YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 20

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Okanogan County

LOCATION DETAILS: directions are as follows: from oroville pass through nighthawk then turn right on chopaka rd just before palmer lake. travel halfway down chopaka road to BLM hunter access point. climb 3/4 up the east saddle between chopaka and hurley mt.

NEAREST TOWN: nighthawk

NEAREST ROAD: chopaka rd

OBSERVED: I am new to hunting but I have spent my whole life hiking in the woods. This potential incident happened on a deer hunt. After seeing a herd of does, I found a buck trail leading uphill. I followed the buck trail trying to find sign like, feces or tree marks. I would come across some fresh buck feces every hundred yards up the saddle between Chopaka and Hurley mountain. I saw buck sign everywhere, I marked it with a buck tarsal scent gland from a fresh deer kill from my friend. I continued following the buck trail and signs up some very steep country with lots of boulders and dangerous rock fields. I finally found and spooked whatever I was following; I never saw it but it stormed off over a rock field before I could get sight of it to shoot. I am assuming it was a buck or sheep or mountain goat. The fresh deer sign ended here and I decided to continue up, following old deer sign and camp. It got very, very steep; I climbed approximately 2000 foot of gain to about 3/4 of the way up the saddle. I was too tired to reach the top of the saddle, so I camped on the back side of a large tree in the midst of boulder fields. There were many berry patches with thickets hard to pass through. I built a soft bed for my sleeping bag and built a fire. I saw a large pile of droppings that were black with lots of berries in it, probably bear; they were not round balls like the deer droppings I had encountered before. I used a deer call throughout the day. Sometime after the sun set, maybe 2 hours I heard a frightening scream come from the top of Mount Chopaka. I had an excellent view of the snow covered peak from my slope side camp. I have never heard a sound like this. It was only one guttural scream. I can describe it as a Pterodactyl (flying dinosaur) cry from a movie. It had an extremely loud volume. I slept with my .44 magnum ready for the worse. Nonetheless, I didn't sleep well that night.
A week or so before this incident, me and a buddy were hunting in Chinchelo Creek of the Sinlaheikin (wilderness area), which connects to the same woods as Chopaka. We were using a dying rabbit call and we were sitting on logs waiting for a bear to come out. We both heard a soft yet loud hissing sound pass behind us like a shadow. We saw nothing, it was eerie almost as if a ghost had passed behind us. I also saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye as it passed. This was very creepy. Neither of us have heard anything like this before. My buddy works in the woods all day and has never heard this.

ALSO NOTICED: large pile of black feces composed mostly of berries, not like deer pebbles; possibly bear feces
used deer call and deer tarsal scent from fresh deer.
The coordinates of the scream from Chopaka are as follows. R24-T40-S13. I was hiking up the valley of Hurley Creek to the saddle between Hurley MT and Chopaka. I did not make it to the saddle because of the sheer steepness of the mountain and difficulty hiking in such hostile terrain. The 1973 Pullallup whoop scream featured on bfro.net sounds the most like what I heard.

OTHER WITNESSES: no

OTHER STORIES: The famous Lake Chopaka footage is on the other side of the mountain.

Investigator note-
He is referring to the Memorial Day Footage that was shot at Lake Chopaka

TIME AND CONDITIONS: several hours after sunset
lighting was dark
weather was clear and cold

ENVIRONMENT: a forest of conifer, aspen, and various berry thickets.
the terrain is extremely steep and dangerous with huge rock boulder fields

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Derek Freel:

I spoke to the witness on 11/06/2006, he said that he listened to the recordings posted on bfro.net. He states the 1973 Pullallup whoop scream sounded the most like what he heard. He seemed to know his usual mountain animals and the sounds that they make. The number of reports along with historical accounts coming from this area would suggest a prominent number of sasquatch could be in the area. I belive the witness did not make up his story, and it is a solid possibility that he did indeed hear the vocalization of a sasquatch.
Derek Freel

About BFRO Investigator Derek Freel:

Derek Freel grew up near Okanogan, Washington, and currently lives in the Kennewick area. He has studied the subject of sasquatch for many years, and was very lucky to have encountered the animals on several BFRO Expeditions. Derek is taking an active role in bringing these animals into mainstream science. He attended the 2005 Washington Expedition, 2006 Redwoods Expedition, 2006 Oregon Expedition and the 2006 Washington Expedition.