YEAR: 1991/1989

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: early bow season

STATE: West Virginia

COUNTY: Pocahontas County

LOCATION DETAILS: Not sure of rt # gravel road between Durbin and Bemis camped at a place called Wildell Bottom.

NEAREST TOWN: Durbin / Elkins

OBSERVED: My encounter was not a sighting of a creature but a friend and I were tracking a doe that I had shot late the evening before. We came up on a mud hole probably about 12-15 feet long it had three huge foot prints crossing it. Each print was disfigured by the rain but were around 3 inches wider and maybe 4 to 5 inches longer than mine and I wear a 10.5 boot. Kinda feaked us out so we returned to camp to finish packing. We were leaving that afternoon and did have time to look for anything else. Also we were hunting late one evening and there was a man that had never hunted with us before so we put him in one of the first tree stands that we had built near the apple orchard beside the creek on the other side of the old rail road bed down the tracks from Wildell bottom when we returned to get Ed he was scared to the point he wouldnt get out of the stand until we, Bernard and I were standing right under the stand. We joked and asked what he had saw. He told us that ther was two upright figures crossed the tracks and come down to the orchard it was too dark to make them out exactly what they were but he did notice that one was taller and had to duck under a branch on the path . I joked and took it a little lightly when Ed told us his story, but when I found the tracks that I did I feel a little differt about what my friend had said.

OTHER WITNESSES: 1 other to the tracks and 3 at sighting of friend

OTHER STORIES: Several people have spoke of hearing strange screams and having a deer dragged off up the mountain and having been ate off of.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Early morning and late evening.

ENVIRONMENT: Swampy bottom edge of hardwoods mountain side.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with the witness by phone. The other hunter is now deceased.

The witness stated that the footprints were very human looking and were at least sixteen inches long and six inches wide.

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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