Chris a listener writes “Prior to this encounter, I think I had seen the Patterson-Gimlin footage as a kid & teenager. I thought Bigfoot was one solitary monster.
As a kid, I did not understand sexual reproduction or that there could be more of them. I naively thought it was one monster that lived in the woods in Northern California or Washington State. Bigfoot & the Loch Ness Monster were on the same level to me as a kid; solitary, mythical monsters.
My possible encounter took place on November 7, 1998 when I went deer hunting alone. I was 27 years old. I didn’t grow up in the state of Minnesota and had no family or friends at that time with hunting land in the state. I was drawn for a lottery deer hunt in a state park. The state park is located on the edge of the St. Croix River dividing Minnesota & Wisconsin. Excited for the deer hunt, I went to the park a couple times in the weeks prior to the hunt to scout the area. I found a densely wooded area with swamp grass and a pond in the middle. I thought that might be a bedding area for deer and I planned to set-up on the outskirts of it. As I was scouting, I recall coming across stick structures like X’s and branches that had been snapped and left dangling. I also found a lean-to shelter. I attributed all these things to human activity. But looking back, I recall that the shelter was not made with any cuts, saw marks, or twine to hold it together. All the sticks had been snapped to length and were pieced together. Still, it was likely made by humans. There is a canoe-in campsite only about 100 yards from where I found the lean-to. That campsite has a picnic table, flat dirt areas to set-up tents, and a latrine about 20 yards behind the tent area.
I hiked in at 5 AM by myself on the morning of 11/7/98. I had an unloaded 7mm Remington Magnum rifle, a Tree Lounge tree stand strapped to my back, and a small camo supply pack strapped to the tree stand. I parked at a canoe launch area and hiked about ¼ mile to the before-mentioned campsite using a MagLite flashlight to see the trail. I was excited, a little nervous to be hunting by myself, and I was little afraid of the dark. It was probably around 30 degrees that morning. But I got to sweating from my load, all the clothes I had on, and the speed at which I hit the trail. When I got to the campsite, I decided to sit on the picnic bench. I was able to prop the tree stand on the table top to take the weight off my shoulders. I unzipped my jacket and turned off my flashlight. I had my unloaded rifle across my lap. It was totally dark around me. I could look up past the tree-tops and see stars.
However, if the moon was up, it wasn’t providing any light to see. There were no sounds. The birds and squirrels were still inactive. It was totally dark, and totally quiet. I was enjoying the peace and spending some time just being still and thinking about / talking with God in my mind. I cooled-off and after about 20 minutes, decided I better get moving to get to my spot and get my tree stand set-up before sunrise. I turned-on my flashlight and stood-up at about the same time. As I did, I heard a “RuHoaRRR!” behind me. I had been facing north and the roar came from behind me to the south. It seemed like it was maybe 30 to 40 yards away. It sounded like a cross between the T-Rex from Jurassic Park and a lion. Whenever I watch a MGM movie and that lion roars before the movie starts, that’s part of what it sounded like. The last part of the roar had throaty vibrations like that lion does. This all happened in a span of 5 seconds. There was the roar and then it ran past me on my left and went straight north through the woods. It sounded like it was snapping trees up to 2 inches in diameter as it ran. It seemed to be a “Thump Thump Thump Thump” as it ran away. As the brush and trees were snapping as it crashed away, I had tucked the MagLite between my jaw and shoulder, lighting the action of my rifle and I started stuffing cartridges into the rifle. Once I was loaded, I shined the flashlight around but saw nothing. It was gone. I was really shaken and freaked-out. But I thought it was probably a black bear. I just told myself I had startled a bear. I wanted to harvest a deer so badly because it had been years. I continued to the spot I was going to hunt. I set-up and shortly after sunrise, I was sweaty, cold, miserable, and nervous. I shot the first doe I saw. Gutted her and dragged her out of the woods.
It wasn’t until YouTube came out that I started seeing more about Bigfoot and sasquatches. Then I discovered the BFRO website maybe around 2008. I filed a Class B report and was contacted and interviewed but my report was never published.
I did not see anything. Which I understand makes my experience questionable on what it was. But here are some reasons why I think it could have been a sasquatch and not a bear.
When you go bear hunting, you can hear them coming most of the time. They sniff, huff, lumber, and snap their teeth, especially when coming into a bait site. In my encounter, I heard nothing until I turned on the flashlight and stood-up. In retrospect, I feel like I was being sneaked-upon & checked-out.
I’ve listened to audio of bear roars and growls. That’s not what I heard. The audio of the gorilla at the zoo that is on sasquatchchronicles.com is more like what I heard. But at the end of the roar, there was the throaty vibration like a lion.
I think it was bipedal because of the “Thump Thump Thump Thump” I heard as it ran off. Quadrupeds make more of a “Ka Chunk, Ka Chunk, Ka Chunk” sound to me as their front and back legs alternatively hit the ground.
I recall no smell. I never thought to look for tracks. I just wanted to shoot a deer and get out of there. Sasquatch never entered my mind until I started hearing more about the subject in the mid 2000’s. There are a few reports within 60 miles north of this area. The video of the “Minnesota Auburn” is just a few miles south of the area I had my experience.
I have been back to this state park a few times since 1998. I’ve done 2 other lottery deer hunts there. I’ve never gone back to the area where I got roared at. I had been hiking in a different area of the park during the daytime and as I walked down an old logging road, I felt the overwhelming urge to STOP. I looked ahead, feeling like there was danger ahead or the best way to describe it is that I had the feeling that I was no longer in the state park and I could be trespassing on some private land. Something just DID NOT feel right. I went with my gut and turned around, walked back to my SUV and left.”