YEAR: 2015

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 12

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Vermilion County

LOCATION DETAILS: Approximately 3 miles south-east of the Kickapoo state park.

NEAREST TOWN: Danville

NEAREST ROAD: Interstate 74

OBSERVED: It all began with my father in law. He had an encounter of something huge and making an un familiar noise he said he had never heard before. He is a 70 year old man and great guy. I recall laughing and making fun of him. Then the tables turned, I was in the woods alone hunting in the 2015 hunting season.I was in my stand and had several deer come in but they seemed very skidish. I drew my crossbow down on a nice buck and pulled the trigger. My arrow seemed to find its mark. I allowed about 45 minutes to go by and it began getting dark. As I climbed down out of my stand I began hearing some unusual noises. Kind of like I screaming growling noise. Now I'm soon to be 50 years old myself and as my father in law said to me. These were sounds that I had never heard before in the woods or anywhere else. I called my father in law and told him I had a deer down and asked if he could meet me out in the woods to help me get the deer out. He told me he was in Terre Haute Indiana, and that it would be close to an hour before he could even get home. I was too embarrassed to tell him I too was feeling pretty uneasy. I tried to keep him on the phone but he had to get off the phone.so I began tracking the deer I found really good blood. And was sure the deer didn't go far. As I started down a small hill I began hearing these noises again. It was as if I could feel these screaming growling noises in my body. I kept hearing what I thought may have been falling tree branches or something. I looked up on this hill side 30 yards from me and seen a sillhouette of something huge. I quickly headed out of the woods and continued hearing the noises all the way out. I called my father in law and told him about my encounter. He laughed and said you mad fun of me. We returned the next morning to find the blood trail where I left off and we knew the deer had to be close due to the amount of blood. And then it was as if the deer just vanished.. We began working in circles to find nothing. There was a steep cliff to the east of where we found the last blood. We looked down torward the creek to find nothing. But the smell in the woods was as it was the night before. A very strong pungent odor. Kind of a cross of something dead and the urine of many different types of animals. I felt eyes on us the whole time we were out there. We went back several times without success. Then in April I went out to the same location mushroom hunting, I found that the woods was very quiet. I didn't find any mushrooms so I headed out through the North end of the woods to look at deer sign. When it hit me, the smell it was so strong , I began hurrying to get out of the woods as I got to the edge of the woods to an area we call the grassy area and there it was a foot print. A single foot print it was the left foot and was very large . The print was a good one very detailed you could see the toes and everything.I wear a size 13 and this print was way bigger than my foot. This area is about three miles from the Kickapoo state park in Vermilion county Illinois. I have never been frightened in the woods in all my life. I spent my whole life in the woods hunting most of every species in our area. I coon hunted in the dark by myself and never been as frightened as I was with this encounter.

ALSO NOTICED: I think its been covered already

OTHER WITNESSES: no I was alone

OTHER STORIES: My brother in law was scared in the same woods but he won't really talk about it. He stopped hunting out there shortly after. He still won't talk about it.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was around 5pm, and the weather clear but warm . The lighting was almost completely dark

ENVIRONMENT: Hardwoods, large hillsides with very steep ridges, with a creek running through the bottom

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

• The footprint found on November 12 was in a muddy area.
• The footprint was 18 inches long, 11 inches wide at the ball of the foot and 6 inches at the heel.

He took a photo:



Men's 13 size shoe = 11 11/16 inches

About BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

Stan Courtney has a special interest in wildlife audio recording. He has attended numerous BFRO Expeditions. See Stan's blog StanCourtney.com for recordings he has collected over the years.

Stan Courtney can be reached at illinois@bfro.net