I think he goes into the woods armed because he may have to defend himself against something definitely ‘earthly’.
I will have to listen some more, but I don’t remember anyone disappearing into thin air before a witness. I remember stories of people being on a trail with others one moment, who then couldn’t be found; but in wilderness that can happen easily.
(A lot of the people who believe in ‘Bigfoot’ don’t believe it’s supernatural at all, but a species that has been able to survive largely without being discovered.)
He pretty much goes there without saying it almost every time at the end of his podcasts/videos.
Haven’t listened to him in about a year, so he may have changed his tune.
There was another guy who claimed to see staircases in the middle of the woods/forests miles away that would be there one day and disappear the next, maybe it was Paulides? I can’t remember.