Speaker 1: Like most experienced hunters, we are particular who we allowed
to join us during a fishing or hunting trip. Usually,
our group included my father, my brothers, my brother in law. However,
they could not hunt that year, and I was asked
by a friend of the family he was a good
and safe hunter, to join him in a group of
his neighbors. Our group was going to hunt three different
locations over the next three days, and I was comfortable
with most of them, but one guy got so drunk
at dinner he didn't even realize he bought us dinner.
We took his rifle away from him the whole three
days of hunting. The next morning, I was up at
four thirty am, expecting to be in the woods by
around five thirty am, but I found out that I
was assigned to the second pickup truck. Unfortunately, they were
going going to breakfast at six point thirty. We finally
got to our hunting location at seven thirty am, way
after daylight. Our first hunting location was a plateau above
miles of timber and a waterway. There were several other
vehicles already there. The last thing I was going to
do was walk in on another hunter's location in broad daylight.
The other three headed west for the timber. One guy
I asked where I was going, so I told him
I was going north, as no tracks in the snow
were headed that way. He said that he had hunted
there before and that if I went that way, I
would be in forty square miles of timber and swamplane.
Everyone previously that has gone there has gotten lost, and
we had to contact the game ward and to find
them after dark. I said, well, that's perfect. Please note
that I will not get lost. I will hunt until dusk,
and I'll be walking out after dark, so don't leave me.
I walked downhill on a game trail for one hundred
and fifty yards. To my right side was an entanglement
of brier bushes six feet in heighth with one inch thorns.
The brier patch ranged its size from thirty five to
fifty yards in width all the way to the top
of the hill, just short of the park vehicles, and
all the way to the bottom of the hill. No
one in the right mind would even attempt to walk
through those loose, heavily intertwined briars, even with the heaviest
protective hunting clothes, because they would be ripped to shreds.
It is doubtful if even a vehicle could make it
through there. I reached the bottom of the long hill
and a thirty foot wide waterway had to be crossed.
A fallen tree allowed access to the other side. It
was about halfway across when a tree branch broke and
I fell into the icy water. Water was four feet deep,
and I found the river bottom to be quicksand or silk.
Either way, I was trapped. I couldn't move and I
was sinking. I couldn't reach the fallen tree, so now
I was in big trouble. During the last summer, I
had decided to add a sling to my thirty thirty,
enabling me to use both hands as necessary. I was
now just about chest deep, but able to throw the
sling over a branch and get myself pulled back up
onto the log and continue to the bank. I have
been wet before, so once I dumped the water out
of my boots, walking was the best way to dry off.
I was on dry land again, and where I wanted
to hunt was mostly snow covered, but there were some
bare spots. I looked around, but there were not any
tracks to my left was a hill, so I headed
for high ground for a panoramic view. The best area
looked north, so I trudged back down the hill where
I crossed the log. Now there were tracks in between
the patches of snow. At first glance, they appeared to
be black bear tracks, still not yet in hibernation. It
must have seen me fall in the water, and I
figured it would check me out just in case I
could be a free mill I was wary, but I
couldn't see the bear, so I went back up on
the hill again and so as to be on high
ground in case it came my way. After looking the
area over, I didn't see any movement and I went
north along the ridge, but it dead ended, so I
had to go back down the hill in order to
continue north. In front of me it looked like a
very wide and dense patch of wild asparagus. I didn't
have a choice, so I decided to plow through it
with chance of running into the bear. I loosened my
buck knife and I lowered my thirty thirty for a
quick shot, because it could be the only chance available
if a bear was waiting for me. Luckily, no bear,
so I moved back into the open and I found
several piles of logs, and I climbed up on the
closest one to wait for an hour because I figured
the bear was still in the area. It was quiet,
so I just sat still and I watched four separate
snowshoe rabbits, which were most undetectable until they moved. I
guess they weren't too concerned about the bear in the area. Finally,
two hundred yards at the north end of the log piles,
seven deer headed east and went across in front of me.
They were mostly dozes, but the last two were bucks.
I didn't have a good shot, so I let them go,
also expecting something or another hunter tracking them. About thirty
seconds later, a hunter on the trail came into view.
He didn't see me, so I just watched in case
the deer circled around, but they never showed, so I
expect that they kept going east. I climbed down from
the log pile and I headed north again, going north
and expecting to find air tracks, but I didn't find
any of any kind, which really did not make a
whole lot of sense because this is a very isolated area.
I kept moving north for several hundred more yards until
sitting up in a protected area with a great panoramic view,
but nothing was moving there either, so north again to
another area, but still no tracks of any kind, which
again did not make sense because it is a very
remote area and undisturbed with a lot of cover. Cloud
cover became heavy and then snowfall became progressively heavier. It
was getting close to dusk with heavy snowfalling, so I
started my walk back to the plateau on high ground
where our vehicles were parked. By the time I reached
the falling log across the water way, snow was now
close to blizzard stage, but I was able to cross
the water this time without falling in. It was now
pitch dark with limited visibility due to a very heavy snowfall,
but I was able to reach where we left our vehicles. Unfortunately,
now the parking area was empty as they had all
left without me. So now I was stranded in the
middle of nowhere, on top of an empty plateau in
a snowstorm, in a blizzard stage. This situation was not good.
I had waited for about twenty minutes when I heard
a noise downhill, so I thought it must be a hunter,
maybe the one I saw earlier in the day. I
was glad he was able to cross the log over
the water as well. Visibility was at most ten feet,
so I couldn't see him. I yelled down to him,
which might help him find his way up the hill.
Also figured he must be stranded as well because all
the v vehicles had left earlier. So I yelled down, hello,
just so you know, I'm the stranded hunter waiting up
on the plateau above you. I got no reply, so
I yelled down again. If you're coming my way, it's okay,
but you need to identify yourself. Still I got no reply.
I knew he could hear me as I could hear him,
so I tried one more time, and I told him
that I'm a stranded hunter with a loaded rifle. Neither
one of us need any surprises in this blizzard, So
for the last time, will you identify yourself? I got
no answer, But now I could hear someone or something
heading up hill, but not along the snow covered game trail.
I couldn't see anything, but still could hear perfectly. Whatever
was approaching from the bottom of the hill was trying
to come up through the brier patch. Well, I could
hear whatever it was walking through the briers and the
one inch thorns because the snap, snap snap of each
briar entanglement branch being broken as it approached. It was
now obvious that this was not a human, nor did
I think it was a bear. And whatever it was,
it was by peedle Well. I was now in serious trouble.
It stranded on top of a plateau with only at
most ten foot of visibility and no options except to
stand my ground. I yelled down again to whatever this
thing was, and I told him that I don't know
whatever you are, but I do not wish you harm.
I got no answer again, but it stopped for a
few seconds, and then there were more snaps. I yelled
down again. If you continue, I will be forced to
send around downhill in your direction. It stopped again for
ten seconds and then snap, snap, snap, here it came.
By this time whatever it was had unbelievably walked uphill
through fifty yards of the toughest briars that I had
ever seen in thirty years of hunting. Also, it is
now within one hundred yards of my location, and this
was not good. I have had experience with three bigfoot
before on a fishing trip. They were eight feet in height,
totally black, but they were friendly. However, this was a
very different experience, and seriously I could detect that this
was not friendly. Now my back was to the wall
and I was most likely going to have to defend
myself before it got too close. I only had a
thirty thirty with me, so I likely would not stop
a bigfoot, but maybe a warning shot would change its mind.
I'm a former eighty second Airborne Division, although not a
trained sniper, but I was a sniper spotterer. So I
yelled down one more time and advised, now you've given
me no choice and no options. If you come any closer,
I will fire. If you continue to approach my locations
as you obviously are doing, the second round will be closer.
I got no answer. Then I heard more snaps and
more snaps. Even in this blizzard condition, I could still
hear perfectly where the bigfoot was, and I fired, sending
around to his location, most likely three feet or so
in front of him. There was silence for a few seconds,
and then more snaps. This was the end of my
one sided conversation. I took careful aim, and I sent
another round as close as possible without intentionally hitting it.
I knew there were no rocks on the hillside, so
there was not going to be a ricochet. But by now,
if the bigfoot for some reason was mad before, it
had to be furious. By now. There was silence again
for a few seconds, and then it started coming again.
I guessed it was now fifty to sixty yards away
and it was closing. I fired one more round off
to its left side, just to show that I was
not trying to hit it, and hopefully the bigfoot recognized
this fact. Again there was silence, but it was obvious
that it had not changed its mind, because ten seconds
later I heard more snapping. It now had to be
just short of the top of the end of the briers,
thirty yards in front of my position, meaning with visibility
of about ten feet, I only had two to three
seconds before the Bigfoot will be in full charge on
my location. My only option left to live was going
to be a headshot, so I prepared to do so,
and I backed up a few feet for a possible
split second. Just then I heard something on my right.
I had backed up about three feet because of the
pickup truck had just missed me. As it pulled up
on top of the plateau, the driver, from a few
feet away, rolled down his window. I said, I told
you I'd be walking out after dark, and don't leave me.
I jumped into the vehicle with my loaded rifle. The
guy in the backseat asked, how come you didn't unload
your rifle as we're supposed to do at dusk. My
reply was, you don't want to know. I suggest we
move out now. For me, they did not deserve an explanation. However,
if the pickup had not returned, that would have been
the end of the story. I escaped by just a
few seconds of fate. So very happy to share this
experience with you CAM and your listeners.