DATE:  11/08/99

TIME:  Early morning - Afternoon

LOCATION:    Central Florida Wildlife Mgt Area

TERRAIN:   Swampy

OBSERVED:   No. 1 -
Two reports.  In Nov 98 I was hog hunting in what I'll call WMA1 in FL. In a swampy, muddy area I found
a dead tree where something had peeled away a large portion of bark about 5ft up the tree.  It looked as if something
had been looking for grubs or bugs in the tree.  Near the tree I saw a track about 5" longer 3" wider than my size 11 boot.
The mud was really sloppy so no real detail to the track other than it was big and deep.

No. 2:
Nov 99 -  Hog hunting in what I'll call WMA2 (borders WMA1) First trip something caught my eye in a group of saplings beside a small creek.
There were probably 10-15 saplings in the group.  One about the size of my wrist had been twisted about 4' off the ground and was mostly toppled.
It was like if you take a green stick and twist it your hand.  Except this was a wrist sized tree trunk.  I first thought "that's some kinda odd wind"
But what was really weird was that no other trees in the group had any damage at all.  All the trees were with in a couple of feet of each other.  So I figured if
it has been wind, it would have gotten some of the others.

A day or two later I heard some hogs grunting around daybreak.  I ran into a group of others hunters and we chased the hogs around for an hour or two.  There were 3 hunters besides myself in the group.
We would split up and follow the group of hogs..and then meet back.  Trying to drive the hogs towards each other.  We never did get a shot at the hogs.  We finally all met up again at a little clear space in the swamp.
We were discussing our bad luck when a "noise" came bursting through the swamp.  It was very loud and seemed to fill the whole swamp.  We all just stood there and looked at each other with our eyes bugged out for a few minutes and listened.
We didn't hear anything else, but no other "normal" swamp sounds either.  I finally said, "That ain't a hog". One guy said, "Never heard a gator sound like that."  Third guy said, "It sure as hell ain't no deer."
Last guy said, "Well, it don't sound like any bear I've ever heard."  As I said, it was very lound and sounded like a combination scream/roar/growl/moan all rolled into 1 God awful sound.  We decided it was best to leave the area and go our seprate ways.

Later that same day I was hunting in a section about 1 mile away from where we heard the noise.  This was dry ground, thickly wooded with lots of undergrowth.  I saw where a large tree had blown down and was leaning against another tree.  By scaling up the
downed trunk I was able to perch on the section that was leaning against the other tree about 12ft off the ground.  A natural tree stand.  I was up there for about an hour when I began to smell something.  It smelled kinda like a skunk but with something musky mixed in.
I also began to hear something large and heavy moving through the undergrowth.  The wind was blowing toward me and away from "it" so I stayed put and eased the saftey off my rifle.  I thought, "Man, that is one bad smellin' hog" But the sounds I heard wasn't hog sounds.
Instead of the typical hog grunts I heard a low moan/growling type sound.  It sounded like it the same critter that gave the roar in the swamp.  It had the same pitch and tones, but this was a much "calmer" sound.  No rage/scream/roar to this.  Just like it was walking along, hunting for food and muttering.
The walking sounds I heard sounded like something with 2 legs and large.  It was moving through the undergrowth.  I could hear it stop from time to time and stir through the undergrowth like it was looking for bugs/berries/lizards..something to eat.  The smell started getting worse and it was heading in my direction.
I swivled around on my perch to try and see if I could see it.  When I did that, I made some noise and the creature was quite for about 30mins.  We were both just waiting each other out.  Finally, it started moving again.  Slowly this time, like sneaking.  It gave me a wide birth at is circled around to the left of my stand.
No moaning this time or stirring for food.  Just trying to move through all the mess of undergrowth as quitely as something big could move.  I never did get a look at it.  Not saying it was a bigfoot..just saying I've hunted alot and don't know what the hell that critter was.
 

Description of Creature:

Activities of Witness:  Hunting

Other Notes:  I had heard rumors of sightings in the area.. but never anything concrete.
More along the lines, "Ya know, they say that way back when some fellar claimed he heard/saw/smelled something."
 
 

Other Other Notes:  WMA1 is pretty much open all year round.  WMA2 is pretty much open
to public only during hunting season.  Its approx 50,000 acres of swamp and forest.