A listener writes “its good to hear first hand accounts and be able to see similar behavior. I posted some of my experiences on Reddit from where im from here in Colorado Springs, hoping to get more feedback to assist in behavioral analysis.
I have only put two stories, the ones that intimidating me the most. The first encounter however was during a winter up by Woodland Park where I heard a strange scream that I have yet to identify, it was strange how it scared me to the bone and I was frozen for I don’t know how long.
The other one was three dead deer with their guts ripped out without scratch or entrance or exit impact wounds. They were left right next to a tourist attraction (waterfalls) along the side of the road spaced a few meters apart.
Anyway, those two are the short version, here is a more detailed version of the other two stories I posted on Reddit.”
Here is the post to Reddit: “Im very familiar with nature and the outdoors, spent an entire winter at 10,000 FT on Pikes Peak bush camping. Most of my time is spent exploring the wilderness and history around Pikes Peak. Yet, Ive had some strange encounters that I can only conclude were bigfoot related. Im very critical in my reasoning and although I have many curiosities, in these two cases im presenting here, I have kept coming back to the same conclusion of a large humanoid type creature. Im also well versed in tactics and strategy being in Marine Corps infantry and later intel along with deploying three times. So, I think those combinations of skill sets along with my daily lifestyle (living in the mountains) has given me an interesting insight into this phenomena. Though, what strikes me as odd, is that these events have only occurred close to the city, in the transition zone between civilization and wilderness. I know its easy to assume, that because of the locations that it was merely a person. Though, some of the evidence provided makes me beg to differ. I am hoping by sharing these stories that others may come forward that have had some similar usual events occur in the region and perhaps some more light may be shed on this.
So I kept the stories for the most part intact from when I wrote them down and was telling someone about them, so they may be in present tense but are from years ago.
Date: 08.14.2012 Time: 11PM Grid: 38°47’18.38″N 104°52’3.20″W Elevation: 6,000 FT
A very strange experience just happened to me and my girlfriend at the time around 11 PM so just 40 mins from writing this! I work as a manager at Seven Falls which is right at the foothills of the Rockies and near the city, normally, like tonight when I work nights I meet my girlfriend at the picnic sites right outside the canyon where there are a lot of flat open spaces, a creek and lots of deer where we hang out and talk and sometimes other stuff ;). Anyway I met her there as usual, she got there before me and she was out of her car doing something in the back seat when I pulled up. I got out and talked to her and the first thing she said was that there was noises in the bushes right across the road, which I quickly responded to was a deer on a deer path which skirts the road and where we hear deer all the time at night when we hang out.
Anyway I kept hearing the breaking of sticks and rustling of leaves on the other side of the road so I decided to quietly walk over there and see if I could see one of the deers. My girlfriend did not want me to go so she stayed on the other side of the road. It was dark and the only light I had on me was on my cell phone light so as I approached I shined my light into the dense vegetation where the noise had come from, suddenly a little rock was thrown behind me, I turned back and saw my girlfriend walking back to the car and assumed she had thrown it out of spite for me leaving, then I heard rustling further up ahead and continued walking to the area and it went silent, I figured 2 deer, they normally move in small herds so I figured nothing of it, I turned and started heading back to the car, when another little rock was thrown at me, this time in front of me from whatever was moving in the forest, this time It could not be my girlfriend as she was in her car waiting and I could plainly see it! So then I started getting interested as to what could possibly be throwing rocks at me if it was not my girlfriend and I know of no deer that can do this! Granted, trying to stay objective and critical I went back and confirmed she had not thrown a rock. This only made her more uneasy and she accused me of trying to scare her, we talked for a little but I kept hearing the noises coming from the trees to the point where I wanted to investigate further.
My girlfriend did not believe me about the rock throwing so I eventually convinced her to come with me and we went up a man made trail thats nearby about 20 ft in then skirted the road on the deer trail to where the sound had been coming from with cell phone lights on. We found nothing, so after that we headed back to the car with the lights off and were at the car for a mere 20 seconds when loud crashing sounds came back again except this time exactly where we had been in the woods. The crashing noises started coming closer to the road and to where we were. Sticks and stone were being thrown and the large brush trees where shaking violently only meters from the tree line. My GF got scared and I got frightened as well and quickly escorted her to her car and then I went to mine and follow her out. We left in a hurry and I met her at a gas station nearby where we confirmed that we both heard and saw the same thing, she said that when she first got there before I arrived that she kept hearing things being thrown on to the road and thats why she pointed out the noise when I first arrived cause she thought it was strange and after the sticks and rocks being thrown so close she had no choice but to admit something very odd was going on.
Honestly, if it had been the deer or even people I’m confident when I went into the woods to investigate we would have seen or heard them. So I’m left to conclude that it was ether a bigfoot, or a person. Also, a reminder, this area is about half a mile from where the 3 juvenile dead deer were found in one of my earlier stories.
The following day I dragged that poor chick with me to check out the site in the daytime haha. We brought a tape measurement, camera and whatever else we needed for documenting. We found footprints in the heavy leaves and undergrowth on the ground. I tried to replicate them by stomping and jumping on the ground to mimic what it would take to make a mark. I even tried on the slanted downhill part of the terrain with no avail. I could not make a dent in the undergrowth and the steps aligned with what we heard and saw the night before. There were even freshly broken tree branches at about 4 and a half feet that went right in the direction of the foot prints. Ironically, I was confused at first because I though the branch was to low for a large bipedal creature and thought maybe it was bear. It was not until I touched the branch that I realized it had already been broken and was only holding on by a section of bark and looked intact until touched. Whatever was there was a very heavy creature indeed. Later that night with my GF at the time I headed back out there with more lights, chemlights, radios – the works! Yes, she even went back with me at night to the same place were we before encountered such terror. I must inspire lots of confidence or she must have been very loyal lol. The brush was so thick that being a mere 10 to 15 ft into the tress and undergrowth made me almost invisible while using an IPhone light and even a regular head lamp. I set up chemlights at various distances and could not see them at all from the road, the closes being only about 25 ft away. I even walked around and had my GF try to find me with and without a light on. It was impossible to see me with the lights off and not easy at all with them on. Ill try and figure out how to attach the pictures later. I never saw what the creature was, but I don’t know how else to explain the events and the evidence left behind.
This has been the only close encounter where I have had someone else living it with me.
Here are the pictures taken the next day”
Donna A
Cool
John
Thats awesome
doug w
I live in the area next to the peak. I have found tracks in the last year about 2 miles north of the peak. Now that hunting season is over and things settle down if you follow the elk I think you can find sign. I think snow is a key and they have to feed.
A person told me about a home security video of what appears to be a sq down the bottom of the pass on 24. Black and white video and this person is friends of the land owner.
Also by chance a co worker..not a bunch of crack pots brought up bf one day at work and a woman chimes in saying she saw one in brod daylight years ago near cripple creek while on horseback. When I showed her pics I took in the snow she turned pitch white.
Matthew A
Hello Doug,
This was my experience. I have been wondering the same thing as to winter behaviors. How come more tracks are not found during winter? I spent the last week bush crafting up above Crystal Parks area close to 10.500 FT. Hiked up thorough Bear Creek and took the social trails up nearby Tenny Craigs. I was surprised to see tree breaks on an old trail with blazes on trees following its route. Im normally pretty skeptical when it comes to wood structures and breaks because nature and man have the capability. However these were quite difficult to find satisfactory explanation. It took my two days on this route to get to the high altitude shelf between Camerons Cone and Mt Garfield where I built a campsite and explored most of the week until Wednesday night when the wind was so bad that it kept tearing my shelter apart and even the ground moved under me because of the force on the trees above. The next day I came back. I guess getting back to the point, there are tons of deer there in the area. I always wonder why I can never come across tracks during winter the way I can with other prey and predators especially going through very difficult terrain. In training for tracking they teach us to search the path of least resistance, if you are trying to avoid others you take paths of difficult resistance. I take these difficult paths all the time exploring, yet have never come across any sq tracks and it has been bothering me on how that can be, especially in dead of winter where one must leave impressions in order to move. I wonder do they stay high up in the mountains like some of the deer and other animals or head further down in elevation like most large animals do. Perhaps intermittent hibernation so it reduces their footprint? I guess if a rabbit knows you are following its tracks left in the snow so it adjusts its behavior to make it more difficult, then maybe SQ being more aware waits for the right occasion to venture out and hunt during winter, like in a storm or heavy winds that will naturally mask its tracks quickly.
I honestly think that during the summer time they come down all the way from the high mountains into Stratton and Strawberry Open Spaces following the animals and the curiosity of observing us. I have had many other friends in the area that have seen or experienced similar events because they frequent them at night. Im not surprised, as North and South Cheyenne funnel in not only the water, but also animals. I have seen deer, bear and even mountain lions in the Stratton area, so it should come as no surprise that a sq like creature would naturally be funneled into the same place.
However, the prints in the snow and lack there of have been rather an issue in my experience and I have yet found a satisfactory conclusion for why I have not come across them.
Thanks for the input.
-Mateo