A listener writes “I have hunted and trapped most of my life just about, since I was just a little kid in Livingston Tx until I was an adult in Conroe Tx. I have never seen a bigfoot or any creature that didn’t belong in the forest. Looking back now I guess I have heard some strange things but I’ve never really believed fully in bigfoot. I believe it was in the fall of 2014 probably in November because the leaves were still on the trees mostly and it was very warm. This incident happened while hunting in the Sam Houston National Forest just off of I- 45 N. in New Waverly Tx. The 2nd exit at New Waverly takes you to Lake Stubblefield. But I always hunted at the 1st exit that took you across Lake Conroe. I didn’t see it and I didn’t smell it but I damn sure heard it and I can tell you that it was fast. The creepiest thing about the whole encounter was the footstep. So I’m going to make this short because I know you are a busy guy doing a hell of a job by the way!!
I believe the turn off is about 7 miles out from New Waverly to the left (west) and its 2-3 miles down, you turn back to your left and drive back towards the lake until you get to a dirt turn around and you can’t go any further. At that point you have a pipe gate that you have to cross. You take that forestry road down to the lake on foot to an old park that’s right on the lake but is no longer used. There are multiple cement picnic tables and benches that have been severely damaged somehow.
This day it was getting late in the evening by the time I got there. I’m thinking probably between 3:00 – 4:00 pm. I walked down that road about 600 yards from the truck I guess and decided to just set up on the side of the road and watch a game trail further down that I had noticed coming out the last time I was in there. On the left hand side of the road the brush came out all the way to the edge of the road but didn’t obstruct vehicle travel in any way and on the right hand side there was a small clearing that had been used to stage road material at one time, like clay, iron ore and very small rock. Most of it was gone and the only thing that remained was remnants and weeds mostly. The whole thing was over grown but not bad enough you couldn’t see the ground. But it provided me a good place to set up my camo fold out chair.
The road curved slightly to the right all the way to the game trail but after that I couldn’t see the road at all. So I couldn’t sit too far off the road or I couldn’t see the game trail. So I was sitting only about 3’ off the road on the right hand side in short grass about chair arm high maybe a little shorter and it wasn’t very thick. The grass was mostly dead and brown and I had to break a few off so my gun wouldn’t hit them and make noise as I turned it out in front of me. I was completely covered in camo and my 270 bolt action was laying across the arms of my chair pointing towards the road so if I saw a deer I could ease it up to my right shoulder. I couldn’t see the road behind me but I could see the small clearing to my right if I turned my head very, very slowly but I mostly just looked straight ahead 12:00 at the game trail that was probably 200’ further down the road. I knew if something crossed that road I would have only a split second to get the gun up and get the scope on it. It’s required to wear an orange hat and an orange vest while hunting but I could never see doing that, dressed completely in green camouflage even though deer are supposed to be color blind, so I was completely legal except for the cap and vest that was tucked under my right leg.
After sitting there for about 45 minutes to an hour I hear a man walking down the road behind me. I think he must have just stepped out of the woods onto the road because he just seemed to come out of nowhere. I had thought, up onto now, that if I heard someone coming I would have plenty of time to slip on my vest and hat, no problem.
I could clearly picture this person in my mind by the steps. He’s a big man or he’s carrying some weight like either a gun are fishing equipment and wearing boots. He’s walking at a pace that I knew he knew where he was going. I was staring straight ahead at 12:00 but I could clearly tell that this is a man and he is in the right tire lane of the road meaning he is going to walk within 3’ of me. Again I’m legal except for the vest and hat. I’m having several thoughts but this guy was about to be right beside me and he obviously had not seen me yet. 1st. it’s a game warden and I’m in trouble. 2nd it’s a forest ranger and I’m in trouble. 3rd its someone going fishing down to that old park and he is going to screw up my hunting because he’s going to walk right over that game trail and I also would be shooting in his direction. So in all cases my hunting is over for today. By now the guy is literally right on top of me. I mean 12’-15’ behind me or even closer. Times up to decide what I was going to do.
So I put a big smile on my face and started to look over my left shoulder at him to say “Hey how’s it going”. Wes, by the time it took me to turn my head from 12:00 to 9:00, to do that which would have taken what a 1/2 of a second or less. This MAN cleared a 12’-15’ road and was just crashing thru the woods on the left hand side of the road. Somehow he cleared the road and entered the forest and I never even caught a glimpse of him. Not even out of my peripheral. Nothing!! Just heard this loud loud crashing through the woods. It ran out into the woods about 35’ – 40’ and stopped….Or at least I quit hearing it. I turned back to the 12:00 position and just stared not daring to move a muscle. Then I realized I was holding my breath trying to hear anything from this animal. Animal is something I had decided that it had to be. There is no human on this earth that could move that fast. Whatever it was it had to jump from behind me all the way into the woods. All these thoughts were racing through my head. Deer? Hog? Did it keep going? Was it standing there looking at me? Should I ease over there and try to catch a glimpses of it. I decided to stay on high alert and see if it circled around and came back across the road down by the game trail. Every animal in the forest is going through my mind. What in the hell could move that fast, sound like a man when walking and make that much noise when spooked. Now I have heard some of your guest talk about how much noise a big buck can make running through the woods when spooked but I’ve never really heard one make a lot of noise at all. Those guys are master of the forest. One minute they are there and the next it’s just a pitter patter through the brush and they are gone. Minutes went by and then I heard it and it was clear as a bell……a step….25 -30’ out in the brush at 9:00 right where it had stopped and it sent a chill down my spine. It was methodical and clearly deliberate. Slow and precise….It was a human step, of a man trying to sneak off.
First the heel, the slow roll of the ball of the foot and the sound of a twig snapping. I held my breath, straining to hear it. It paused and I was no longer breathing at all. I never heard it breathing. Then another step maybe 30 seconds later but probably 6’ away from the first. The same sound and including another twig snapping in the step. Then the 3rd step was pretty quick but much further out in the brush but no twig break and it was gone !!!! No sound, no nothing. It never crossed the road but moved down towards the lake to my left I guess. 1st off I could have justified it if it had jumped to the right because I turned to the left in the same direction that it went. But I can’t justify the speed of this thing. I didn’t see it, smell it or even see any trees or bushes move even though it made all of that sound. I’ve hunted all my life and I can tell you a deer doesn’t make that much noise running away. I don’t know what it was. It never once crossed my mind that it was a Bigfoot. Every animal in the forest did, including someone hiding out down in that park. But not a Bigfoot. I was never afraid or had any weird feelings like dread but I also couldn’t get it off of my mind. Especially the 1st step it made in the woods. It did not have hooves. I did kill a deer that walked up in that small clearing about an hour later but abandoned it when it got too close to dark. I had made up my mind that I wasn’t going to be in there longer than I could see a target and see it well. I didn’t have a flashlight with me and I was pretty creeped out. Whatever that was out there in those woods was way too fast for me.”