BFRO #26746: Hunter recalls strange incidents while camping near Valleyview

📍 Location

📝 Description

We were on a canoe/hunting trip down the Little Smokey River by Valleyview Alberta. I'm thinking either 1997 or 98...but I think 1997. I didn't want to report this, due to me being a hunter and I've only told certain people with mixed response. It was a couple days before Elk season in September, the weekend that the Monday was the 15th I think, so we were looking for Whitetail and canoeing/fishing and the river was quite low in most spots at the time. Elk didn't open until the Monday, which was the 15th or 16th, so it was only Deer until then. That Saturday, we ended up on a big sandbar that was filled with fresh Elk track and sign. So we decided to camp and track and if we found a herd, stay until the Monday when Elk opened up and hopefully tag one. We split into quadrants and I went northwest on a game trail with fresh Elk sign. I followed that trail for about 2 km, and then I took several other smaller trails, just tracking and getting closer to where the Elk were. I stopped when I encountered a repugnant smell. I also started to get very spooked - which is not normal for me in the bush, because I know it well, know what is what and well, a guy knows when he has company there. I was pretty sure I was being watched from a few different places, and it scarred the heck out of me. No bear sign, no deer sign...but I was sure I was being watched, and the smell was like a rotting fish and excrement. Not animal scat, (that doesn't smell) closer to human fecal matter smell, but a lot worse. I stood perfectly still for around 10 minutes, not moving a muscle. My heart and breathing had started to pound air out from my mouth to the point where I could see my breath pulse with my heartbeat in the cold air, and feel my heart pounding in my throat. I couldn't stand frozen-still any longer. I had been watching 2 spots; now I turned my head and my foot and stepped, and the whole bush erupted and things ran everywhere. I could see things that definitely were NOT Elk or Deer, but my mind couldn't really compute what I was seeing. I can't honestly say that I clearly identified anything, it was so fast, and the brush was so thick. But there were several large animals scattering from around my location. I got the heck out of there and ran for like 1000 yards (or somewhere close to that). Then I stopped, got my breath...and slowly made my way back to camp. I mean SLOW, because I was absolutely paranoid by this time and I was constantly looking behind me! I said nothing to anyone else. We made camp and eventually fell asleep. Took me forever to do it, but by around 1 AM, I finally did so. It wasn't all that long (and it was a cold night, with a very clear sky before I went to bed), that we were awakened by a scream I can only describe as a "Yowl". It wasn't a scream, it wasn't a yell, but it was something that silenced the entire bush! It was LOUD, foreign and long! It seemed to go on for minutes, but I cannot be sure. I shot up outta my sleeping bag, looked at my brother-in-law, who was already awake and looking at me in sheer horror, and I got out and grabbed my rifle. I can remember hearing, prior to the "yowl" as I fell in and out of sleep, some sort of banging. This seemed odd to me because there was NO forestry anywhere around there. We were miles down that river and no way in or out but by canoe.At times in the fall, grouse beating their plumage can sound very loud in the bush and carry quite a ways, but I am quite sure it was not that. But I am certain about what I have related here. Whatever I saw, I know what it WAS NOT...but that was as close as I got and had very limited visibility.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

I was first watched during the late afternoon,then that night around 2 AM, awoken by screaming in forest.

ℹ️ Additional Details

I was first watched during the late afternoon,then that night around 2 AM, awoken by screaming in forest.

🔗 Sources (1)

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