WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:09.800 Like most people, I never believed bigfoot existed outside of stories. Always figured 2 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:13.199 if they did exist, there'd be some kind of proof, like bones or 3 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:18.480 excrement, hair or nests. And like most believers, I've had some experience 4 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:23.960 that have changed my stance on the topic. In twenty thirteen, we had 5 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.519 been in charge of taking care of nuisance hogs at a pecan farm for over 6 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:33.600 a year. The farm also included a few fields of cotton, but the 7 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:39.119 hogs tended to leave those fields alone. The pecans ended at the tree line, 8 00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:43.880 and that led to thousands of acres of untouched Georgia forests, and the 9 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:47.280 creek ran through the forest as well, along with a whole lot of deer. 10 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.439 I was partnered with two guys from my office. One was my best 11 00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:57.159 friend, Jim, who has influenced me into becoming a Southern speaking Red Mexican 12 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:07.640 Red a Southern speaking Red Mexican I am today, okay. The other was 13 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.599 Gregg, he runs a hunting guide business on the side by the way. 14 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:15.239 The man's name who wrote this. He has a Spanish sounding name, so 15 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:22.280 I'm guessing he may be or his family may be from south of the southern 16 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:26.200 United States border. We were having a great success baiting the hogs at the 17 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:32.799 treeline using automatic feeders, but the population was so dense we were barely making 18 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:37.799 a dent. It was probably the heavy concentration of game that drew in a 19 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:42.840 family group. One night, we were spread out and using the last picond 20 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:47.319 trees as natural blinds from the tree line that was about thirty yards away. 21 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:51.879 I was sitting at the base of the tree to hide my outline. There 22 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:55.680 was a farmhouse near the entrance to the field where a light was just brought 23 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:00.560 enough to backlight us. Well. I didn't expect to see anything anyway, 24 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:06.079 and the wind was behind us, blowing our scent straight into the tree line. 25 00:02:06.359 --> 00:02:10.080 Surprisingly, I started hearing movement and twigs snap, so I readied my 26 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:15.400 rifle. It was a clear night with plenty of moonlight to see the tree 27 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:19.800 line. I didn't see any shadows moving around yet, but I was patient. 28 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:23.319 Thump, something hit the ground right in front of me, scaring the 29 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:28.439 crap out of me. I thought a branch had come off the pecan tree. 30 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:31.919 They're always losing branches. Well, I jumped to my feet and turned 31 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:36.439 on my weapon light, and lying just a few feet in front of me, 32 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:38.759 was a two foot piece of oak branch, dug into the ground like 33 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:44.680 it had been thrown. It was three inches across and it did not come 34 00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:50.159 from the tree above. I jumped behind the tree and swept my light across 35 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:53.000 the tree line, and then I called my buddies to come over, and 36 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:57.800 as soon as I told them what happened, Gregg started shouting that they were 37 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:02.120 trespassing on private property. We were the only ones with access to hunt there, 38 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:06.840 and we pressed up to the tree line and shouted for them to come 39 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:12.719 out and show themselves well. After a few minutes of shouting with no response, 40 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.479 we figured our hunting was ruined for the night, and so we packed 41 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:21.719 up. The next day, Jem and I went back to try to find 42 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:25.400 tracks or signs of who was messing with us the night before. We were 43 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:30.520 hoping to find what direction they'd come from, but the underbrush was too thick, 44 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:35.479 and while we searched, we talked about what kind of arm the person 45 00:03:35.560 --> 00:03:38.919 must have had to throw that log. Thirty yards is a pretty good throw 46 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:45.400 for a stick that size. For a while, that's how things went for 47 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:49.960 us. We'd be hunting, and then sticks and rocks or cotton seeds would 48 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:53.719 be thrown at us, and we'd yell like we did the first night, 49 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:59.680 and it became a hunting as usual routine. We figured someone was set on 50 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:02.159 roots our hunts, but we weren't going to be run off by someone that 51 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:08.159 didn't like us hunting there. It did make us extra careful about what we 52 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:12.879 were firing at. We made triple sure that we weren't firing on the harasser 53 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:17.560 or harassers, and as annoying as it was, we decided that none of 54 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:23.759 us was ever to hunt alone on that property anymore. And we continued bagging 55 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:28.920 our fair share of hogs, but we never found any tracks. We made 56 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.480 up our minds that it was someone poaching the land and they were good at 57 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:36.920 hiding their movement. We had several game cameras set up throughout the property, 58 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:43.040 but we never got any pictures of anything other than normal wildlife. We did 59 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:46.240 sometimes catch a whiff of something that didn't smell like any animal that I know 60 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:51.639 of. It was an ungodly mix of wet dog and hot garbage with just 61 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:59.240 a hint a sulfur or ammonia. Then things began to happen that convinced us 62 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.959 that we were dealing with something more than the human harassers. My father, 63 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:08.000 he's my best friend, and my brother came in from out of state to 64 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.839 do some hog hunting with us, and we began our hunt at the edge 65 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:16.560 of the pecan field as usual, but we never saw anything. Our visitors 66 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:20.959 were only there for the night and the moon was full, so we decided 67 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:25.800 to go down to the farm's dirt service road that was cut into the trees 68 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:30.199 leading to the creek. We figured we might get a chance to run up 69 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:33.000 on a hog near that water. We've killed a few of them down that 70 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:39.079 road when they were wallowing in the mud to cool off. We moved near 71 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:43.319 the water until we could hear some movement coming from the creek, and as 72 00:05:43.319 --> 00:05:46.240 it got closer, we took a knee to wait for it to expose itself 73 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:51.120 near the road. Whatever it was, it stopped just shy of the road 74 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:56.519 beyond our site. After a couple of minutes that felt more like hours, 75 00:05:56.759 --> 00:06:00.399 something hit me in the chest. It didn't hurt, it's just surprised the 76 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:03.920 heck out of me. And I looked down and I saw a cotton seed 77 00:06:03.959 --> 00:06:09.480 at my feet. Well, that freaked me out because we were a long 78 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:13.800 way from the nearest cotton field, and I jumped up and was about to 79 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:16.959 turn my weapon light on when Jim told me to wait. There was some 80 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:21.319 more movement closer to the road, and then he heard a loud grunt right 81 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:26.720 before it ran away through the shallow creek. The grunt was not a hog 82 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:30.560 or a deer. The sound of it running through the water told us it 83 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.639 was by a peedle. It was making a loud splash, like a person 84 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:40.040 running ankle deep in water, but the splashes were too far apart. Whatever 85 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:45.240 made that sound, it had a huge stride. We pulled out of the 86 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:49.879 woods and returned to our cars, and our visitors drove separately. In our 87 00:06:49.959 --> 00:06:55.319 car, Jim and Gregg and I were in a tense conversation about what could 88 00:06:55.319 --> 00:07:00.079 have made those noises. We figured it didn't expect so many of us to 89 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:02.439 be on the trail, so when it got eyes on us, it turned 90 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:08.639 and ran. We were beginning to lean toward the possibility of the stories about 91 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:14.319 sasquatch being true, but with the jobs we have, never making assumptions and 92 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:20.879 seeking solid evidence before confirming suspicions is ingrained in us, so we continued on, 93 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:28.319 but with extra caution and large caliber weapons. One night, Greg brought 94 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.920 in a couple of friends for a dog hunt. These guys had two catch 95 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:38.360 dogs and one bay dog. They were no slouches. The catch dogs were 96 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:43.600 pitt mixes and they were well equipped with GPS, trackers and night vision and 97 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:47.519 a lot of success in previous hunts. It was a hot summer night and 98 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:54.560 we were excited to get our first dog hunt in. The handlers sent the 99 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.560 dogs into the tree line to start the hunt, and it wasn't long before 100 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:01.519 the dogs had their cat and the bay dog began barking to let us know. 101 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:07.399 We tracked the dogs using the GPS and we got within two hundred feet 102 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:11.560 of them. When the dogs moved away from us, and as we pushed 103 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:16.639 further in, we got a whiff of that same scent we'd smelled in previous 104 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:22.199 hunts. For the next hour, the dogs would stop and we'd move toward 105 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:26.040 them, and then they'd move off before we could see them through the underbrush. 106 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:30.040 The handlers thought the dogs might have gotten into a hog too big for 107 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:35.519 them to pin down completely. We decided to pull back to our park vehicles 108 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:41.200 while the handlers tried to recall their dogs. Only one of the catch dogs 109 00:08:41.399 --> 00:08:45.440 returned. He wasn't injured, but he had some blood on his muzzle. 110 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:48.840 They put him in his kennel and the bay dog continued to holler when they 111 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:54.039 tried to recall him. On the GPS, the dogs were showing as being 112 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:58.759 a bit less than a quarter of a mile away, and we decided to 113 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.519 try to get closer to the dogs in case they couldn't hear us, or 114 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:07.799 the collars were malfunctioning or something. We pushed into the woods, and again 115 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:13.960 when we got close, the dogs moved away. The handlers were getting worried 116 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:16.240 and started yelling as loud as they could to get the dogs to return, 117 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.559 and when the dogs moved away yet again, we started running to try to 118 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:26.120 get close enough to see what was happening. After running a hard mile through 119 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:30.519 the woods and thorny vines and thick underbrush, we finally caught up to the 120 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:35.320 dogs near the creek. The catch dog was laying on his side with a 121 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:41.399 circular stab wound in his left temple. He was dead. The bay dog 122 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:46.519 was standing over him, barking toward the brush. We thought a hog's tusk 123 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:52.559 had finally gotten him, but when we inspected him rigor mortis was beginning to 124 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:58.159 set in. If he just recently stopped moving, that wasn't possible. His 125 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:03.399 fur was wet, but there was no blood or other injuries anywhere on him, 126 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:07.080 and it was as if he had been carried and put down where we 127 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:11.919 had found him. If a hog had dragged him, he'd have been dirty 128 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:18.399 and beat up. And again that smell permeated the area. The handlers collected 129 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:22.759 their dogs and we all walked out to the cars. The handlers loaded up 130 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.279 their dogs and left without saying a word. They were definitely spooked and refused 131 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:31.879 all invitations to ever hunt with us again. Despite all of this, we 132 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:39.120 never did officially call it a sasquatch encounter. We had several more similar encounters, 133 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:43.759 but we never did lay eyes on one. The South Georgia brush is 134 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.960 so thick that you can hardly see a few feet in front of you. 135 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:52.200 We spent the rest of the summer trying to find hard evidence. To provide 136 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:56.840 proof, we set up game cameras, but all that did was convince me 137 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:03.320 that they can see infrared illuminators and smart enough to avoid them. Jim had 138 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:05.960 read about tree knocking, so we finally decided to give it a try to 139 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:11.679 challenge them into coming out. We parked about two hundred yards from the tree 140 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:15.360 line and we walked up to one hundred and fifty yards from the tree line 141 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:20.480 and the pecan field. We borrowed a PVS fourteen monocular to get an advantage 142 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:24.440 with good night vision, and after being there for about an hour with Jim 143 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.840 knocking on a pecan tree with a dial rod, we finally saw them. 144 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.559 Jim unclipped and handed me the monocular, saying scan the tree line to our 145 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:41.879 left. Near the first row of pecan trees outside the tree line, there 146 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:45.399 were three of them, with two more further back in the tree line itself. 147 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:48.799 It was a clear night and plenty of starlight to feed the night vision. 148 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.159 They were absolutely massive, and the tallest of the three was a good 149 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:58.600 eight and a half to nine feet tall. The two of the tree line 150 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:03.960 were, though with a perspective and the trees shading them from the light, 151 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:09.080 it was hard to tell if they were significantly smaller. The night vision didn't 152 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:13.000 let us see the color, and we were too far away to see a 153 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:18.120 good detail on their faces, but they were muscular with thick shoulders and short 154 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:22.799 necks. Their hair was matted and it reflected some light in the night vision, 155 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:26.600 as if they had been in a creek water and they were standing there 156 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.120 watching us with no idea that we could see them with our passive night vision. 157 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:37.600 We were never fans of shooting one to use the corpse as evidence. 158 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:43.120 They're just animals doing their thing. We're not sport hunters. We eat or 159 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:46.600 donate the meat from our kills. But we didn't like our chances against five 160 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:52.039 of them if they decided to attack, so we decided to bug out. 161 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:58.679 I handed Jim the monocular and we walked backwards to Jim's truck slowly with rifles. 162 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:03.159 Out said that they were not advancing on us, but they were keeping 163 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:07.519 pace with us. When we got to the truck, I jumped into the 164 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:11.639 bed and covered Jim while he got into the driver's seat and got us out 165 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:16.960 of there. We started referring to them as our friends whenever anyone might be 166 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:22.799 around to overhear us talking. We never did get them to come out into 167 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:26.720 the open again. They still throw stuff at us to remind us that they're 168 00:13:26.759 --> 00:13:33.840 still out there. We decided as long as they made no overtly aggressive actions 169 00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:37.039 toward us, that we would not shoot at them. The sticks and rocks 170 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:41.039 and seeds smarted on occasion, but we did not see it as enough to 171 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:46.879 respond with deadly forced We did, however, start wearing our armor while we 172 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:52.799 were out there. The next year, the farmer who on the land leased 173 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.039 a property out from under us to a friend for deer hunting. We found 174 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:01.159 out later from his son that the guy only hunted once and he never came 175 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:05.679 back. The farmer has since passed away and we have not been able to 176 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:09.879 get permission from his estate to continue our hunts. We're still working on it. 177 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:15.799 We have better technology now to obtain proof that they're still out there. 178 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:20.000 And one last thing. Once, when I was working the night shift, 179 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:24.720 I got a call from a coworker who had gone out with Jim and Greg, 180 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:28.480 and as soon as I answered, he started to cuss me out. 181 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.480 Well, as an ex marine, he had a lot of inventive ways to 182 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:37.559 swear, and after his verbal assault calmed down, he asked me why I 183 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.440 never told him about our friends on the hunting property. Well, I ask 184 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:45.000 him if he'd ever believed me, and he said probably not, and he 185 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:48.720 hung up on me. We never talked about it again. That short chat 186 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:54.600 proved to me that we were not crazy or seeing things. I believe the 187 00:14:54.639 --> 00:15:00.200 behaviors we witnessed from these creatures were threat displays to protect their hunting grounds. 188 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:03.080 They could just as easily be very dangerous if they wanted to.