Sasquatch Chronicles Blog

A listener writes “I would like to tell you about an account I had with something on a deer lease north of Uvalde Texas. It was toward the end of Deer Season about 2010. We were on a lease of almost 5000 acres in very rough country.

Cell service at the time was very spotty in that if you got on one of the higher hills you could get a weak signal, but it was iffy at best. The camp was a nice place since it had been summer ranch house for the previous owner but moving around the property was hard. Two track trails that you needed a jeep or 4-wheel drive vehicle to move back into the property unless you walk, and the property was very rough caliche that if it got wet was slick and the hills were steep and uneven. We had put tower stands up at different locations on the property and at a great distance from each other. There were feeders and shooting lanes set because clients were taken here to hunt and the peons of the company like myself were used to set them up but not allowed to hunt until later in the season. I had a good job and liked it so it didn’t bother me if I ever went because I would hunt on other leases. This particular hunt I and 3 other employees went up on a Saturday as the lease owners were leaving. I might add that I liked long range shooting, and I used a 7mm with a scope sighted to 800 meters and was calibrated at 100-meter increments. That aside my shooting is very good with tight consistent groups especially at 100-200 meters.

On this hunt I decided I wanted to hunt a stand on the West side of the property that was 14 feet in the air. It was a box stand with shooting ports on 3 sides and a good view all around except the back.

We left for the stands about 3 o’clock in the afternoon since the timers on the feeders were set for around 4:40 to 5:00pm and I was dropped off first since it was on the way to the back side of the property. We were to harvest about 25 doe off the property or a decent buck if we wanted. I was after the meat so I figured I would take a large doe and be done .From where I was dropped off I had about a 500 yard walk down a trail we had created during the summer when the stands were set up It was an un eventful walk to the stand but it was not a straight walk due to the mesquite trees and a few oaks and brush cleared in the areas where the feeders were set. Once in the stand I was sitting looking around just checking the area. It was impossible to see straight down because of the way the blind was made, and the mesquite was very dense in the area. You had to come in from the front to get to the ladder and up to the door. Looking out you could see the feeder clearing nd a trail into that area from the right. Back to the left it was so thick there was no shot available until the hill dropped off and there was a grassy trail along the edge of a ravine, and it ran for about 200 yards but was hard to see with only stretches visible due to looking down past the mesquite trees that backed up to the ravine. There was no direct path to this trail. You had to go back out the way you came in and work your way around the area to get to the trail. This is just a little background of what was the lay out.

As the time approached for the feeder to go off and the deer and anything else in the area knew this and would move towards the feeders. It was at this time that everything went totally quiet. Nothing, no birds that were singing no insects no wind. Just dead quiet. Suddenly a feeling of dread came on me. For some reason I was suddenly afraid, and it seemed for no reason. It was like something was going on, yet I couldn’t see a thing. Everything was dead quiet. Even when the feeder went off, I couldn’t hear it, but I could see it throwing corn. After about 30 minutes the feeling went away, and nothing had approached the feeder or that area at all. Sound seemed to come back, and everything seemed to relax.

As I was looking around, I saw 4 deer walk out onto the trail in the ravine and I thought I will get a shot when they move to the break in the mesquite. All I could see was their upper shoulders and their heads. 3 doe and one spike. They were frozen ears forward watching but not moving a muscle just staring into the trees North where they were facing. I decided to take a doe, So as I watched they just stood there. I decided on the largest doe and would try the head since it was clearly visible, and the shot was 105 t0 110 yards through my range finder.

The spike was off limits and the doe would count towards the harvest we were to make this year. When I shot it actually flipped the deer and it never moved when it hit the ground. The other deer never moved. They acted as if nothing had happened. So, since I had not heard any other shooting, I would see if I got a shot at another doe. We could use it for the count and the meat would not be wasted. When I shot the second largest doe It was almost a replay of the first. It was flipped and when it hit the ground it was perfectly still. I prepared to leave the stand gathered my stuff and got a compass bearing to where they were because once on the ground, I would be unable to see them. When I got out to the way I came in I started walking east and kept the stand as a bearing since it was tall enough to see.

When I finally got to where they were it was a good 25 minutes and still had not heard any shots at the other stands. When I looked at the deer, they were laying where they had landed, and both had the right side of their skull torn away by the bullet. I was congratulating myself for making a couple of good shots and then the reality set in that I need to drag them out to the 2-track trail that from here was about 300 meters and it was getting dark, and I was already using a flashlight. I could not carry my rifle and drag both deer with my pack on, so I decided to drag one out and come back for the other. If the guys got back before then to pick me up, then they could help. About the time I got to where they could pick me up it was dark and cold, and they weren’t crazy about going back there but didn’t want to leave it there.

Long story short, when we got there the doe was gone. No blood trail, just the blood from where it had landed which was a considerable amount but no trail that we could find. Since it was dropping down to near freezing, we decided to come back in the morning to check since I was leaving later in the day. When we got there the following morning, we could find no deer. No blood trail no tracks, nothing. It was as if it was carried off but there was no trail to follow. I never related what all had happened, but they seemed to think I was making the part about the second deer up.

After that It was almost 3 years before I went back there to hunt with them. When I did, I hunted a stand on the far Eastern side of the lease. It was the only time I have been hunting since then and I was nervous the whole time and when I left, I decided that was it. This experience left me rattled and I have not gone back to the woods. It caused me to look back on a couple of other experiences I have had over the years.”