YEAR: 1980

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: 23or24

PROVINCE: British Columbia

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: about half way between Trail and Castlegar, there's an old logging road to old Hadikin's mill, which then contiues on to Nancy Greene lake N.W of Rossland

NEAREST TOWN: Rossland

NEAREST ROAD: Crowsnest 3

OBSERVED: Near Christmas of 1980, my father and friend decided to go snowmobiling about 9:00 pm and as my uncle was up visiting from Calgary I asked if we could tag along on my smaller sled. We unloaded the sleds and took off up Hadikin's mill road to try and get to Nancy Greene lake. It started snowing quite heavy and my father and his friend were getting bogged down trying to break trail into the lake (probably 40 miles into the deep woods) We turned the sleds around to head back, and my dad said him and his friend were going to race back to the truck and for me and my uncle to just putt back.

I was about 4 miles down the fresh tracks when my uncle asked to drive. We switched spots and he made it to first corner and put the sled into a burn pile on the left side of the trail getting us stuck. While we were tramping a trail down in front of the sled we both started to smell something very strong (rotten meat) and my uncle went into hysterics crying and screaming bear. I, being a hunter since I was 5, knew bears should be hibernating; but that smell was making me scared too. I started the snowmobile and wriggled it back on the fresh trail to see a what I thought was an old trapper run from the behind the burn pile across the trail and through the bush shaking all the snow off the trees as he went. My uncle jumped on the sled and I went about 30 yards ahead where the creature ran and saw the large bare foot mark on the trail in front of me and the steps through the probably 4 feet of powder snow.. About 10 or so miles down the trail my dad was coming back to check on us and upon stopping he could see we were very shakin' up and I told him that there was a poor old trapper up the trail with no boots on???

I explained where the incident occurred (I was not going back) and I went back to the truck. When my dad returned to the truck he explained to me about the sasquatch and that it wasn't an old trapper in a fur coat that I witnessed...

ALSO NOTICED: I remember the trapper only seemed about my dads height 6' had a very long haired fur coat covered with snow, I couldn't see much else for details because of the heavy snow and darkness. My dad seen the marks in the snow minus the clear one on the trail as I ran it over, but definitely said it was walking on two legs and they were quite long as there wasn't really any drag marks from where it walked through the deep snow.

OTHER WITNESSES: my uncle (3years older than myself, I was 12) my father, who is now deceased.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, I have another personal experiance in roughly the same area about 7 years later while deer hunting.It involved a large, same smelling animal that did the scariest scream like yell all night above a cabin me and a couple buddies were spending the night in..If you want I will submit that story also; but I want to ask the people involved first as they don't ever talk about that night..I also heard that same scream on a documentary about the Yeti on t.v. some years ago; but all the sounds I have heard on your website are not even close to a very upset bigfoot..

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 10;00 pm bright night snowing quite heavy

ENVIRONMENT: An older logged slash (10 yrs) prior. Pine and willow mixed forest about 8 to 10 feet high

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Blaine McMillan :

The witness reported was out snowmobiling with relatives. At one point he and his uncle switched positions on the snow machine. It was at this time that both he and his uncle noticed a smell that the witness described as being akin to rotten meat. The odour was strong enough to scare both of them. Shortly there after the witness spotted what he had thought to be an old trapper quickly run from behind a covered position on one side of the trail to the bush on the other side. This figure was seen by the headlight of the snowmobile. R.M. said that it looked to be six feet in height all covered in fur with a layer of snow on it.

Although the snow on both sides of the trail was described as deep powder snow the trail itself had been packed down by the snowmobiles. At the point where the subject crossed the trail the witness found a large barefoot track. The tracks through the deeper snow was noted to have been made by a bipedal animal. Sometime later the witness and his father discussed what had taken place and his father told him that it was a sasquatch that he had seen.

A number of years later the witness was hunting from a remote cabin in the same area as the initial sighting. The witness stated that he smelled the same rotten meat smell as in the first incident. Both he and several of his friends heard screams coming from forest surrounding the cabin and when the witness had gone out to gather firewood he saw a bipedal figure moving around outside the cabin.

About BFRO Investigator Blaine McMillan :

• Retired Canadian Military (Reg Force) Safety Systems / Aviation technician with experience fighters and various SAR platforms. Author of Wood Knocks and Tossed Rocks:Searching for Sasquatch with the BFRO


• Married with two young sons. An avid camper, hunter and fisherman.


• Holds a BA in Criminology from the University of Manitoba, courses in Alternate Dispute Resolution, Anthropology and Political Science


• Attended the BFRO BC Expeditions in August of 2005, 2006, 2012 as well as Vancouver Island 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.


• Organized the 2007, 2008 Vancouver Island as well as 2009 North Vancouver Island Expeditions.


• Author of "Woodknocks and Tossed Rocks: Searching for Sasquatch with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization.

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