BFRO #8305: Family finds long-stride footprints in snow near house

📍 Location

📝 Description

After a 7" snowfall the previous day (March 16, 2004) and couple more inches overnight (March 17, 2004), I noticed out the side window of the house large tracks about 4 feet from the side of the house. The tracks had been made at some time during the night because most of the snow had fallen but a couple of more inches had accumulated in the tracks making identification unlikely. At first I thought they were some sort of anomaly from snow sliding off the roof or some such thing because they were spaced about 5 feet apart and I called my son down to the bottom floor to have a look. From our vantage point we could only see the tracks along the side of the house and they seemed to disappear into the open yard. We had had some wind with the snow and I thought it may have eradicated some of the tracks. We both went about our daily work and later that afternoon the dish on our satellite needed cleared of sliding snow and I went around the house. Immediately I noticed indentations from the tracks that crossed the front yard and went into the woods. I got my camera and took some pictures of the tracks, which were definitely made by a tall, bipedal animal. Even a bear walking upright would not have able to make the tracks so far apart or sustain the upright stride for so long a distance. I took pictures of the tracks in relationship to the side of the house (for scale) and also in relationship to my own stepped off, end-to-end boot tracks in snow between the tracks. The tracks came from the open field side of the property, through the yard near the house, and continued across the front yard into the woods. There was no indication that the animal had stopped or paused at any time, but the tracks were closer together (slower pace) near the woods. It seemed as if the animal hurried through the open yard and slowed as it neared the relative shelter of the denser woods. I haven't got the photos developed yet so I don't know what I have. Snow is not the best thing to try to get a photo of.

🔍 Circumstances

2 witnesses, we noticed the tracks in the snow the next day.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

Sometime between 12:00 a.m. and approx. 6:00 a.m.

ℹ️ Additional Details

Sometime between 12:00 a.m. and approx. 6:00 a.m.

🔗 Sources (1)

👥 Community Contributions

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