WEBVTT

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I'm asking that you not reveal my
name. I've had two experiences with two

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different cryptids. It may sound unusual
or lucky to some, but after you

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hear this story, you decide for
yourself if I was lucky. I'm withholding

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exact dates and locations for this story, but it is absolutely true. These

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are the things that happen to men
that create nightmares and others. I have

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to give you this background information before
I get into the grim details of my

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encounter, to better help you understand
a few things as they are happening.

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My friend and I hunted all over
the Appalachian mountains and in different states.

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We were both active rifle and bow
hunters, and this story takes place at

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the beginning of beau season. I
became more of a speed nut with my

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bow's performance. Warning my bow to
shoot soon, fast and straight, using

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only one site pin to eliminate the
distance. Guesswork, and it has worked

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well for me over the past years. I achieved this by using an overdraw,

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allowing for me to use shorter arrows
that reduce the arrow weight, and

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that helped my seventy pound bow shoot
consistently over three hundred feet per second.

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I could shoot accurately with one pin
up to forty five yards, no guesswork,

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and a very flat trajectory. I
had another quirk, and that is

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using my climber tree stand to heights
much higher than normal. I always hunt

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from a position forty feet up in
a tree. I know this height is

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achieved because when I set my stand
and climb, I have a forty foot

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rope attached to my stand, with
the other end tied to my bow and

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my daypack, which remains on the
ground. While climbing, I feel the

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rope grow taut, and I know
that at my desired height. I then

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simply pull up my supplies after securing
my stand. This method is used by

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other bow hunters using climbing stands because
it's easier to pull up your belongings rather

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than trying to climb up and down
with them. You can't use a climber

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efficiently carrying everything up with you when
you are ascending or descending a tree,

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so these things are raised and lowered
with a rope. I like this height

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because I believe most animals use their
peripheral vision and do not look intentionally upwards

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to that height in a tree.
Therefore, I remain unseen. With all

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that out of the way, I
must tell you that I'm becoming emotional at

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this point because it is the time
for me to tell you the grim details

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about what happened. This is very
difficult and has been suppressed in me for

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many years. This has haunted me
for almost thirty years, a very traumatic

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experience, scarying me deeply, both
physically and mentally. I'm only telling this

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now because I'm in my seventies and
I feel I need to warn and alert

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others. I no longer care what
others say about me. It was a

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brisk fall day, and my friend
and I arrived at a good spot and

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the mountains that we had chosen by
map, far away from everyone and close

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to a good bedding and water source. We had to start our journey the

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night before to reach our secluded spot. The woods were beginning to open up

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with the leaves mostly fallen, and
my friend and I set up about one

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hundred or so yards apart where we
could see one another after first light.

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At each side of the funnel,
which is a narrow area between a food

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source or bedding and water and well
traveled by deer from one place to another.

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We thought it to be a perfect
spot to catch deer passing through.

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My friend was looking one way and
I was looking in the opposite direction.

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I guess it was around ten am
when I heard my friend making a racket,

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and I wondered what he was doing. He only sets his tree stand

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about fifteen foot off the ground.
But then I heard him yell something as

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he pulled his pistol. He fired
several shots from his forty five acp that

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he always carried bow hunting, and
then everything went to hell. From that

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I saw this creature directly under his
stand, and with one quick motion,

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it either jumped or just reached up
and grabbed his stand, and down everything

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came. My friend was then hanging
by his safety harness, but that thing

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was on him in no time,
and it ripped him to the ground.

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I could hear him screaming as it
was raking at him with its claws with

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such ferocity, and just as quickly
as his screams stopped. It was standing

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on two legs the entire time and
was not a bear or anything I had

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ever seen before. I could see
the body proportions were all wrong for it

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to be a bear, with everything
happening so fast, I did not know

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what to do. I didn't have
a firearm, and the distance was too

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great for my bow, and I
only had a United States Marine Corps k

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bar World War II knife with a
seven inch blade. And I have to

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admit I was frozen with fear,
knowing that my friend was either dead or

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close to it. It would take
me several long minutes to climb down from

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my position, so I just waited
in silence as my friend laid at this

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thing's feet, early, quiet and
not moving. I don't know to this

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day if that attack was provoked by
my friend shooting it or what he saw

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up to that time forcing him to
pull his firearm. Was it fear or

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was he under attack? That thing
was now satisfied that my friend was no

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more of a threat, and it
started circling and walking towards me on two

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legs. It was staring at the
ground and sniffing, as if it was

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backtracking where my friend had walked to
his stand, from my tree to his.

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It was as if it wanted to
see where he had come from,

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but the tracks in the scent were
leading it directly to me. When it

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was right under me, it paused
and was sniffing the air, and then

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continued past my tree, still on
the trail we had walked in on.

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But now it obviously detected two different
scents, and it stopped and dropped to

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all fours, and it sniffed the
ground and the air, and it was

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really trying to figure all this out. I now had the time to really

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look at this creature, taking in
as much detail as I could. It

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was very tall and muscular. Its
hair was coarse and black in color.

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It had a thicker mane of gray
and black hair going from its neck down

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to the center of its back,
which was a bit hunched over. It

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had a definite canine face with a
huge muzzle and big teeth. The mouth

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was always open, the ears were
pointed and standing straight up. The legs

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were doglike but very muscular at the
top, and the feet had claws.

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The arms were so long and muscular
that it had more of what I would

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say hands, with long claws on
each finger, and they were bloody.

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It was my friend's blood. It
spent most of its time on two feet,

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and this thing looked like a werewolf
right out of the movies. The

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creature paced around the path we had
walked in on and it never looked up

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at me, assuming it never expected
anyone up that high, it obviously knew

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there was someone else here. I
drew my bow and I prayed. My

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bow did not make much of a
sound as I drew my arrow, but

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this thing hurt me anyway, and
it looked up and we locked eyes.

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It was only about ten yards from
my tree, and now I was committed.

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So I released an arrow and it
penetrated just below its left shoulder.

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It let out a roar and it
ran off. I thought this might be

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my only chance to get out of
this tree, so without hesitation, I

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climbed down as fast as I could, bow on my lap, and as

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soon as I was on the ground
getting myself together, it returned unbelievably fast.

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I grabbed my tree stand, and
now I was facing this creature only

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feet away. I could clearly see
my arrow still buried in its upper chest.

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So with my tree stand in my
hands, I threw the stand at

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it to give me time to do
something, and I did not know what,

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so being a martial artist, I
reacted defensively and gave it a good

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kicking the knee, trying to take
it off its balance while its arms were

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busy dealing with the tree stand.
But its knee, though bending back like

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a dog's, was as solid as
if I had kicked a telephone pole.

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Knew this was it for me,
so I instinctively and immediately drew my knife

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in the same movement. There was
no way I could have kicked that thing

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any higher to do any damage,
because its knees or chest high to me,

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with its head being around three feet
taller than I was, I didn't

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think the kick would do much damage, but I still hoped it would buckle

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its knee. But with that failing, it did give me another split second,

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and the creature hesitated from the kick
long enough for me to plunge my

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knife into its side, hoping it
would retreat again, But instead, this

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time it retaliated viciously by backhanding me
with its left clawed hand and then slashing

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me with its right claw, going
down my shoulder, chest, and stomach,

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all in one fast movement. I
think the force of its first blow

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was actually my salvation, because it
knocked me back just far enough that I

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did not receive the full impact of
the claws from its right hand, though

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it was still enough to cause significant
damage to my flesh even through my clothing.

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It was lights out for me,
and the next thing that I remember

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is waking up in what appeared to
me to be a shallow grave of dirt,

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leaves, and branches. The area
was not dug out, rather just

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a depression and a heap of debris
thrown on top of me. I did

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not know where I was, but
everything was quiet. I could hear running

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water somewhere close, and I knew
this would be my only chance. I

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slowly climbed out, and as I
tried to stand, my right foot and

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ankle were pretty ripped up and my
boot was missing. This creature must have

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dragged me around by my foot.
I had to gather all the strength I

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had to make it to the running
water. I knew this thing could easily

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track me on land, especially now
that I was bleeding, so I had

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to make it to the water and
hope that it would help to hide my

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scent. When I reached the water, I was lucky because it was swiftly

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moving water deep enough to carry me
away. I grabbed a log and went

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into the water, and it was
cold, but with each passing second I

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was hoping it was taking me away
from this beast. At one point,

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I thought I heard a howl in
the distance, but I can't be sure.

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I stayed in that water for what
seemed like an eternity, and I

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do not know how far I traveled, but I came upon a camp and

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was lucky enough to be helped by
two other hunters who were back at their

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camp eating. They took me to
the hospital, and on that trip I

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told the two hunters that rescued me
what was out there, but I don't

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know if they believed me since I
was in such bad shape. They kept

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me in the hospital for a week, stitching my wounds and taking precautions for

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infection. I was visited by local
police and I gave them a location on

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the map of where we were and
all that happened. But they returned two

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days later, telling me that they
found my busted bow and two twisted tree

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stands, but no sign of my
friend other than some blood. It was

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now the last day of my hospital
stay and I was visited by two mysterious

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men who drilled me with questions.
I gave them every detail that was burned

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into my memory, and after hearing
all that I told them. They said

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it must have been a bear.
I countered with, there's no way it

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was a bear. I was confronting
this creature, looking right at it,

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and I know what a bear looks
like. And they replied with, no,

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you don't understand it was a bear. And they said that they know

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who I am, and they know
everything about me, and they do not

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want to hear me saying anything except
it was a bear attape. Well,

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I'm getting too old now to worry
about those guys who were there present.

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I lost a good friend that day, and I have physical and mental scars

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to remind me every day. That
proved that the nightmares that I have every

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night are real. My final word
to hunters is there's something out there,

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so at least let others know where
you will be. I don't know what

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it would take to bring this thing
down, obviously much more than hunters,

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especially bow hunters, who normally have
with them just a bow and an arrow.

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And in my case, it was
shot at least three times with a

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forty five automatic and my bow,
shooting a three hundred and sixty grain arrow

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at three hundred and fifteen feet per
second, and then stabbed with my knife,

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penetrating all seven inches of the knife. Now this may sound crazy,

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but next year, on my friend's
seventieth birthday, I'm returning to that spot

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to honor my friend and play some
flowers about that spot. But this time

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I'm going to be taking my ar
rifle and a fifty Beowolf caliber and a

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hefty side arm, of course,
and a larger knife. This is something

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I have to do. I know
there was nothing I could have done to

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help my friend that day, but
that does not take away the hurt,

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the pain, and the nightmares.
I may be living on borrow time,

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but I'm being drawn back, and
maybe this will help put closure for me

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in one way or another. People
that do not know me sometimes at the

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beach who see me without a shirt
on, look at my scars and they

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ask what happened? I mean,
how do you answer that? My usual

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response is I say it was a
bear attack, but they would not believe

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the truth and it would take much
longer for me to respond that way,

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So, avoiding a long story,
I simply say those two words bear attack.

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I hope that by sharing this story
with you and your listeners who also

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have had encounters, that my story
may help to save someone. I don't

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know if these creatures only violently react
to aggression or what my friends saw to

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make him shoot, perhaps fear because
it was coming at him. I can

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certainly understand my friend's shooting since he
was so much lower to the ground,

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and that creature may have been the
aggressor. I survived that encounter and my

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friend did not. And there are
secret groups out there that want to hide

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the encounters like this from the public. But I have kept this locked inside

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me for all these years, and
I need to start doing something about it

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and let people know