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Geographical Index > United States > California > Tulare County > Report # 24877
 
Report # 24877  (Class B)
Submitted by R.C. on Saturday, October 11, 2008.
Deer hunter comes across possible sasquatch tracks (w/ cell phone photo of one track)

YEAR: 2008

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: September

DATE: 29

STATE: California

COUNTY: Tulare County

LOCATION DETAILS: The area is located south of the Sherman Pass Road about a one hour drive out of Kernville. The track area is located approximately 6 miles south of Sherman Peak.

NEAREST TOWN: Kernville

NEAREST ROAD: Sherman Pass Road

OBSERVED: September 29, 2008 I’m in the mountains above Kernville for opening weekend deer hunting season. I decided to spend the evening on a high mountain ridge so I would not have to climb the mountain in the dark the next morning. I hiked in the afternoon before and pitched my tent just before dark. I pitched my tent on a ridge just down from a high mountain pass.

Just before going to sleep I was standing outside my tent and I heard a loud noise behind me. The noise was within forty feet of my position, and I would describe it as a single pop sound. I’ll try to spell out the sound, but there is no way I can reproduce the sound! “Pooeekk”. It could have been a branch being broken off of a tree but it would have had to come off at the base of the branch where it meets the tree trunk. The tree would have to be slightly hollow to get the sound.

There was no noise after the initial sound and nothing ever hit the ground. My first impression of the sound was that it was a warning and I thought it was more of an animal sound, because it had a hollow guttural tone to the pop sound. I dismissed the occurrence and had no other problems through the night.

The next morning I got up before sun up and started stocking along the tree line heading toward the mountain pass. After about 75 yards I moved into the trees and sat for some time looking over a meadow. Once I finished my time there I walked in the trees for twenty feet and then I moved out of the trees and back in the open.

Just as I stepped out of the trees I spotted a large foot print. It was very large and I could make out two toes at the top left of the print. At this point I took out my cell phone and snapped a picture of the foot print. The foot print was as long as my boot, 13” long plus the toes and 2” wider than my boot on the side. I could make out a ridge in the dirt where the ball of the heal and the middle of the foot come together.

After taking the picture I resumed my hunting and I moved along the tree line following the foot prints. They were made by a man like biped creature, the stride was longer than mine are, but I could stretch my stride to match the stride. I followed the prints for about another 75 yards they went right through the middle of the saddle between the two mountains.

At that point I resumed my hunting for deer and dismissed the Bigfoot. The only thing I would add about the prints they were all the same, but I could only see the toes on the first print because that print went slightly into the side of the mound. I will send a copy of the picture once you make contact with me. Both the toes and skin fold mound can be seen in the digital picture.

ALSO NOTICED: The only thing I can say that is more of a question than anything. I seen one pile of fecal matter on top of the mountain that did not match the other bear droppings I had seen. The bear piles were full of berry seeds, this one was grass with pine needles in it. I have never seen any animal that eats pine needles? The one reason I mention this is because I seen another dropping like this the next day at another location. This one was very large 13” long and 3” in diameter. In this area I noticed a distinctive marker of stacked rocks.

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Sound was at dark 8:00 PM, Foot print 7:00 AM.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest, mountain peak, open meadow.

A & G References: Southern California DeLorme Atlas, Page 50, Index of A 3-4.


Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

R.C. called me on the evening of October 15, 2008 and he went over what he experienced while he was hunting in the D-8 deer area of California. This witness and some friends went hunting together, but R.C. decided to take off, by foot, on his own to spend a night dry camping by himself.

During that evening he heard just one loud low guttural noise that emanated from an animal's throat and/or mouth. This noise started out real sharp, then carried for a few seconds and then nothing. I asked the question, was this a tree popping sound as you described in your report? R.C. stated, "that I only used that in an attempt to describe to others, like my friends that I went hunting with, what I heard that first night."

Later on during that night, there was a light rain that fell, and when he got up the next morning, everything was damp. The first print that was observed, he took a cell phone picture of it, and it was freshly made that previous night. A short distance later he came across a set of tracks that he followed for over 75 yards, he observed and followed 10 to 12 tracks that were heading in an easterly direction through a mountain saddle.

The first print he could make out had at least two distinguishable toes and a ridge about 4" above the back of the heal. The other prints did not seem to show any toes, but he knew they weren't bear tracks because he didn't see any claw marks in those fresh tracks. He attempted to describe those tracks to his friends, but they told him that they were probably just bear tracks and nothing more.

R.C. knows there are bears in this area, but not with 13" plus tracks and walking on two legs. He had a difficult time making a stretch between those tracks. He also stated that he never seen any deer that next morning.

R.C. observed two old scat piles, one up where he observed the tracks, and the other one was down where he was camped and he hunted the following day. The rock stacking consisted of several 2 1/2' diameter flat rocks stacked together. The pile looked like it was made so a person could use it as a seat.

In summary: I do believe that R.C. came across several small fresh sasquatch tracks and possible sasquatch scat. This witness has worked for a construction company over 20 years, is a family man with a very large family and he was very believable in his rendition of retelling his story.

This is the only photo that was taken by the witness using his cell phone. This photo attempts to show two toes and the rest of the footprint that was not measured. The measurements in the report were only estimates.


About BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge: