Hunter hears sounds at night and smells during day near campsite

Oregonbigfoot.com file# 17342

REPORT OVERVIEW

Date: September 21, 2013
Mono county, CA
Nearest town: Mammoth Lakes
Nearest road: Owens River Road
Conditions: Clear
Time: evening
Location: North from Mammoth Lakes on 395 Turn off right on Owens River Rd to Big Springs Campground

REPORT DETAIL

Description of event: Arrived to campground for deer hunting season on Friday night. While by the campfire until 11:30pm we heard a crashing through the brush about 50 yards up the hill, I was very concerned a bear was coming down, we looked up there but saw nothing so we kept our side arms close. Sunday morning we were driving on a forestry road about 1 mile away and I smelled a very foul smell in one particular area, I thought again it was possibly a bear based on what I've heard about hunting bears. Sunday evening as the darkness was setting in sitting around the campfire I heard what kind of sounded like coyotes but really different, it was more like screaming or someone imitating coyotes whooping and hollering. A little later I was able to actually identify a pack of coyotes howling and I thought what was that first yelling about? I went to bed early around 8pm. I woke up around 2am to the sound of a large piece of wood being broken in half. To me it sounded like a 4"-6" tree being broken down. A few minutes later I heard what sounded like a baseball bat hitting a tree. Then suddenly something hit my side of our tent, it sounded like a stick. I tried to go to bed not knowing what was going on outside but I slept with my rifle close by. The next morning I found a broken up pine cone laying on the tarp where it has hit our tent. I checked and there were no trees above our tent and there was no wind that evening. I also never saw pine cones broken up like that anywhere else in the camp. I tried to look around the camp ground for broken trees or wood, but nothing. I wish I had walked up the hill to look around but hadn't fully put together all of the events that had happened that weekend to know what might have been happening. We also never saw bears, bear tracks or bear scat.

Source: oregonbigfoot.com
record updated:2013-09-26 23:44:39