A listener writes “I own a small remodeling company in Michigan. In 2018, a friend of mines dad asked me to paint his cabin on his deer hunting property in south central area of Michigan’s upper peninsula. Remote isn’t a strong enough word to describe this place.
Once you get to the closest town, it’s an hour drive into a national forest area, and 45 minutes down two tracks into camp. Camp is right on a river with a small (12’x16′) one room cabin, an out house, and a sauna. I used to deer hunt up there with them, so I was very familiar with the property and everything that goes on in it. So once I got up there I started working. I would paint during the day, fish in the afternoon, and every night I would have a fire and read a little. I was planning on being up there for 7 days. Night 1 through 3 went by with nothing to report, and we’re actually very relaxing.
The fire pit was in a small clearing 25 yards away from the cabin, and probably 80% of the fire pit was surrounded by very dense brush about 8 or 9 ft tall. On the 4th night, I heard a VERY low toned, and seem to be muted growl coming from the trees out of my line of sight, and seem to be a good distance away from me. The growl did not seem to be aggressive, as in “Leave or I’ll hurt you.” But seemed more to be just getting my attention and letting me know if it’s presence. I did not hear an animal come into camp. Which really alarmed me, as I am an avid hunter, fisherman, and back country camper. I have been all over the state of Michigan and much of the east side of the country, and I have never heard that noise or know of anything they can make a noise that low. My first thought thinking rationally, was that a bear had wandered into camp.
We only have black bears in Michigan and black bears really don’t worry me too much because they’re basically gigantic raccoons. I’ve come across several being out in the woods so much, and when I scare them off it sounds like someone driving a truck through the woods. This thing did not run away. It seemed to slowly back away and I could hear it moving through the brush when it retreated. About an hour later, I heard the growl again but this time to my left. Same deepness, same volume. But once again I did not hear it come in, only back off after I scared it away. As bear protocol goes, if it does not scared off the first time leave it alone. A bear that does not have a fear of people as a dangerous bear. So I decided it would probably be best to put the fire out and go to bed.
On the fifth night I started a fire, and started reading but I still had whatever was out there the night before in the back of my mind. About an hour into my fire, I heard the growl again. Same volume, same low tone. But it was MUCH closer. It didn’t seem to quite yet be on the edge of the wood line, maybe 10 yards behind it. This time I jumped up and shouted and threw a rock into the tree line to really scare it off. I went back to the cabin and got out my handgun and my spotlight and sat back down by the fire. Another hour passed and this time to my right the growl happened again. I threw another rock shouted and mock charged the wood line and I heard it again slowly back off. This was really starting to worry me because I know how animals behave. If it were a bear that was hungry and really wanted food, it would have brazenly wandered into camp. Mountain lions are borderline invisible and I would have never known that it was there and it would have never let me know. This thing was showing intelligence. It knew to stay out of my line of sight, and that I was not going to come after it into the woods. So again I retreated back to the cabin and got maybe 2 hours of sleep.
On the 6th night, I started a fire early and planned on being inside before darkness fell. I don’t know what was tracking me, but I really did not want to come face to face with it in the dark.
Everything was going smooth and uneventful, and I even remembered to bring out my spotlight and my pistol before I needed it. It had finally gotten dark to the point that without light you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and I was thinking it was about time to pack it in. I heard not a growl, but a roar. It came from my left, I heard nothing before it let loose, and it was just out of sight on the wood line. At this point in time that is an act of aggression, and it’s trying to see what I’m made of. I jumped up and fired three rounds into the dirt just shy of the tree line. I am a CPL holder and regularly carry while I’m at home and not in the woods. It is my firm belief that your sidearm is a parachute it is a last-ditch effort. It is not the first course of action. I did not know it was on the other end of the edge of that tree line, though I thought I had a pretty good idea, and I was done seeing how much closer it was going to get. So after firing three rounds into the dirt I again ran into the cabin and locked the door. That roar shook me to my core. My ears were ringing from how loud that it was. I did not trust a built- to -code built cabin to hold whatever was out there outside. But paralyzed in fear, I sat in a chair facing the front door with my gun just waiting for this thing to make a move. I heard a lot of motion outside of the cabin, but nothing aggressive so I opened the door and fired another two shots. Again this thing did not run away it’s slowly backed away. I took the opportunity and loaded everything that I had into my Jeep and took off. It was close to 4:00 in the morning when I left, but I wasn’t going to stay there for another second.
When I got back downstate, I had told the owners son about what happened. He told me that while he was up there camping alone, he was out by the fire playing music, having a couple of beers, and just relaxing. He told me that something snapped a tree just on the side of the wood line this sounded like a 9 mm pistol going off. He too ran for the cover of the cabin, and left early the next morning.
I’ve always believed in the possible existence of an undiscovered grade ape, and thought that I might want to see one. I guess the phrase “be careful what you wish for” is more true than I would like to admit.”
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