Report # 79083(Class A) Submitted by witness Will Boeving on Tuesday, August 26, 2025.Trail cam photo of a bigfoot recorded in Poplar Bluff on private land (Show Printer-friendly Version)
OBSERVED: I would like to show a photo I have that one of my game cameras took on Wednesday August 20, 2025 at 12:30 PM.
I live in Poplar Bluff, Missouri about 15 minutes west of town. The photo shows what looks to me like a Bigfoot, that’s the only way I know to describe it.
I was alerted via my iPhone that my camera had taken a picture because motion was detected. As soon as I pulled up the image to see what had triggered it I was immediately curious because I could see something huge standing in the middle of the creek. I quickly went to show my wife who I was eating lunch with at the time. She agreed it looked like something huge but she couldn’t make out quite what it could be.
I loaded up the “live” view option on this camera since it has cellular capabilities. By the time it had pulled up the live view of the creek(approximately 10-15 seconds later) the creature was already gone. It was no longer In the frame.
I had to go back to work after lunch until 5 that afternoon. After work I called my brother and told him to meet me and we would go down to the creek and try and see what this was. When we got down there we started looking for footprints and found none on the banks. Whatever it was appeared to have stayed in the water the entire time. Unfortunately the creek bottom in this area is extremely course and has nothing but fist sized creek gravel, so the ability to see any type of a footprint was very difficult. The water, this time of year is about waist to ankle deep and flows at a pretty quick pace.
I had my brother stand where the creature was standing and tried to replicate the image of him, at which point we realized the creature was several feet taller than my brother, who is 6 feet tall. My brother’s head didn’t even cover half the background that this thing covered in the original picture. It was much much taller and at least 2 or 3 times wider than my brother.
We see deer out on the farm all the time but we knew this was not a deer for obvious size reasons. This thing appears to be facing the camera. Standing up on 2 legs.
Just to make sure we did our investigation due diligence, we went out about 2 days later and took another picture of my brother standing in the same spot, but this time we took it with the game cam itself instead of my iPhone, and at the same time of day.
The images are similar: same camera from the same angle on different day. The water level was a few inches lower, but otherwise the conditions and lighting were basically the same. This thing was still several feet taller than my brother.
I set up this cellular trail camera so I could easily check the water level of creek through my phone app, but this camera can detect motion also. It has only ever detected motion and taken photos when the small branches and leaves right in front of it triggered it when blowing in the breeze.
There were several images sent that day that were triggered by the blowing leaves. This creature happened to be in the creek when the camera was triggered by the leaves at this moment. The creature was approximately 100 feet away from the camera, which is too far to trigger it.
I normally do not pay too much attention to the notifications from this camera because the purpose of it is to look out over the creek so I can see if the creek is flooding during rainstorms, in which case I would could quickly return home to drag my kayaks and camping gear up away from the creek itself.
The camera is far enough away from creek/banks that no animals have ever triggered it simply by walking in the water, or on the sides of the creek. This camera sits on the north end of our 700 acre family farm. This property is totally private and there is no access to the creek area unless you walk about 3/4 of a mile through the woods from the county road I live on. We’ve owned the property since the mid 80s and have never had any issues with trespassers down in this area; for one, this particular area is extremely secluded and difficult to get to. It’s also completely fenced off and I have no trespassing signs everywhere out here.
We scoured the banks up and down the creek several hundred yards both directions but couldn’t tell where it had left the waterway. We have heard stories over the years from several people out this direction that they have seen what appeared to be a bigfoot. I have always been genuinely curious but never perused the validity of those statements myself because it was just never on my radar, until it showed up accidentally on a game cam that was set up for the purpose of checking creek water levels.
The camera had been down there about 3 or 4 weeks. We had lost a kayak earlier in the summer and realized we needed a way to be able to tell when the water was rising so we could remove the kayaks ahead of time.
This camera is so far down away from anything that it only has one bar of cellular service, therefore it will only send standard definition pictures of anything rather than high definition.
If I had a memory card in it at the time, I could have had it save those images in high resolution but that was never my goal. I wasn’t trying to see deer antlers or turkey or anything like that, so standard(low) definitely images worked just fine for me simply looking at water levels.
This creature is several feet taller than my 6’ brother, as well as 2 or 3 times wider, its colored brown and black. It is standing on 2 legs, has 2 arms, and appeared to be walking towards the camera. I believe it’s a Bigfoot.
ALSO NOTICED: We have heard howls in this area of the farm for years but have never really thought much of it until now. I always assumed it was maybe coyotes. This creek is down at the base of a big hill and has a flat area next to it that we call “hidden valley”
OTHER WITNESSES: No face to face witness, just the image captured on my game cam and then myself and other who I have shown it to.
OTHER STORIES: After I started asking around I found that several other people from over the years had also had strange occurrences like this or had actually see what they believe to be a Bigfoot.
TIME AND CONDITIONS: Time of day was 12:30 PM, it was bright and sunny outside.
ENVIRONMENT: This is a creek bottom, woods on either side of the creek with very very thick vegetation. Shallow water year round unless it’s rainy and flooded
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:
YOU CAN CLICK ON ALL OF THESE IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSIONS.
Here are some images and a video that provide more context. This context should help with the mathematical calculations for determine the height parameters for the Bigfoot-like figure.
The first is the uncropped photo taken at 12:30:39 showing the creature standing in the creek. The moving leaves at the top of the frame triggered the camera when the creature was in view.
You can click on all these images for larger verisions.
Many modern trail cameras can be set to shoot a series of photos when triggered. This camera was not set for a series of photos, so there is only one photo of the creature.
This photo below shows the uncropped scale image from the same trail camera showing Red Boeving stand at the same spot, with maximum 5 foot margin of error.
Here is the series of other images taken that day by the camera, also triggered by the moving leaves at the top of the frame.
The image below shows the model of trail camera used. I had to rub my eyes and take a second look at that price because I couldn't believe it at first. Yes, that is the actual price on Amazon. It's astouding how inexpensive these devices have become nowadays. Ten years ago a trail camera with all these features would have cost well over $600.
Below is the Iphone photo mentioned in the witness statement. It was taken from roughly the same position as the trail camera. It shows 6 foot tall Red Boeving standing in the creek. Notice how much better image resolution an IPhone has that this particular trail camera. Click on this image for the full version.
After this IPhone photo was taken we realized that Red may have been standing a bit further back in the water from where the creature was standing. He corrected his position to be closer to the spot where the creature was standing when they obtained the comparative image with the same camera, shown above.
The IPhone image shows a clearer outline of Red Boeving than the comparative image from the trail cam. This clearer outline of Red can be superimosed onto the trail camera image of Red for a more accurate comparative measurement of the creature.
Here is a video shot by Red standing at the spot in the creek where the creature was standing. Red pans around to show the setting from that perspective.
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
