Hunter hunts/follows barefoot trail through snow

Oregonbigfoot.com file# 00961

REPORT OVERVIEW

Date: November 06, 2000
Skamania county, WA
Nearest town:
Trout Lake
Nearest road:
Hwy 141
Conditions:
Snow/Overcast
Time:
early morning
Location:
From Hwy 14 Eastbound, on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Take Hwy 141 North to Trout Lake. From Trout Lake head West Hwy 141 to end and start of dirt road to Goose Lake. Follow to Big Lava Bed around Northern edge of bed. This sighting near NE corner of lava bed. This entire area is a Bigfoot hotspot!

REPORT DETAIL

Description of event: I have been interested in Bigfoot for many years now, as well as everything outdoors. While I have yet to see a Bigfoot, I have discovered Sasquatch tracks, nests and other forms of evidence in remote areas, that convinces me that this creature is real. Of this I am 90% certain.
On this particular discovery I was elk hunting near Trout Lake, Washington. My buddies and I got up early mid-hunt and drove from our camp, to an area NW of the lava beds, near Goose Lake. We parked at the end of a logging road overlooking a recent clear cut, in hopes of locating elk on this morning hunt. The ground was covered with 8 to 10 inches or more of snow and the sky was overcast with snow clouds. Temperature was near freezing.
As we are not "Road Hunters", the 3 of us took off on foot, each in a different direction. It was agreed we would meet at the truck by 1 PM for lunch. As I watched my partners go their ways, I stood on the edge of the road deciding where I would hunt. Those guys took the easy directions and left me more difficult country to hunt, down. Our road was at the top of the clear cut. The cut was steep and full of deep snow. I knew it would be quite a hike back up, but the tree-line and deep woods 400 yards below at the bottom of the cut, looked like elk country. So off I went slipping and sliding down the cut.
The going was difficult and I fell twice before I reached the tree-line. My plan was to head into the timber from this point perhaps a mile or 2, eventually looping back to the cut. There at the bottom of the cut, I felt I had chosen a good hunting area and was looking forward to the next couple of hours. I knew it would take at least 20 minutes to climb back up the cut to the truck, yet my Spirts were high. All this faded as I took the next few steps along the tree-line, only to see the bootprints of another hunter in fresh snow! This upset me because I thought I was hunting virgin country and some other hunter now spoiled this for me!
I thought to myself, what do I have to do to get away from other hunters? Even way down here are humans! I slid all the way down here for this?! So I decided to follow the hunters tracks along the tree-line for a bit and then would head back up the clear cut. I thought I might as well not spoil it for the guy/gal, since he/she was there first. I would simply have to find another place to hunt. I mention all of this because I want you to know my feelings, because my emotions went extreme as things unfolded.
After about 50 yards of feeling sorry for myself, I had to step over a large log. The same log the hunter before me had. So I hurled my leg over the log and discovered that my foot could not reach ground on the other side. There I sat straddled on the log, like riding a horse. What the heck, this would make for a good place to take a break! As I sat there, I kicked the snow from my boots and watched the flakes hit the ground.
It was at that time that I noticed the other hunters tracks were missing? Tracks led up to the log, but there were none on the other side! How could this be? Where did the hunter go? So from my perch I started looking around for tracks. Over there, several feet away, on the other side of the log, were more tracks! Well how did that happen? I thought what fool would jump off the log in such conditions? I slid off and went to the new tracks and resumed following them. It was now that I realized that something was not right. The tracks I was following were clearly right and left foot. Yeah, right and left with the stride of a basketball player!
It took at least 2 of my steps to equal 1 of the tracks! I thought, what a tall hunter! Then I took a closer look at the tracks and noticed that my size 12 boot looked small when placed in a track! I muttered out loud "and big feet too"... I think the word big started to clear things up real quick! Because I had thought the tracks came from another hunter, I had not payed close attention to them, until now. At this point it became quite clear that this hunter had huge feet(17-20 inches),took 5-6' upright strides and was barefoot in the snow! Time stood still when I came to the realization of what I was actually looking at and doing... I was following the track of BIGFOOT!
Believe me, as a hunter I know tracks. Each print was in the shape of a large bare foot and several had details of 5 toes and a heal! I was suddenly overwhelmed with a craze to hunt Bigfoot! The heck with elk, I was now after something big, really big! All my senses were maxed-out, as I was now hunting Bigfoot! Nothing else in the world mattered. I forgot who and where I was. In a way, the ugly beast came out in me. Perhaps it was testosterone and my being armed, that drove me on.
I guess this became the adventure of a lifetime. Each corner I turned and with each rock/log I passed, I was ready and expected the beast to attack! It was a side of me I had never known. I tracked Bigfoot for another quarter mile and then the tracks led into a deep and dark timber, which dropped into a canyon. I followed the tracks down into the timber for 200 yards or so. The snow started falling heavy and a sort of mist rolled in behind me. I stopped a moment on somewhat of a bench and observed how the tracks below me seemed to meld into the darkness of black timber. Then a sudden gust of howling wind hit my back and neck and in my peripheral vision I detected a tall movement behind me. At once I realized Bigfoot had circled back around me. I knew that this was now or never- do or die... and I spun around lightning quick to face and shoot the beast, only to discover my Bigfoot was a 10' tall branch, swinging in the wind.
I guess at that moment the rush was over. A cold chill ran down my spine and I started to come to my senses. I do not scare easy, am a good size guy, trained in martial arts and was armed. But it was that moment that I realized how small I was, where I was and the foolishness of what I was doing. I realized how inadequate my 30-06 was and how far away the truck was and why they call them Bigfoot! I actually got scared, turned tail and ran! I sensed if I continued, only violence would come of it. Plus, I'm not sure what I actually would have done had I spotted Bigfoot, before Bigfoot spotted me!
I had visions of being snapped in 2, or flattened like a pancake. Also, how could I shoot such a creature? I must have been nuts! They're too human. Anyway, I know better now. I also know what made those tracks, no doubt about it! Over the years of hunting and scouting that area, I and my buddies have discoverd several indications of Bigfoot. Nests, scatt, tracks, howls at night, repulsive oders... As far as I'm concerned, the entire area around Goose Lake and the lava beds has been a Bigfoot Hot Spot... a good place to look for Bigfoot, if you dare!

Source: oregonbigfoot.com
record updated:2004-12-15 00:00:00