James Fay, or Bobo, was born and raised in Manhattan Beach, California, and has been interested in the Bigfoot mystery for as long as he can remember. As a teen, he became an avid surfer, a skill set he would eventually use to investigate reported Bigfoot sightings in remote areas of the country.

While in college, Bobo spent his downtime in the woods attempting to locate a Bigfoot. Following college, he took logging jobs on Native American crews to absorb their knowledge of the Sasquatch legend. In addition, he increased his Bigfoot knowledge by taking jobs building roads and commercially fishing in Northern California.

Bobo says that he saw his first Sasquatch while on an investigation with veteran Bigfoot researcher John Freitas in 2001. Since his initial sighting, Bobo claims to have glimpsed Bigfoots on a few other occasions, but it was this first visual sighting that moved him the most.