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Tell the gun-related bigfoot story!
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This story took place about 15 years ago. At that time I was stationed in Arizona but would often take long weekend trips to Oregon and Washington to go one bigfoot hunting expeditions with some local groups from the area colleges (UC Davis and others). These groups were a mix of ex-big game hunters, zoologists, cryptozologists, palentologists, and people just interested in the folklore surrounding bigfoot.
This particular trip was one of the last ones I ever went on since I was leaving the area and heading back down south. This time I was not part of a core group but part of a tag along group that went and assisted with trip sets, riggings, etc. Since we were pretty much unsupervised and not affiliated with the school groups I decided to take my new (at the time) Taurus .357mag with me.
I was in a camp sight with abou six other guys. We were out late the first night doing night watch. When we returned our camp had been ramsacked. After a quick check all the gear (axes, laterns, compass, bags, etc.) was accounted for and the only things missing were two bags of apples one of the guys brought. All the other food was stored in the truck down at the fireroad but he had brought the apples up to use as bait in trip areas we were going to set the next morning.
We figured (or should I say "figger'd") that it was a bear and we were just glad he came and went when we were not there. The next night we had spent the whole day helping the school folk set camp, setting riggings for cameras, and laying lines so we turned in not long after dark.
Not long after we had turned in we heard weird noises. It was a distant highpitched howling noise. we had heard these noises in upper WA before on other trips. We decided to get out of our tents and listen. After awhile the sounds got closer and then stopped. For about 20 minutes we heard nothing. Then we started hearing what sounded like someone repeatedly hitting the trees with a log or club. it seemed to be coming from a few different directions and seemed to be getting closer.
At this point we decided to start yelling out to whatever was making the noise. We were well aware that local loggers and other people sometimes enjoyed messing with the college groups. We yelled out to them but we never got answers. Then the thumping started again aong with an occasion howl. This time very close. At this point I decided to tell them that we were armed. That did not seem to stop them either. Then, with the another campers approval, I fired a shot into the air (since it was dark and I could not find a safer target). The area immediately went silent and we never heard another peep from the woods all weekend.
What does this story show? Does it mean I believe in bigfoot? No, it does not. I have seen enough to believe there could be something out there...maybe even think there is probably something to all the stories...but what it really showed me is that whether it was man or monster moving in on us, both were smart enough to know that a loud .357 report in the night air is a good indicator that the time for games has passed and it is better to just move on.
