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Speaker 1: Imagine dining in a restaurant and overhearing someone's waitress say

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to their table, my nickname since I was a little

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girl has been Little Yetty. Her table had apparently been

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talking bigfoot when she walked by. Wait What, one of

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her customers asked as she was headed down the drink station.

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Their waitress turned back at them and smiled, I'll be

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right back. After a few minutes of which probably seemed

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like an eternity to those people, Little Yetti returned to

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their table. What did you mean, asked one of the

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men at the table. Have you ever seen a bigfoot

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around here? I sure have, she said many times, in

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part that's how I got my nickname. I've sort of

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grown up with them. The three people at the table

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just looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces,

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she continued. One morning, when I was younger, I looked

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out the window of our family cabin as my uncle

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was outside playing with his two dogs. It was about

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then that he noticed they were nowhere in sight. After

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repeatedly calling their names and also looking behind the cabin,

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he spotted them cowering under his pickup truck in the driveway.

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He called to them, but they wouldn't even look at him.

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What's going on, he wondered out loud, and then he

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noticed the direction they were looking was to the trees

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less than fifty yards directly behind him. At this point,

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everyone at my table continued to eavesdrop on the conversation

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as their waitress paused for a moment and just looked

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at each other. For her customers, Everyone at my table

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continued to eavesdrop on this conversation as their waitress paused

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for a moment and just looked at each of her customers.

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The man in a green hat asked, Okay, what happened next? Well,

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before my uncle even turned turned around, the hair on

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his neck stood straight up. He was almost too afraid

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to turn around as he slowly gazed down at the

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dogs again to see if they were still looking behind him.

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He slowly reached inside the truck and grabbed a Savage

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thirty six hunting rifle. Once more, he checked with the

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dogs before he finally began to turn around. Little Yetti

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stopped her story to add that the woods around their

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family cabin has a long history of visitations from coyotes,

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black bear, elk, mule, deer, Bobcat, mountain lion, and if

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you believe some people, wolves and grizzly bear, whatever was

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behind her uncle was scary enough to spoop those dogs,

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Little Yettie continued. My uncle cautiously swiveled his upper body

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towards the woods, holding the gun close to his chest,

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and then he saw it. Just outside of the trees

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stood a seven to eight foot hairyman watching him and

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his dogs. He was covered in brown hair and he

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stood motionless. I watched through the window as my uncle

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slowly lifted the rifle to his shoulder so he could

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look at this man through a high powered scope. Just

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as he put his eye to the scope, the creature

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turned and ran into the woods. Wow, said one of

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the men at the table. Yeah. It took a couple

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of minutes before his dogs felt safe enough to leave

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the shelter of the truck. Okay, can I get you

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folks anything else? Each of the three men at the

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table looked at each other, and then one ask, so

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why is your nickname, little Yetti? Oh yeah, that's another story,

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well sort of, she said. They all laughed and chimed

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in together. Well we're not going anywhere, so carry on, okay,

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but let me check on my other tables first. Are

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you sure you don't need anything else while I'm here?

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We're sure? How about another round of that delicious root beer?

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And she replied, coming right up. While she was away,

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the three of them just sort of looked off out

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the windows, probably imagining what it could have been like

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to experience a sasquatch up in those mountains, especially when

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your two dogs are apparently unable to confront it. Seriously,

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many people go hiking with their dogs hoping it will

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protect them. Maybe they would, but against a close encounter

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with a sasquatch. My friends and I looked at each

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other and we smiled, Yeah, we're not going anywhere either.

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This is too good. It wasn't long before their waitress

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returned with three large root beers and little YETI said, okay,

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so where were we? One of the men said, we're

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wondering where you got your nickname? Laughing, She said, oh, yeah,

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that the encounter I just told you wasn't my first

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time seeing one of these creatures while growing up at

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my parents' cabin. In fact, I've seen that particular sasquatch

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many times before, so I'm not afraid of him. My

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uncle though that was his first time. He'd heard some

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of my stories over the years, but never had a

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personal experience before that. He didn't want to shoot it,

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just get a closer look. This will probably sound a

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bit unusual and maybe unbelievable, but when I was seven

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years old, my parents and I were sitting in the

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living room of the cabin with the windows and the

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front door open. It was about the same time of

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year as now, so having the windows and door open

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allowed cool air to circulate through the house. Suddenly, my

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mother said, listen, do you hear that? And we all

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stopped moving and tuned our ears towards the outdoors. There

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that did you guys hear it? We all jumped up

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and we ran outside to get a better listen, and

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my dad said, that sounds like an elk calf calling

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out to its mother. And we all looked at each

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other and began moving towards the sound. It didn't seem

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that far away, possibly just inside the trees where my

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uncle saw the hairy man. When we arrived to where

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we thought the sound was coming from, my mother said,

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it now sounds like it's over there, pointing to our left.

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Another thirty or forty yards away. Once more, we stopped

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where we thought the sound was coming from, but we

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didn't see anything there. It is again, my mother said,

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as she pointed back in another direction, What is going on?

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My father said, it's like moving us around, but we

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can't see it. And this continued for quite a while,

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and before we knew it, we were quite a distance

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from the cabin, and then we heard the crying sound

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coming from the edge of a cliff. That cliff was

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nearly a mile from the cabin, and my mother said,

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I don't get it. Where is this baby elk? My

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father walked to the ledge and he looked down. What

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the heck he blurted out, come look at this. My

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mother and I ran over to the edge of the

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cliff and looked down to see what he had seen.

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There on a small ledge was an elk calf. Somehow

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it became trapped about twenty five feet down on a

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really small outcropping. And then my dad asked, okay, how

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would this selk get all the way down there without

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going over the edge. He didn't wait for an answer.

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I'll be right back. I'm going for a rope. You

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two stay here and keep an eye on it. My

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father disappeared back into the woods. Our cabin was now

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a mile away, so it would take a while before

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he returned. My mother and I sat down on a

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fallen tree and just looked down at the baby. Mom,

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how do you get down there? And how could we

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hear it all the way through the woods to our house? Well,

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I don't know, honey. It didn't take my father as

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long to return as I thought it would. He appeared

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on the ranger with ropes in the back. He said,

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you'll never guess what I found on the way to

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the cabin. The baby's mother is dead and her carcass

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has already been chewed on by coyotes. She's not far

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from here, just over that way. Dad tied a rope

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up to his harness into a nearby tree and then

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lowered himself down to the elk. My mom and I

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stood above him and asked, can we do anything to help.

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I'm going to lift the elk above my shoulders and

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try to climb back up. I need you guys to

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keep the rope to the side of the tree root

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so it doesn't get hung up. Okay, can you do that? Sure? Honey?

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My mother replied, It took my dad about five minutes

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to get the baby up to safety. He was exhausted

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and sat down to catch his breath. The three of

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us just sat there looking at the calf. It was

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probably relieved too, but it didn't run off. It just

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laid down in the shade of my father. The waitress

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stopped there, and she looked at her watch and said

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she'd be back for the rest of the story. One

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of her orders had appeared to be up, so she

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needed to take someone's food to the table. While she

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was gone. One of the customers said, poor baby. Yeah,

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I wonder how this story ends, said another guy. It

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was about fifteen minutes before she returned to finish the story. Okay,

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we have to hurry with the rest of the story.

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I have more tables coming in, she said. We all

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piled into our UTV and took the baby elk back

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to the cabin. I was the lucky one who got

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to hold it. During the ride. My dad slowed the

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UTV down at one point and pointed up ahead, that's

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the mother carcass right there. My mother then suggested that

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maybe the baby ran for safety but ended up trapped

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over the edge. Maybe, said my dad, but there's no

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way it should have landed on that small outcropping and

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not fallen into the ravine below. Dad, do you know

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how we could hear it crying from way out there?

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I asked, I sure don't. A lot of this doesn't

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make any sense at all, he continued. For now, we

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need to figure out what to do with this self.

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We all remained silent the rest of the way back

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to the cabin. Bring the elk inside with you, my

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dad said, as he took the machine out back and

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he parked it, and then little YETI said, Okay, guys,

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to make a longer story shorter. The elk stayed with

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us until it was older, much older. In fact, it

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was too large to stay indoors. Can you imagine a

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long legged elk walking around inside your house. One thing

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became clear over time. The more and more we talked

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about the details of what happened, the more the only

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thing that really made sense didn't make any sense at all.

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The cow elk was killed and the baby needed shelter.

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There's absolutely no way we would have heard its cries

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for help at that distance. We even tested it by

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yelling and playing loud music from the ranger We couldn't

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hear anything from that far out, even at night. So

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what are you saying, one of the guys at the

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table asked, I'm suggesting that the brown haired sysquatch helped

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us find the baby. We also found as lord footprints

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near the ledge when we went back to test sound

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traveling back to our cabin. That one bigfoot came around

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a few years following our return with the calf. It

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was as if he was checking to make sure that

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we had it home safely. Additionally, there's no realistic way

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the baby would have survived the fall twenty five feet

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down to the tiny landing in which we found it on.

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We think that sasquatch was mimicking the baby's cries to

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get our attention, and from a distance we could hear it.

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Then it lured us closer and closer to the ledge,

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where we believe it placed the baby so no predators

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could get at it. The waitress stopped for a breather

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and let it sink in with her customers, who just

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stared at her. Wow, that's an amazing story. But how

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did you get your nickname? One of them asked. The

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waitress just smiled at him as the baby elk needed

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to be taken care of and watched after. My parents

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started calling me little Yetti as I took care of

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the calf like the hairy Man looked after it. Over

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the years, the name just stuck. Her customer started laughing, Yeah,

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that makes sense. Thanks for sharing your story with us,

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No problem, she said, There's more to the story, and

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I have other experiences up at our family cabin, but

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I have to get back to work. Have a great night,

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and thanks for coming in for lunch. My two friends

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and I just sunk deeper in our booth as we

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looked at each other and smiled. What a story. Huh yeah,

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I replied, you think it's true? I mean, do you

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think the sasquatch really led them to the baby elk?

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Why not? She even said, there's more to the story.

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I can't imagine what else happened. I've never run into

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a bigfoot head on, but indirectly, I'm pretty sure that

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I've had two encounters over the years. I am an

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old Marie. I'm eighty years old, and I've hunted and

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camped all my life, from California to Colorado to Kansas

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and back. I was born in Corpus CHRISTI in the

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war years. This is about the start of what we

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call the Valley. And I've hunted the Gulf Coast all

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my life, from white winged doves on the King Ranch

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to whitetailed deer in East Texas to the big mule

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deer in West Texas. When I was younger, I mostly

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hunted by myself, but occasionally I would gather up my

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two brothers with me, more for company than hunting. They

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gave me maybe three chances before they decided that they

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had had enough. They didn't seem to like hunting in

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a rainstorm. How was I to know that? And then

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there was the time I forgot all the groceries. They

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thought I was trying to starve them to death, and

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maybe sleeping on the ground under the pickup bed was

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too much for them. Well, at least I gave them

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a chance. One year I was getting ready to hunt.

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I had a great place I had found. It was

243
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out of Goodrich, Texas, off a county road which intersected

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with Highway fifty nine. This was before Lake Livingston had

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been developed, and there was a lot of logging going on,

246
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and you could get on one of these roads and

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ride until you found a place you wanted to hunt,

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and then set up camp and enjoy the outdoors. On

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this one night, I was walking back to camp. I

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had been out all day scouting for robes and scrapes

251
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before the deer season. There was a big moon out

252
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and it was lit well, and I kept hearing something

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running in front of me. There was enough light from

254
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the moon that I didn't need a flashlight to see

255
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my trail, so I kept it off until I was

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parallel with my camp site, and when I turned it

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on there was a little red fox that had been

258
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leading the way. I turned into camp and kept going,

259
00:14:54,399 --> 00:14:57,159
and about this time a scream like none I had

260
00:14:57,159 --> 00:15:00,399
ever heard before came out of the woods behind my camp.

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Hunting in these woods all my life, I pretty much

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heard every sound that can be made, and I know

263
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,080
when a squirrel is fussing at me as they moved

264
00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:13,120
through the heavy brush, to the scream of a bobcat.

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And this sound didn't belong to anything that I had

266
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,240
ever heard. I couldn't get inside my pickup fast enough,

267
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and I started it up and the lights on bright,

268
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and I backed up and scanned the woods, but I

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never saw anything not being for sure what was out there.

270
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That night was spent inside the truck without any supper.

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The next morning, I got up and fixed some coffee

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and breakfast, and I went back out scouting again, waiting

273
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for one of my little brothers and his new wife

274
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to show up. Around noon. They showed up and I

275
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helped them get their camp areas set up, and after

276
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a light lunch, I took them out and showed them

277
00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,519
some good places to hunt. Later that evening, we had

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00:15:55,559 --> 00:15:58,000
a nice campfire with a good supper, and it was

279
00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,759
very peaceful and with a good cup of coffee, we

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00:16:00,879 --> 00:16:04,759
enjoyed each other's company until nine o'clock when we turned in.

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I never said anything to them about the sounds I

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00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,200
had heard, and I hoped for the best that there

283
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:13,759
were no more screams. But there were a few knocks

284
00:16:13,799 --> 00:16:16,480
that night, but they were in the distance. So we

285
00:16:16,519 --> 00:16:20,240
had a great two day hunt with no problems. I

286
00:16:20,279 --> 00:16:23,039
often wondered about what I had heard that night, knowing

287
00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:26,559
that whatever it was had to move on, But where

288
00:16:26,559 --> 00:16:32,600
did it go. My next encounter was at Stubblefield Late Campgrounds,

289
00:16:32,639 --> 00:16:35,320
which is at the north end of Lake Conroe on

290
00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,720
Highway forty five and County Road thirteen seventy five. I

291
00:16:39,759 --> 00:16:42,159
always get to the campgrounds a couple of days early

292
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,200
to get camp set up and do a little fishing

293
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,440
before my son and grandson come up for hunting season.

294
00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,039
I went out before it got to late one evening

295
00:16:51,039 --> 00:16:53,679
to get some firewood. While I was down the road

296
00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,960
gathering firewood, that sixth sense clicked in and I since

297
00:16:58,039 --> 00:17:01,799
something was not right, something was wrong, and I was

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00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:05,279
in danger. So back inside the pickup I went, and

299
00:17:05,319 --> 00:17:08,519
then I took off. I left half my firewood in

300
00:17:08,559 --> 00:17:12,279
the middle of the road. Only twice in my life

301
00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:15,119
have I been spooked, and these are the two times.

302
00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:19,759
Sam Houston National Forest has over one hundred and sixty

303
00:17:19,799 --> 00:17:23,319
three thousand acres to play in with the Lone Star

304
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,000
Hiking Trail that runs through it, which is over one

305
00:17:26,039 --> 00:17:29,200
hundred miles, and this is where many sightings have been.

306
00:17:30,319 --> 00:17:33,039
So when that sixth sense clicked in, this is all

307
00:17:33,079 --> 00:17:35,640
I could think about. It must have been Bigfoot, and

308
00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,720
it must have been close watching me. The next night,

309
00:17:39,799 --> 00:17:42,240
I went back to the same place and gathered up

310
00:17:42,279 --> 00:17:45,400
my wood, and I had no bad feeling, so whatever

311
00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:49,480
had been there was gone. About the most dangerous animal

312
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:52,200
we have in these woods would be a rabid raccoon.

313
00:17:53,599 --> 00:17:55,799
I've had a friend that's hunted up there for over

314
00:17:55,839 --> 00:17:58,640
forty years, and he met one while he was out

315
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:03,000
hunting one morning without any problems. This sighting was back

316
00:18:03,039 --> 00:18:06,240
in the nineteen eighties. Now, I've known Ron this many

317
00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:09,000
years and he's never lied to me, and I truly

318
00:18:09,039 --> 00:18:12,920
believe every word he said. I know exactly where he

319
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,880
was hunting that day. And in February, after hunting season

320
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,119
is over and with the woods clear of guns, I

321
00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,359
have recruited a team that is going with me to

322
00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,279
the place where he had his encounter to see if

323
00:18:25,279 --> 00:18:28,319
we can find some evidence, or maybe I can get

324
00:18:28,319 --> 00:18:32,759
me a card playing Scotch drinking buddy. According to Ryan,

325
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,799
when Bigfoot stepped out, he moved a couple of six

326
00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,319
inch pine trees to the side. He looked at him

327
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,880
and made two light grunts, and then turned and walked away.

328
00:18:44,079 --> 00:18:46,640
Ryan said that he was still sitting on his butt

329
00:18:46,759 --> 00:18:50,000
on the ground, leaning up against this big pine tree

330
00:18:50,039 --> 00:18:52,880
that he had climbed over when he had slipped down,

331
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,200
and he never even unslung his gun to watch the

332
00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,799
creature walk away. Well, his hunting was through for that

333
00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,920
and Realizing what had just happened, he decided to hunt

334
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,920
in one of his other places, not wanting that experience

335
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,640
ever again, and he says, PS, this is for you.

336
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:12,799
It can be read if you choose to. Well, I'm

337
00:19:12,799 --> 00:19:15,359
gonna go ahead and read it. How can a person

338
00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,559
listen to you and not believe in Bigfoot? Hey, let

339
00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:21,400
me stop here. Don't believe in Bigfoot because of me?

340
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,920
I am a skeptic. I'm a total skeptic. I'm not

341
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:29,680
saying they don't exist, but I'm not saying they do anyway,

342
00:19:29,799 --> 00:19:33,200
onto his PostScript, I guess I have gotten older and

343
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,160
I've gotten braver or maybe not too smart, and that

344
00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,279
is why I'm going out Bigfoot. Honey. I've seen so

345
00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:42,119
many people go out looking for Bigfoot, and when they

346
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,720
find him, they run away. If he throws a rock,

347
00:19:46,039 --> 00:19:49,000
throw one back, and if he growls that, you growl back.

348
00:19:49,279 --> 00:19:52,240
And if he screams, you need to scream back. You

349
00:19:52,279 --> 00:19:54,400
need to do these things to see what kind of

350
00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,000
response and reaction you get back. You need to try

351
00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,880
to understand what he's doing and what you're going after

352
00:20:01,319 --> 00:20:05,839
and trying to accomplish, but also protect yourself just in

353
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:09,079
case things take a turn for the worst, and he writes,

354
00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,799
thanks again, Rick, that actually sounds like a guy in

355
00:20:12,839 --> 00:20:17,119
the Marine Corps. If he screams, actually screamed back. Normally

356
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,799
it would be if he screams at you killing. I mean,

357
00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:23,400
Marines are killers. That's what they're trained to do, tear

358
00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:27,079
stuff up and kill people. This was a great story.

359
00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:29,599
I ran across it this morning, and I wanted to

360
00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,000
make sure that you guys heard it. I thought it

361
00:20:32,039 --> 00:20:36,240
was interesting. Eighty year old Marine Corps veteran, I appreciated

362
00:20:36,319 --> 00:20:43,119
him sending this story to me, Thanks sir. In September

363
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:47,920
or October of nineteen seventy, my battalion had been called

364
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:52,200
up for deployment to Vietnam. In preparation, we were doing

365
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:56,680
some intensive training in the heavily forested areas of Fort Jackson.

366
00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,359
The night was so dark underneath the canopy of old

367
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,920
growth trees that we could barely see our faces. I

368
00:21:04,039 --> 00:21:06,480
was on the left side of the main body, and

369
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,079
the orders came down for my six man squad to

370
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,359
move ahead of the main body and scout for aggressors

371
00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:16,160
and booby traps. In the darkness. We had to rely

372
00:21:16,279 --> 00:21:19,480
on our first generation night scopes to get our bearings.

373
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,519
We had moved ahead three hundred yards of the main

374
00:21:22,599 --> 00:21:27,039
body when I spotted a really large tree. I moved

375
00:21:27,039 --> 00:21:29,720
to it and got into a prone position, and from

376
00:21:29,759 --> 00:21:32,480
there I could use my night scope to scan ahead.

377
00:21:33,599 --> 00:21:36,440
I laid there for five minutes, scanning the area, but

378
00:21:36,519 --> 00:21:39,480
I didn't see anything, so I decided to get up.

379
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,599
I placed my left hand down to push myself up,

380
00:21:44,079 --> 00:21:47,839
and all hell broke loose. I had put my hand

381
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,480
on a bugger's toe. He screamed and roared so loud

382
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,720
that my ears rang for ten minutes, and I stumbled

383
00:21:55,799 --> 00:21:58,960
backward at I screamed retreat, and I began firing my

384
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:03,720
M sixteen in all directions. Thank god, they were all blanks.

385
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,319
I was heading backwards as my company was charging toward me,

386
00:22:07,839 --> 00:22:10,079
and the booker took off, crashing through the woods like

387
00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:13,640
a t rex, leaving a path of destruction in his retreat.

388
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:19,359
Twenty minutes later, four black suburbans pulled up, and some

389
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,759
guys dressed in black fatigues got out and they took over.

390
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,000
They took me to the medical tent, where I was

391
00:22:26,039 --> 00:22:29,759
examined and then grilled about what happened. They told me

392
00:22:30,039 --> 00:22:33,480
never to tell anyone about what I saw. There would

393
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,799
be a penalty of a court martial. While I was

394
00:22:36,799 --> 00:22:39,960
in the tent, the others were taking measurements, looking for

395
00:22:40,039 --> 00:22:44,440
hair casting tracks, and who knows what else I saw.

396
00:22:44,519 --> 00:22:47,599
Six heavily armed men had off tracking the big fella,

397
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,759
but I doubted they would find him. Later, my platoon

398
00:22:51,799 --> 00:22:55,119
sergeant told me that it had measured eight foot eleven

399
00:22:55,559 --> 00:22:59,680
and it weighed a thousand pounds. All in all, I

400
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,559
don't think he was there to hurt anybody. I think

401
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,799
he was just curious about what we were doing. So

402
00:23:06,039 --> 00:23:10,559
that's a story, you can that's scary. That's scary in

403
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:12,759
one way. I know this guy was. Like I mean,

404
00:23:12,799 --> 00:23:15,880
when when a train a soldier or marine or somebody

405
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,400
who's got combat experience just jumps up and starts firing

406
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:24,720
their weapon in all directions, they're either real jumpy and green,

407
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,279
in other words, not trained really well, which I think

408
00:23:28,319 --> 00:23:32,440
this guy was trained really well, or they're startled so

409
00:23:32,599 --> 00:23:37,240
much and they anticipate some type of impending doom that

410
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,160
they just start shooting out a desperation. And it looks

411
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,559
like that's what this guy did. Now, I'm not an

412
00:23:42,599 --> 00:23:45,200
expert on these things. And who knows, who knows why.

413
00:23:45,799 --> 00:23:47,720
But in another way, you can look at it as

414
00:23:47,799 --> 00:23:49,680
kind of a funny thing. I mean, if you could

415
00:23:49,759 --> 00:23:51,599
kind of step back and look at it like you're

416
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,920
watching a movie, that'd be kind of funny. But at

417
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,839
either rate, Bill, thank you for the story. Is really good.

418
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:00,359
I like the way you put it together. I don't

419
00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:01,960
know if you meant it to be funny, but it

420
00:24:02,039 --> 00:24:07,440
was great. It was really great. Thanks. It was a

421
00:24:07,519 --> 00:24:13,319
crisp southern Vermont morning in November of twenty nineteen. Rifle

422
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,160
season was in swing and I was a new hunter,

423
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,559
and I was out scouting fresh spots to hunt. I

424
00:24:19,599 --> 00:24:23,240
found a beautiful piece of state land off Route seven

425
00:24:23,519 --> 00:24:26,920
that was the perfect habitat for whitetail, so I decided

426
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,200
to check it out. I walked slowly into the woods,

427
00:24:30,279 --> 00:24:33,440
eagerly stalking the whitetail I knew had to be there,

428
00:24:33,599 --> 00:24:37,839
and enjoying the peaceful forest surrounding me. Not more than

429
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:42,480
a few yards in, my enthusiasm disintegrated into an uncomfortable

430
00:24:42,559 --> 00:24:46,200
feeling of being watched. A few more steps and I

431
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,400
began to feel as though someone was following me as well.

432
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,079
It was unnerving unwilling to let this feeling ruin my hunt,

433
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:57,000
I shook it off and I kept going. When I

434
00:24:57,079 --> 00:24:59,759
came to a point where the hardwoods met the massive

435
00:25:00,079 --> 00:25:03,079
patch of pines, though I couldn't help but think that

436
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,880
it was the perfect place for someone to be watching me.

437
00:25:06,839 --> 00:25:10,039
The rows of pines stretched on for what looked like forever.

438
00:25:10,599 --> 00:25:13,599
Anyone could easily slip in and out of the rows

439
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:17,079
and hide behind the trees that could move closer or

440
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:22,160
farther away, undetected behind the incredible shroud. I still didn't

441
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:24,480
let it stop me. Though I was determined to get

442
00:25:24,519 --> 00:25:27,400
my first buck. I didn't think the deer would be

443
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,880
in those pines, so I stayed on the line that

444
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,119
separated them from the hard woods and continued at a

445
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,359
slow pace. The sudden crack of a few limbs breaking

446
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,920
stopped me short as a thud shook the ground beneath me.

447
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:43,920
It was as if someone had dropped a bag of

448
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,960
concrete from the top of one of those trees, letting

449
00:25:47,039 --> 00:25:50,240
it free fall to the earth with a resounding smack.

450
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,319
Startled and with my guard up, I stopped and listened.

451
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,519
The woods had gone still at the moment of impact,

452
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,519
crushed under a roaring silence for more than half a minute.

453
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,160
I looked over to where I heard the thud and

454
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:08,000
saw a huge, blackish brown figure sprinting through the pines

455
00:26:08,039 --> 00:26:11,559
on two legs. He was leaving a trail of small,

456
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:15,839
snapped and broken limbs in its wake. It was enough.

457
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,119
I was terrified now. I abandoned my hunt and got

458
00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:21,920
out of the woods as fast as I could. I

459
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,759
was pushed along by my primal fear and the need

460
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,480
to be safe. I have been back to those woods

461
00:26:29,599 --> 00:26:33,200
a handful of times. I even ventured through the pines,

462
00:26:33,279 --> 00:26:35,680
but I've never seen or heard anything like I did

463
00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:39,200
that day. You know how people react to these kinds

464
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,359
of stories, So I kept this to myself. And this

465
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:44,720
story is absolutely true, and I want you to know

466
00:26:44,799 --> 00:26:47,519
that I feel much better having written it all out.

467
00:26:48,039 --> 00:26:50,319
It's a relief to be able to share it with someone.

468
00:26:50,559 --> 00:27:01,200
Thank you for that. Four