YEAR: 1989

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 30

STATE: Wisconsin

COUNTY: Dane County

LOCATION DETAILS: Between Springdale Center Road and Town Hall Road.

NEAREST TOWN: Town of Springdale

NEAREST ROAD: Between Springdale Center Road and Town Hall Road.

OBSERVED: This happened almost 24 years ago, but it has never left me in all these years. And I have never told anyone about these two incidents. The first incident happened when I was bow deer hunting during the early season, as I remember that the leaves on the trees were still green. I had returned to my car that was parked in a nearby field and got my hunting gear put away. I then sat in my car waiting for about 10 minutes for my hunting friend to return so that we could go home. When he didn't return (he did return after the incident) I got out of my car and walked down close to the edge of the woods, maybe about 10 feet or so from the edge of the woods, shortly thereafter I heard something coming from my left just inside the woods edge. It was making a lot of noise as it was walking through. I thought this was my friend coming back, but then I thought that this was “very odd” for my friend since he was really quiet in the woods. As the “walker” was about right in front of me I called out my hunting friend's name to which I received a rather loud “guttural growl”. But what ever the “walker” was it did not break stride, it just kept right on walking rather loudly away from me going parallel with the edge of the field just inside the woods edge. I have listened to over and over again the bipedal walking audio on the BFRO website - http://www.bfro.net/avevid/sierrasounds/911.asp#bipedal . It sounded just like this, but add in some very loud branch breaking and you will be very close to what I heard that night!!!!!
I'm 6' 2” tall, and when the “walker” did its loud “guttural growl” when it was right in front of me it sounded like it was at about the height that my head was at. I would estimate that the place in the field that I was standing at was about two feet higher than in the woods where the “walker” was at.

The second incident that took place happened in the same location, but about 200 yards from where the first incident happened about a week, or so earlier. Both times I had been hunting from the ground. The hunting friend that was with me from the earlier time was also there along with my sister's boyfriend. We split up with about 3 hours of hunting time left. It was really quiet for about the first hour, but then things started to change. I heard all sorts of noises that I can't explain nor identify that happened in front of me from about my 10 o'clock position to about my 2 o'clock position. I did see what appeared to be something walking into the thicker part of the woods. This looked like the arms and legs of something going from the more open part of the woods, to the more thicker part and was about 40 yards away from my location. After seeing the arms and legs of whatever the things were, the tops of the smaller trees started swaying violently back and forth. This went on and off for about a ½ hour to 45 minutes. What really scared me was when the rocks started to be thrown in my direction. The size started out as about golf ball size, and by the time that I “turned tail” the size was about softball size.
I would describe the color of what I saw of the arms and legs to be about a rather dark red to almost black.

ALSO NOTICED: No

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: The incident in 1993 in Iowa County, by Dodgeville (Report #4761).

TIME AND CONDITIONS: First incident-night about 45 min after sunset. The second incident-day around 1 to 2 hours before sunset.

ENVIRONMENT: Wooded area with fields.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Robert Barhite:

On August 10, 2013, I spoke with Joe regarding his report. He has been a hunter for many years, and has experience with deer and bear. Also, Joe had been trained by the Madison, Wisconsin police department to be an observer.

In late September 1989 he and a hunting partner went to a location where they were friends with the property owner, just south of Mount Horeb. Near the end of the day (early dusk) Joe after, securing his gear, waited in his car for his partner to return. After about ten minutes he walked towards the edge of the woods, and as he approached he heard heavy, bipedal walking coming from the woods on his left and moving towards him. Initially Joe thought it was his partner and Joe called his name, thinking "...why would my partner walk like this? He must be hauling a deer." Joe called his name, and the bipedal walker made a loud, deep, growl just a few yards in front of him and at head level. The walker kept moving through the woods, moving parallel to the field. Shaken, Joe walked backwards to his car, keeping an eye out for whatever growled at him. A short time later his partner returned.

A few days later they returned to the location for more hunting. He took up his position in the woods, but after about an hour he heard something pacing back and forth about 25 yards in front of him. The pacing lasted for at least thirty minutes. Rocks were then thrown at him, coming at him from the direction of the pacing. Joe then saw an arm and legs of what was pacing as it moved deeper into the woods. Then trees (Joe estimates the trees to be twenty feet tall) appeared to be violently shaken back and forth. At this point Joe turned and ran back to the car where his hunting partners were waiting. Since the incidents Joe has never returned to the location.

I found Joe to be a credible witness who has nearly thirty years of significant hunting experience throughout Wisconsin and in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He absolutely positive that what he heard was not deer, bear, or other animals, nor was it another hunter. Even 24 years later he is still shaken by the incidents.

This occurred close to the location in report #40718.

About BFRO Investigator Robert Barhite:

A native of far northeast Iowa, Robert has always had an intense interest in Bigfoot and exploring the great outdoors.

His first expedition was the 2012 BFRO Iowa Hill Country Expedition He the 2013 Iowa Big River Expedition, 2013 Oregon Cascades Expedition, 2013 Michigan Upper Peninsula Expedition, 2014 and 2015 Wisconsin Expeditions, 2014 Iowa Expedition, and the 2015 Iowa Spring Expedition. Since 2012 Robert has participated in several private expeditions in Iowa and in Wisconsin. In addition to expeditions, he has conducted numerous solo research trips in Iowa and Wisconsin throughout 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. And for the last two years has been a guest lecturer at the request of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. Robert led the 2016 Iowa Spring Expedition and is assisting with the 2016 Iowa Fall Expedition and is scouting locations across North America for 2017 expeditions, and continues to monitor activity in a long-term study location in the Midwest.

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