YEAR: 2016-2019

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 18

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: San Augustine County

LOCATION DETAILS: National Forest public hunting land at Sam Rayburn lake

NEAREST TOWN: Broadus

NEAREST ROAD: Forestry rd 318, fm 3173

OBSERVED: I have multiple reports to make. Bigfoot is living in the Angelina National Forest, no doubts. My husband grew up hunting there, but I have only been hunting in there for the past 4-5 years. Geography, it is on Sam Rayburn lake, piney woods with thick yaupon brush and a public hunting area that is very secluded. We typically hunt between a dirt road and the lake, there are 'fingers' or peninsulas of land.

I grew up very close to the Big Thicket & spent my life in the woods but I began to feel uncomfortable in there, unlike hunting or hiking anywhere else. My husband also noticed this feeling of being watched or hunted, as did guest we brought with us.

The 1st experience, my husband was sitting on the ground hunting for deer. He saw some movement far up in a pine tree. There are large birds (eagles/hawks/woodpeckers etc) so that's what he expected it to be. But a head and shoulders peeked around, looked at him, out stretched an arm and then it jumped to the next tree over. Then it proceeded to jump from tree to tree approaching towards him. It was small woman/large child sized and too far away to make out much other than its shape. But it clearly was ape-like. He left before it got any closer & we left out of there for the day. No other experiences that year (2016). I dubbed this general area bigfoot's backyard, jokingly. At this point I knew he saw something but I wasn't REALLY ready to call it Bigfoot. We no longer camped out there after that.

The next year I was in Bigfoot's backyard walking very slow & quiet listening for squirrels. I was squirrel hunting dressed in camo and was closer to the dirt road than the lake. It was in October and almost dark when I heard this growl (if you can call it that!). It came from the thick brush about 50' behind me. It was the deepest most guttural GRR-UMPH. We don't really have bear here but I fully expected to turn around to a grizzly bear as loud & deep as the growl was, but I didn't see anything. We left immediately.

Later in Nov. my husband was hunting a few hundred yards from that spot and something growled & growled at him until he left. Deep deep guttural growling. This was (2017) and we no longer waited until after dark to leave our hunting spots. A couple of acquaintances of my husband, a father & son, was looking for a public land spot to hunt deer. He gave them a tour of the spots off of that dirt road. These guys moved here from bear country, so let that be known. They had tree climbing stands, so no visible ladder from the ground. They go out there by themselves, they pick bigfoots backyard to hunt in. The son arrives 1st and and climbs 30' up a tree. It is the exact spot I was growled at before. A little later the dad arrives. He comes in, crosses a little creek right by the son & goes down toward the lake. It gets quiet then the son heard something walking, he naturally thinks it's a deer. He watched a huge dark hairy creature walking upright on two legs, not just walk in the direction of where his dad went, but walk the exact trail he took. There isn't phone signal in that spot. He told me he wasn't about to move in case it saw him.

The dad was never aware he was stalked by bigfoot, climbed up in the tree and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. They never went back. I think that was in 2017, November or December.

This year my husband went out there first and hunted bigfoot's backyard and told me it felt comfortable in there. This lulled me into going back out there. I didn't feel comfortable at all. I heard strange whistling and sniffing noises, and the next time, loud repetitive whoop whoop whoop. I declared the woods still had bigfoot & few deer and I wasn't returning anymore. So husband goes a few times by himself.

One evening, he sits in a lean-to stand that is maybe 1/8 of a mile from bigfoot's backyard. It has a ladder and is 12' off the ground. This is a new hunting spot and unfortunately a bigfoot hunting party stumbles onto my husband. He is facing a draw with a small creek that runs down to the lake (to his left). The dirt road is through some thick yaupon brush to his right. Behind him and across the draw is thick yaupon brush also. They clear cut timber company land a few hundred yards ahead of him, although it's not visible from the stand. It's a Monday and he is the only human out there hunting, 5:15pm November 18, 2019. He see the back end of a deer go into the woods. It had crossed the draw, had come in down wind and was heading towards the clear cut area. My husband was dressed in full camo, didn't spray scent killer and had in fact gotten scented candle on himself.

He hears a strange deep HUM-Phhh from the youpon behind and to his left. At first he thought it could have been a deer, although a strange noise for a deer. It makes a low growing noise and starts moving back & forth in the brush. Its obviously big & heavy. Then it starts UMPH UMPH UMPH very loudly. This makes my husband VERY uncomfortable. Then it does a howl, like a wolf, but cuts it short. Like a 2 second extremely loud howl that just abruptly ends. Hair raising howls. Another abrupt howl answers him from down the draw towards the lake followed by three loud knocks, loud as gunshots. We assume they were tree knocks. Then the one closest starts talking in gibberish. Hearable but not loudly.

My husband announces that if it a person playing a joke they are about to get shot at. The gibberish stops and is replaced by even louder growling and it advances towards him. He fires a shot from his rifle towards the growling because at this point he is fearful of being attacked. They start charging towards him. He could see the tops of the youpon parting way. The loud growling and brush was breaking so loud. He shimmied down the ladder and ran for his truck pushing his way through the brush. The two growling creatures stayed just a little bit behind him all the while growling, breaking over small trees & just ripping brush up. They chased him to the road, but never stepped out. He ran to his truck and left.

Based on these experiences there are some facts that I truly believe. Bigfoot is a real animal not a mythical creature. It is smart, hunts in pairs or groups and is definitely a meat eating predator, and in this area deer & wild hog are plentiful. It has communicative skills, although primitive. It has a VERY good sense of smell that would rival that of a dog/hog/deer. Their young spend alot of time in the trees. They drive their prey into areas where it is easier to catch, like close to water. They most likely have "scouts" when humans are in the area & their family unit is close by. They do not like humans to surprise them and will do their best to scare the humans out of their territory if they deem them too close or dangerous.

ALSO NOTICED: Yes. It would be eerily silent sometimes. No birds no sounds.

OTHER WITNESSES: Yes, hunting

OTHER STORIES: Not from others who hunt the same area, but yes from us who experience things year after year in the same area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Always evening time

ENVIRONMENT: Piney woods, thick youpon brush with small creeks and open draws.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

There are probably some bigfoots still in this area at the time of this publication, within 2 miles of these coordinates:
31.169677 -94.173086
(Paste the coordinates into the search box of Google Earth)

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Juris Doctorate (Law degree) from University of Akron School of Law

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO

- Available for private bigfoot expeditions and conferences. To inquire please email ContactUS@BFRO.net

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