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Geographical Index > United States > Utah > Utah County > Report # 10024
 
Report # 10024  (Class B)
Submitted by witness on Tuesday, December 14, 2004.
Deer hunter finds a series of footprints on Y Mountain

YEAR: 1982

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 31

STATE: Utah

COUNTY: Utah County

LOCATION DETAILS: You can get to the location by hiking to the Y on the mountain above Provo. Then hike up the ravine just to the South (the trail head is at the Y on the mountain. The way I went, was up Rock Canyon and then I turned South up the first ravine (3 miles up the canyon). Then hike up the ravine to the top and then turn East and hike about a half mile and then you turn South and go up to the top of the mountain (you eventually are at the location where you look down into Rock Canyon from the top). It is very very remote and the most difficult access area. This is where I saw the signs and foot prints.

NEAREST TOWN: Provo

OBSERVED: I was hunting on the second weekend of the deer hunt and I planned on spending the night alone on the top of Y Mountain. When I arrived at the top I found to my surprise that someone was up there this year ( I was shocked that any person would have hiked to this remote location). I followed the foot prints to where they were going because they were going to the valley overlook... as I was walking it was much easier to step into the tracks of the person (the snow was about 1 foot deep)... as I did this I was shocked at the size of the man I was trying to step into the foot steps of..... I almost could not take such huge steps... as the foot prints went under the shadow of the evergreen tree I saw what shocked me.... the foot print were bare foot!!!!!!!!! I could see toe prints clearly!!!! at fist I could not believe it and I looked again and again and measured them and looked at more thinking I was going crazy ....... I got scared and the hair on my neck stood up!!!!!!!!!!! It was very very spooky!!!! and I was alone and going to spend the night with this animal..... I decided to leave imediately....

As I was leaving the mountain I saw more foot prints on the south side of the mountain going down into Rock Canyon.

ALSO NOTICED: As I was hiking off the mountain, and down into Rock Canyon I again came across the tracks and they led to a small pine tree that was about 3 inches in diamiter and the tree was busted off about 2 feet off the ground and the tree was tossed to the side yet the tracks went in circles around the tree to the point that it was packed down (maybe 20 times). Then the tracks went off in another direction than where they came in. It was clear that the animal had picked out the tree and had performed some kind of ritual and then left. The interesting thing was that the animal had not left a track inside the circle and it had reached into the circle and snapped the tree off (the circle was about 3 feet out from the tree? I remembered being very spooked. I am very very familiar with all animals in nature and I have hunted almost every animal and I know it was very unusual. The footprints were fresh and very clearly showed the imprints of a very very large bare foot!!! I measured the foot with my arm and it was about 15 inches...

OTHER WITNESSES: Only me

OTHER STORIES: None

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was before the sun went down in the evening. The weather was..... There was about one foot of snow on the ground, but it was just starting to rain lightly (a new storm was rolling in)

ENVIRONMENT: It is surrounded by cliffs on all sides except one and that is how you get there.


Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

I spoke with the witness by phone.

The witness stated that the footprints measured fourteen inches long and six inches wide. He was able to see the toe prints. As he stepped from footprint to footprint he was barely able to reach the distance between steps.


About BFRO Investigator Stan Courtney:

Stan Courtney has a special interest in wildlife audio recording. He has attended numerous BFRO Expeditions. See Stan's blog StanCourtney.com for recordings he has collected over the years.

Stan Courtney can be reached at illinois@bfro.net