyer has admitted previously taking part in a hoax involving a Bigfoot supposedly shot in Georgia.

"In 2008, I had to create something because the government stole my body," he said. That's when he inquired about having a fake made, finding out the head alone would cost $6,000, he said. That might explain one blog's accusation about this Bigfoot being a fake, he said.

Dyer has said he set out to kill another Bigfoot to redeem himself.

Redemption supposedly came on Sept. 6, 2012, when he nailed pork ribs from Walmart to branches, then bagged an adult male and a juvenile that night, he said.

The younger specimen was hush-hush until last week, because, "I have play it just right," he said. "I don't want to give all my goods out the first day."

"They don't look the exact same," Dyer said. "The fur is, of course, newer because he's younger. The older male was really nasty and dirty ... and it showed its age. The younger one don't have as many scars."

Because it's being studied, it won't be on display initially, he said.

"As soon as I get it from the university, I will have it on tour, sometime in March," he said.

He hasn't released photographs of the second specimen, but did post "See the REAL body of Bigfoot," a video last week that panned taxidermied adult from head to ankles.

Hank's, ahem, manhood – primatehood? – seems to have shrunk during the taxidermy process, he said.

"When I shot him it was huge," he said.

Helps to have a functioning heart, one might suggest.

He also expects to get Hank's skeleton back from researchers in March.

Dyer often talks about "haters," and he's not just referring to those who doubt or call him a fraud.

Someone damaged his Corvette by tossing laquer thinner or some other chemical on it, he said, and in one Facebook video Dyer's happily holding up a copy of an arrest warrant for someone who's been harassing his family and making death threats.

There will likely always be doubters, no matter how much evidence he eventually produces.

"There's no way to change the haters," he said. "Bigfoot could stand up and p--- in their face and you couldn't change them."

Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.