Not lately (unless 1971 is lately), but having seen 4 @ once in broad daylight and being able to observe them for several minutes is somewhat unusual & noteworthy.
After reading every book I could get my hands on, I now know my sighting was a rare event. However, the habitat was prime BF territory. Plenty of water (observed right next to a stream), plenty of brushy cover and much game animals (food) in the area.
After having read many reports, I always look for reports where the witness was able to observe & describe in the face in detail. Some report a "ape-like" face. Others describe a "human like" face, others describe a "a combination of human & ape features".
While witness reports can vary in quality due to stress from seeing a BF, when there are constantly re-occurring details, especially over many years, different locations etc, repeatability leads one to accept this is what is really being observed.
The following is merely my ramblings. Feel free to disagree in the strongest terms.
Why then the different facial descriptions? The ape like face points to a being closer to the ape side of primate. The human like face is indicative of a human being. Now, supposedly, Neanderthal man is extinct. But is Neanderthal man actually extinct? I wonder... We know from fossils that Neanderthal and cro-magna interbred, so the two species were very close on a DNA level. Lastly we have the "ape & human appearing" report. There are reports of BF taking First Nation women and forcing them to bear children. Is this the reason for the plethora of ape & human featured BF's? A hybrid being would explain this.
If so, that is an extremely good reason to not hunt down a BF and shot it!
It seems those who do manage to get an alleged sample of BF DNA always get a stock answer of "unknown primate" from the lab. They also seem to have trouble getting the sample returned. Is there a special phone number the labs call and say to whomever picks up the phone, "we got one.".
The person on the other end of the phone says, "We will be right there with a DNA typing printout and a substitute sample that you will hand to those who brought you the sample. We will also bring you a cash payment for your trouble / silence."
I had a conversation with a retired Texas Chief of Detectives. I asked if a person's civil rights were void if their body was hair covered, smelly and their face ugly. His answer was "Not in the slightest!"
If Joe-Bob the bumpkin pulls into town with the freshly shot carcass of BF and the story & pics of him standing there grinning with his .338 Win Mag and his foot on the carcass go viral on the net and TV news before the govt. fixers arrive, Joe-Bob may be in a world of trouble! Capital Murder is the worst if DNA shows it's Neanderthal (still a human variant). If it's a Hybrid human / BF, same story. If it's a ape, he has poached and killed state property. Perhaps he was trespassing on private property, another charge. No hunting license? Possession of a firearm in the woods w/o proper reason?
"But, it charged @ me Sheriff, I was just defending myself, honest!"
"Really? Prove it!"
Again, all this is just my hypothetical situation. I claim no status. Maybe I'm just a lucky guy that God chose to see 4 BF's a long time ago. On that, yeah, I can claim something.