YEAR: 2008

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 12th

STATE: Wisconsin

COUNTY: Price County

LOCATION DETAILS: [The location is outside Phillips, Wisconsin, not far from the target area of the 2006 expedition.]

NEAREST TOWN: Lugerville

NEAREST ROAD: Hwy 13

OBSERVED: [From Don Young, a BFRO Investigator in Price County, Wisconsin.]

I did a 5 day 4 night camping trip by myself at [a location in Price County]. It was slow at first. I was not picking up anything with the thermal [imager], not even rodents or other animals, as if the woods around me were devoid of life.

The 3rd night I had a feeling of being watched so I stayed close to the truck and set up the thermal to watch the tent. Nothing came around the tent.

On the 4th night things started to happen. A thrown rock or piece of wood came very close to my tent and hit a tree with a very loud thud-pop. I got out of the tent and panned around with the thermal, which was running already outside the tent. It was on a tripod aimed down a trail off the [dirt road]. It looked like nothing was out there.

After about an hour of panning around with the thermal I stood back up and stretched. I aimed the thermal to watch the walking trail, and then I started to go back into the tent when I heard the sounds of brush cracking on both sides of me. This was so close to me that it made the hair on my neck bristle instantly.

I started to pan with the thermal again from one side to the other. After what seemed like about a half hour into it, a bright warm blip in the appeared in the background. It was some kind of animal along down the walking trail. It seemed to be on the edge of the trail and low to the ground.

After I watched it for a while with the thermal I got the sense that it was watching me, and it was peeking over a clump of brush on the edge of the trail. I watched it for a while, until I accidentally kicked into my bag of cans and garbage. I also bumped into the tripod when this happened, which jerked the thermal to the right a bit. Then the blip stood up and ran off on two legs, hunched over.

I could hear it as it ran away from me to the north. I could hear the brush and its footsteps fading into the distance. As the sound trailed off, all around me the brush started to thrash and snap. I
continued to pan around me but saw nothing. The edge growth was so thick on the sides of this overgrown road that the imager could only see in 10-15 feet or so.

Something was back in that brush, on both sides of me. There was two of them, and they both got noisy at the same time as, if trying to get my attention. It seemed like they wanted to get my attention so that I would not follow the one that was walking away. I couldn't see the ones to the side through the thick brush. I looked for a while, but then gave up trying to see them that way. The other way was to aim the thermal imager at the tent, and set it up to record all night, then go sleep.

I went to sleep with the thermal aimed at the tent. I could hear things to the sides of the road for a while. I could only hope they would come closer to the tent. Didn't happen though, so I drove home in the morning to review the footage that I was sure I got.

I watched it on the computer when I got home. It looked like a sasquatch to me. It was peeking over brush for a while, and moving strangely, and then running away hunched over, like it was dodging a sniper.

It was no bear, or other four-legged animal. It was bipedal and it was agile.

When I shot this footage it was almost pitch black outside. There was no moon. So this thing has the ability to run through the dense brush in total darkness, and watch me in total darkness.

I got the impression from the video that it had long arms and big hands and very muscular legs. It doesn't look very large. It
could be a juvenile. It seems to have that spirit to its movements.

The other ones that made the noise around me may have been young ones also.

The other cameras (trailcams) I had set up around my camp area picked up nothing. I did not have a light on or any lantern. It was a cold camp. There was no camp fire for the entire stay.

The squatches arrived at 1:00 AM on the fourth night or 5th morning, and seemed to be all gone at around 2:30 to 3:00 AM.

It was total darkness out there. The trees had a thick canopy over the road. It blocked out any night sky. Without the thermal I could only see darkness.

ALSO NOTICED: Thermal image was recorded, and I took pictures of the area.

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: Yes, my own documented sightings, and I've heard from other people in the area who say they have seen these strange upright creatures elsewhere in Price County.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 1:00 AM Till 3:00 AM

ENVIRONMENT: Heavy forest mixed hardwoods, with thick undergrowth of blackberry and thorn apple.Large cedar and tamarack swamps nearby. Slightly hilly terrain near a river.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

This is the first thermal footage ever obtained of a sasquatch, though its quality will not stand on its own to convince the world. The key portion is only about a second long.

This shortfall doesn't change its authenticity, and thus its importance.

Several people in the BFRO heard the distinct sounds of sasquatches in this same area during a BFRO expedition in 2006. Since then we have gotten to know Don Young very well. He's a local hunting guide outside Phillips and a maker of hand crafted fishing lures.

During the 2006 BFRO expedition in Wisconsin, Don Young's outdoors skills and knowledge impressed Wally Hersom -- the BFRO's main sponsor. A year later Don obtained an interesting, but dimly lit photo which showed an apparent sasquatch. Don got the photo with a trail camera provided by Doug Hajicek (producer of "Monsterquest" TV series). Doug Hajicek was shown the photo but was not interested in doing anything with it. Wally Hersom was more interested in the photo. He purchased the rights to it.

Thereafter Wally loaned several devices to Don Young, including a thermal imager. For months Don tried different tactics for getting footage using the thermal and various other devices provided by Wally.

In July 2008 Don decided to camp out for a few days at place where several incidents had occurred over the course of a few years. Don had no fire or lanterns, intentionally. He waited for a few days before action started happening at night, a portion of this action he was luckily able to record.

This footage shows behavior that is relevant to a perplexing question about this species: How could this species so consistently avoid being photographed or killed by humans? The behavior documented is cautiously and patiently observant, and it is strategically evasive, and it is happening in near absolute darkness.

To download this footage go to the
BFRO's public discussion forum and register for the forum. We need to throttle the server requests this way.

After registering, look for the sub-section titled "New Video Clips". You will not be able to access this section unless you log in. In that section look for the thread mentioning the "link to the Don Young footage".

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 [email protected]

Related Media Articles:

• Wisconsin's Bigfoot Hotspots (4/14/2014; travelwisconsin.com)

• Explanation of the report classification system
• Submit a report for the sightings database
• Please send any comments or inquiries to [email protected]