Sasquatch Chronicles - SC EP:609 I Do Not Hunt Anymore

Episode Date: December 15, 2019

Kevin from Texas shares a terrifying encounter he had while out hunting, which caused him to give up hunting all together. Here is an excerpt from his original email, "...I stood up, turned and took step back around the island of brush in the little clearing/secondary cover heading towards the truck, which was still running by the way, that is when I heard, then felt and then briefly and vaguely saw the scariest thing I have ever encountered, anywhere. It was the longest 1 1/2 to 2 minutes of my life. It felt like I was moving in slow motion   I heard the raspy, gruff high pitched scream almost simultaneous during my standing and about face to move in it's direction, and looked up at an angle in the place where I thought it originated. I did not see anything, but I definitely heard it. I could feel the steps it took as it started to run away. Looking back, I think it was startled in my sudden change of position or was having issues locating me. Anyway, I looked up, what would be up, what the hell would be up? What the….hell…was that? I stepped forward once and I drew my gun and pointed in the direction almost immediately. Then started to back up and point my gun in the direction of the running sound and the outline of the figure I could see running on the other side of the brush island..."   Russell Acord returns to discuss Travel Channel's "Expedition Bigfoot" first episode. Episode Two: "With one team member down, Russell and Mireya must forge ahead and return to the forest to hunt down their leads. Their intensive investigations uncover the group's first pieces of potential Bigfoot evidence."   Check out "Expedition Bigfoot" HERE.   Visit our website HERE for additional weekly shows and exclusive content.

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 a 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 Sasquatchewat, 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. Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here

tonight. Got a great show planned for you tonight. We're going to be talking to Kevin, and Kevin comes to us from Texas. He had an encounter when he was out hunting. Kind of a scary encounter, and he gave up hunting. So we'll be bringing him on shortly. We'll also be talking to Russell. record from Expedition Bigfoot on the Travel Channel. Episode two comes out tonight. I enjoyed the first episode. I like how they're taking a serious approach to looking for this thing. He'll do a quick recap of episode one. If you don't have cable, download the Travel Channel Go app. It's free. You can watch all the episodes are free. As soon as the episode comes out, they put it up on the app. And that's how I watch it because I don't have cable. Very cool show. I'm really looking forward to episode two tonight.

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 Kevin to the show. Kevin, thanks for coming on. Yeah, no problem, man. I appreciate you having me.

Yeah, I appreciate you being here. And I know you had an encounter in Texas while you were out hunting. If you would, take us back to that moment. Kind of just walk us into what happened. What did you see? Okay. Well, I was actually preparing for hunting. This was September of 2007.

And, you know, I'll just give you a general area of where I was. It's Lubbock County, Texas, which is kind of the southern region along the Gulf Coast, kind of north of Victoria, so if you want to look it up on a map. I was preparing for hunting. I had not hunted the area in a few years. And I was setting out feeders. And by this point in time, it was like the, I believe it was like the first or second week of September. And I had been out there a couple of times prior to fill feeders and set up a basically fill a feeder and set up an apple block and a tree along the road. And so the area that I'm, that this was in was about 300 acres of what I would call a combination of pasture land, and then you've got oak trees and scrub oak. And so it was just a normal afternoon. It was, you know, South Texas hot.

And I had pulled into the property and drove all the way to the back to the area where I was setting up to feeders. And, you know, kind of left the truck. running right there along the little two-track, you know, dirt road that kind of comes through that area and moved to the back of the truck to pull the apple block out to go set the apple block in. Notice that again, the apple block was gone and kind of looked around the ground to try to see if I could see any sign or anything. It didn't see a whole lot of sign, didn't see a whole lot of remnants left over from the apple block and replaced the apple block. I mean, while truck's still running, you can actually kind of hear, you know, I had a Stevie Ray Vaughn CD in the CD player.

You can hear kind of the low, low play of that CD in the truck. But, you know, just kind of generally looking around after putting the apple blocks up in the tree and moved into an area, it's kind of what I would consider like a secondary cover area where it's kind of, you've got a circular clearing, but in the middle of that clearing you it's not really clear you got like a singular big tree and and some brush that's growing around that tree but the animal movement the the trail movement of the animals moving through there kind of has made a circular trail around this tree so it it might even have been a browse area it wasn't something that I'd really seen them browse in but maybe you know at some

some point and during the year it could have been a little browse area for animals But so I'm moving through this area and I move around to the backside of the tree and I'm just kind of squatted down looking for sign, looking to see where the game trails are coming in to the area and seeing if I could see any sign along those game trails. So I'm squatting there for a few minutes, you know, and, you know, I am armed. I don't know if I mentioned that prior to I am armed. but when I would go to this area, I would carry a 40 caliber pistol with me because of all the hogs that were in the area. There was an instant a few years prior where some family members were clearing some areas on the property, and a hog had charged them while they were clearing. So I just made it a point from a safety perspective, mainly for hogs to carry out there.

So anyway, I was sitting there and I was looking around looking for tracks and looking for sign and to see if there had been a lot of movement in the last week or so. And I got up to turn around and walk back to the truck. And I just heard this like surprise like gutt roll. Like it was like as a very short, loud burst. It was very close. And and I can remember like. looking up at the direction of where the sound came from. I immediately drew my pistol, pointed it in that direction,

and I think right about that time is when I heard steps. And so I started to back up and kind of look through the brush to see what I could see. And what I remember seeing was something running on two legs, very large. and it took about, I think, two to three steps to cover maybe 20 yards. And as it hit the brush line on the direct opposite end of where I was standing, I could see it start to basically go down to all fours as it hit the brush line. And when it hit the brush line, it was like a Mac truck driving through the brush. And it probably went through the brush maybe, you know, maybe five to ten more seconds.

And it just stopped and it got silent. And all it was was me, you know, my, I could feel my heartbeat pumping in my ears. And I'm sitting there. I still have my gun drawn. And I'm kind of moving around back in the direction that I originally started to move to where this thing would have been standing. I was looking on the ground for any sort of track or sign that anything was standing there, but the conditions just, there was no track. There was no tracks of anything really. It was just the soil conditions that just weren't conducive to leave in anything. And so I still had my gun drawn and pointed in the direction of where this thing hit the brush line. And I'm like, I considered first,

a second, maybe walking in there to see what this was. And then I just thought better of it and everything, Amy was saying, just get the hell out of here, get the hell out of here,

like move, move, you know. And so I moved back through, kind of sidestep, and backed up kind of like through the little game trail entrance to this little area,

back onto the road, still pointing in the direction. Because this little area is not very far off the road. it's maybe 10 yards, you know. And so I'm still pointing in the direction of where this thing ran to. I'm backing up to the truck, getting in the truck with my gun still out and putting it and drive and having my gun ready and slowly moving in that direction. Like, I've still got to drive past where this thing ran.

And so, yeah, I just pulled out kind of slow. And then I kind of got past that area and just kind of gunned it a little bit and kept looking in the rearview mirror to see if. Anything would pop out on the road or anything would pop out in the tree line and, you know, just kind of looking through dust because it's kind of a Colici road, which is a really like a sandy fine dust and rock. And I got the hell out of there. Yeah, I spent a lot of time, a lot of time after that trying to try to reconcile logically. You know, could it have been this, could have been that. I mean, there are cows on on this property. And, you know, I've heard lots of sounds of cows. I've hunt. it out there at night previous and many days out there never never had an experience quite like this and you know it changed it changed changed me forever changed changed my um it changed how i enter any recreational wilderness area or hunting situation um from that point forward i did try to hunt out there a few few years later and you know i had some other you know i guess

instances occur, but I just could never bring myself to go back out there alone. I mean, it was a life-changing event. Yeah. And I want to come back to some of these other weird things that happened, but how far away from you was this thing? And was there any details that you could pick up? I mean, when it was running, was it like a man? Or is there any details that you can share as far as what you saw? All I could see was that there was, there were thick legs. It looked like it might have been fur covered. There wasn't a whole lot of

detail because again I was looking through brush. But I mean, I could feel those steps and I could see the legs hitting the ground on two of the steps. One of the steps I couldn't see, obviously because that was the point where I was kind of moving back and trying to see through the brush. But

I just remember being big. It was big. I've seen cows moved through the brush out there. And I, it was, it looked bigger than, then I think a cow would look running through the brush.

And I mean, I've hunted hogs. I've killed hogs that are two or three hundred pounds. It wasn't anywhere close to being that small. Like, it was something big. And you could, it, you could feel it. I mean, you could feel the footsteps through the ground.

You could feel the steps. And that's what, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's the one thing that I, that, that's, that's, that's, that's the one thing that I, that I left there like, you know, I'd never heard a scream like that ever. I'd never been that close to, I guess, to scream that loud.

I mean, you kind of felt it all over. And the same thing with the steps, you could, you could feel the steps through the ground, you know. And I was about, because I'd gone out there at a later date. And I kind of stepped it off because, I mean, It consumed me for a while. I tried to go back out there on opening day a couple of months later. And it was a rainy opening day. It was kind of ominous.

I tried to get out there. I couldn't bring myself to even step off the porch in the dark. I got a little later that morning I got probably 75 yards down the road headed in that direction and turned around and just call it today. I couldn't even bring myself to go back there anymore. And that was just a couple of months after. when I actually gone back and kind of stepped it off, I estimated somewhere between 15 and 17 paces from where I originally was squatted

to where I think this thing was standing. So you figure 30 feet, 35 feet. It's pretty close. It's really close, actually. And this thing got that close without me, even knowing it was there. I didn't know it was there until it made a sound. I didn't even see it when I turned and started to walk in that direction.

And that's probably the part the most that makes me the most uneasy is that, A, I don't know if this thing was coming because it heard the truck and had been habituated to come to that area for that Apple block. Like I had set out several beforehand and I thought, wow, this is like my third or fourth Apple Block. this is this is cool like obviously something's out here eating this and I'm gonna I'm gonna have a good opening day I mean that's that's kind of the thought that was going through my head but after after the experience that I'd had out there and what I'd seen and thinking about it and searching around and trying to find sounds and trying to try and to eliminate animals that it

could have been it was it was the only logical conclusion that it was something that that I really didn't feel like could have existed until that point, you know. Yeah, I get what you mean. I mean, and that's interesting about your Apple Block disappearing, you know, as quick as it was. And you didn't really believe in Bigfoot prior to this, did you, Kevin? No, I mean, you know, I'd heard of Bigfoot and only because my parents had a book on the shelf. It's called Mysteries of the Unexplained, and it was just one of the, of the things that was in this book, and I thought it was fascinating, but it wasn't anything that

I'd really given any credence to. You know, I'm kind of a see-it-to-believe-it kind of person. You know, I'd heard that, I mean, I'd heard that cougars were in the area for a long time, and that there was a Mexican jaguar that was in the area a lot and that people had seen them, but I hadn't seen him, so I didn't think it was true, but, you know, I ended up seeing at least a Mexican Jackware in the area a few years prior to that. And, you know, it's just kind of how I'm built, you know, I'm kind of evidence-based. It's part of why I do what I do is because, you know, I'm an inspector by trade. And that's just kind of, I'm a very logical and evidence-based type person.

So, you know, it was hard for me to, it was hard for this thing to fit into, into any framework. And I started to consider that that's probably what this was. I couldn't put a time frame on when I came to that conclusion. But I remember leaving the property, locking up the fence, driving down the road. And the first gas station that you get to is probably 30 or 40 minutes away. And I just remember pulling over into that gas station, filling up and going, what the hell did I, what the hell just happened? What was that?

You know? What could that have possibly been something running on two legs? You know, what could run on two legs and that's big and possibly hair covered? You know? Yeah, it is. I think most people go through that, to be honest with you, Kevin. I think most people struggle with that, especially after an encounter. You know, it's a lot of sitting around going, God, am I going nuts?

am I, you know, because you guys, they say you guys have bears down there. I don't know. I've ever talked to anyone that has seen a bear in that area. But I assume they're down there. But I think there's more that goes on in Texas. I told you that the other night than I think goes on in Washington State. What is your opinion? What do you think it was doing?

Do you think it was coming up for that apple block and you were there and it didn't anticipate you being there? What was your impression as far as intention? You know, because of the sound of like what I would call the scream or the yell or whatever you want to call it, it counted, to me it sounded surprised. Like it was checking to see if I'd put the Apple Block up and where I had gone because obviously my truck was still running. So maybe there was some focus in the other direction because my truck was still running. and it didn't realize that I was in that area that I was coming from. And so I might have surprised it and it ran.

I mean, at least I would hope that that's what it was. I would hope that I was not on the menu. Something that big, I mean, just, you know, you start to realize that, man, you know, even, you know, I had a 40 caliber Glock on my hip. And I felt really small. I felt really small. And looking back on it, I'm like, you know, even if I would have, you know, began to fire, like, you know, when I told a few people a few years later, well, why didn't you shoot it? And it's like, you know, I was always trained to, you know, you don't shoot a firearm, unless you know what you're shooting at, especially out there because, you know, you never know if you're going to hit a cow. And so we were always very cautious whenever we would discharge a firearm out there, you know.

because we had to think, like, where was that bullet going? I mean, even when we shot deer, you know, we would make sure that we would shoot them in the open. At least I would. And know where that bullet's going to travel when it's done, because more than likely it would go through that deer. Did you ever go back? Did you ever go back to that? I did. And what else happened while you were there?

Well, I mean, you know, I tried to go back and do some hog hunting at one point. and I had set up a feeder in a different area that was a little further back from that area. And it was along another wash area. It was like tree covered and brush covered. And I figured that I could sit up on the bank and hunt hogs. There was evidence of hog traffic coming up through that wash. And so I had set up a simple, you know, five-gallon bucket feeder down there and a game cam. and kind of an area that I could enter into and overlook this area without really crossing through that area.

So I could get in there quietly and set up without really disturbing the area too much. And I planned on maybe bringing a buddy of mine, a good buddy of mine that I also like to hunt. Our schedules never quite worked well together, so we didn't end up going down there. And honestly, after that, I couldn't go down there. myself, especially at night. It was all I could do to get down there and get stuff set up during the day without feeling, without remembering, you know, everything that had happened previously. But, you know, I tried to get back into it and tried to try to do it and I just couldn't.

And I ended up going back there again, a few months later with family just to kind of walk around and see, you know, what was going on. and, you know, just my mom and my stepdad were headed down there. So I was like, okay, yeah, no big deal. I'll head down there with you, you know. And we went back and checked this area that I'd set up to hog hunt. And the feeder was absolutely destroyed. It looked like somebody had come through there with a baseball bat and beat it like a pinata.

You know, and I thought, man, that's really weird. And, you know, I checked the game cam that I'd set up. There were absolutely no pictures of anything on the game cam even moving through there. And so that was just kind of a really, really weird occurrence. And fast forward probably several years, several years past that, it was, I don't know, it might have been like 2012 or 2013. By this time, I had obviously told my family what I had down, the experience that I had down there. And, you know, so they were like, really? And they were kind of disbelieving of it.

it and I actually told my dad about it at one point. And he was like, well, yeah, you know, I had an unexplained experience that I had in North Carolina. And so it's kind of weird, you know, he and my stepmom had an experience that caused her to stop going backpacking, which was, he was like, you know, it's a possible, possible thing. And, you know, that coming from, what did he tell you? Well, he said that they were, they were in a tent. I believe it was in the Smoky Mountain National Forest, and they had been backpacking on trail and had a tent set up in the middle of mountains. There was nobody else around, and they were harassed by something all night long.

My stepmother was apparently absolutely just terrified all night. Never knew what it was. It didn't sound like a hog. you know, didn't say whether it was a hog or not, just said it was, it was a terrifying experience. So much so that she would never go backpacking again afterwards. And that's pretty much all the detail I got out of them. I also told friends, you know, some close friends. And I used to, I used to get, you know, little gag gifts and stuff like that all the time about it.

I thought I was probably a little crazy for having even admitted that I had some sort of experience like that. But one of those buddies was a close friend of mine. He's a former Marine, very even keeled. You know, as buddy I talked about earlier, going hunting, going hog hunting. I heard that they were still having hog problems down there with rutting up everything out in those pastures. So we drove down there one night and it was January. It was cold, cold, like in the 20s cold. And so we set up a blind, wrapped a truck in camo.

set the blind up in the middle of the field. And we're just sitting in chairs in the back of the truck, just waiting to see if a sounder would move in and start rutting in the area. You could tell that the hogs have been all through that area of the pasture. So we just figured we just set up there and see if anything moved through there at all. You know, didn't really hear much of anything. The moon was out, it was clear, perfectly clear, and just cold. We were sitting in sleeping bags, in chairs and back of the truck.

You know, we're just sitting there and it's been several hours. You know, it's a little after 12, 12, 15, 12, 20, something like that. And we just hear this blood curling, what I would call it, like a banshee scream coming out of the wash, about 80 or 100 yards away from where we were sitting. And mind you, this is a couple of hundred yards from where I first had the encounter. it's closer to the front of the front of the house it's outside that kind of area right there right outside that area of brush and that back clearing that I used to hunt

and this wash is kind of it's east of that area it feeds the same creek as all the other washes in the area and I would say that that stream was was far louder than the fur stream because it was it was further away and it was still loud extremely loud. And it was higher pitch and it sound really angry. Whatever it was, it just sounded angry.

Like if I had to put a feeling to it, it would be angry. And I just looked at my buddy because he'd been giving me a hard time about this for years at this point. And, you know, a former Marine really even killed, you know, just very level-headed was part of a a maritime anti-terrorist team in the Marine Corps for several years and, you know, knew how to handle himself very confident. And you could just see him go white. You know, I mean, white-faced, white-eyed just and quiet. And it took him about 15 or 20 seconds after we both heard it.

And he said, man, that wasn't no, no f-and-cow. like he he was trying to place it and he couldn't he didn't have he didn't have a box to check so that and um he used to say we were on there for about five 10 10 minutes more and and i was like man i'm getting cold he's like yeah i'm getting cold too man maybe we just pack him get out of here i'm like yeah that sounds like good idea i think uh i think that was the last time i ever went out there yeah i was going to ask you if you still hunt no i don't i don't hunt at all um And even, you know, after listening to some of the stories I've listened to, you know, I don't fish, I don't fish as much as I used to, especially in some of the remote places I used to go to, especially at night. I don't do any more night fishing either. So I'm just, I'm very cautious now. I take it from the perspective, you know, like I was saying the other night, you know, once you realize you're not at the top of the food chain and, you know, I mean, I don't care if you've got, you know, an automatic weapon back there with a hundred round drum magazine in it,

I don't know that that would be enough. You know, I mean, that's, that's kind of the perspective I look at it. Like, you know, and from the stories I've heard, you know, this is, this, this, this thing may be extremely unpredictable. Like, like you said, you know, there's definitely something on going on down here in Texas. Yeah, I think it does have a weird effect on people. I mean, I gave up hunting too as well, and I understand what you mean, because, I mean, you're sitting there this saying, all the sentence right there, and you didn't, you never heard it coming, you never heard it, you know, thank God it didn't go after you in that situation. I do hear of them being very aggressive in Texas, probably more aggressive in Texas

than anywhere else, but they are unpredictable too as well. I've heard accounts where they just get up and walk away. I've heard accounts where you and I were talking the night where they seem to help like little kids out in the middle of the forest. Bizarre. But then you do hear accounts of where they come after people. Have you

ever thought about going back out there and just kind of maybe not leaving the truck, but just going back out to kind of face the fear of going back out? I think, you know, in the years following that, that's what I was attempting to do.

But I mean, just from a safety perspective, you know, just over the last couple years, I've become a father. So, you know, this choice has become a little less plausible in my mind. You know, the only thing, like I said the other night, I was like, you know, I think it's the one reason, you know, I'm grateful for you doing what you're doing. I mean, the reason I found you is because I was like, man, I need to know more. Maybe I should just start talking about this and maybe, you know, was looking, well, maybe there's a podcast, you know, or maybe that's something. I can do and and, you know, found your podcast. And I was like, okay, this is, let's check this out and see, you know, see, see, see what this is all about. But, you know, I look at it as, you know, you're performing kind of a service. You know, you're, you're taking people's accounts.

It's, it's non-judgmental, which I really like. You're not trying to tear people down. You're just, you take, you take the experience and, and you record it. And, you know, you let other people, you're giving it a platform for other people to listen to. You know, in my mind, you know, I had to deal with it by myself for a long time. I think now, you know, if somebody hasn't experienced it, not only is a little more acceptable, but there's, I think, a little bit more of a community, I guess, even though it's kind of loose, there's a little bit more of a community to kind of help people deal. but also to learn maybe habits and to at least set forth like some sort of safe practice.

You know, like I don't go in the woods unarmed anymore. You know, where before I would have not thought twice about putting on a backpack and going off into the woods. I think at least having that last ditch protection, as little as it may matter, would be better than nothing. And, you know. Yeah, definitely better than nothing. You know, and it goes back to what you and I were talking about the other night. I mean, Friday night show, I talked to Chris on the member's only show, and he's a former wildlife biologist. And he's going on and on about these two encounters that he had.

And it's bizarre to get a scientist to come on and really share the account. But you're right. And I appreciate all the kind of words about the show. But you're right. You do learn a lot from my witnesses. You learn a lot about behaviors. You learn a lot about descriptions. Stuff you're not going to get.

anywhere else. It's from my witnesses. And it is a safety thing. You know, I always tell people to treat it like you, the same way you would have a bear. You're not going to run up and start petting a bear. You're going to quietly try and leave an area where a bear's at. And that's the advice they give to most people.

But I appreciate the kind of words about the show, man. Very much. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's one of the things, you know, I've got a daughter now and she's, she's wanting to start to get out and explore and, you know, see the world. And, you know, I'm sure that there are plenty of other people out there that haven't come forward to say anything or haven't really said anything like I did for years.

You know, maybe they told some close friends. Maybe they've told some family members. And maybe they only bring it up, you know, because it got brought up in a conversation. I know there's a family member that won't hunt or won't go out in that area down there where I saw this thing. You know, and he was, he's probably been hunting out there. for many, many decades since he was a kid. And just one day he up and decided he wasn't going to hunt down there anymore. So, you know, I look at it as, you know, keep your children close kind of thing.

You know, don't let them get out of, you know, don't let them get out of you. I mean, I just think, yeah, it's, you know, you need to be safe and treat it like you would if you're going into an area with bears or cougars or anything else. You know, you want to trust your intuition. You want to pay attention to your surroundings. You want to stay alert. And you want to listen. I mean, I mean, I was listening and I couldn't hear anything. But, you know, maybe there were some signs that I could have been listening for that.

Maybe there was something that I could have done to maybe avoid even getting out of the truck at that point. You know, I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention like I would have paid attention after. Yeah. And I think that's normal. A lot of hunters, they will, hunters are notorious for saying I saw a weird bear. And I think it's because they don't want to give up hunting. Because when they describe the weird bear, it sounds nothing like a bear.

And I think most people don't, A, I don't think most people want to be known as the weird guy that saw a big foot. And B, I don't think a lot of hunters want to give up punt. I'm like you. I give up hunting. I sold everything I had after my encounter. and I kind of wish I wouldn't have now looking back, but at the time, you couldn't have convinced me any other way. But it does strike a fear into you.

I mean, it really does, to the point to where you don't want to be out there anymore. You know, it's like, God forbid, I run into this thing and it really comes after me. Then what am I going to do? Pull out my pistol and start shooting, pull out my rifle and start shooting. And that's a whole other set of problems that you have to deal with. I think once you take that position, not that I'm against shooting one, but I think it's a whole different set of problems that you have to deal with if you decide to take that route. Right.

Let me ask you, I know you've been looking into it for many years, and what do you think that they are, Kevin? What do you think that these creatures are? I think it's an ape. I think they have the ability to maybe do some basic reasoning. um or logic i mean however you want to however you want to put it i mean just from the things that i've heard the conversations that i've had with people i think like any like any animal i think they can be curious and and i think their emotions can kind of run run the gambit you know like you said you know you've got the nice reports and then you've got the ones that are that are that are violent

or what you would consider aggressive um i think it's completely possible and i think that anybody that spent any time out in real wilderness, you know, where you don't see a plane, you don't hear a car, you don't, you don't see anything but endless woods. How vast an area that some of these areas are in these national parks and even outside the national parks, you know, it wouldn't be anything for an animal to exist there that's possibly nocturnal, that's smart enough. to know to avoid man and to avoid guns because it's been faced with them for a long time. I think it's completely possible for these things to exist.

And I think logically speaking, you have all of these people giving similar reports. As we build more and more and encroach on these natural lands, we start to see or hear more and more about these things. I think it's completely possible that there's there's an ape here. You know, it's in every, I think a lot of the native people from this country. I think almost every one of them has some sort of name for these things. They've interacted with them for centuries before we got here and inhabited this place. There's even been a president that has written about a story about these things. And so, I don't know, for a long time, it was a struggle for me to kind of voice that in an articulate way that made sense that wasn't or didn't sound crazy, at least to myself.

I may have sounded articulate enough about it, but I really do. I think it's an ape. I mean, you know, the chimpanzees can form some sort of language, you know, like we were talking the other night, you know, apes can do sign language. you know so if they can learn to communicate if they can learn to do you know simple function simple logic simple reasoning you know why why is it unreasonable to think that they wouldn't be able to formulate some sort of plan to avoid us yeah you bring up a good point and like I said there's never I don't I want to ask that question there's no wrong answer obviously because no one really knows so I mean And that's why it's a fun question to answer because whether you say it's, you know, an ape, a human, an alien, Nephlin, there's really no wrong answer because no one really knows.

I'm kind of curious. So why do you think ape? What made you kind of, was it mainly descriptions or what made you think ape? I think descriptions and, you know, just from what I hear from all the stories. And what I've seen, you know, it's running on two legs. If it's not an ape, then maybe it's somewhere in between human and ape. I don't know. But there's not a whole lot of things that I know of that run around on two legs.

I mean, you know, I know a bear will get up on two legs, but not for very long. You know, it'll stand up on two legs. I've never heard of a bear running on two legs, you know. I'm not saying it can't happen. You know, after everything that I've experienced, I'm, you know. And I think when a bear gets up on two legs, I mean, it's clumsy. It's sloppy. It's not what people describe when you see a bear on two legs, you know. And a bear doesn't make any sense. I hope you're right about the ape thing. I really do.

I would love nothing more than for this to just be a normal animal we haven't caught up with, like some weird primate that maybe on the family tree. And again, Chris, the wildlife biologist, he brought up a lot of great points about some of the different primates we know about that do kind of fit. the description of Sasquatch. I'm not saying that's what it is, but there's more than just, you know, your gorillas and your chimpanzees and your all the known. There's a lot more in that family tree I think that we don't know about. And again, I'm not saying it's that, but I can go with who knows? Yeah, who knows? You're absolutely right. Who knows? And I can go with that theory. I think there's other weird things that go on with this that make me question that. But, you know, no one really knows. At the end of the day, it's like I say, no one has one in their garage or studying.

And that's the dangerous part when you go out there in the woods. And I understand you and I were talking the night about one day when your daughter's old enough to go out there with you or are you going to take her out there or not. I would. I would take her out there. Yeah. And I don't think there's a question of my mind. I mean, I'm going to take her out there. It's just, you know, how do I plan for that? You know, is it going to be acceptable at that point in time? for me to have a conversation with my daughter that doesn't, where she doesn't look at me like, oh, dad, you're crazy. There's, there's, there's, there's no Sasquatch in the woods. You know, there's only bears and cougars and pigs, you know, or is it going to be,

or is it going to be able to be discussed in a, in a logical safe way where it's like, you know, there's things out here that, that we don't know what they are, you know, and we need, we need to at least try to be safe and be prepared and not be alone, not wander off. there's reason for safety in numbers. There's a reason for that. So I think, you know, from that perspective, I don't want to be the, I don't want to be the helicopter dad that, you know,

has never, never, never, never, never allow, never, never allows a kid to cut loose and kind of do what I did when I was a kid, which is just run around woods and, and, and be free, you know. I mean, it was, it was nice. I mean, we, we've got to experience a lot of fishing and Iiken, and camping and just running around in the mountains and down here on the on the gulf coast just running around you know and fishing and having a good time and you know i think if if if we grew up with the knowledge that these things were there and that we needed to be safe and we needed

to watch out for maybe maybe it wouldn't be so traumatic whenever whenever something like this happens and i you bring up a great point right there and that's my whole point to it is I mean, off the record, I'll tell you that I, there's no doubt in my mind the government's covering it up. Why is the whole different conversation? But the fact that they are, now if they came out and told people, you can run into these things. And here's kind of what you should do if you run into one. I don't think people would freak out as much when they run into them. And I do think, and the other side of the coin is I think that these things get shot more often than people realize.

Because you put a gun in a man's hand who's terrified and you will get. get shot. And I think a lot of people who are out there, and they run into them and they're armed to the teeth, I think that, you know, these things have been shot. No doubt in my mind they've been shot. I don't know what it would take, but, you know, I tend to, I tend to decide with you on the belief that, you know, there's, there's a reason that there is a cover-up, you know, I've told you about some other stories that I've heard from people that are a third-party that I can't verify that, you know, just based on what I've heard and what I've seen and read. And, you know, I think that, I think a lot of people would be terrified. But I look at it like this, it's like,

you know, how would you deal with a bear? You know, it's like you were telling, telling the other night, you know, I think about it. It's like, you know, even if you curl up in a ball when a bear attacks, does that keep you from getting mauled? Is that keep you from getting hurt? No. No. But, but maybe just maybe it allows you to live through it, you know. And I guess just trying to give people that mental set of skills to be able to cope like I'm supposed

to be in this ball and I might still get hurt but this is my best chance kind of thing I think would probably go a long way for people you know it's like

if you have that wildlife biologists I mean you know how many how many wildlife biologists probably have seen this thing but have never said anything and you know

if that's the case then how much good could they have done? done to this point with preparing people to maybe deal with these things because they've actually take a concerted effort to maybe go out there and try to study what they are. I think as human beings, we deal a little bit better with the known, then we do the unknown, right? I agree.

It's why horror stories are so popular and everybody gets freaked out at ghosts and all that stuff, you know, and then if you take in, you know, to a possible supernatural side or a multi-dimensional, side to these things. And now all of a sudden you add a whole other, a whole other spectrum of freaked out whenever, whenever you have an experience of one of these things. So, um, I don't know. It's, uh, it's something that, uh, has changed how, how I operate. I try not to go out alone if I can help it. Like I said, I have gone out alone in, in some instances, and, and I've regretted it and called myself stupid. I mean, one of the times I was telling you that a night, one of the times was when I visited Opel Creek in Oregon and slept out in a bivisack, you know, like wrap myself up like a snicker bars, why don't you?

I mean, I was kicking myself for doing it. But I think, you know, that instance there was an isolated instance. And even from that point forward, when I made trips around other parts of Oregon and Washington on that, when I was working up there, that time. I wouldn't go out without a buddy of mine from work. I mean, we, I just said, hey, man, you want to be my travel partner. I didn't tell them why, but you know, I just made sure I had company. I think, I think more than that, I mean, like you said, people get turned around the woods all the time. It's safe, safe to be out there with somebody, period. Whether, whether it's for these things or not, I mean, why not, why not find a friend and go out some

on and try to be safe in the same way. Yeah, there's definitely safety in numbers. And I think you get a different reaction from these things when you're in a group of people as opposed to be by yourself. I think they're more balzy when you're by yourself as opposed to a group. But, you know, I'd like to see you get back out there and hunting again. And, you know, I say that and I struggle with it. So it's a little hypocritical.

But I understand where you're coming from. And, you know, I really appreciate, I know you're working and I really appreciate you. taking the time to tell me the encounter it means a lot man and i enjoyed talking to you the other night i enjoyed having you on the show uh thank you so much yep i appreciate you having me and uh appreciate you listening and um honestly you know i think it's great that um however long you're doing this you're you're you're making a historical record whether you whether you look at it that way or not i think you end up helping people i mean you give people an outlet maybe maybe some of these people haven't told anybody ever what they experienced, but they're able to tell you and able to get it

out there and kind of start dealing with it. So I appreciate what you do. Appreciate you taking the time to listen to me for a minute. And for anybody that's listening that lives in Texas, don't think that these things are just isolated to a small little part of the country, you know, Gulf Coast area. East Texas, definitely just keep your head on a swivel and stay safe. That's all I got to say about it. That's great advice. Thanks again, Kevin.

Yep, appreciate it. Mysterious mountain forests of the Pacific Northwest have become synonymous with Bigfoot. From Native American legends, stretching back centuries to many of the most famous sightings, this region has long been known as a Bigfoot hotspot. More than 1,800 sightings have been recorded in Oregon alone over the past 50 years. Scientists rely on people's accounts when looking for animals that are incredibly rare or elusive or thought to be extinct. But despite the high rate of Bigfoot occurrences here, the team will need all the help it can get. Nine-year Army veteran Russell Acord is a longtime Bigfoot hunter, specializing in extended solo expeditions.

Just coming up on you. That'd be bad. I look at a forest and I see trees. Russell sees a menagerie of things. He sees game trails. He sees signs. He knows what to look for. Russell's the type of guy you can drop behind enemy lines

and know that he's going to come home with a mission accomplished. One of the things that has helped me through my Bigfoot research is my military experience. Having the training to be able to survive out in the wilderness, tracking and searching. That's my element. Well, next up on the show, I want to welcome Russell Accord from Expedition Bigfoot. It's on the travel channel, Sunday night, 10 p.m. Eastern Expedition Bigfoot. We saw the first episode last week.

Russell, thanks for coming back to the show. Hey, thanks for having me back. This is awesome. Yeah. I've been on your show. Yeah, no, I love having you on, man. I love having you on. And I actually really liked Expedition Bigfoot. I thought it was cool.

I thought the guys who put it together did a great job. putting it together. It wasn't goofy. Yeah, RPG. Is that, is that the guy's name, RPG? Or his nickname? What happened with him? We saw him get it, and I've had migraines before, so I kind of, when he said, I could fill it behind my eyes.

I totally got what he was saying. But what actually happened to him behind the scenes on that episode? It was interesting. He got, he was excited about being on the show. There's no doubt about that. And he was definitely. going to be an asset and brought a lot to the screen. But what ended up happening is whatever got to him, we're not saying that it's Bigfoot related. We're not saying that it's not.

Nobody knows. In fact, when they took him to the hospital, they were still unable to determine what had brought it on. Just the poor guy was hurting so bad. And from what I heard, They, they, uh, it was, it was, it was just scary for everybody involved because you've got a guy out in the woods, you know, with a film crew and, and we're supposed to be, you know, recording our findings and that sort of thing. And for him to get taken out so quickly and, and to get that migraine that took over. And I get migraines as well, so I can kind of sympathize with that. It was awful. Yeah, I feel bad for him. I really did, you know, in that whole, especially being out.

out there in the middle of nowhere. And look at you out there trucking in the middle of the night, going back to your old military days. I was like, look at him in the rain. It looked like a lot of fun. I know you filmed that red object, that red thing walking. Tell us about that. For people who haven't seen the episode, did you see it right away? No.

In fact, it'll be covered in detail on episodes ahead of us, you know, a little later on a little later on. They showed that at the beginning of the show to trying to forecast what's coming. We saw some pretty incredible things. And as you'll find out later on in the episodes, that was something I did not see at all. It was strictly through the thermal imaging at night that I was able to see it. In fact, I remember even looking down at the screen, seeing where it was and looking up into the darkness. And there was nothing to see. And it was kind of ridiculous that I did that thinking, well, I'm going to see something out there.

And there was nothing in the darkness. I mean, what are you going to see? And how far away from you was it? It looked like it was pretty far away, at a distance anyway. Yeah, it was quite some distance away, and I believe that is covered on the episode out there, too. I believe the, I know that we did a comparison with me. We set everything up the way it was, and we did it side-by-side comparison. So you'll be able to see those if it's, see, you guys are going into this blind just like I am.

I know that what we filmed and I know what we saw, but what ended up getting on the episodes is exciting and new to me because I'm watching these things thinking, oh, my, look at my hair. You know, everybody's their own critic. You know, I'm looking at myself thinking, oh, boy, I look like a silly guy. But it's what is coming. I'm hoping that they show that comparison.

I don't know that they will. So you'll see it when I do, as far as that, but it was. It was a long ways out. In fact, you will see on the side of the, even on the preview, you see that I'm zooming in on it as quickly as I can. It started off at 2.5, 5.010, and I believe I went up to 20 times magnification.

And it's, it was big for as far away as it was. It put out a heck of a trace. It did. It really did. I mean, it was a huge. And it was solid red, too. That was a weird part. And you, you know, if it would have been a guy.

out there. A lot of times in those fleurs, you can see if someone's wearing clothes and a lot of that gets picked up, even at a distance that's going to get picked up. You know what I mean? Right. That imaging showed up. It was really red, red and yellow, just really brilliant. I have other images that I've captured on that thermal imaging, deer, deer and wildlife. And I believe that is shown on the first episode that I was looking through the thermal imaging and you see a deer. But the deer only came in as white hot. The image that we caught on that thermal that has got everybody excited about is just red hot. Yeah, I can't wait for episode two. Again, it's Expedition Bigfoot Travel Channel, and I don't have cable, but I found out you can actually go to the Travel

Channel app. It's free, and you can watch it for free. So if you guys have your smartphone, your iPads out there, download the Travel Channel app. check it out. It's cool to watch and they had it up right away. What other things surprised you in that first episode? Because I know it's different from going out there and living it and then seeing how it gets cut together. I'll actually put a couple things to rest with that. I'm glad you asked. The second episode, as far as what's coming, it'll be exciting as well as you for me to see it. Being out there, seeing it for myself, I know what I went through. I know what I was in the middle of as I see each scene.

I did not have a film crew. We didn't have a lot of lights, camera, action kind of thing. We were running in the field. I had one man with a camera that stayed with me, and that was it. There was, and I've seen the comments that come up, you know, people thinking, well, it couldn't have been that scary. There was, you know, this whole camera crew and trucks and everything else. There was nothing like that. We were out in a very secluded.

area and it was just amazing. And it's hard to be quiet. My mode and everybody has their own ways of doing research. Mine right, wrong, or indifferent. It's just the way I do my things. And I sneak around in the darkness. I like to be as quiet as I can and go stealth. I don't knock on the trees. I don't make the vocalizations. I don't personally. I don't do a lot of things that actually make noise. And I have to talk to the camera. You know, I'll turn my head and say, okay, I'm trying to be quiet here. You know, I like the fact that the ground is wet, so I'm, you know, moving through the dark and

not making very much noise. And I'm thinking, I'm making more noise talking than I am getting through the forest. So it's, it's something you have to get used to, and the experience was insane. A couple of surprises that happened in the first episode was just, I remember getting a call that RPG was in bad shape. When Dr. Moriah and I were standing side by side, and the big surprise that hit me was when Bryce said that we would have to continue the expedition without RPG. And you look at things as even a three-legged stool,

you have to have three legs to stand on when you're out in the woods. You have to have that objective, that knowledge. and we lost a lot of knowledge when we lost RPG. Dr. Morrea has no problem being out in the woods alone and charging after whatever comes her way. She is, for lack of better terms, that girl is a badass, fearless, and I love working with her. So it surprised me that they didn't consider bringing him back

maybe after a few days of rest or a week of rest. He was being undetermined what took him out. I understand the liability of the network. You can have somebody out in the woods that has something that takes over that they can't explain. If it was something that we understood and said, okay, well, we can prevent that, and let's get back out in the field. It was too big of a liability, and looking back, I understand that. A lot of things, the first camp I set up, I'm carrying a very heavy backpack and trucking out through the darkness at night and finally getting set up and setting up. and setting up camp, and then I get a call that I'm supposed to be back at base camp because they need to talk to us.

I thought, oh my, are you kidding me? But it was a much easier run back down to base camp because essentially all of it was downhill. I had a whole lot less weight in my backpack. I left all the heavy stuff in the tent and was able to make a really good time getting back to the camp. So that was a blessing in itself because I was tired. There's no doubt I was pretty tired. I didn't want all the rain. The rain soaks to your clothes, fills up your backpack, and you're heavy and wet.

You have to stay warm, so that means you have to stay moving. So that kind of, it was a fuel that fed itself. It was kind of odd, but it was great. It was a great experience. Yeah, it looked like it. You know, and I was surprised that cameraman was keeping up with you. I mean, you were trucking pretty hard through those woods, and I get while you're talking to the camera. Make no mistake about my camera.

my cameraman. Yeah. That guy is ex-military and he was definitely ready for the task. He's carrying a camera and it's, that's the way he has a backpack on, a small backpack for just provision so he can get back to where he's got to go. But that guy keeping the camera steady and staying with me and walking through the darkness just like I was, was just nothing short of amazing. The guy was just awesome. Did they ever replace RPG? Are they going to bring some? someone else, or did they bring someone else in? You'll be introduced to the replacement or the alternate in, I believe, in the next episode or two, where we get a guy you see him in all the commercials, definitely a very, very knowledgeable individual,

somebody who has brought a lot of really great insight to the show. And you'll experience that when he comes on and starts his, methods of discussion and research and looking at things. His perspective was just amazing. I can't wait. Again, it's Expedition Bigfoot on the travel channel or watch it on the app. You know, the other thing, too, I warned you about the Bigfoot world, how, and most of my audience isn't in the Bigfoot world, but they have no clue, how much hate you were going to get, how much hate everyone was going to get. And, you know, all these Bigfoot researchers, they should have picked me. I've been researching for 40 years.

I'm the real deal. I heard I'm the real deal about a million times. And they just sound dumb. And there's a lot of guys that I thought cooled down over the years. And when I was starting to see some of their posts, I was like, oh, that's the asshole I remember. There he is. Where you been, buddy?

You know what I mean? And so I knew you were going to get hate. But, you know, my advice is just keep your head up and ignore it. and the Big Four World loves to eat their own. I was actually surprised by that too. I knew it was coming, but I didn't expect it to that extent. And what surprised me was the questioning, how could he be doing Bigfoot research for so long

and get on this show? We've never heard of him. Well, I don't advertise what I found. I don't run around putting everything that I find on display. The last couple expeditions I've been on have been very, very quiet, remote with Adam Davis. I do a lot of my own thing, my quiet thing. It's not for me to put on public display. The funny thing is, is the first book I ever wrote, Footprints of a Legend, because I was so into it and always outlooking, I had a very, very good

friend that I grew up with. Her name was Pamela McKee. She drew the artwork for my very first book in the late 70s. So it doesn't take a mathematician. to realize that I've been into this for quite a while. It doesn't mean that I'm the best on the planet. It doesn't mean I'm the worst on the planet. But I have been researching for a very long time. And my methods have brought me the results that I have that I don't share. The part that I'll never understand, you know, regardless of, you know, what is a Bigfoot researcher anyway? You know, it's kind of an oxymoron. But I think that the part that I don't understand is they all cry, why doesn't science take it seriously? Why doesn't the public look at this in seriousness?

And here's an opportunity for, to bring public awareness to it, you know, that you guys are, it's like finding Bigfoot. Whether you like the show, didn't like the show, I think it brought public awareness that maybe these things are out there. And I'm not comparing Bigfoot expedition to finding Bigfoot, but it's getting it out in front of people to maybe take a look into it. you think they would be supportive and kind of behind it, you know, and even if it's a show they don't like, say, well, I didn't like the show, but I wish them luck on it. You know, you just don't find any sort of grace in the Big Fort World, which didn't surprise me one bit, to be honest with you. I think, overall, it's funny, when you have somebody that makes a comment that's just maybe a little abrasive, I look at that and think, I understand where you're coming from. You don't understand it yet. You don't get it yet. You haven't watched enough of the show. And people are going to be very, very critical of, well, that's not the way I do research. And you failed because you brought electronics into the field. I've heard all of them, all the comments.

And I look at it and I think I acknowledge what you're saying. I understand what you're saying. But it doesn't mean that you have to do what I do. It doesn't mean that you have to follow suit in any way, shape, or form. The fact that you watched it long enough to have an opinion on it, I appreciate that. I really do. Even the naysayers, I'm okay with it. It's just a matter of just give it time, watch it through.

You may learn something, you may learn nothing from it. But go on the journey with us, experience the findings, and have fun. We have a very credible scientist on board that is not going to be swayed. Well, it looks like Bigfoot, so we're going to call it Bigfoot. She doesn't fall for that at all. She definitely is opinionated, but she has to be driven by data and actual science. And it's not going to be, she won't step in behind something that is not science-based. It's like RPG's headache.

Everybody has, you know, you heard about the infrasound, which is actually scientifically based. Infrasound is something that is real. And nobody on the entire cast has said that that is what affected RPG. it's one of many, many theories. But the man got a headache, the man got sick, and he had to be taken off the site, which I'm telling you right now, it was a very, very hard thing for him to, I bet there's claw marks in the ground all the way to the ride to get out,

because he wanted to stay. That was his chance to show what he, his knowledge, and to be part of something really awesome. So it was a tough decision. Yeah, I think most of the comments I'm talking about, even before the show came out, I saw all sorts of comments. And it's like, the show hasn't even come out yet. And you're already going after it.

You know what I mean? Like, why don't you? But that's the Bigfoot world. That's just the way it is. But it is funny to look around. And you know what I really like is the other side of that coin. You're starting to see people who are getting tired of that. You're starting to see real people, I think, kind of look into Bigfoot.

They're in Bigfoot groups on Facebook. And they're starting to not really buy into that. that arrogant BS you get from researchers. You know what I mean? They're starting to really almost kind of call out researchers. And I like that. I wish there was more of that. But, you know, I can't wait.

I'll be watching episode two tonight. I know it's 10 o'clock Eastern, so it's what, what is that, seven my time? Yeah, I watched it at 7 o'clock on cable. I actually watched it 7 o'clock Sunday night. And it was great to watch it that early because I still was able to get to bed in time to get up and go to work the next day. So it was fantastic. A lot of people are doing the DBR and watching it at a later time. And like you've mentioned a couple of times, the app, which is Travel Channel Go, which you can put on your cell phone.

Once the show has aired, you can watch it for free. You just pull it up and watch the entire show. And it's just a great tool to be able to share the experience with us if you don't have cable. Well, I can't wait for it. Everyone out there, check out. Expedition Bigfoot on the Travel Channel. And I'm glad you said the Travel Channel Go app, because I think just a Travel Channel app doesn't work.

It's Travel Channel Go. But Russell, Corder, we're looking forward to episode two. Thank you so much for coming on. I'll talk to you next week or what you see Sunday night. Thanks again, Russ. And that's it for tonight. Everyone, remember, if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. My email address is Wes at Sasquatchpronagrantals.com.

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