YEAR: 1977

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 1977

STATE: Illinois

COUNTY: Livingston County

LOCATION DETAILS: Take Billit road south out of Pontiac. Turn left on McDowell road or what they call 1400 north. Turn right on CO HWY 6 and then left immediately on Township Road. I think the old river bridge is gone now.

NEAREST TOWN: Pontiac

NEAREST ROAD: Off of Fairbury Black top now called CO Hwy 6. One mile south of McDowell Road off of the old Smith Iron Bridge road called Township Road

OBSERVED: I had been bow hunting with my best friend for about 4 years. His Dad leased a new area that was only accessible through a locked gated field.

We scouted the area for roughly a month and put up 2 deer stands 400 yards apart where there was a lot of activity. My stand was 10' high in an old oak tree. I couldn't get further back off the bean field as it was heavily covered in 6' tall sycamore trees that I could not maneuver through even during the day.

We arrived about 50 minutes before sunrise opening day. He stopped to let me out. We had the radio cranked up on WLS an old AM station. While I was stringing my re-curved bow and putting on my coveralls we were laughing and cutting up who was going to get the bigger deer as usual. I finally climbed up in my stand and watched as he drove off.
I decided to light up a cigarette and take in the beautiful morning scenery while listening to the McDowell elevator churning that morning.

About 2 minutes later I heard something walking parallel behind me from the South. I kept listening and thought that it was unusual since I couldn't walk through there period, even during the daylight. It kept getting closer until I saw it 20 yards behind me. It was standing a good 2 1/2' above the sycamore saplings and was covered in hair. He looked like a damn big linebacker with shoulder pads with no neck.

I said, who are you and it didn't answer. My friend and myself were the only ones who had a key to this big farm with a lot of timber. We stared at each other for about 4 minutes. I put my cigarette out and got to my knees because it could of easily snatched me out of the stand. I was looking for branches to start climbing higher when it started to just walk off.

As soon as the sun fully lit the area and I couldn't hear him anymore I ran to the other end of the field and jumped into my buddy's vehicle and locked the doors. I never went back after that.

I told my friend what happened and he could tell by my looks that I was scared.

ALSO NOTICED: Just bipedal footsteps that were very loud.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was roughly 15 minutes before sunrise with the sun coming up behind me. Clear morning.

ENVIRONMENT: Half fields and timber 1/4 mile from the Vermilion River.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with both witnesses by phone.

In summary:

• The animal was eight and a half feet tall standing two and a half feet above the sycamore saplings.
• The animal had very wide shoulders.
• The witness was unable to estimate the animals weight other than it was huge.
• The hair was very dark in coloring.
• The witness was 20 yards from the animal but was unable to see the face.
• Although the two hunters arrived in their vehicle 50 minutes before sunrise by the time they talked and he took up his position in his tree stand it was starting to get light about 15 minutes before sunup.
• The witness has returned to the area recently and states that the area had changed a lot, many of trees have been removed. The bridge crossing the Vermilion River has been removed.

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

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