A listener writes “I was 11-years old and had never even heard of “bigfoot”…On the morning of this encounter I was on a deer stand; sitting, my back against a small oak, my legs stretched out in front of me.
I was armed with a single shot .410 shotgun and I was facing north, waiting, as my father made a drive in my direction in hopes of flushing a deer (he’d left me on the stand perhaps 45 minutes prior).
Where: Westville, TX (just west of Groveton, TX, Trinity County) Nearest Roadways: Hwys 287 and 94 When: November, 1971, shortly after sunrise Conditions: Cool, clear, around 50F Terrain: Heavily wooded, pine, oak; rolling hills interlaced with numerous creeks
Just as the sun began to rise, I heard a large hunter, or so I thought, approaching from the southeast at a distance (my 4 o’clock). I immediately grew concerned because we’d never encountered anyone on this property and the thought of another hunter walking up on me was needless to say very worrisome.
Since it was a clear dry morning I could hear the leaves crunching under the feet of this “man” every step he took. That said, I grew fearful because I could tell this individual was quite large judging from the sound of his footfalls and that was compounded by the fact that if he was a hunter, why wasn’t he trying to be quiet?
When he was almost on top of me, he stopped abruptly, perhaps 15′ away to my back-right. I didn’t move a muscle but using my peripheral vision, I could see a tall – 6′-plus – dark hair covered form standing there. Due to the fact I was sitting against the tree, looking back without turning my head, I could really only see the right third or so of his body.
In the early morning light he looked to be chocolate-reddish brown and was very muscular. From the angle I was looking at him, it didn’t seem he had a neck to speak of and his head almost appeared too small for his body. Further, because he was somewhat backlit, his face was in shadow so I couldn’t see any facial features.
It goes without saying, I couldn’t grasp what I was seeing because nothing I’d experienced or had ever even heard of could have prepared me for this. I felt numb with fear and almost fainted.
Somehow I gathered my wits and that’s when his breathing caught my attention; he was breathing very heavily – or so I thought at first. I then realized he was attempting to pick up my scent as best he could.
Again, I was so numb with fear I didn’t or better yet couldn’t move so I sat as motionless as I could for what seemed an eternity – but it was probably only 15 seconds – waiting to see what he’d do next.
An aside: Despite the fact I had a gun it never crossed my mind to use it.
He finally let out a grunt-snort as if disgusted by my presence, turned and walked off to the southwest (my 8 o’clock) at the same purposeful clip as before. When his footfalls finally became sodistant I couldn’t hear them, I felt some sense of relief but couldn’t shake the numbness pervading my body.
When I finally heard my father softly whistle from the woods in front of me – that’s how he let me know he was close – I recall feeling a tremendous sense of relief but for some reason I didn’t tell him what I’d experienced…”