YEAR: 2004

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: around the 15th

STATE: Michigan

COUNTY: Wexford County

LOCATION DETAILS: about three miles west of the intersection of 7 and 8 road north of eight road between eight and four road in wexford county

NEAREST TOWN: Buckley/mesick area

NEAREST ROAD: 8rd

OBSERVED: Let me start out saying I grew up in the woods of northern Michigan(I was 18 at the time ) I have hunted trapped and fished just about every critter in those woods since I was a very small child and have never experienced any thing like this (that couldn’t be attributed to any thing conventional) before or since ! The night started out normal my ex and I departed for a night of coon hunting. We released the old black and tan hound about a mile from where the encounter happened on a large creek bottom of Fletcher creek just north of eight road where the creek crosses the road this was around 9 o clock pm . The dog took off across the thick creek bottom headed west then north crossing an open meadow and some pine trees before striking the coons sent and quickly treeing the coon on the edge of a large swamp in a big white pine everything normal so far. we didn’t have a gun with us that night so we quickly loaded up the dog and took off to tree another. We released the dog again where the road (possibly 5 or 5and a half road)intersects a old beaver pond where she promptly struck a scent and made a long arching track north then east then south east covering a few miles of the dense forest quickly. I soon realized the dog had struck a bear or bobcat track as she had chased and treed both (in the area and never chased trash deer coyote etc..) and was covering ground quickly in a circle so we decided to intercept the dog on the next trail by the time(around 10 thirty) we got ahead of the dog she had treed whatever she was chasing about a mile south of the road( I don’t know the name of it there is a hunting pen and an oil well on the end of it) so we set off unarmed with two lights nearly dead after about a half mile whatever she was chasing took off again this time easterly assuming it was a bobcat I shut the lights off and stood silently (a bobcat will jump tree and run if it sees a light coming) the dog promptly treed or/bayed the animal it was chasing again about a mile away we headed that way using the lights sparingly again the animal ran after repeating this another two or three times we finally closed the gap to about 300 yards when suddenly the dog went silent and ran straight to us (without calling she wouldn’t come if I called I never could call her off a trail EVER!) tail between its legs whimpering I thought this was odd because the dog had fought bear coon and bobcat and never backed down or lost I didn’t think much of it I was glad to have her back so we could go so I just leashed the dog and started back out we were less than disorientated because of the long twisting turning chase and no moon and to make matters worse the lights died and we had no cell service! after about an hour of walking in what I thought was the right direction I began to hear something big trailing slightly behind and to the left me I stopped and asked my friend if she had heard any thing she admitted she had but didn’t want to admit it for fear of me picking on her we continued and so did the trailing I kept throwing the dim dead light back in the direction of the animal each time the brush would crash and limbs high I don’t know how high but higher than a deer could reach and only a large bear on its hind legs could move or break would react to something fleeing the light before it would die out again after a couple seconds the dog continued its unusual behavior (tail between its legs and skittishness)especially when the animal began circling us we would hear it then it would be silent and a leaf would crunch a head of us I would shine the light in that direction and the sound of heavy pounding feat and big 3 inch around trees would break and shake then the light would go dead The whole time I felt as if something large and intelligent was observing us sizing us up the hair on the back of my neck was standing up and shivers ran down my spine the whole incident lasted an hour or 2 we never saw the animal but heard it circling us and breaking huge limbs trees 2 to 3 inches were being broken within fifty feet of us and less and we never saw the animal just the vegetation around it broken or moving after it fled our light for a brief moment before the light would die. It was almost as if it were deliberately breaking trees to intimidate us or that is what it felt like. I never looked for hair or tracks there was a good foot of leaf cover so tracks were unlikely I never thought of it as a big foot just an unexplainable anomaly . I assumed it was a bear but there was no “woofing” or jaw “popping” both of which I have heard before and I don’t believe the dog would have backed down after treeing and chasing a few already I don’t know if this was a big foot or not it is near some of the other sightings on your web page (I had no idea there were big foot sightings in Michigan) so I figured I would share my story I’m not a big foot believer I believe in the possibility but I’m still skeptical.

The only other strange occurrence I had occurred within about a mile of the other 3 weeks or so earlier when the dog treed a young bear we left the tree to immediately hear a low cry like that of a juvenile animal a whaaa-ooo-a first in the distance then about fifty yards away we attributed it to the young bear calling for its mother and left reflecting on it later it was unlike any bear sound I’d heard -death cry roar growl nothing I don’t know it was raining hard so perhaps the sound was distorted.

ALSO NOTICED: very dark no moon or stars cool very little wind

OTHER WITNESSES: myself and a freind i havent talked with in a few years

OTHER STORIES: i have moved out of state so no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: starting around 11pm and ending around 12am or 1am

ENVIRONMENT: mixed forest maple,oak,beech.ash.white pine cedar swamp clear cuts and open meadows mostly rolling hills and gentle slopes

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Don Peer:

On 9/24/08 I talked to the witness. He seemed honest and straightforward. He lives in Montana now and just happened to stumble on the BFRO website while at work one day, which got him to relate the above story.

He states that his coon hound would chase anything and was never afraid of any local animals, having chased bear, coons and bobcats on a regular basis. On this particular night, after treeing a coon and treeing something that kept on jumping from the tree when he and his ex-girlfriend approached, they decided to head back to the truck. As soon as they headed back towards the truck, the dog had its tail between its legs and wouldn't leave their side. They could hear something walking behind them. When they would flip their dying light on, they could hear it run away, only to have it come back toward them when the light would give out.

This was repeated as they found their way back to the truck. The animal would circle around them and as they got closer to the truck they heard a loud crack. They then found a small tree, about 3 or 4 inches in diameter twisted and broke off about chest high. The tree was still moving after being broke and twisted. The witness states that neither he nor his ex-girlfriend actually saw anything, partly because of the thick forest and also because their light kept going out because of low batteries.

The sequence of sounds described by the witness is consistent with other descriptions of intimidation behavior.

About BFRO Investigator Don Peer:

Don Peer lives in northern Michigan and has studied the bigfoot phenomenon all his life. He has attended numerous Michigan expeditions and co-organized the 2011 Michigan BFRO expedition. He is an avid outdoorsman and works for the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Don Peer may be contacted at [email protected]

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