YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 9/23/12

STATE: California

COUNTY: Alpine County

LOCATION DETAILS: We went into the backcountry by way of a trailhead off of Highway 4 west of Markleeville, CA.

NEAREST TOWN: Markleeville

NEAREST ROAD: Wolf Creek Road

OBSERVED: Three of us went on a deer hunt that morning. We had a hunter at the top of the hill and he went up there in the dark before sunrise. At dawn my uncle and I went up the hill together parting ways half way up. There were two other hunters not in our party camped by us about 200 yards away at the base of the mountain. We did not know them or their plans.

Anyway halfway up the mountain my uncle went to the right (SE) and I went left (NW). The southside of the mountain (which I was on) was open with sage brush and scattered cypress trees. In the gulches of the face, were thick timber groves of mainly large pine trees, clustered, only to be seperated by the openess I just described.My plan was to stay in the tree groves working my way to the peak driving the deer to the top of the hill where the other hunter was positioned. I worked the grove until it ended forcing me to cross a clearing to the left to enter the grove located under the peak. When I got to the right vertical edge of the treeline to the grove, I found the first blind. It was made of a broken branch that was placed up side down and leaning against a tree. The branch was interwoven into the branches of the larger tree. At this time I had a feeling I was being watched and assumed it was the other two hunters that weren't in our party that were camped a couple hundred yards from us at the base of the mountain.

I continued left into the grove and found a 25 foot tree placed upside down next to another tree well over 50 feet high. The base was about 18" and had been snapped not sawed. Some branches had interwoven into this tree just like the little blind I first discovered on the groves edge. I'd guess the elevation was 8,500 feet, as the top of the hill was 10,000 and our camp was at the base of about 7,000. I now had an increasingly strong feeling of being watched again at this point.

As I left the second blind/upsidown tree working my way up and to the left I saw the silhouette of a bipedal primate about 8 feet tall standing still looking at me. It was perpendicular to me, faced up hill in almost a runners stance, and looking over its right shoulder, at me, slightly with its wide muscular torso turned to me. It's brow was extremly pronounced, its forehead was small with the back of it's head slightly pointed. His head (assuming a male as it did not have breasts,) was proportionatly small in relation to it's body. It's arms were extremly long, hairy, lean yet muscular, It's hands had very long palms and long fingers that curled back with a thumb that curled forward forming a backward capital "C" type shape. It then sprinted up the hill and vanished behind the trees faster than a deer bolts into a dead run from a standstill. It was on the left edge of the grove with a clearing behind it. This all happened in a second or two. I went to the place I saw it (60 yards) and found no footprints as the ground had at least a foot of pine needles that cushioned footprints and would spring back up when you walked. I used a tree that was close by gauge it's height. It was of dark color but not sure if dark brown or black as it was shady in the grove with sunlight behind it in the clearing.

I was in a state of kind of shock and almost not believing what I saw but knowing I did and simply just amazed. Because of this when I got home, later that week I decided to consult a hypnotist. I had never seen one but figured since they help witnesses recall a crime and descriptions of accounts that happen quickly or under stress it would probably help me confirm what I saw. The hypnosis confirmed my sighting.

ALSO NOTICED: Two things to note of interest now was after seeing the bigfoot was at the top of the grove just below the top of the hill was a deer kill. It had some of the hide and dried flesh on it's bones and was probably killed a few weeks prior. Secondly that night at camp after dinner, I kind of brought up the subject of the show (Finding Bigfoot) to my hunting party to gauge their opinion on bigfoot and none of them believed in bigfoot. Two of the guys actually made fun of the squatch hunters. One of the guys let out a howl (in a mocking / joking, manner) and no more than a minute or two passed when we heard cracking sounds of timber then a huge tree by our camp come crashing down. I didn't put two and two together but after reading up on other sightings in Alpine County I learned of sasquatches pushing over trees to intimidate people and scare people away. The deer kill and tree falling was what I learned about bigfoot after researching it. Before that day I never gave bigfoot much thought and frankly didn't care if it did or didn't exist. Well now I know there are here, and it is a creature that needs to be protected and respected. The only way we can pass laws to do so is prove that they do exist.

OTHER WITNESSES: No other witnesses. We were deer hunting

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 7:30 AM, Clear

ENVIRONMENT: Open sage brush/grass on mountain side. Pine groves running in the gulches of the mountain and occasionally in the open areas. Cypress trees in the open areas as well.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Tom Yamarone:

I spoke with the witness by phone and have the following details to add:

- As he stated, he estimated the height to be 8 feet based on the branches of a tree that was next to the subject that he examined after the sighting. He described the color as dark brown or black but was not certain because of the lighting conditions in which the subject was backlit. It was tall and lean “like an NBA player” but different in some ways. The arm was extremely long compared with a human’s arm and the body was not bulky and thick like the subject in the Patterson-Gimlin film.

- The bigfoot was facing uphill with its right leg bent and poised as someone would be getting ready to run a foot race. The right arm was extended down to the knee and the hand was evident with palm facing back and fingers curled to form a semi-circle. He noted the palm was not square like ours but larger by two times in a rectangular shape. They locked eyes and at that moment the creature bolted up the hill taking one large step and disappearing into the woods with amazing speed. The sighting lasted approximately 2 seconds.

- The motion he observed was beyond human capability. The subject took one long, quick step landing on its left foot and was gone in a flash. He said it disappeared uphill into the forest in a blur of speed noting that it covered the distance faster than any human could.

- This witness has hunted since he was a young boy and is an experienced outdoorsman. His teacher and wrestling coach from school is our mutual friend who has an interest in bigfoot but the witness never really thought about it until this morning. Regarding the subject of bigfoot, he stated that he was not convinced they existed but did not give the subject much thought. He did not relate the sighting to the rest of his hunting party because he did not know what they would think.

We discussed his actions to seek out a hypnotist in order to recall details of his sighting. Upon returning to home, he was in a state of mixed emotions. He is a very good observer of the natural world and noted quite a few details of the subject during this brief sighting. He stated that he was blown away but what he saw but in denial. “I knew exactly what I saw but couldn’t believe it.” This led him to seek an appointment with a hypnotist.

I found the witness to be sincere and very detailed in his recounting of the hunting trip and his chance encounter with a bigfoot that Sunday morning, September 23, 2012.



Google Earth screen capture with labels associated with this hunter's sighting. This should give you an idea of the terrain and where everything described in the narrative took place.

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