BFRO #7785: Family in small boat hears animal retreating and finds prints

📍 Location

📝 Description

I have been reading your site for the last couple of years, and thought I'd share some experiences I've had over the years. Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but it may add to your database.I have been interested in Sasquatch/Bigfoot since I was a small boy growing up in Central Oregon hearing stories from my uncles and their friends about the goings on in Northern California in the 50s' and 60s'. While there was a lot of skepticism about the possibility of such a creature existing, there was also an underlying acceptance of the possibility that it could exist. My family, and most of the people I knew, spent a lot of time in the woods hunting, fishing, and camping. My grandfather and uncle were expert hunters and woodsmen, and taught me those skills from the time I could walk. In the first 20 years of my life, most of my free time was spent hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and exploring the wild areas around my hometown.In 1963, my grandfather, mother, brother, and I hiked in to Teddy Lakes in the Three Sisters Wilderness area to go fishing. In those days the Forest Service kept a wooden rowboat at the lake for people to use. We took the boat out and fished for awhile and decided to explore the far end of the lake. There is a small cove at that end of the lake with an island at the mouth of the cove. The cove itself is shallow and swampy. As we rowed around the island we could hear splashing on the other side, and thought maybe had disturbed a bear or an elk. When we rounded the island, the animal was gone, but the ripples in the water were still evident. We took the boat over to the shallows to examine the tracks the animal had left to determine what it was. Most of the area between the island and the shore was maybe 5 or 6 feet deep up to within about 50 feet of the shore where there was about a foot of water over soft mud. What we saw has stuck in my mind for the rest of my life. There was a clear line of tracks where the animal had emerged from the deeper water and walked through the shallows leaving very deep tracks on the mud. It looked like the tracks of a very large man, only wider, longer, and deeper. It was clearly the trail of a two legged creature taking large steps leaving about a 15" track very deep in the mud. My grandfather and I pondered those tracks for a long time trying to come up with an explanation for what made them. All I can say for absolute certainty is that it was not a bear, elk, or any other animal known to live in the area. We tried to follow the animal into the woods, but lost the trail in the deep forest litter.The reason those tracks have stuck in my mind for so long are two fold. While I was only 9 years old at the time, I had spent several years learning the tracks of the animals in the area, and felt very confident in my ability to identify the maker of the track, when it was made, where the animal was going, etc. I had absolutely no idea what made that track. My grandfather, who was an absolute expert hunter and tracker also could not identify those tracks. We had many discussions over the years as to what that animal was, and never did come up with a plausible explanation. As I have learned more about the Sasquatch from reading books over the years, I have come to think it might have been our elusive furry friend. Another important point is that before rowing over to the island, we had been fishing in the lake for an hour or so talking most of the time. This is a small lake, and any wild animal would have heard us and left the area well before we rowed to the island. The tracks were made by a very large animal. The large animals known to exist in the area are bear, elk, cougar, and deer. All of those animals flee at the first hint of people. It is true that cougars will occasionally observe people from concealment, but I have never known one to swim out to an islad to watch people fishing in a boat. Whatever the animal was, it was watching us from the island and only left when we approached. We didn't smell or hear anything other than the sounds of the animal moving through the water as it went through the shallows. Another incident happened in 1970 or 71 while bowhunting for deer in the Swampy Lakes area West of Bend. I had driven to Tumalo Falls and walked from there in the general direction of Swampy Lakes. I had been out since before dawn hunting and just hiking around, and had stopped around noon to have some lunch and rest. It was a sunny day, with the sound of the wind in the pine trees, and an occasional bird calling. I was having a nice time soaking it all in and thinking about where I was going to go that afternoon. All of a sudden, I got this overwhelming feeling of being watched, and became very anxious. I am not one to become overly excited especially when in the woods. I am very comfortable in the wilds, and had spent countless days in situations just like that day. It is in fact where I feel most comfortable and at home. Anyway, I could not figure ou

🔍 Circumstances

Yes, for the first incident. My grandparents, mother, and brother.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

see above

ℹ️ Additional Details

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🔗 Sources (1)

👥 Community Contributions

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