YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Burleson County

NEAREST TOWN: Caldwell

NEAREST ROAD: FM3058 east of Caldwell.

OBSERVED: This blind is the most remote blind on the 3,000 acre lease. The land consists of a couple of open fields, but is mostly heavily wooded. The blind I was in always has a lot of activity around it. You will see deer, bobcats, armadillos, coyotes, rabbits, all manner of birds, and hogs, lots of ferrell hogs. The blind sets at the end of the road, at the end of the property, in somewhat of a valley. As you exit the woods,the road turns slightly to right and drops down into the "valley". From where the road exits the woods to my blind is at least 700yds or more. The road continues on down to the blind, but when I am hunting, I park my truck and walk to the blind using a small flashlight so as not to disturbed the wildlife. The land opens up from one end of the "valley" to the other. There is about 300yds of fairly open gound from one tree line to the next. My blind sets on NW side at the tree line. As usual, there was a lot of wildlife activity, until about 7AM. All the animals, even the birds, left. Then I started to hear large branches breaking and then something hitting the trees with, I assume, the branches. The blind sets about 12' off the ground, but I never saw anything. I used my scope and binoculars, but the woods are very thick. About 30 minutes after the branch breaking started, a hog ran out of the woods from the direction of the noise and ran into one of the guide wires on my stand (3/8" cable). Very easy to see. It then jumped up, ran into the ladder and then proceeded over the hill. It seemed to be a bit frightened. About an hour later, a branch hit my blind. When that happened,I almost had to change my drawers. The branch breaking and tree pounding kept up for about 2 1/2 hours. When the noise stopped and the wildlife came back, I left. The next morning, I went back to the blind, walking in as usual. About halfway, I could hear something walking with me. It was a little ways inside the brush. At that point, I reached in my hunting bag and got my headlamp and put it on. I put my flashlight up so I could get to my side arm easier. I never wanted to run so bad in my life but thought better of it. Just as I got to my stand, something very close to me made a very deep, grunting growl. That is the only way I can describe the sound. I dropped my hunting bag and went up the ladder into my stand in record time. About daybreak, the events from the previous day began again. I never smelled anything nor did I find any tracks. To be honest, being alone, I didn't look very hard. I just recently told one of my hunting buddies, and to my surprise he said, "I knew there was something strange about that place." He said ever since he started going out there, he has felt very uneasy, as if he is being watched, sometimes more than others. He has been hunting the woods all his life, so is very familiar with the surroundings. He told me there is one place he absolutely will not go on the lease. If you knew him, you would realize how totally out of character this is for him. I didn't hunt the lease in 2004 because of time constraints, but I think constantly about those two mornings in November 2003.

ALSO NOTICED: Did not see what was making the noises. At one time I heard a very deep growl.

OTHER STORIES: I don't know. If anyone on the lease has experienced anything I haven't heard about it.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Began about 7:A.M. 40F - clear.

ENVIRONMENT: Wooded. There are stock tanks all around. My deer blind sets about 25 yards from one. There are farms all around the property.

Follow-up investigation report:

I contacted the witness on 17 January 2005 and spoke at length with him. He seemed very cordial, candid and responsive to all my questions.

Pertaining to his report, the witness is an invited guest on this hunting lease, and had hunted there off and on for several years. He did not know the exact number of hunters on the lease, but that there are several hunting blinds located around the ranch. The main campsite is located on the south end of the ranch. Several ranch roads lead to each of the blinds, some of the blinds are located along the road, whereas some are several yards off the roads.

This blind he hunted is elevated and is the most remote blind on the lease, about four miles from camp, at the end of a road. There are no nearby creeks or lakes, but there is a feeder that overlooks a pond or stock tank, and very thick woods behind the blind and parallel to the road.

The morning of his encounter was cold and clear. He had walked several hundred yards to the blind, from his four-wheeler. He felt a very strange sensation the entire walk to his blind. He arrived at his blind, climbed in and sat till about 0700, when the first thing he noticed was the absence of any wildlife – birds, squirrels, deer, etc. He then started to hear large tree branches being broken; the witness repeated this statement several times. The witness then described tree knocks – “something hitting the trees with a large branch.” The witness repeated his reported description of the hog running out “as if it was running for its life” – “something really scared that pig!” According to the witness, "The tree crashing continued for about 45 minutes to an hour and I heard several deep growls and a tree limb hit the side of the blind – the noise stopped when I stepped out onto the platform of the blind, and it started up when I got back inside.” The witness went on to say that the noise kept going for about another 1 ½ hours, then when it finally stopped – the wildlife returned.

The next morning, the witness returned to the same stand with anticipation! He could hear something walking parallel to him in the woods, it would stop when he stopped and begin when he began walking. He continued to the stand and heard something walking in the woods, out of sight, until he reached his blind. When he started up the ladder, something growled from out of the woods about 30 feet away.

Then at daybreak around 0700, the same scenario began again – noises and lack of wildlife. He left around 0900, not seeing any deer. The whole time, he felt a “presence.”

SUMMATION: I feel that the witness was credible with his story. He voluntarily added another situation that had happened to him several years earlier near Lake Livingston. He had gone to check on a deer feeder and a blind, and had the same similar sensation of being watched. He also added that he is a knowledgeable outdoorsman, and was raised on a ranch south of San Antonio.

The witness is not a regular lessee on this ranch. He did state that the lease owner commented to him that he would not go into that area, but would not comment any more as to why.