Bigfoot Society - Idaho Bear Hunt Turns Into Bigfoot Encounter!

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

What happens when a special ops veteran and a friend embark on a bear hunt in the Idaho wilderness — only to experience something far more unsettling than any bear could be? In this chilling episode, we sit down with Michael, a retired military veteran, who shares his harrowing experience in the remote forests near Crouch, Idaho. What began as a routine hunting trip at Boiling Springs Campground quickly turned into a Bigfoot encounter of a lifetime, complete with strange sounds, eerie silence, and rocks thrown by an unseen force. Michael takes us through the events step by step — from hearing something lurking in the woods, to witnessing rocks being hurled from an unseen presence. What makes this story even more intriguing is that similar reports of strange phenomena are happening in the area. Is Bigfoot more active in Idaho than we think? Tune in as Michael shares his journey of discovering more about the Bigfoot mystery — and how it led him to dive deep into researching the creature. This is an episode you don’t want to miss!🗣️ Share Your StoryHad a Bigfoot encounter or strange experience?Send it to [e-mail] – your story might be featured on the show!🎥 Watch & Subscribe on YouTube🔴 Subscribe here → Bigfoot Society YouTube💬 Leave a comment & let us know your thoughts!📞 Leave a voicemail with your story → Speakpipe (Use multiple voicemails if needed)👥 Share this episode → Watch & Share🎧 More episodes → Podcast Playlist🌲 Recommended: New Jersey Bigfoot Encounters💥 Support the Show & Get Perks✅ Join the community on Patreon – Become a Member✅ Listen ad-free & early on YouTube – Join Here📱 Let’s ConnectInstagram: @bigfootsocietyTwitter: @bigfoot_societyTikTok: @bigfoot.society🧰 Tools & Partners I Use (Affiliate Links)These help support the show at no extra cost to you:Beam (Better Sleep): Try BeamWildgrain (Better Bread): Join HereSeed (Probiotics): Get SeedMedi-Share (Healthcare): Learn More🎙️ Podcasting Tools:Repurpose.io: Try ItDescript: Sign UpStreamyard: Start RecordingRiverside.fm: Try Riverside🎧 My Audio Interface: View on Amazon☕ Buy Me a Coffee – Support Here🛍️ Grab Some Merch – Shop on Etsy📬 Mailing Address:Bigfoot Society125 E 1st St. #233Earlham, IA 50072📧 Business Inquiries:[e-mail]

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Tonight's story isn't from a simple hike or a camping trip. It's from a military veteran who spent decades in the wilds of Idaho chasing bears, not Bigfoot. But in the fall of 2015, while hunting near Boiling Springs campground, something unusual happened. Rocks were thrown at him, and silence fell upon the forest, and something or someone was watching. In this episode, we sit down with Michael, who's about to take us into the heart of one of Idaho's most mysterious Bigfoot encounters. this is no ordinary hunting trip. So stay with us. All right, Bigfoot Society. You've got the privilege of talking to Michael today. Michael is a retired military special ops veteran that has some interesting things he's going to share with us on the show today.

But welcome to the show, Michael. How's it going today? It's going really good. Appreciate the opportunity to be on your show. Absolutely. You know, we were talking just before this. And we definitely have some interesting ground to cover. You've had more than a few things happen over the years. So I'm going to say, let me go ahead and I'm going to pass things over to you. And we'll probably chat about things as we go along. So feel free to take us back to however far back we need to go for when you started getting involved with this.

Okay. My experience, I'm from Idaho. Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I'm a big city kid. Didn't have a lot of exposure into wilderness or anything Bigfoot related as a child. I did see some in search of television shows that just drew my interest. But it was really never on my radar, particularly more of an entertainment. type of involvement. In 2015, a gentleman and myself, Eric and I decided to go bear hunting one season in central Idaho. The area that we bought bear tags for and decided to go was out of a

campground called Boiling Springs Campground just north of the city of Crouch. Idaho. We got ourselves together. We both were carrying rifles and then also had sidearms. We got to the campground on a Thursday in the fall.

So it would have been after school was back in session. So, you know, no family camping or anything like that. We got to the campground on a Thursday, pulled in, set up camp, nothing just kind of set up, had something to eat, and then came up with a game plan on what we would do Friday, Saturday, and then probably leave on Sunday. So we set up, we headed out before the sun came up Friday morning, we headed

due north from the campground. And then as you're looking at a map or going in a cardinal direction, we were moving due north from the campground. There were no other vehicles in the campground. So as far as we knew, there were no other human beings at that campground that Friday morning. We set out, and we were. and when you're moving north, you come up to a river that you have to cross, which would then head you due east, or you can stay on the west side of the river.

And there is actually a remote hot springs. That's about a three-mile hike backcountry to this hot springs that I've been to a time or two before this particular event. So I thought, well, to avoid any humans whatsoever, let's cross over the river so that we can be moving in a more remote area so that we don't ever have to come across a human. So we crossed the river. We're probably a good couple hundred yards to maybe even a half a mile to three quarters of a mile from the campground. We crossed the river. and by this point the sun is starting to show itself so there's daylight it's not particularly bright out

still heading north and now we start moving east a little bit and not much further from where we were or crossing the river sorry I heard something coming through the thicket so you know we had bear tags So there was an already fallen pine tree. And I gestured to Eric, like, let's get behind the pine tree to see if whatever is making the noise coming through the woods would present itself. It's pretty thick up there, especially at this time of year. So we got down behind the pine tree. nothing ever came through or presented itself over the rise and sort of gestured to Eric and I was like, hey, let's start moving in that direction.

And if we see something like a bear, obviously, then we can shoot it. If we see an elk, then, hey, we know that we can come back up here, elk hunting. So we start moving in the direction of what we heard. And we are moving uphill, northeast at this point. We're moving uphill. And we probably get another 200 yards from where we were behind the pine tree, a fallen pine tree. It was already on the ground.

And Eric turns to me, and he kind of is a little surprised. And he says, did you just see that? And I didn't. So I was like, no, what? He said something just threw a pine cone at me from that thicket. And if you can envision yourself in the wilderness pretty thick, uphill, and the distance from where we were to the thicket that Eric claimed that the pine cone came thrown from, is probably 50 yards, maybe 60 yards.

So not far, but not super close. And we went to the pine cone. And it was a green, closed pine cone. So in my mind's eye, I thought to myself, well, that didn't fall off of a tree because it's green. It's not dried up and ready to drop its seeds. So it was pulled off of the tree. So sort of like, okay, that's different.

We were moving, and we were sort of moving, and as you know, when you're hunting, when you're moving through the wilderness, you're not really at the ready until you see something. You're not ready to put a round into your weapon until you see what you're going to shoot at. And we were doing the thing. But at this point, I'm a little more attentive. Some of my red flags are starting to turn on. I'm becoming more alert. And I was like, to Eric, I was like, well, let's go towards it.

Let's go towards the bush. So we deviate from where we were going. And we're now moving at a steeper grade uphill. And because I am a little more alert, I'm now looking directly at the thicket that Eric said, the pine cone came out of. We get closer and we get a little closer, and I physically see a rock larger than a softball, but a little smaller than a cantaloupe. So like a big, not a small pebble-sized rock. This thing was pretty big.

I see this thing come out of the thicket like an underhand softball pitcher at Eric. And that was very confusing to me. Eric turns around and looks at me. Eric was in the lead. I was probably 20 feet behind Eric as we were moving up to hill. Eric turns around to me and I just am dumbfounded. And I'm looking at him and he's looking at me. And at this point, a little more of my alertness turns on.

So I put the weapon, I put my rifle. And at that time, I was hunting with a Bushmaster, an AR platform. So basically, visually, it looks like a machine gun. It's an AR platform, Bushmaster 30-30. Eric has a lever action 30-30. He has a 44-magnum sidearm. I have a 1911 sidearm. and so now like I'm kind of all my switches are on if that makes sense so I have now I have the weapon in my shoulder pointed directly at the thicket Eric is about 20 feet ahead of me closer to the thicket and we don't even speak at this point I just give him a hand gesture of let's get a little closer I'm you know I'm starting to get amped up here so we start moving close

closer to the thicket. And if you're looking, when you're moving through the wilderness, the direction you're moving, we'll call that 12 o'clock. So we're moving at a 12 o'clock direction. Eric is now getting closer and closer to this thicket. And from my 3 o'clock, an entirely different direction, also uphill, something went flying, past my field of vision, basically over the front of my barrel, like a major league baseball player through it. And that just stopped me in my tracks.

I then turned to my right and I'm looking uphill. I do not see anything. We do not see anything in the thicket. And at this point, we're probably 20 yards-ish from it. from the thicket that the softball rock came out of, and now from my three o'clock uphill, something went flying past me very fast. So I am now running through like a mental rolodex,

like what, wait a second, we're way too close for whatever that was in that thicket to our 12 o'clock to run uphill and get into another position without a sea, it and or hearing it. So now I'm like, oh no, there's more than one. Eric turns around and he's now looking at

me, eyeballss massive. He's very close to that thicket at this point. And I was like, oh crap, if something were to come out of that thicket chasing after or going to

get Eric, I don't know if I could put enough bullets in it to stop it from getting to Eric. And the idea that there's more than one, so basically Eric is looking at me, I'm looking at Eric, we're scanning the hillside, do not see anything. And oddly enough, something that I wanted to point out, while we were moving initially through the woods,

crossing the river, starting to go through the thicket, there was definitely wilderness chaffet. The squirrels were letting everybody know we were there with their clicking and their noise, and there was just general morning ambient noise. Well, at about the time, the first pine cone that got thrown in Eric's direction, at that time, all of that wilderness chatter was gone. there were no squirrels chattering, no immediate close proximity birds, you know, nothing. It was very eerily quiet.

So after the rock, or I actually don't know what it was, but it definitely went right across the front of my barrel, like very close and very fast. we decided like we do not know what's going on right now what could be what's happening what could this be so we make an immediate left turn so now we're moving in the westerly directions we go straight down the hill regardless of how steep and it wasn't aggressively steep but it was definitely steep way downhill.

We got back to the river. That would have been probably a hundred yard, 150 yard movement to get back to the river. And just kind of were now looking at each other like, what just happened? I did not hear something that Eric reported to me when we got back to down to the river, but he heard what sounded like I was now in the league.

and Eric was behind me. And he said, it sounded like something was behind him, sort of trailing him coming down the hill. I didn't hear it, so I can't really specify that I heard anything like that. We get back down to the hill, we get to the river, and we just sort of collect ourselves. It is now maybe 9 o'clock in the morning, ish, pretty early actually.

I'm like, I don't know what's going on. I think we should leave this area. So let's basically, we walked down the river to where we crossed the river and then we headed back to camp. So that's what we did.

You know, we didn't really have anything happened thereafter. We get back to camp, collect ourselves, have a cup of coffee. Like, what was that? and he's like, I don't know. I have no idea. We decided to then go from that point around lunchtime. We're like, well, let's go in this area.

So we stayed up there. We hunted in an entirely different area. We still walked in, but we avoided anything north. Never saw anything. Never saw any more animals. Definitely nothing. No bear sign. No bear. So we didn't shoot our.

weapons or anything. When we got back to the campground, again, there were absolutely no other human beings occupying the campground, but Eric and I, we were the only tent, we were the only people at that campground. And if you look at that campground, it's not a, the road dead ends at that campground. So it's not like someone could have driven up past the campground, park somewhere else. it's a dead end at that campground. So we hunted the rest of that Friday, spent the night,

didn't really have anything happened that night. Saturday morning we woke up, kind of like, yeah, no, I don't want to be here. And we both agreed, no, I don't want to be here. So we basically got up, had coffee, had breakfast, broke down our camp, and we left. So the experience was Friday morning, Saturday we decided to leave. Since then, I have been able to, oh, actually, in the same time frame, a friend of mine, he's a retired Air Force veteran, he moved to the city of Crouch to get out of the city. to get out of the big city. I live in Boise, if that matters.

And so moved up to a property. And because we were still in contact, I sent him an email. And I was like, hey, guy, when you're in the bars or you're just out kind of socializing or, you know, whatever, does anybody up there talk about? And this was in September when we were hunting. I was like, does anybody up there talk about big food? was, does any, has anybody seen anything? So, you know, he's like, hey, what's up, Mike? He responded to me and he's like, no.

He's like, I don't know of anyone that talked about it. I was like, okay, well, this is what happened to me. I'm just letting you know. He's like, oh, well, that's different. Fast forward. So September, October, November, December, January. So technically the next year. But within a few months, God sends me an email.

He's like, you're not going to believe this. So I've responded, well, what? A friend of his, who is a mechanic, leaves for work earlier than his wife. He leaves for work. He's at work. His wife is leaving for work. And she sends him a message, did you see the footprints coming up the driveway?

And his response was, no, I didn't see any footprints leaving the driveway. She said, you might want to come home real quick and take a look at these footprints. So he leaves for work before the son comes up. She leaves for work after. The husband comes home to his wife's message, and there are barefooted like footprints that come up from the creek bottom on their property, onto their driveway, and there's about nine or ten footprints before it makes a left and goes up the,

not up the driveway, but up into the tree line area and then up the hillside, where it's basically back in the forest. The husband claims those footprints, were not there when he left for work and were there when his wife left for work. So in between the two of them leaving for work,

something came up out of the creek bottom, walked up their driveway, and then went up into the wilderness. And this was in the town of Crouch, which is roughly 18 miles from the campground, so maybe 10 miles as the crow flies. he also sent me photographs of those footprints in the snow with his friend's work boot footprints

and they were a few inches bigger than his friend's work boot footprint. So probably they didn't have a tape measure. So probably 13 to 14 inches footprints. I did at one point two laptops ago have those footprints in the email from Guy, but have since they're just gone. So that was an interesting, I guess, addition to my story that a few months later, barefooted footprints in the slushy snow in the town of Crouch, which is due south from the campground.

So that's kind of an interesting addition to my story that a few months later, something was walking around and bare feet in the town of Crouch. As far as any other my personal experiences, a few years later, I had friends, actually a gentleman that I was in the service with, also in special operations. He and his wife traveled up here, and they wanted to kind of have the Idaho Mountain experience

because they're from southern Louisiana. So Chad and his wife came up and I wanted to take them to the remote hot springs because I had never been to one. So it was the four, my then ex-wife, my buddy, his wife, and then my dogs. I always take my dogs into the wilderness. They're two German shepherds. While on the trail, you know, and it's not a very used trail, but while we were walking to the hot spree. I came across, it looked very much like a footprint in kind of the gravelly area. So I stopped and I looked down and then one of my dogs alerted to me alerting to the ground.

So he runs back to see what I'm looking at. And the picture that I sent you, you'll see in the upper left hand corner. You'll see like disturbed gravel. Well, that's where my dog freaking ran down to see what I was looking at and wanted to see what I was looking at. and wanted to see what I was looking at. So his footprint is like right at the top where initially you could see a toe-like imprint, then another toe, and then another toe,

and then the rest of the print. So my personal experiences were the rock, the pine cone, and then whatever else, directly at us, and then a few years later, the footprint on the trail to the hot springs. And then additionally, the same, a few months later, the snow, barefooted snow prints from my friend Carlson's buddy on his property. And then additionally, that's what kind of kicked off, like, what happened?

So then I went down the rabbit hole, looked up that. Campground and Bigfoot. And there have been a few things going on up there that are easily, if you were to type in Boiling Springs Campground and Bigfoot, you can read probably exactly what I read. But interestingly enough, they were all in the fall around the same time that's what happened to me and Eric happened. So I thought that was pretty interesting. Michael, this is, it's a really interesting encounter. I want to clarify a few things. So I'm looking on a map, like to get to Crouch from Crouch to this Boiling Springs

campground, it looks like it's a pretty good ride. And you said there's only a one way in pretty much? Yeah. once you get to the campground boiling springs, the road dead ends there. Just south of boiling springs, you cross a bridge, and then there's a few unincorporated

where people will camp for free so they don't have to use the Forest Service campground. And then the road goes due east, and then we'll start heading up into the wilderness, and then it drops back down south. If you pan out, If you're on Google Earth now and you pan out, you'll see that bridge and then the like dirt turnouts where people will camp outside of the campground. Gotcha.

And the road to get up there, is that a like a Forest Service Road or what kind of road is this? Yes. Yeah, it's dirt and gravel. It's not asphalt or anything. It's just a dirt and gravel road. Okay. It's a Forest Service road. So not easy to get there.

We're not talking to major road to get there, you know, dirt and gravel. And no one at the campsite besides you guys for the time that you were there. Wow. Okay. When you were up near that thicket, did you guys smell anything out of the ordinary? We did not smell anything. Again, we were approaching. our movement through the woods was up.

So whatever that was was higher in elevation than we were. And then, you know, generally, you know, the smells are moving in a different direction. And it was pretty quiet wind-wise. There wasn't a lot of wind. But we definitely did not smell anything. It's always interesting when the sounds of the forest completely just cut out like that.

Did that affect you in any way, or is that something you've experienced before as a hunter? No, I have never experienced that before. And I've been hunting. I've mentioned I'm originally from Pennsylvania. I hunted White Tail and Black Bear in Pennsylvania. With my uncle, a family member, a very, very well-established and very active woodsman in Pennsylvania. And then I went to college in central Virginia and hunted White Tail in Virginia. And all of my hunting experiences I've never had where just everything went dead silent.

And that was something when Eric and I, after the incident, were down at, like right at that incident, and we were down at the river when we left, I brought that up to Eric. I said, did you notice that there were no other noises going on at that time? And he was like, yes, it was just eerily quiet. So one of the things, I haven't really told the story to a ton of people. But one of the things that in close friends that I've told this to, A, my military buddy is like, why didn't you start shooting?

And I was like, I don't know. Because we were close. I had a full magazine in my weapon. I could have put 30 rounds into that bush. and as a combat veteran for the military, I've been in fire fights. I have run into buildings knowing the occupants of that building are armed and are going to be shooting at us as we go in to clear the building.

So I'm no stranger to shooting. I'm very comfortable with shooting. But I just could not bring myself to shoot into the bushes. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culture Eistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen-Yang. This is Bowen-Yang from Los Culture Easters with Matt Rogers and Bowen-Yang. Spend your

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Deliciously popped, perfectly salted. Skinny Pop, popular for a reason. reason. And not knowing what it was. And then I thought to myself, oh, crap, what if it gets to Eric? Because he's the one closest to the bush. Like, we are probably a 45, 50 minute hike back to the campground with a wounded individual that I have to do. do triage on to get Eric to the truck to get Eric all the way to crouch. Like we are a two to three hour ordeal to get someone the safety. If God forbid there was, I don't know, an attack.

So I just was like, at the time, I was just like, I don't know what to do. So that's why I did not start shooting into the bushes. And then also with the people that I've told the story to, they're like, well, feral people. And I was like, I've been up there quite a bit. And since 2015, when this happened, I've been up there hundreds of times. I love that hot springs. I go up there regularly to go soak in those hot springs. I have never, ever, ever thought of thorough people.

But who throws rocks at people who have weapons, like legitimately? Why would you throw rocks at people that are heavily armed? And what I'm carrying to the naked eye, what I am carrying looks like a machine gun. It's an AR platform hunting rifle. It would have to be something that didn't quite grasp what you had, but knew you could do something, and the only weapon they had was a rock. Right. Huh.

And then what I can only guess from the position I was in where I was, The first rock was underhand. Hey, you guys are getting kind of close, a little too close. So here's a rock to give you guys something to think about. But we then moved a few feet closer. And then the other one, again, I can't imagine that there was one. We were too close to the thicket for if it moved positions, we would have seen it and we would have definitely heard it.

So the idea that there was more than one, but we're getting very close to one of them, so it goes from underhand to very fast get your attention. You guys are getting pretty close. Stop. That's how I read the message of the rocks. It went from, you're making us uncomfortable to

now you just need to leave. So we're going to be more aggressive and we're going to throw things at you at a faster rate. How many times have you played through in your mind the potential ways that scenario could have gone? Hundreds.

Hundreds and hundreds of times. Let's say if it had gone where something rushes out of the thicket towards you guys, what would you have been able, like, what would you have done? Have you ever thought about, like, what I'd been able to even affect it at all with what I had? I would have definitely,

I was in the position of shooting. So weapon in my shoulder, weapon at a combat, ready and my finger in the rail, which means my finger is basically touching the trigger. Eric was 20 feet from me. So as I stand in my living room, Eric would be as if he was in my kitchen. And I'm a good shot. I would have definitely hit it. Would I have killed it? I have no idea. but say it got to Eric I then would have had a transition from my primary weapon

which is my hunting rifle slid it down my body with my sling and then I would have had to grab my 1911 and approached it on Eric and started engaging it in that manner but holy moly what if there's more than one and something is coming down the hill Now I'm in what I run in my mind as a firefight, which I've been in a lot of in my military service overseas.

So now I would have had to have kept Eric safe while engaged in something further up the hill. It's insane. It's an insane thought. It really is. And I'm glad that it did not turn into that. or, you know, I think these situations like that do happen in the reason why we don't hear about them is because those individuals probably don't come back because there's more than one there. That's just my hypothesis. But just some wild, wild stuff.

In the, you said 50 to 100 times you've gone back to this region, have you ever experienced the same. You know, the sounds of the forest just all of a sudden shutting off like you did that day? Yes. Again, I travel with my dogs. I have two male German shepherds. They're amazing bush dogs. They run ahead. They run back.

They run ahead. They run back. They let me know when shit is going on well before I know what's going on. And probably on two occasions when going back to the hot springs, they both alerted uphill and just stood there and stared uphill, letting me know, hey, dad, there's something up there. I didn't really, and on one of those occasions is when the chirping stopped. And dogs running through the wilderness, squirrels are telling everybody there's a dog here.

Or there's something here to let all the other squirrels know, like there's something here. And on one of those occasions, yes, it was dead silent. I looked where they were looking. I never saw anything. I never heard anything. I move through that area. I gesture to my dogs. I give them the commands,

so let's go, and they run right past me and take off. So, yes, on two other occasions, I've been in exactly that area and all of the ambient noises, and essentially what they are is the squirrels that are chirping. And people who walk through the wilderness or are on the hikes, remote hikes,

know exactly what I'm talking about. When you get close, they shut up. So. Yeah, it's a really weird experience if people haven't, haven't gone through it when the sounds of the forest shut off. After the,

the main experience we were talking about with you and Eric, was there anything in the day? after that happened that was unexpected any you know weird physical things or weird dreams or anything that you experienced after that or was it life back to normal pretty much life back to normal eric and i talked about it a few times um and more as a novelty uh eric is an amazing guy. Eric was in the Army, but he had more

of an administrative role in the Army. He wasn't what I call a shooter, basically what I did in the military, in special operations. And it was more novelty. Like, what do you

think that was? And he just absolutely no clue. He did not go down the rabbit hole quite as far as I did and suddenly being like what could that have been. And since then, I've probably read 15 books about it. I've read quite a few of the David Politis series 411. I've read some of the when the science meets something book. I think Dr. Jeff Meldrum from the University of Idaho or Idaho State, whom I've met on one or two

occasions here in Idaho when they've put on just like little Bigfoot forums or a big foot, I don't think festivals, maybe a forum, like a Bigfoot forum. And he's in Idaho and he's from Idaho, so he'll pop into those things. And, you know, he found my story very intriguing. and unlike, you know, he had a few occasions on his own personal research that he's had things thrown at him. So he kind of related. But that's kind of as far as that went. You know, I was going to actually ask you, but you just kind of brought it up.

Is this area also known for incidents of missing 401 or missing people? No. And after I got back and sort of started looking into the area, Boiling Springs Campground, the occurrences that I read about up there on, you know, the BRFO website, I think also the big, the new Bigfoot mapping website. that were drawn to happen at the same time in the fall. One happened in the campground. It was an elderly couple. One of the campgrounds, and when you go up there, it makes sense. But one of the campgrounds, when you pull into the campground,

your camping location, and then where the bathroom is, there's a little tree line. this elderly couple saw something tree peaking is the only way I can describe it between their campground and the bathroom, which prompted them to leave immediately. Like they essentially got up, pulled their camper in, were setting up. It was twilight. And the woman that was camping up there saw something poking its head out from behind the trees between them in the bathroom. and she's like, oh, yeah, no, we're good, we're out of here.

And then another couple on their four-by-fours were riding around the service roads up there, and the husband was in the lead, the wife was in behind, and she was far enough back that his trail dust didn't bother her, so she was a little bit further back than her husband. And something split then. It ran in between,

the two of them and ran up the hill. She saw it as across the road and went up the hill. And as she crested the corner, she saw her husband who was waiting for her, making sure that she was right behind her. He saw it in the woods running up the hill. And they both kind of, like Eric and I, they're like, did you just see that? And she's like, did you just see that? But that was in the same area. That is extremely interesting. For people that are new to the subject, The two websites that Michael's referring to, you can go to as well, BFRO.net and bigfootmap.com. And I recommend you check out both of those for resources.

They're good. Would you ever want to have a visual sighting of whatever is up there in this area? I don't know. I still go back there. I'm planning on, I mean, I'll be back there at this. As soon as you can get back. there. It's still pretty snow-filled. As soon as you can get back there, I will be back there. Again, it's one of my favorite places for hiking. The river is amazing for fly fishing. So I will be back

there. And I've thought about it. I don't think I would be afraid of a visual sighting. I do carry a sidearm when I'm back there. And when I'm back there long enough, because I'll go back there and practice fieldcraft where I'll stay at the remote hot springs on a hammock and make a little fire and basically stay there and enjoy the wilderness. I'm generally armed a little bit more than just a side arm.

So I'm not worried about it in that respect. I'm more worried about it. The people that I have heard from podcast and reading research a visual sighting is an entirely different scenario. Like the visual confirmation of something that is not supposed to exist really haunts people. Like they can't get it out of their minds.

So I don't know if a visual, I mean, I'm not out seeking it. If I do have one, like I'm kind of mentally prepared for it as far as I know. But I hear seeing one definitely changes your perspective. I would agree. And it's not that I've had that happen myself. I haven't yet, but it is definitely the, I would say it is the point of no return. There might be some people that would argue with me on that. But, I mean, once you have that, I mean, there's definitely no going back.

I mean, I feel like I'm already there after hearing some vocalizations, but yeah, the vocalization as you, or the visualization, as you said, really does change things for witnesses when they talk about that. But so talking about the main experience that you had, is this the first time in your life that you've had something that was just out of the ordinary, just weird, happen like this? or has that kind of followed you along your life in different ways? No, that was, no, that was the first and only very specific interaction. I mean, there's really no other way of putting it. That was literally an interaction. And I've had no additional interactions specifically. Again, the time when I was up there and my dogs alerted to something up,

again. This is Matt Rogers from Los Culture Reistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen-Yang. This is Bowen-Yang from Los Colteristers with Matt Rogers and Boan-Yang. Spend your balance instantly with the Venmo debit card and earn up to 5% cashbacks on your favorite bundle of brands when you join Venmo's stash. Your rewards come from bundles of brands you can keep or switch every 30 days, so you can choose the ones that match your everyday spending. The more you do with Venmo, the more you get.

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and see your rewards all in one place. The Venmo debit card works just like the app you already use, fast, flexible, and built around your day-to-day life. great option if you want a debit card that fits seamlessly into your routine and gives you a little extra back on the things you're already doing. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the BankCorp Bank, N.A, pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated. Venmo stash bundle terms and exclusion supply. Max $100 cash back per month. Requires $500 plus in direct deposits. See terms at Venmo.com.com.combe.combe. Venmo checkout not available at all merchants. Wellness, longevity, health is a lifestyle. Every week a new

trend explodes across the media landscape. And depending on who's talking, it's either a miracle breakthrough or just expensive hype dressed up as science. Enter Kara Swisher. She's here to cut through the noise with her signature edge, sharp, skeptical, and allergic to nonsense. Don't miss the CNN original series Kara Swisher wants to live forever, an essential, smart, and genuinely entertaining guide to the booming longevity industry. Because let's be real, the non-stop stream of wellness promises, AI-driven health claims, and expensive tech with sometimes dubious benefits isn't slowing down. Kara digs into what actually works and what it really costs, from access gaps to trade-offs most people would rather ignore. We're all getting older, that part's inevitable. The choices

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When it comes to snacking, Skinny Pop just makes sense. Deliciously popped, perfectly salted. Skinny Pop, popular for a reason. And the ambient noise of all of the squirrels basically completely went silent. That interaction wasn't very specific, and it was only a few moments. By the time I got up to where the dogs were alerted, I looked up, I didn't see anything. because it could have very well been a black bear because there are black bear up there. I didn't see anything.

They did not pursue it. And my dogs have chased coyotes. You know, they're not afraid of coyotes. So if it was a predatory animal, they did not pursue it. And by the time I got to them, I looked uphill, took a second or two, don't see anything. All right, guys, let's go. gave them the alert. They took off up the trail,

and then we just continued on. I got to the hot springs. I soaked, no big deal. Hung out, hiked out. Nothing happened at the same location. We walked right through as if it was normal. That's interesting. Because you mentioned that you have been looking into the area

since your interaction, have you talked to any, I don't know if you guys have like if they're forestry workers or DNR or what the equivalent of this area. Have you talked to any individuals like this about potential things going on Bigfoot related? Yeah, I contacted. I believe the Forest Service Ranger Station is the Lohman Station. That would be the closest one. And I contacted.

I went in. like not right then when we left we left we we went home but i i did go in there before and i was like hey and it was probably a seasonal park ranger nice kid probably in his early 20s i was like hey do you guys ever get any strange reports of things here and he's like no not really I didn't expect anything less. I did not speak with the LEO Park Ranger, the law enforcement park ranger, because they're very rare.

I didn't see them. I didn't think to get a hold of Idaho fishing game, but the one time I went into the Ranger Station, they were just like, no, not really. So I left it at that. It's extremely interesting. And just to double check, is Eric going down the same trail that you are where you're becoming very interested in the subject, or is he kind of like whatever about it? No, he's, I failed to mention this earlier, and this may not mean anything, but Eric is a very religious person.

He's a practicing in the community Mormon. And I don't think that, I think for him it was an unusual something, but I don't think he ever looked into it scientifically, because I don't think he believed anything past what his own personal beliefs are. And that's, you know, and he's a nurse. We both work for the VA here in Boise And now neither of us work for the VA He moved on the private practice

And I fully retired Because my military retirement came through But he was just sort of nifty about it You know, he had brought up the furl people thing Because he couldn't think of Something with an opposable thumb That could throw Throw something

So he was leaning to towards the furrow people think because again, there were no vehicles in the campground when we were there. The entire time we were at that campground, there were no vehicles there, which leads me to believe how would a person get there? Like, let's speculate that this was another human being. How would they have gotten there by quad, by four by four? But that's only going to get you to the road. You would then have to hike the distance we hiked remotely to be at that place at that time. And I've hunted in Pennsylvania, the areas that I hunted were state game lands and they get

pretty crowded. And that sounds weird to say, but I have had a hunter come through my hunting area where I was in a blind and you just courtesy, hey man, I'm in here. Oh, shoot, sorry. I didn't know anybody was back here. And then they walk off. They don't stand there and throw at you.

So if it was another hunter, why wouldn't they have indicated, hey, man, this is our hunting area. Oh, sorry, turn around and leave. Nothing. There was no, none of that happened. And again, there were no vehicles at that. campground.

So Eric was leaning more towards feral humans. And I guess it's possible, but I've been up there quite a few times. I have never, never any indication of any

kind that there would be people up there. Right. It would be quite yeah. I mean, either viewpoint could be right, but logically, you know, it just, I'm probably going to go more with your viewpoint on it. But it's just such an interesting. I mean, it's a new area for me.

I'd be interesting to see what comes out of this episode being aired if there's, you know, usually more people come forward about the same area. So we'll see what comes out of this. but Michael, it has just been a really fun chat with you. And thank you for taking us back to the time when this happened for you. I want to make sure that you were able to share everything that were in your notes today. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very interesting and very unique story to me, again, and me going down the rabbit hole of non-ferral people,

that this is one of the things that they do. You know, they let you know you're getting too close and they do it with pine cones, smaller rocks to bigger rocks. I would love to stay in contact, Jeremiah, and the fact that if you start getting reports from that area, that I'd love to hear about them because I will be going back there. and this season I think I'm going to go back there a little more electronically. So I'm going to start putting some trail cameras just up off of the river and just see what I can find.

Because I'm also, I'm still an avid hunter. So if I get activity up there, game-wise, I will be up there during hunting season, which would put me up there in the fall. but it'd be interesting to hear if anyone else in the area who has been up there has an experience. Absolutely. We'll definitely keep in touch and you know how to reach out as well. But Michael, thank you for coming on the show today. I really appreciate it.

Yeah, I appreciate it. It's a pleasure meeting you. I look forward to, you know, maybe hearing from me again or you hearing from me again. just wanted to take a minute to say thank you truly for listening to this episode of the bigfoot society podcast michael story is a wild ride through idaho's forest in a mystery that leaves more questions and answers so huge thanks to michael for sharing his incredible experience with us and reminding us that sometimes what we think we know isn't all there is to the story you enjoy this conversation please subscribe to us on youtube hit the bell icon so you don't miss any new episodes and share

this one with a friend who's into bigfoot the unknown or just a good old and mystery. You're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, make sure you're following the show, and if you'd be willing to leave a review, it really helps more people find us. Now, if you or someone, you know, has had a Bigfoot encounter, especially around places like Boiling Springs Campground or Crouch, Idaho, I'd love to hear from you, so shoot me an email at Bigfoot Society at gmail.com, and let's talk. Also, don't forget, Sasquatch Summerfest is coming up July 11th through the 12th in Oakridge, Oregon. And Bigfoot Society listeners can grab a two-day pass for the price of one day admission with code BFS at checkout.

Huge thanks to Priscilla for making that happen. Tickets are still available at www.susattswaters.com. So thanks again for being part of the Bigfoot Society. Until next time, keep your eyes open, trust your gut, and never stop asking what else might be out there and see you in the woods. This is Matt Rogers from Las Culture Eastas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Los Culture Easters with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Spend your balance instantly with the Venmo debit card in an herb to five

percent cashbacks on your favorite bundle of brands when you join Venmo's stash. Your rewards come from bundles of brands you can keep or switch every 30 days, so you can choose the ones that match your everyday spending. The more you do with Venmo, the more you get. Earn 2% cash back when you set up auto reloads. Earn 5% cashback with direct deposit. Great for anyone who doesn't want to transfer funds or wait days. No monthly fee, no minimum balance.

Cashback is earned automatically. Just use your Venmo debit card and the rewards show up without extra steps. It's a simple way to get rewarded on things you're already buying, whether that's groceries, coffee or your go-to online shops. Everything lives right inside the Venmo app so you can track your spending, check your balance, and see your rewards all in one place. The Venmo debit card works just like the app you already use, fast, flexible, and built around your day-to-day life.

It's a great option if you want a debit card that fits seamlessly into your routine and gives you a little extra back on the things you're already doing. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the BankCorp Bank N.A., pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated. Venmo stash bundle terms and exclusion supply. Max $100 cash back per month. requires $500 plus in direct deposits. See terms at Venmo.me.

Forward slash stash terms. Wellness, longevity, health as a lifestyle. Every week a new trend explodes across the media landscape. And depending on who's talking, it's either a miracle breakthrough or just expensive hype dressed up as science. Enter Kara Swisher. She's here to cut through the noise with her signature edge, sharp, skeptical, and allergic to nonsense.

Don't miss the CNN original series Kara Swisher wants to live forever. An essential, smart, and genuinely entertaining guide to the booming longevity industry. Because let's be real. The non-stop stream of wellness promises, AI-driven health claims, and expensive tech with sometimes dubious benefits, isn't slowing down. Kara digs into what actually works and what it really costs. From access gaps to tradeoffs most people would rather ignore. We're all getting older.

That part's inevitable. The choices that come with it? Not so simple. You might as well understand what you're buying into. Say 40% for a limited time. Get started at CNN.com slash subscribe. Terms apply. Kara Swisher wants to live forever.

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forward slash stash terms. Venmo checkout not available at all merchants. Wellness, longevity, health as a lifestyle. Every week, a new trend explodes across the media landscape. And depending on who's talking, it's either a miracle breakthrough or just expensive hype dressed up as science. Enter Kara Swisher. She's here to cut through the noise with her signature edge, sharp, skeptical, and allergic to nonsense.

Don't miss the CNN original series Kara Swisher wants to live forever. An essential, smart, and genuinely entertaining guide to the booming longevity industry. Because let's be real, the non-stop stream of wellness promises, AI-driven health claims, and expensive tech with sometimes dubious benefits, isn't slowing down. Kara digs into what actually works. and what it really costs, from access gaps to tradeoffs most people would rather ignore. We're all getting older, that part's inevitable.

The choices that come with it? Not so simple. You might as well understand what you're buying into. Say 40% for a limited time. Get started at CNN.com slash subscribe. Terms apply. Kara Swisher wants to live forever. New series now streaming with a CNN subscription.

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