Report
Received From: The GCBRO Online Report
Submission Form.
Report
Posted To GCBRO Web Site On:
April 1, 2012
DATE:
10/20/78
TIME:
9:00 - 10 am
LOCATION:
Becker County, Minnesota
TERRAIN:
Wooded
OBSERVED:
Was out grouse hunting by myself - clear calm day - didn't see or hear
ANY animals as I walked into the woods and checked a couple of hot spots
for ducks - nothing at all. Dead quiet - I decided to sit down on
a stump (we had been logging the area all summer) and as I sat I heard
footsteps coming through the brush at my 4:00 - from along a creek bed
- I was on the side of a hill and couldn't see over there - but did smell
a very strong skunk like odor. I thought it was my dad - so I yelled
to him - "I'm over here" - Footsteps stopped at that point. I then
heard a fairly loud crack - like a tree breaking off and falling over -
then footfalls leaving back the way they had came. Smell went away
and all of a sudden the forest came to life with squirrels calling and
blue jays calling. Even though I had a 12 gauge I booked out of there in
record time. My dad was in bed when I got home so it wasn't him,
he thought it was a deer in rut. We went out that afternoon and looked
around, found a tree that had broken off - about 3-4 inches in diameter
- he insisted it was a buck that had done it - but I swear that no buck
deer could have done that - and why would he have done it after I yelled?
Also the footfalls were definitely bipedal not a bear, deer or cow.
Additional
Info: Nothing really
at that time - the woods were pretty normal that afternoon with birds,
squirrels, etc...
Activities
of Witness: Was walking
through the woods on logging road and paths that we had made over the years.
Description
of Creature: Couldn't see it due
to hill and shrubs.
Other
Notes: I do remember
in mornings waiting for the bus for school - hearing loud howls from the
woods - sometimes there would be one close and then several a distance
away. Or vice versa - I always thought that the several howls were
coyotes or wolves - and that louder solo was their leader.
Other
(Informational or Encounter History in the General Area) Notes:
Nothing as concrete as what I heard - the land borders a national wildlife
area and was undeveloped at the time.
Additional
Notes and or Follow up Comments:
N/A