YEAR: 2003

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 14'th

STATE: California

COUNTY: Placer County

LOCATION DETAILS: From Foresthill follow the signs to the lake, roughly 30 miles to the reservoir.

NEAREST TOWN: Foresthill

NEAREST ROAD: Forestry road, backside of French Meadows reservoir.

OBSERVED: Me and my fishing buddy went camping at French Meadows reservoir to get in the last days of the season. In the campground we were alone and everything was shut down, nighttime temps were 32 and 29 the second night. We were in the last campground on a dirt road a mile east of the lake. Very few hunters were in the area because it’s a game refuge and no other fishermen were in the area. We got in camp around 9pm because the fishing was great and it took time to clean our fish. As soon as we got there i gave out my whoop whoop whoop whoop, hoping to hear a return call. This went on every hour and my buddy all the while half cracking up looking at me like I’m nuts. At 1am my buddy was asleep in the sack [his Cherokee]. At 1:30am, I let out my last calls, you could here the echoes for 3 to 4 second's afterward. 10 second's after my call I got a woooraa back. I was shocked to get my first return call ever, it sounded to be a good 300 to 500 yards out and with a two D-cell flashlight, Ii was not going to investigate. The direction the sound came from there were no roads or camps. I knocked on my buddy’s car and got him up hoping he had heard it but all he said he heard was me. From now on I will take a recorder. I’ve been hunting fishing and hiking all my life and that was the only time I heard this sound. It was not a coyote, a cat or an owl [I know them well]. In my heart I believe it was either a person or a bigfoot. The remote area from which the sound came from tends to make me believe the latter.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me, my friend had turned in. I was just staying warm next to the fire beforehand.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 1:30 am, 3/4 moon, no camp lights, just coals in the fire pit. Clear night, unseasonably warm in the day, 32 degrees that night.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest

Follow-up investigation report:

The witness is a BF enthusiast, and stated he has made a practice of emitting a series of primate-like "whoops" when in the forest, hoping to get a return; this is the first return he has ever received. The witness also states he neither saw nor heard anything that would cause him to suspect there were any other people camping in the area from where the return originated. The witness reported the return vocalization to be "non-threatening", possibly as distant as one mile away and was a single vocalization of approx. 3 seconds in duration. Although an echo was noted on his own vocalization calls, no echo was reported on the return vocalization. The witness did not attempt to investigate the area the following morning for any sign, nor did he have anything further to report regarding this incident.

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