Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:590 Big Game Hunter Shoots Sasquatch

Episode Date: October 13, 2019

Spoke to the witness and he said "I am a seasoned hunter, I have been a hunting guide in several states. I want to discuss with you about a time I shot one of these creatures in Idaho. Myself and several other hunters saw this thing including a deputy sheriff. I ended up shooting it as it came towards our camp. I know some people say it looks human….this did not look human. This wasn't the first time I have seen the creature. Several years back my father and I had a run in with one in Colorado. We will also be speaking to Amanda who is from Texas and will be sharing a strange encounter she had while doing trail maintenance.

Black thing go from left to right, and I thought, I'm going to die out here and no one's ever going to know. I couldn't believe what my eyeballs was showing me. I'll never forget how evil the eyes were. It was horrible. I mean, I've never seen nothing that evil. It ran towards me at a rate that I can't even explain, turned and stared at me. And this look of, I just want to kill you. I want to say it was human, but it wasn't.

He was yelling at me to grab a gun, grab a gun. I was like, for what? He said, just grab a gun. And there's footprints all the way to the door of my house. It had went inside my garage all the way to the door. 911, what are you reporting? Get somebody out here. What's going on now, sir? That son of a bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know.

Do you see him now, sir? Yes, I'm looking right at him. Uh-oh. You're listening to Sasquatchew. Chronicles. Check us out online at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. If you've had an encounter, email me. My email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. A witness writes, me, my wife, and grandson went grouse hunting about 45 kilometers from Sioux Lookout, Ontario, Canada. It's about 28 miles from my American audience. When we heard these screams, it lasted for about five minutes, but we

you're only able to get three minutes of audio. And it's actually a video he took. This happened October 3rd, 2019, and I amplified the sounds so you can hear what these people heard. And they're basically holding a phone looking at a tree line, and here's what they heard. Yeah, I would say it's time to go. Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show planned for you tonight.

We'll be talking to Amanda. and Amanda comes to us from Texas, and she actually did a lot of work with the forestry department working on trails and had a very strange encounter. And then we'll be talking to Colton. Colton comes to us. He actually had an encounter in Colorado, and he had one in Idaho. And I've talked to Colton a lot over the last week. His family is big game hunters.

I mean, they've been to South Africa, Australia. They're really into hunting. and he ended up shooting one of these creatures. A very fascinating account. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email. My email address is Wes at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. And if you get a chance to check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com,

you can become a member and get additional shows. Let's jump into it tonight. I want to welcome Amanda to the show. Amanda, thanks for coming on. Thanks. Thanks for having me, Wes. Yeah, I appreciate you being here. And I know you had an encounter down there in Texas.

If you would, just kind of start from the beginning. Kind of tell us what you were doing and walk us into what happened, if you would. Okay. The first incident happened. It was in 2008. It was late in 2008. It was right after Hurricane I-Kit. And I had been doing a lot of trail maintenance and stuff like that with the Forest Service and some of the conservation.

groups like Sierra Club and a few of the other ones that would, you know, they would come up from Houston and we would do work, you know, in maintaining the trails and stuff. And this particular day, you know, being that it was after the hurricane, there had been a lot of deadfall. So the Forest Service came around and kind of, you know, roped off all of the high controls. They didn't want anybody in because they were afraid that, you know, maybe they would, stuff would fall and somebody would be injured. So they wasn't letting anyone on the trails. So I had gotten a call from the Sierra Club group down in Houston, and I lived a local.

This took place on a national forest here in Texas, and they had requested me to go out since I was right there and everything. So I had made a phone call over to the district office on this forest and requested permission to go out. and I had taken a friend with me so that I wasn't in the woods alone. And we got to the trailhead and, of course, you know, they had orange tape and everything around it. So we, it was one of my good friends. It was just she and I. And she's not real wood savvy. She's kind of a hippie.

And she's not real situationally aware. And she relied on me for a lot of things. You know, when it comes to being in the woods, she would rely on me to build the fire. or make our food or whatever. I mean, she would help, but she just, she wasn't very wood smart. But I took her with me. She hiked with me quite a bit and everything.

And we pulled up at the trailhead and, you know, unpacked and everything. Of course, we were just carrying backpacks. And we were just going to go assess the situation and come back and give a report on, you know, the quality of the trails if trees had fallen down or what have you. And about a mile and a half. two miles into this particular section, there's a big bridge that arcs up over a bayou,

but the bayou is not very deep. Only if we get a lot of heavy rains does it start flowing pretty heavy. And that was usually our like, our just like stop and catch a break spot, smoke a cigarette, whatever. And we had hiked down through. It was a bright sunny day, early morning, not super early, but you know, like mid-morning. And we sat down on the bridge with our legs swinging off and smoked a cigarette. We were just chit-chat and gossiping and everything.

And suddenly I felt like something was boring a hole through my back. Like it was very intense, the feeling of being watched. And I've been in the woods all of my life. I've hunted with my dad from the time I was seven in sloughs and swamps and, you know, coon hunting and stuff like that. And, you know, I was raised by my dad. So I was very, you know, gun smart. He would take us out and shoot with us and stuff. So I've been in the woods most of my life teaching conservation, education and stuff like that to kids.

And I knew something wasn't right. And I just kind of told her, I was like, hey, I didn't want to scare her or startle her because I didn't know what it was. I didn't know if it was a cat or a coyote or whatever. And I said, hey, let's just kind of make our way back to the truck. and we get up from the bridge and we start hiking back towards the truck. Like I said, it's about roughly a mile and a half, two miles from the parking area. And I felt a presence come. It felt like it was coming straight towards me down the trail.

But every time I turned around, there was nothing there. And it freaked me out a little bit, but I was trying not to let her know that I was afraid. I didn't want to scare her. So we go on for a little ways, and I could hear it move to the right. Like it right flanked us around. And as I heard it moving through the woods, it was very solid steps, and it was, whatever it was, two-legged. And I just kind of froze, like this terror come over me. That's the best way that I could describe it.

It was the scariest feeling I've ever felt in the woods in my life. I mean, I've had, you know, little spooks. You know that a coyote's moving or a cat or something's moving. This was completely different. This was straight up, you need to get out of the woods and you need to get out now feeling. And I told her, I said, Tammy, we're going to move towards the truck and we're going to go as fast as we can, but we're not going to run. whatever you do do not run we're just going to move at a very fast pace and we kept moving through the woods and i was like man i got to see what this is that's behind us that's it and it flanked us

it's it hung slightly back behind us to the right of us i could hear it moving i could hear it breathing if i mean that's crazy sounding but it did it was this raspy just real raspy breath um And ever so many yards, I would stop and I would squat down and look through the underbrush and look through the trees. And for the life of me, I could not lay eyes on what this thing was. A cat you'll catch a glimpse of. It'll pause a little bit after you stop. You'll catch a glimpse of a coyote or movement. You know, you'll catch a glimpse of something.

and we just kept moving through the woods. And I finally, she was like, Amanda, what's following us? And I was like, I don't know, let's go, but let's just keep moving. And we got about, I don't know, we were probably, I'm guessing about 100 yards from the truck. And I was like, you know what, I want you to go ahead of me, but don't lose sight of me. Go as far as you can from me. And I'm going to stop. I was thinking I was going to outsmart this thing.

And I stopped and she kept moving. And whenever I stopped, I squatted down and just kind of made myself as small as I possibly could. And whenever I stopped, it stopped. And she kept moving. And it stayed whenever I stopped, it stayed until I stood up and began moving again. It's almost like it was intelligent enough to figure out that, you know, I was the one that was trying to figure out what was tracking us. And at that point, I was like, okay, this thing's smart, whatever this is. This is not something I've dealt with in the past.

And we booked it just as fast as we could to the truck. I mean, I was behind her driving her. Literally, we were moving pretty, pretty quick, but we weren't running. And we got to the truck, and the fear was so strong that I could not get into the truck and get the truck door shut behind me fast enough. And whenever I got inside the truck, I was shaking. my body was shaking. I was so scared. And she had asked me, she said, what was that? And I was like, I have no idea. I never laid eyes on anything. It was the craziest thing. I'd never ever experienced

something like that in the woods before. And a few weeks later, you know, I had, because I had done so much work on the forest and, you know, with different people and different entities that coordinate with the Forest Service. I had made friends with several of the other women that worked there. I don't want to share their names or anything just because I know they work for a government entity. And you don't have to. Yeah. Right. And, you know, I didn't tell anybody. I was so afraid to tell anybody that, you know, people would be like, Amanda, you've just, you, you fell off the deep end, you know, you, you finally cracked. But I didn't say anything and she didn't bring it up. I mean, she and I had talked about it amongst ourselves once or twice,

you know, like, what, you know, we just, it was just, we had a little bit of a discussion of what it could have possibly been. And at the time, Bigfoot never, you know, Sasquatch never ever crossed my mind. Well, a few weeks later, you know, there's still nobody in the woods. They're not letting anybody on the trails or anything. And two of the ladies that I knew that worked for the Forest Service had gone out about, I'm guessing it was about five miles through the woods because I had, I've hiked all the way through over to that other location numerous times. But they had walked over, had pulled up at another area that I've hiked numerous times. It's a very beautiful scenic area, but they had gone over there, and they had gone in to the woods.

They were checking the trails, too. It's a deep in the woods, but it's a frequented area just because it's so scenic. It's deep woods, and it's got creeks and a lot of water running through it, you know, several waterways that intersect through there. And I've seen big cat prints over there. there. But it's been, you know, years and years since I'd seen those prints. And the two ladies had almost the same exact experience. They had hiked in about two miles. And, you know, they're in the woods a lot with, you know, timbering and stuff like that. So they're very, very on their awares. And something started following them. And in that section of woods, there's quite a bit more

gaps in the trees. There's not as much. There's still underbrush, but there's not as much underbrush. And the lady that I was closest to, she had called me in a panic. And she was like, nobody's going to believe me, but I know that you're going to believe me. And she described the exact same situation. They had been followed. They knew they were being followed. they got flanked around to the right side. Oddly, it wasn't to the left. I don't know if there's some kind of significance there, or maybe if that's just the part of the woods that was the safest to be in.

But they had been flanked just like that. And she said they had gotten about, I don't know, 75 or 100 yards from the parking area, which it's just a big dirt patch. It's a good ways off back off into the woods. And there's just a big dark patch where everybody parks. And she said they were, something was growling at them. And she said, it's terrified them because the growl was unlike anything that they had ever heard.

She said, this was not a cat. This was not a coyote. This was not any kind of animal she'd ever heard. She said, if you think of a large person, you know, when a large person like kind of clears their throat, like that sound like it's way deep. down in your throat and in your chest. She said, that's the noise that it was. And she said, it scared them so bad. She said, but we knew better than to run.

She said, something in us kept telling us, do not run, do not run. And she got out and she called me and told me. And mind you, I hadn't told anybody what had happened. And she told me what had taken place. And I told her, I said, you are not going to believe this. I said, but remember a couple of weeks ago when me and my other friend had gone into the woods to check the trails, I said, that exact same thing happened to us. She said, no way. You've got to be kidding. I was like, I've never been that terrified in the woods. And she immediately was like,

this is just the craziest thing. And we, she and I had discussed it, and we still discuss it all these years later, she's now retired from the Forest Service, and we still talk about it all these years later. But about a week after her incident, so at this point, it's about a month from the incident that I had had initially. I had gone over to the district office, and she's on the phone. The phone had rang, and she wasn't supposed to have anybody in her office that day. and she said, just don't make a noise, whatever you do, just be quiet. And Washington, D.C. had called her to, she was the lady that wrote the permits for people to do research or go out on the forest and, you know, college kids and all of that stuff to go out and do any kind of research. You know, the colleges and stuff had to have permits.

And she, they told her she had to give a permit to one of the Bigfoot research. groups that at the time they were, I think they were called the Texas Bigfoot Society, but they've since changed their name. I think it's more like the WoodApe Conservancy or something now. But she had to give them a permit to do research in the same exact area that the experiences that we had had took place. I wonder why Washington, D.C. called. We don't know to this day.

we've been like, we don't know if they had gone out to do a nightwalk or something and maybe had an experience. And then they requested research. We don't know how that, how all of that came about, but she had to give them a permit. So she writes the permit and everything. And several months later, we hear we catch wind back of their research. is that 300 yards from the parking area where her and the other lady had been scared out of the woods, they found a track that was over 12 inches.

And they found some kind of structure, I guess, where like the trees were like pushed over. And it made like a cubbyhole. And they said that was like a big foot shelter kind of thing, I guess. was what she had told me that, you know, that they had discovered some of those things there. And since then, I've been on their website. I've gone on their website and they've got these little tiny big foots that pinpoint all of the sightings over the years. And amazingly, that is like a hotspot. You know, it's crazy that there's been so many sightings in those locations.

And what I find really fascinating are those, those two areas that we were in are, are preserve areas that are not prescribed burned. They're not timbered. They're wilderness areas. And it just makes me wonder, you know, have they figured out that those are safer zones? I mean, there's still hunting that goes on there. But it just makes me wonder, you know, do they know those areas or not? Yeah.

It's so hard to say. It reminds me of, and it's kind of nice to get confirmation, you know, of your experience. and your workmates experience. And, you know, what you experience in me, it's very common. I hear that a lot. Actually, I hear this type of encounter more than visual encounters, mainly from, like, hikers, hunters, you know, where they're out in the woods. And they'll say, hey, something was pacing me out.

And when I stopped, it stopped. When I moved, it moved. You hear that so much. There's a guy down there, gosh, I guess. probably shouldn't say too much. He's a game warden down there. And he told me, hey, when I retire, I'll come on the show. He goes, I can't come on now because they'll probably kick me out.

He goes, but they're down here. And one of the comments he had made is he said, you know, it's weird. It's right around hunting season, all activity stops. It's like they vanish. It's like they know. Yeah, it's almost like they know. And then when hunting season starts, man, he had all kinds of stories. I mean, a rock had, they had had a run.

with one and I guess it picked up a huge rock and actually smashed the inside of the truck with this huge boulder. It was his boss's truck and he was like, they're definitely down here. And he goes, that's crazy. He had all kinds of stories. But it does make you wonder, I mean, do they know this area is safe? Like, people can't come into this area. There's a place like that here in Washington State. It's a great, it's one of the best hunting places out here, but no one goes into the area. Even local hunters won't go into the area. And they'll tell you because weird stuff goes on there. And there's more sightings in that area than anywhere else. But it's weird. Like no hunters will go into this one area here in Washington State. And there's been a ton of

sightings. So it almost makes you wonder if they know, you know, if they know to stay out of a certain area at a certain time or yeah, that's, and there's no other animal on the planet that's going to pace you like that. You know, a cures going to follow. you, it's going to track you, but it's not going to stop when you stop. It's not going to pace you from the side. Right. It's not how a cougar is going to get you. And even they say that we don't have those down here too, but, you know, I've had friends touch them on their trail cams and their game cams and stuff, and we know they're here. You know, and we're so close to the Louisiana border, you know, since I've had this experience, I've really, you know,

it's crazy because you don't really realize how something affects you until you have some kind of encounter or something like that happened to you. And I've really started digging and trying to find out more about our area. And it's crazy. Like, I live in D.P. Texas, which is like, we're probably about an hour from the Louisiana border. And it's the big stick at area, which is it's a national preserve. And this whole area, there has been so many sightings. Like, I did not realize the extent of the sightings. And some of them should take place in some very, you know, concentrated areas of houses and subdivisions and stuff like that.

And it's really blown my mind. So before this incident, I've always been a gun advocate, but I've never really carried. was a hiker, you know, what I don't need to carry for. And now, I won't go in the woods without a weapon on me. No way. There's no way. Let me ask you, what do you make of that fear that comes over you? And I know what you're talking about when you say that? But what's your take on that? Because there's not too many animals out there. Listen, I was a hunter and I can't think, and I've been around many predators, but I've never, it's a different type of weird fear. It is. You know, being in my, in the woods, my entire life.

And, you know, I navigate real, real well. I go off trail often, especially if I'm by myself. If I'm with a group of people, I have a tendency to stay more on the trail. But I'm an explorer at heart. And, you know, I've been spooked in the woods, but I've never, ever felt that fear. It's a primal fear. It is definitely a primal fear. That day in the woods, I learned that we are not at the top of the food.

chain. That was the feeling that I got was whatever this thing is, it means business and it wants you to get out of its territory. So the best thing for you to do is leave. And you know, I've thought about that day numerous times. And, you know, I know you always ask everybody on the show, you know, what do you think Bigfoot is? And I've given that so much thought. But, you know, no, but we don't really know. I do think it's something physical. I think it's something that's been around for a very, very long time. I almost think that it's an abomination of some sort. And I think that because, you know, when there's predators in the woods,

those things that are prey animals, they fall silent. They're going to be quiet. They're not going to reveal their, you know, they don't want to be eaten. They're not going to reveal their location. But when even the very crickets go silent, it makes me wonder, that's something else. Like that even the crickets won't make a noise. A bird won't fly. That's bizarre to me.

It is bizarre. It is bizarre. Yeah. Because nothing else does that. I mean, even we're on the, we're in the top, I would say, top three food chain as far as predator. predators go, we're more of a pack animal. But having said that, you know how many times I've walked in the woods and you'll get a stupid, I can't remember the name of the bird, it sounds the alarm. Every time I walked in the woods and I was hunting and he used to drive me nuts. And if I was a different type of man, I would have shot the bird, but I would just move and it would follow me. And it would squawk and squawk and squawk. And then I would move and it would follow me and squawk. And I was like, man, this birds drive me nuts. Like it won't leave me alone. And, you know, but even then, I mean, you know, a cougar shows up. Crickets are still going to be fine.

Your insects are still going to be fine. You got a good point. It's hard. It's a difficult question to answer. Why, why does everything shut off when these things show up? So you don't think it's a natural animal? Is that your opinion? You know, I'm not, I'm not really sure what I think.

Like, I believe it's something that's been around since olden times. And I think that. because, you know, there's mention of so many things in the Bible. You know, I'm Christian. There's so many things that are unanswered there. You know, the Bible mentions giants walking the earth, things like that. But, you know, if you look at, you know, even archaeological research, it makes you wonder what they say is crow magnin man.

Was that really out of descendant or is that a big foot? And every tribe on the planet He's got some kind of story or legend about Bigfoot or Yeti or Sasquatch or whatever you want to call in So whatever it is has been around for a long, long time. They're very primitive, whatever they are, obviously. I mean, they don't wear clothing. They don't, as far as we know, use tools other than wood knocks and stuff like that. You know, I had another experience where I just heard Woodnox in that same location.

It was later on in 20, I think it was 2013, which was crazy. But then again, I didn't see anything again. So it's like what, it's not my imagination. I know for a fact I heard what I heard. It makes you wonder. It's a great mystery. It really is. You know, and I think, and I've said this before, but I really think more goes on in Texas and most people realize.

Definitely. You could be onto something as far as it being, it's like a Neanderthal. They say it's not Homo sapien. Well, what is it then? And, you know, makes you wonder, does it fall into that category? Does it? It's so hard to pinpoint because they do act very animalistic. So it's hard to pinpoint what these things are.

You know what I mean? And that's the impression that I got, too, was they were claiming territory. Nobody had been in the woods. There was no hikers, no people in the woods for months after Hurricane Ike. So they got comfortable. That's the feeling that I get was that finally there was somebody in the woods, and they were just like, oh, no, y'all got to go. I've thought about that day over and over and over.

I wonder why I didn't see anything. But at the same time, I probably would have had a heart attack if I would have saw something like that because I listened to people on your podcast that have had encounters, very close encounters and very vividly seen things. And I can completely relate because even though I didn't see anything,

that day is so vividly etched. in my mind. Like, it's crazy. Like, I can remember every detail and I can remember the utter silence that as this thing started following us, that fell over the woods, I'm in the woods so often. Like, I hike on a regular basis. I will take a break from work. I drive and I'll stop somewhere and I'll just, you know, I'll stop at a trailhead or

something and I'll take me a 30, 45 minute break and just, you know, jet off into the woods and explore and the woods will tell you a lot of things. They'll talk to you. It'll tell you, you know, if you just listen and you're out there long enough, you'll get to where

you read. You read what's going on. You know, it's like you're talking about that bird. That bird is telling everybody, hey, there's a dude here. He's here. Letting y'all know, he's here. Cros are the same way. Croses. Yep, Crohnotor notorious. Yes, and Blue Jays. They're blabber mouths.

They'll, they will blabber to the whole entire woods that you are there. But I've never been in the woods and it be so, I mean, the only thing that made noise was the wind as it came through. And that just, I've never had that happen since then. It's just the craziest thing. Yeah, it's terrifying. It's unnerving when that happened. It's very, very unnerving. It's unnatural.

It seems like it's unnatural. Have you ever been back to that? that area? I have. And I actually, I'd give a shout out to my girlfriend, Jennifer. She moved to Texas from Pennsylvania, and she's very much into the Bigfoot stuff. And she calls me her BFF, her Bigfoot friend. And since she and I have met, she's wanted to go hiking out there. And we've been discussing, actually, in the last couple of days, we've been discussing, you know, going out there. I've been out there in the last couple of years, at least two or three times. Usually it's just me and another girlfriend. Sometimes it's a couple of people. But normally there's just two of us. And I've never had

anything like that happen again. Well, be safe while you're out there, you know, if you decide to go in. I like that you took someone with you. I think you get a different type of encounter when you're by yourself than when you're with someone for whatever reason. Not that another person is really going to stop this thing from doing whatever it wants to do. But. Right. I do think you get a different reaction from them as opposed to being by yourself. And you have to let me know if anything else happens out there, will you? Oh, I will definitely keep you posted. Definitely.

Yeah, and I appreciate you coming on, Amanda, and sharing your encounter. Well, thanks for what you do, Wes. You really give, you know, these, there are so many of us out here that have had these things. And us being able to give a voice to those experiences. and somebody believe us and hear us out is it's such a blessing it's literally like therapy I appreciate it I appreciate saying that thank you again thank you welcome Colton to the show Colton thanks for coming on thanks west I appreciate you let me come on and talk yeah I appreciate you being here and I know you had two encounters

the first one in Colorado if you would Colton just kind of start from the beginning and walk us into what happened what did you see my sophomore year high school um my dad got a job running aspen valley hospital and aspen colorado so we moved out there uh which is just off i 70 um running from denver all the way up to aspen it pretty much stops there it's kind of ascent's kind of a dead end town and we're pretty big hunters you know my whole life uh it was kind of the main just of our lives was hunting and everything kind of revolved around that. There's a town about 20 miles south of Aspen called Basalt, which is where we had our

hunting spot at. We're used to Alcunt that was suggested by one of my dad's coworkers. We basically were planning on going bow hunting there towards the late season. It was in early November at the time, 2017. team. We were, you know, like I said, we were planning on bow hunting, but it was during rifle season, so you could actually be with you. But we were bohunters, you know, that's what we do. So we were playing on just mostly trying to get an elk with their bow. And we drove down to assault, parked at a lake that we knew, well, you know, had a lot of game, had a lot of elk deer. And we were really, you know, familiar with the area. We had looked a lot of mad. maps done some scouting. There was mountain lions in the area, bears and such. But we were, you know, we were very familiar.

We were prepared for whatever we, you know, where to come upon. I had a Bowtech bow. My dad had a Matthews. My dad also carried a 44 magdalen. And then I had a 416 Ruger rifle, which I had in case, you know, there was just no chance we had getting an oak with the bow. So we parked down out of the lake where the parking area was. And we parked about 8,000 elevation and started our trek up. This is opening day of rifle season.

But like I said, we were trying to get an elk of the bow. So this is November. It was chilly. There was no snow. It was kind of a beautiful fall morning. The aspen trees were golden yellow. and I was super excited to start the morning. We're hiking up at the mountain.

There was a lot of good sign, elk sign. We saw a couple mountain line tracks. Yeah, we're just really in a good mood. You know, I'm kind of one of those hunters where even if I don't get anything and I'm in the woods, I'm a happy man, you know. It's still a success. I just love being out there. So we're hiking up the mountain. we got about three-quarters of a mile away from the truck,

and like I said, there was cattle in the area because it was free-engine cattle. A couple of guys, a couple of different ranchers had their cattle free-rumbing the area. And as we were hiking up the mountain, putting off calls and such, we saw some elk way up higher than us on a peak just adjacent to us.

on the left probably another nine or probably about 900 yards away way up on a peak and we were we stopped

and we were kind of making a plan of how we could possibly get up there we had to cross a creek I'm actually more like a river

and so my dad and I stopped and we were talking you know back and forth how we could cross that and as we did

I just glanced up and saw a flash of black hair, like a movement. As we looked up and saw that, my initial reaction was that it was a cow because there was free-aging Angus cattle, which are jet black. So that was my first reaction, but something just kind of seemed off. And as I was telling you before, Wes, I kind of got that feeling, you know, where people

people say they got the hair standing up in the back of their neck. I just felt very freaked out, very suddenly. I kind of just dropped my bow and threw up the rifle. And as I did, when I'm looking through the scope and this thing, for lack of a better term, started kind of peeking its face around an aspen tree. and stepped out and started walking to my right, it's left, up over the crest of a bench in the mountain. It was about 60 yards away at the time.

I thought I was further, but it walked right over this bench. And I was just stunned. I did not know what to do. I had no thought of, we had nothing. icon cameras on us. I don't know. I think about taking a picture or shooting it or anything. I just, I was just sitting there in total shock. I was, I was literally terrified. And so what happens next? So, um, I remember looking at all my dad and asking him, you know, did you see that? What did you see? And he really did not have the words for it.

He had no words for it, actually. And we were both really freaked out. And I said, well, let's just, you know, go, let's go home. You know, let's get breakfast and go home. I don't want to continue on this path. There was one little goat path up the mountain. I mean, I call it a goat path. But it was like, you know, just a little tread it, turn it down game trail.

So we walked back down to the truck. And as I'm walking back down, You know, Colorado gets cold, not real cold, but it gets cold, and I'm feeling the breeze on me. And I'm realizing I am very cold in my lower extremities. And at that time, I realized, wow, I urinated on myself, which, you know, I was just that freaked out. Um, and so we get back down to the truck and, you know, get the guns loaded up and, uh, get everything, you know, situated. And, uh, I looked over at my dad. And, uh, he was so freaked out that I could see tears in his eyes, which was just, uh, so different. My dad's such a cool, wonderful man. He's, he's, he's the epitome of an American dad. He's, uh, he's a great dad. good businessman, hard worker, loves hunting. I see my dad cry twice, and those were both at funerals.

And this is the third, and the last time I ever saw my dad cry was when we were sitting in that truck, and he had tears in his eyes, how freaked out he was. And I just remember just being so angry. And so I wanted to grab that 416 and run back up that mountain and find this thing, man. I was so upset. I was so upset with it. Yeah.

It's one of those moments, I would imagine, you're sitting there kind of reflecting on, I don't know what that thing was. I want to ask you, when you were looking through the scope, can you describe the face? We were able to get a good look at the face? Oh, absolutely, yes, sir.

So when I think the scope, I had a 3.59 loop bolt scope. which at 60 yards, the face is taken up 50% of the screen. I got a very good look at it. The hair was, I guess, waspy in a sense. It didn't look like it was taken care of. It was kind of flowing freely around the face. It looked very black to me, to be honest.

I wouldn't say jet black, like a sable or something. It was it was a very dark brown, maybe black. And this is brief, and I'm going to go up. This is only a few seconds. But it was very, very, very dark. The face was more like a, I know people say charcoal gray. I don't know if that's right term or not, but it was a little bit lighter than that. It was a light gray.

It was a very light gray. I could see the wrinkles in his face. And I could see just, just. dark, dark eyes. I don't know if it was a dark brown or black, but it was very dark in its eyes. Yeah, very dark eyes. The nose looked,

to me, it seemed like the human's nose, but just too big. It was very wide, very wide nose, at least down at the bottom where the nostrils were. Very wide nose. Its mouth looked like I could fit both my, hands in his mouth. It was enormous mouth with a big chin, very protruding. I wouldn't say it looked human like at all. That's my personal opinion for what I saw. Nothing about this thing said human.

When I looked to the scope and I saw it, it looked 100% animals to me. I wouldn't even say ape. It was just something totally different from what I saw. I wouldn't say it looks like a gorilla. would not say it looked like a human. It was something totally different. Did the facial expressions change at all? When I threw the scope up and it walked around that aspen, it looked straight at me. At first I thought it did not see us. But when I threw that scope up and it walked up from behind the aspen and looked at us, it opened its mouth, but in no way, shape, or form did it seem aggressive. It seemed like a, oh, crap look on its face. It opened its mouth like a, almost like a human

would gas, like, you know, when you see something that you don't want to see, it was like a gasp, and it's, and it's like, it was like, oh, crap, look. And that's when it started walking away. Did you ever talk to your dad? I know there's another encounter we're going to talk about, but regarding this incident, did you and your dad ever talk about it again after this? We did. It was months later. One night, I woke up at about 2 a.m. to clanking outside. And we, went to the living room. I went to the living room. And like I said, I'm in high school.

My parents went awake and looked outside and there was nothing out there in our backyard. But when we woke up in the morning, our grill had been torn off from the gas and flipped upside down. And, you know, the internet's been ripped out. And it was obviously a black bear. It was not anything else in that. It was definitely a black bear, but, you know, my dad jokingly said, you know, what if it was what was what we saw that day, you know, down in basalt? And I got real serious.

And I was like, you know, what did we, what did we see that day? You know, he really had no answer. And I said, and what if we, what if we saw, you know, Sasquatch? Because that's, that's really only, the only term I could put two and two together. and he said, well, maybe we did. I don't know. But it's never been a thing where we talk about it where it's like, you know, confirmed. Yeah, no, I understand.

Well, this wasn't the only incident that happened. What was it? A couple of years later, you guys had another run-in. Do you mind telling us about that? That wasn't in Colorado, right? That was in Idaho. That was in Idaho. Yes, sir.

So the next fall, one year later, we were in the Frank Church, wilderness area, which is up in Idaho, northern Idaho, which borders Montana. And we, uh, Frank Church wilderness area, it's like, uh, it's a huge national park. You cannot take vehicles in there at all. There's no side by sides, no ATVs. You had to go out on a horseback. So I was living in Wisconsin at the time and, uh, me, my dad and 12 other men, I wanted to go back in there and go elk coming. We went back in there, way up into the Frank Church wilderness area. There was a ton of elk in there, you know, Shirese, Moose, Blackbears, all sorts of a wonderful game.

It was such a beautiful area. I mean, it was just so cool. It was a great time of the year. We were rifle hunting again in November. I don't remember the exact date, but it was in November. When we got in there, you know, I just remember being so ecstatic by the hunt. but this is a place west where you can stay for two or three months and you are not going to run into anyone. I mean, it is in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

Like, there's no vehicles and nothing. Like, there's nobody there. There's a huge area. I actually looked it up. I think it's like the second biggest national park in America. I mean, it's massive, massive. So we're staying in there. Just pumped to be there.

It was a seven-day hunt. And on day two, my dad got an elk, which was just so cool. You know, long story short, my dad ended up shooting this elk, throwing it, you know, in the back of his horse. And when he hopped onto his horse, as many of the people who know horses out there, you loosen your saddle when you leave your horse. And then you're supposed to tighten it before you get back on. Well, my dad kind of forgot to do that. And when he jumped back up on his horse, his saddle slipped. And the horse's knee came up and hit my dad's knee and sent his petal tendon, totally just ruined it.

And his kneecap came up under his thigh. So he pushed his knee. My dad being a hospital guy goes, oh, you know, I've dislocated my kneecap. So he pushes his kneecap down where it's supposed to be. Let's go. And it comes right back up in the middle of his thigh. So, you know, he's pretty messed up. He radioed me.

I came over with my horse. I took him back down to camp. We quartered the elk. Everything was good. You know, we called my mom. And she's saying, you know, what flight can I get you out on? You know, where am I picking you up? What airport are you flying out of?

And my dad's, again, one of those guys. He says, honey, I am the only guy out of 14 guys who got an elk. I have hero status. I'm not leaving camp, okay? Yeah. So we kind of just, you know, staying camp, and I didn't got an elk cap, but I had a tag. And it was probably day four,

yeah, day four of the hunt. And my dad and I showed a tent. It was early morning on day four. It was probably about seven. The sun was up, coming up. I heard a noise down in the valley to the west of us. And it sounded just like a bull moose. There's service moose in that area.

Kind of just sounded like a, like a bull, noise, like a bull grunt that you would hear in Alaska or Canada or anywhere else. You know, I heard it multiple times in Ontario, Manitoba fishing before. It sounded just like a bull moose. To me, that's what it sounded like. So I stepped out of my tent, just, you know, actually quite excited to see a shyish moose for the first time. So I stepped out on my tent, looked to the west, and I didn't see anything with the naked eye.

But then I saw a little bit of movement down on the ridge below us as just kind of a flash of around. I threw my binoculars because I had binoculars strapped on me, Bushnell binoculars. and I'm seeing something, but I couldn't tell what it was. My binoculars, the Bush and Ellis were not very powerful. So I went and grab my gun. I had an over and undergun, custom built, over and under barrel that I built myself with a 30-eyed six on bottom and a 220 just on top.

So I threw that gun up, which had a much more powerful optic on it. There's a vortex scope. And as I did, I saw, once again, for lack of a better term, this thing coming towards us, I guess about 210, 215 yards. And as it was coming towards us, it threw its hand around and tree whipped itself around. And it continued off into the forest where I could not see it much more. I know how it was very thick. I don't know if you've been there west, but it's dense. There's not a ton of underbrush, but as far as trees and saplings go, it can be very thick in areas.

So it went itself around and continued back on into the bushes. But, you know, I got a decent look at the front side of it, but it was only about a second and a half. maybe two seconds. So when it did that, and it went himself around, I realized what I was saying. I realized that it was pretty much besides the color, exactly what I saw a year prior in Colorado. And I don't want to probably piss a lot of people off the story,

but I made the decision at that time that, you know, I was going to fire my rifle. No, I've worked in six countries in Africa for a company called Jee's Visha Safaris. I have, I shot Cape Buffalo, I shot a lion, I shot a leopard. I mean, I've been in the worst to worst situations. And I do not let clients that I would guide myself shoot at dangerous animals above 100 yards, just the personal thing I just don't do. but I was pretty confident with a good rest

shooting a gun that I built I felt confident with the shot and I knew exactly what I was seeing to my scope and I squeezed off the first round it's a single trigger over and under so you have to squeeze off the first round and then

shoot the second round so I shot the 220 swift into what have been what it would have been the left shoulder blade of the thing. And I could see the dust come off the solar blade at the back. No reaction whatsoever.

There was just nothing. It didn't change pace. It didn't run. It didn't scream. Nothing. And when you squeeze off that first shot with the single trigger over and under rifle, the second round's ready to go. So I immediately

tried to drop the crosshairs onto where the spine would be. squeezed off another shot and I missed again, this time just up and to the right, just barely, but like right into where the backstrap or loin would. And that's when it started to pick up speed because that 30 out six round was a little bit heavier, you know? And as I, let me back up a little bit. Right before I did that, the animal turned a bit, sort of like a 30 degree turn. Right before I squeezed off that second shot, and I had to,

hit it, like I said, just right to where the spine would be. But I could tell it would, you know, it was a vital shot. I wasn't just shooting at a bulk. I was shooting to kill this thing. So I knew it was a pretty vital shot that 30 out six should at least travel through, you know, some sort of cavity. Even on a big animal, even on a, you know, buffalo or rhino or whatever, that round should at least penetrate to one of the lungs. I don't care how big the animal is. With the ballistics I was shooting with, it should have traveled into the chest cat.

And right after I find that second shot, it kind of disappeared into the undergrowth and those saplings and the aspens. And we went down there, me and my father and two of the guys from our group. One was the county sheriff, a guy from Wisconsin that we were really good friends with. It was just an amazing guy. So we go back down there This is about 30 minutes later We go on there on foot And we were like

You know, there's got to be blood or something Because you know, I definitely hit it And like I said, there was 14 of us total Everyone saw this thing It was not just me It was not just my dad We weren't smoking anything Dr drinking anything

I mean this is early in the morning This is like 620 in the morning. So we go down there and we're looking for blood, looking for blood. We see little tiny droplets of blood down on the leaves that are fallen.

But it wasn't right away. It wasn't the exact location where I shot the thing. It was actually, but 30 feet, so, you know, over 10 yards from where I initially had shot the thing back into the alders. But what I did see was blood sprayed on the aspen trees, about eight to eight and a half feet off the ground. Like I said, I did not measure it, but it was definitely, I mean, I'm a big guy West.

I'm 6'5, but I'm 235. I play college basketball. It was much, much taller than me. I would say eight to eight and a half feet, It's probably about two feet taller than I am. And there was blood spread in the trees, and I believe it came out of its mouth. Because I really think that 30 out six round penetrated into the lungs. And I think that when that round hit these lungs or its lungs, I don't know if it was a maleph female.

I think when that round went into its lungs, it started coughing up blood. And it was too far away for me to hear that. But that's what I think. And that's why I think that blood is so high up, is that it started. hacking out blood onto the trees as it moved away from there. Did the blood trail kind of end or were you able to find the creature? We trailed it for about 100 yards, just finding little bits and pieces of blood, nothing else. But we were never able to find it.

I don't know what happened. But we were never able to come upon it or find it. We tried so hard. We spent the next two days. Like I said, 14 guys who were pretty darn good at what they do Trying to find what, you know, where this thing went and what it did And we were never really able to find it I mean, we saw, you know, brush moves aside

Little bits of dirt moved aside We tried so hard I never saw any broken branches or anything like that I did not see anything like that But just approaching it from a hunter's standpoint when we never saw anything, you know, leading to where the sink could be. The next two days, we scoured the side of that ridge. And we never really defined it.

And as I told you on the phone before, Wes, my thought process is it was unseasonably warm at that time of year in Idaho. We were looking at temperatures in the high 70s, which was just so weird for gun season in Idaho. Usually it's much colder than that. And I related to a story in Africa I had where I shed a Bledsbuck, and the blood dried on it before I was able to drop to the ground. I think the blood dried in this thing's hair before it went to the ground, so that makes sense. I think that the coagulation and the skin plugged up the whole enough that the bit of blood that came out dried before it. drop down into the dirt. And I think that's why we were honestly never really able to trail it much more.

Yeah, so bizarre of 14 guys, you know, and it makes you wonder, did it, you know, where did it go? You know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. What did the guys think? The 14 guys that you're with, I mean, you guys all see the same coming and you take the shot. What was the conversation like between all the guys?

it's funny because absolutely none of these guys believe in Zasquatch or Bigfoot or anything they are really avid hunters all good friends of my father I've hunted with them on three continents Australia Africa and the United States and I guess in overall view of what they thought the guys who saw it would have been speechless. Two of them were very close to me, and I can give their names, but they, you know, they've been, they've been up here with that. John Fee and Jake Elliott from Wisconsin, the guys who I grew up hunting with, they were absolutely speechless. I mean, they had no idea what to say. These are guys who, you know, spent their entire lives in the woods.

I shot my first turkey with John. I mean, I shot my first deer with Jake. And it was just nobody really knew what to, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, it was so outside of the realm of understanding that we had. It was, it was, it was, it didn't really look like a person, but it didn't really look like a name. It was different was. It was just so different. Yeah. Yeah. Did it look similar to that one in Colorado that you saw?

I mean, as far as a. In the face, yes. They're very similar in the face. Besides the coloration difference. And I'll tell you right now, the one that I saw in Idaho was much bigger. I promise you, it was way bigger. Again, I don't know exactly how high, I would guess, eight to eight and a half feet, but it was definitely bigger. And, you know, I've listened to your show a couple of times, and I've heard that, uh,

that encounter with Lesraud, Murray talks about the mountain lion that he saw and how he said, you know, 175 pounds, you know, mountain lion, you better think twice. Well, when I was younger, I spent a couple summers up in Alaska hunting and doing some prospecting

and just things like that. And I bumped into a black bear. It was a small black bear. It was about 350 pounds. and all I had was a knife. I had no gun at all. But by that time, I was already big. I was about, you know, 6, 3, 2, 20.

And I left for a less says, you know, you better make this jump count. Because I literally said that to that back barely. Buddy, you better make this charge count, dude. Like, I'm a big guy. You know, you better make this count. So I'm not really scared of stuff in the woods. You know, I don't get scared.

I've been charged by Cape Buffalo. I've been charged by a leopard. I saw a guy get taken off the back who would pick up truck by a leopard when I worked in Africa. I was never scared. No, I get it. I was never scared. Can I ask you when this thing was coming?

What made you shoot? Fear. Just straight fear. Fear and, I guess, probably, if I'm honest, a little bit of that first encounter coming up. Where I reluctantly did not shoot. I had a 416 in the first encounter. I had a gun that would definitely 100% kill this thing on the spot.

And I didn't shoot. So probably fear and reluctance, you know, being upset with myself and not shooting in the first place at the first encounter. Yeah, I get it. I get what you're saying. I mean, hey, I have no problem with someone shooting these things. I know a lot of people in the audience do, but I don't. Oh, I know I'm going to piss people off. I'm sorry. Yeah. No, and hey, I mean, everyone handles it differently and, you know, this thing's coming.

Do you think the creature knew you guys were there when it was kind of coming your direction? I 100% believe that I knew we were there. I think that's why I vocalized. I don't know if it was vocalizing to someone else or a different creature somewhere behind us. I have no idea. Wes, I don't know. But I've only saw the two. In the situation, I only saw the one. So I don't know what it was doing, but I definitely do believe it knew here, there, for sure.

Yeah, what do you think that they are? I mean, you've got to look at two of these things. I know you don't think they're human. You don't think they're apes. I mean, what's your honest opinion? Do you think it's a natural animal we haven't caught up with? Yeah. I don't know. I'm going to, I think in a way, they are something that we haven't discovered yet.

I don't think they're human. I don't think they're gruel. I think they are some sort of primate. And again, I know I'm going to piss people off, and I'm sorry for the people who get upset with that. But I think there's some sort of primate we haven't really figured out yet. I think they're smart, but I don't think they're that smart. I don't think they have the intelligence level of us. And I could be wrong. By all means, I could be wrong. But that's my opinion. When I looked at the face of the first one,

which is really the one that I got the best look at, it was truly a, oh, shit look. Excuse me, my language. Sorry, Wes. But it was an oh, shit look. Like, this guy's pointing a gun at me. So, for sure, they're smart. You know, overly smart.

I don't think they're extraterrestrial or spiritual or anything like that. I think they're a, you know, subspecies in a sense of an ape or a primate that is just extremely, extremely rare and extremely hidden. I mean, there's so many species out there that people don't even understand. Just in North America, there's 29 subspecies of animals. I mean, it's called the Super Slam to harvest all of them as a hunter. There's 29 North American species. You ask your average guy in the street how many North American animals there are. He's probably going to say, oh, 8, 10, maybe 15.

I mean, people don't really realize how many animals are out there, how many mammals are out there. I mean, it's a lot. There's, you know, five species of caribou, three species of moose, five species of bear, five species of deer, just in North America. So maybe just something out there we haven't quite caught up with. Did this affect you, though, as far as going hunting anymore? Did you, I know hunting you grew up, and it's a big thing with you and your family. Did it ever affect you on going back out? honestly God,

I have not gone hunting since the Idaho incident at all. I have not gone hunting since then. I haven't been hunting one time. And I like I talked about on the phone with you, I,

that Colorado incident for about three weeks, I could not eat. I could not sleep. I could send the phone. I mean, I hope I'd get this across the people, but it was a,

it was kind of like a, horrible breakup. I could not eat. I could not sleep. I couldn't even function. It was all I thought about. And it just really freaked me out. And I got over that. And I had an incident freak me out even more because I pulled the trigger. And that really freaked me out. I'm starting to get over it now. I live in Texas now. And actually not far from where everybody's in Texas live. But I live in Texas now. And I'm starting to get over it for the most part and go back out there. I actually have an access to your hunt planned two weeks from now. So I'm getting back out there and I'm doing well.

Yeah, that's good. That's good, though. You know, you need to get back out there. And because it steals that from people. It steals the love of being out hunting, the love of being out in the wilderness. And I understand what you mean. I'm shocked that you haven't been back out since because of, you know, you and I've talked on the phone. I know hunting is a really big deal with you and your family and

the fact that it affected you that much. Do you think if you went back in time, you would have still pulled the trigger? If I could have gone back in time, I would have brought a bigger gun. That's the best way I can put it, man. I know that's going to stick people off, and I'm sorry. but if I could have I had that 416 with me and I would have put a bullet in its forehead I know it's going to piss people off West I'm sorry but

no it's fine I mean everyone has their own view as in their own opinion so no one can give you crap for it and you know we don't know enough about this thing and for the people out there who get upset I can't wait for the day when

if the government would allow it for a hunter to drag one of these things out with a bullet in its head. I'd be the best day of my life. Honestly, it'd be the best day of my life to finally prove it. And I think that's what it's going to take to prove that these things are out there. You're not going to do it through video. You're not going to do it through what I'm doing. You're not going to do it through audio. It's going to take a body.

It's absolutely going to take a body. I've heard enough of your show where people come on and say, well, I want to get really good footage from 20 feet away, right? Okay, well, I totally respect that. That's cool. I get it, man. I totally understand. But are you going to be another Todd standing where he's gotten footage from 20 feet away?

And everyone goes, okay, that's a hoax. I mean, until a absolute being is brought in, and I'm not hating on Todd standing. I'm not hating on anyone who says that. I'm really not being that kind of guy. No, I get exactly what you mean. And you're 100% right. You're 100% right. Is anyone really going to believe you?

Or are they going to say, oh, that's an LA makeup artist? Is, you know, no, what I saw, if I didn't look to a scope and see it, if someone would ask me, you know, is that someone in a costume, I probably would have said yes. I mean, until I looked at the scope and actually saw the features of the thing, I mean, it could have been. I don't know. but until I looked at the scope and saw it. But there's just a point where it comes to where a trail camera picture or a thermal imager or even very close-up footage of this thing is not going to cut it. It's just not going to prove to people if they're real.

You're right. You're absolutely right. And, you know, it's a shame that we can't prove it that way, that it does take a body. You know, it is going to take a body. and you're 100% right. You know, if the videos too good, it's a fake. If it's not good enough, it's a blob squatch. Well, it's like, well, what do you want?

You know what I mean? I mean, we have the Patterson Gimlin film. I know Bob Gimlin personally, and that guy's not lying. You know, and some people say, well, you know, Roger hoaxed Bob, and it was a guy in a suit. Well, it seems kind of weird that Roger would hand Bob the gun and tell him to cover him if it was all one big prank on Bob. But going back to your point, yeah, I mean, no video is going to be good enough. No audio is going to be good enough. The trace evidence that these things leave isn't good enough.

So what is good enough? Yeah, I absolutely agree with you, Wes. I know, like I said, I'm going to tick people off, but I kick myself from not having that 416. Because you have people come to the show and say, oh, I don't know what's big enough. Well, that 416 is 400 grains, 3,000 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle. I mean, it will kill an elephant with one shot easily. I mean, it will kill one of these things for sure. I have no doubt about it.

So I, you know, I kicked myself for not having that. I know I'm going to take people off of that, but I wish I would have that gun. I wish I would have pulled the trigger right in the back of the head, man. I do. at the time if you could not pay me enough wanting to go back to Frank Church

or Aspen in the mountains I would not go no way no way I don't want to see one ever again I have no wish to see one again it was

it was plenty enough freaking me out I'm done with them yeah hopefully one day we'll get it solved Colton you know it's one of those things it's a mystery and it feels like every year that goes by

we don't really get anywhere with this topic but I really appreciate you taking the time to come on, share what happened to you and your dad and on that second encounter when you shot the thing. I really appreciate you taking the time to come on. Oh, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me out on Wes.

I really appreciate it. Like I said, I mean, I've only told my best friend and a girlfriend I had. I just thought it was probably about time. I talked to someone who believed me. So thank you so much, Wes. I really, really appreciate it. in that. Thanks, Colton. And that's it for tonight. Everyone

remember if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. My email address is West at Sasquatch Chronicles.com. If you get a chance, check out Sasquatch Chronicles.com. You can become a member and get additional shows. Until next time, everyone. Tom Barton, and I'm a veteran sports analyst and respected sports handicapper who will help build ESPN's brand. I've been recognized and awarded by Pro Football Weekly and Gaming Today magazine as the honest handicapper. Let the other guys give you the same old boring sports talk with the same tired storylines. We'll give it to you straight here every Friday on Wagering Week.

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