YEAR: 1986

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

PROVINCE: Ontario

COUNTRY: Canada

LOCATION DETAILS: If you follow the Manitoba / Ontario border north until the border starts turning towards Hundson's Bay, right where it turns, there is a big lake to the east, which is Deer Lake. It's way the hell up there.

NEAREST TOWN: Deer Lake Indian Reserve - 300 air miles north of Thunder Bay Ontario

NEAREST ROAD: The location is a fly-in but the town of Red Lake has roads, which is about 140 air miles south

OBSERVED: In 1986, I had just graduated college and I needed a big break so I took a job as a fishing guide for a fly-in fishing lodge. At the time it was called Keyamawun Lodge, later to be renamed Peace Island Lodge. The lodge has since gone bankrupt and to my knowledge nobody has purchased it. It was located on Deer Lake just inside the Ontario border and abut 500 miles north of the US/Canada border.

We had a young couple on their honeymoon from Chicago. They had an aboriginal guide named Arthur Meekus. Arthur does not usually guide but we were so busy we hired him for the week. After 3 days the couple were very disappointed with the fishing and were planning on leaving early. They did not like Arthur. I started taking them out after diner to some hot Walleye and Pike spots.

Deer Lake is the headwaters for the Cobham River, which eventually runs into Hudson’s Bay. On the south west end of the lake, there is a long narrow water passage, which reaches a place the aboriginals called Quick Quick. This is a very narrow section of the lake where you first start to see current, which eventually turns into the Cobham River. Quick Quick is basically two smooth jets of bare Precambrian rock that almost touch each other, thus it gets so narrow you can see the current of the water. This area is clear of trees and brush because winter ice expands over the area and cleans it off every winter. As a result, you can see clearly anything on either side of the water and it’s clean for about 20 feet on each side before you go into tall pike trees.

I was tolling slowly towards Quick Quick. I came around the corner and saw a large black animal standing over 7 feet tall ran and jumped across Quick Quick and into the bush on the other side. It was black like a black bear. The first thing I thought of was it was a big 1000-pound black bear running on its hind legs to escape wolves of something. It did surprise me to say the least.

I told my fishing customers what I just saw and they heard the rustling and the branches breaking in the forest and then the animal reach a distance where we could not hear it anymore.

I continued towards Quick Quick and started thinking. It had long arms that swung more like a human than a bear. When wolves are chasing something, they make a hell of a racket and we did not see or hear any wolves. Also, a 1000-pound Black Bear is extremely rare down south where there is lots of food. There is not enough food that far north for a bear to get that big. Bears in that area rarely exceeded 250 pounds. A black bear would not be surprised or panic like that. A bear would just take a look at you and run into the bush on all fours. Besides, it’s an Alaskan Brown Bears that stands, not black bears. Black Bears do not run 30 mph on their hind legs and jump 7 feet to another rock. They would just plow through the water. This animal moved quickly.

For a long time we joked about my big foot encounter. Please don’t laugh but a few years later I experienced a kind of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. We went to see the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Predator. When the guy in the Predator costume ran and jumped while chasing Arnold, it brought back sheer terror in me. The creature in that film ran and jumps in almost the exact same motion os the big black animal I saw in 1986. He was around the same height as well.

I did see something extremely unusual and I finally started believing that I did see a Sasquatch. I went back to work at the lodge again in 1993. I had gone back to college for Computer Science and I needed to work during the summer. I did not see the creature again but I did talk to the aboriginal guides, (Cree Indians) who live on the lake and they all know of the creature and they are terrified of it. They called it a Windago, which under traditional native folklore is a spirit of the forest that can change shape into different animals. Whatever they believe, I am faced with believing that I did see a Sasquatch.

Gary Skrzek
President - iMarket Canada
www.imarket.ca
(9050 689-7574

ALSO NOTICED: The animal made no noise besides breaking branches and I did not smell anything. It did not face me. I only saw it run and jump from a side angle.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2 of my customers heard the animal but we were fishing. I was driving the boat looking ahead of us and they were looking behind us and watching their fishing lines.

OTHER STORIES: The Cree Indian people on the lake are terrified of a creature they call the Windego.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was 7:30 pm. That far north, it does not get dak until 11:00 pm that time of year.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest with smooth rocky Canadian Sheild shoreline. I went back the next morning and did not see any foot prints that would suggest it was a Sasquatch. If there was mud then I could have seen for sure based on the prints because I know what bear prints look like (front and back)

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Todd Prescott:

The witness was interviewed by phone on the evening of February 11, 2008 and provided the following additional details/observations:

The sighting occurred in the first week of July, 1986. The weather was clear. Ample ambient light provided the witness with a clear view of the surrounding landscape and subsequent sighting. As the witness rounded a corner in the waterway, he spotted what he at first thought was a bear, approximately 35 yards away. He was able to observe the creature for about three seconds. He shut the 20 horse power engine off on the boat, as the sighting was occurring. Shutting down the engine allowed him to hear the rustling in the pines as the creature moved out of sight. Witness felt that it was exiting the area hastily to get out of sight, as opposed to casually strolling away unconcerned.

The sheer mass of the creature was a surprise to the witness. It appeared to be no less than 7ft in height, stocky and muscular, with a weight estimated at 700-1000 pounds. The chest and torso appeared thick, and no waistline was noted. It moved quickly on two legs, but not gracefully. The fur was similar in appearance (color and texture) to a black bear. As noted in the report, because the creature moved sideways away from the witness, no front facial features were discernable. Witness was able to view it from the side and stated that it definitely did not have a snout (as seen on a bear). It seemed to move as a large human would, only slightly stooped as its arms swung. One unusual characteristic of its gait was the lack of flexion at the knees. Witness stated that, “The knees weren't bending as it ran”.

About BFRO Investigator Todd Prescott:

Todd Prescott has been researching the subject of bigfoot for well over 20 years Todd attended the 2006 and 2008 B.C. Coastal Expeditions, 2008 and 2011 Pennsylvania Expedition, 2010 Pennsylvania Mini Expeditions, the 2007 Ontario Expedition and he hosted the Ontario 2009 Expedition. His research has taken him as far as Alaska to PA, Northern Ontario to BC, including a 2-week solo expedition throughout the Bella Coola (B.C.) region. In 2012, 2013, and 2014, Todd had the honor and privilege of spending many days/nights with one of the pioneers of sasquatch research, Mr. John Green (1927-2016), in BC where he was granted permission to peruse Mr. Green's extensive files dating back to 1957. Todd also had the unique experience of researching with Mr. Green near Harrison Hot Springs one evening. Currently, Todd is working on several books pertaining to the subject of sasquatch.

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