YEAR: 1998

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 22

STATE: Florida

COUNTY: Martin County

NEAREST TOWN: Indiantown

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 76

OBSERVED: I was on quota for wildhogs in Dupis Forest WEA in South Florida. There was one other person with me on this hunt. We had walked in to a area we call the Intersection it is the junction of forest road and a canal.My buddy was about 150 yds NW of my position and I was at the intersection.It is two to three mile hump into this place. When we left the trail head there were not any other vehicles parked and vehicles are not permitted off the grades.It was 30 minutes till day break and still very dark when got to my spot. I sat there till about thirty minutes after first light till I see thru my scope safely. I stood and scoped north up the canal and then to the east and the south.I moved about fifty yds north and scoped to the north from a mound of dirt over a culvert. I saw two small black hogs 150 to 200 yds north of me so started moving up dike towards them to get a shot. I hadn't moved very far when I saw in grass on my left what looked like two trail through wet grass. It looked like two people had crossed the field recently side by side. This struck me for two we had very seldom see anyone in our area and they would had to have past by buddy to cross this area. Also there few quotas given out. I walked down get a better look and look for tracks then heard noise behind me across the canal in small cypress head like soft splashing sounds. I moved back up over the dike to the canal and stood still for a couple of minutes looking for movement in the head. IT was still pretty shadowy in the head. I raised my rifle to look through the scope something made sound I have never heard before. I can best describe as hrumpff. I am former Marine Sgt and Desert Shield/Storm Veteran. The Hair stood up on my the back of my neck and I was instantedly on alert. I took a couple of steps back and stood trying to find the source of the sound and could not went down the dike to the mound I mentioned and dropped down the west of it crawled back upto the top laid my pack in front of me rested my rifle on top of it. I spent the next hour watching for movement. I cannot vouch for it leaving out the northside but it did not leave east , west or south. The sound immediately made me feel like it was saying all right that close enough! I did not mention this to my buddy but I asked if he had seen anyone pass by him and he said no. When we returned to truck there was not any vehicles but ours there.

ALSO NOTICED: the following hunting we saw a large bare foot print and year after that we saw very strange eye shines as well and my buddy will not talk about it,

OTHER WITNESSES: no

OTHER STORIES: no but i had another all due east of in the JW Corbett WMA in 2001 maybe six miles away

TIME AND CONDITIONS: few clouds new moon between 0630 to 0700

ENVIRONMENT: Forest swamps Cypress and Palmetto heads Cabbage Palms Canals

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

I spoke to EC by phone and found him to be matter-of-fact and sincere.

From an area in Dupuis Reserve State Forest, on a 2-3 mile trail that cannot be driven on, EC states that he had a frightening encounter while hunting for hogs.

While hunting with a buddy, EC went into a different direction in order to ‘scope’ some hogs near a dike. After spotting two black hogs near a mound, EC decided to move closer. While walking through the grass he noticed what he described as ‘two trails through the grass, side by side’. Then, hearing some small, splashing sounds, EC focused on it with his scope towards a small cypress head and heard a sound that made the hair on the back of his head stand up. EC described it as sounding like a low, deep and powerful ‘HARRUMPH’. EC described having a ‘weird-scary feeling.’ ‘It was low and deep’ stated EC, ‘and it had a lot of deep chest power behind it’. ‘When I heard it, I only thought of one thing, that there was something unusual in there, and that IT wanted me to leave.’ ‘So I left.’

EC stated that he had been hunting in South Florida for all of his life and had never heard anything like the sound he had heard. He did relate a story that happened the following hunting season in which he was dragging a tree stand out of the woods near the same area, a mile and a half from the nearest road, and found a human-looking print. It was about 2-2 ½ inches deep, had 5 toes and was four inches longer and 2 inches wider than his size 12 boot.

He also related a story of being in the same area after dark and after hearing the sounds of limbs breaking and snapping, he saw bluish-greenish eyeshine from his headlamp from about 25-30 yards away. He related that he had the impression that there were a group of individuals with four sets of eyes, two individuals kneeling, one close to the ground and one standing with the set of eyes about 6-7 foot off of the ground. EC stated that he didn’t smell anything unusual and that he didn’t have any sense of danger. Only that it felt strange and that he should keep walking.

He also shared an incident that took place in mid-August. While hunting an area near some power-lines, only about 5 miles from his other encounters, EC had the strangest feeling that he wasn’t alone. That’s when he noticed that there was complete silence around him. No frogs, no insects, no birds, nothing. EC stated that he felt that he was being watched and that he knew he wasn’t alone.

While each story, taken alone, could be considered inconclusive, the context of the encounters are much more significant when brought together, especially when the ruggedness and isolation of the terrain is considered.

This encounter took place in DuPuis Reserve State Forest, just east of Lake Okeechobee. 22,000 acres of converted pastureland, it had been bought by the state in order to restore it to its original, natural hydrology. It is made up of pine flat-woods, wet prairies, dikes, canals, cypress domes and marshes. There is an abundance of wildlife thriving there, including turkey, hogs and deer. While there is a limited amount of hunting that is abided by the state, it is difficult to traverse either by vehicle or on foot. An ideal bigfoot habitat.

About BFRO Investigator Cathy Betz:

Cathy has been a nurse for over 27 years and currently works in a busy ICU. An amateur naturalist, Cathy has been intrigued by the bigfoot phenomenon from an early age.
Attended the following expeditions:
- The 2006 Florida Expedition
- The 2007 North Carolina Expedition
- The 2008 South Florida Expedition
- The 2008 North Florida Expedition
- The 2009 Central Florida Expedition
- The 2009 Utah Expedition
- The 2010 TN Survey Expedition
- The 2011 East Texas Expedition
-The 2012 North FL Expedition
-The 2013 Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition
For more information, please see the Florida BFRO

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