YEAR: 2018

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: November

DATE: 3

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Grays Harbor County

NEAREST TOWN: Humtulips

NEAREST ROAD: Donkey Creek Rd

OBSERVED: November elk hunting in the Colonel Bob Wilderness in the Olympic National Forest. First day of modern elk season, high above the Humtulips River area. As I was setting up my truck tent for the night on a remote spur road I heard what I believed to be elk movement in the gulley/ravine below me. The area is a good elk hunting location and I have had success there in the past. It was too dark at the point to pursue any bull so I decided to make a cup of coffee, fire up my lantern and do a little reading before crawling into my truck tent for the night.

It was a few minutes after I sat down that I heard a tree in the high timber above me being moved. It sounded like it was being pushed or shoved until it crashed to the forest floor. I am familiar with timber and have spent my entire life running chainsaws and around logging. The tree was large and there was no wind or weather. So I rationalized it as just a weakened tree in the forest that possibly a bear or other large mammal just happened to rub against until it came down. But what happened next unnerved me unlike anything I have ever experienced. About five minutes after the tree incident, I head extremely loud limbs breaking, like fir or hemlock limbs literally being snapped from a tree. The echo of this resonating through the deep timber and deep into the ravine below me. It seemed to be around 100-120 yards above me to my north. Then I heard the same thing in the ravine below me, and another smaller tree snapping and crashed. Then I heard a very odd sound. I have tried to describe it to my family and all I can compare it to is almost a primate like sound, and it echoed through the timber.

At this point I packed up and drove the 7.5 miles back out to the gravel forest service road. I have never been as unnerved as I was. I had the overwhelming sense of being surrounded, and could not rationalize what I had encountered. I have spent my entire life hunting and camping in the backcountry of Washington and Oregon. I am a big game hunter and hunt alone much of the time. I am familiar with big game in Washington. I have no explanation for what I heard.

ALSO NOTICED: Went back following day

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: Always. Never gave any of it any thought.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Late afternoon, dusk/dark

ENVIRONMENT: Deep forest, some reprod very steep

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Scott Taylor:

I spoke to the witness by phone.

He went up USFS Rd. 22 (Donkey Creek Road), and then north up another forest service road. He said that he was 22 miles in from Hwy 101. It’s a very remote area. It was opening day of elk season 2018. He hunted all day, planning on spending the night in a tent that goes in the back of his pickup truck. After dark, he decided to do some wood knocks, like they do on Finding Bigfoot. He found a fir tree limb that was solid and about 4 inches in diameter. He hit a nearby fir tree three times. With the last strike, the limb broke. About half a minute later, from about 100 yards up-slope from him, he heard a tree get pushed back and forth until it snapped-off and fell over. He said that he could hear it cracking as it was push back and forth, then he heard it split and fall over with a “whump”.

At this point he was not unnerved, but thought it was really strange to have a tree fall over. Then he heard a coyote like yell, and then the sound of “jibber-jabber” that was like talking. A lifelong Washington State hunter, he could not identify the sounds he was hearing. Then everything went silent in the forest. From down below him in the ravine he heard heavy foot falls and then a “chirp-yell”. Not knowing what it was, he decided against staying the night, broke down his tent, and got out of there. He called his wife to tell her about it when he got out to Hwy 101. After he got home, he did an Internet search and found the Sierra Sounds recordings. It was a close match to what he heard.

We agreed to meet up at the Humptulips store on Saturday July 6th. My wife and I followed him to the location.

We parked at a wide spot where the road forks. It was about a quarter mile walk to the site. When we got to the location, I asked the witness to describe again what occurred that day, and to indicate where the tree was pushed over, where he heard the vocalization down the slope below him, and where he heard the “jibber-jabber” talk. I took photos of the scene. I asked him which tree he hit with the tree-limb. He actually found both pieces of the tree limb to show me. I asked him to hit the tree again three times. There was no response, but we hoped.

This is the tree that the witness knocked on. The second creature was directly below him in the direction the photo was taken.


This is the witness holding the piece of wood that he used to make the tree knocks:



Having surveyed the scene, we retrieved camp chairs and snacks from our vehicles and returned to the site of the encounter. We arranged the chairs so that we could each watch behind the person in front of us. We talked until after it got full dark. Around 10:00PM we decided it was time to leave.

Based on the witness’s description of the behavior he experienced, along with the “jibber-jabber” talking and that two individuals on each side of him were communicating with each other, I am very sure that he had an encounter with two saquatches, although they remained unseen.



New info:
I accompanied the witness to the location on 9/11/20. We again explored the area, looking for anything that is possibly associated with sasquatches. We did not find a great deal other than elk and bear sign.

About 3:00PM, we waited by our vehicles to just see what might happen as it got dark. The witness observed that he noticed no birds, chipmunks or squirrels making any noise. It was very quiet. He also mentioned that in his experience, as it got near dusk, the woods seemed to come alive with movement and stick popping as large animals became active. About 5:00PM, he whacked a tree one time with a large alder stick that he brought along. As he expected, about 6:00PM, we started to hear the movement of large animals. There was movement to the north, the direction we were facing, and later to the south, behind us. We looked around to see if we could spot what was moving to see if it was deer, elk or bear. Nothing was observed. We felt it was significant that the movement was both ahead and behind us. We also had been talking, which usually makes the deer, elk and bears avoid the area. This was something that was approaching us that knew we were there.

About 7:00PM, a 15-inch diameter fir tree fell over. It was in front of us about 75 yards away. It fell towards us. We both were able to witness the tree falling. It was a live, healthy looking tree. We couldn’t see what was at the base of the tree due to the contour or the slope in front of us. However, it is notable that this is the second time that while the witness has been at this location that a tree fell. There was no wind at all. I walked up the road towards the direction of the tree to see if I could spot the tree or what might have made it fall. I could not see a anything from the road. Oddly, the birds started to make some chirps after the tree fell.

I began to record audio at the time of the tree fall, but did not record the actual fall. However, I let the recorder run for 45 minutes. We could still hear the sounds of a couple of large animals moving, but it was very stealthy, with only an occasional pop of a stick. Conditions were very dry, so anything moving in the forest would make noise.

The next day, the witness returned to the location alone. He was able to find the tree. He left eight cookies and two stones on the tree trunk as an offering.

The following weekend, He and I returned to the site. We found the tree again. Looking at it closely, there was root rot and only a small fraction of the tree was holding it up. Could it have fallen naturally? Possibly. However, the timing and direction lead me to believe that it was pushed. Also, the cookies were all gone, as would be expected, but so were the stones. They were no-where to be found on the ground along side or below the tree, so they did not simply roll off.

We spent the whole night out there, staying up until about 11:00 PM. There was no activity. The day had been rainy. At night, a ¾ full moon illuminated the forest.

About BFRO Investigator Scott Taylor:

Scott Taylor is a retired aerospace manager. He lives in Mason County, Washington. He had his first bigfoot encounter in October 2005 where he was stalked and later heard vocalizations. He attended official BFRO Expeditions in the Washington Cascades in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. He also attended the 2007 BFRO Expedition in the central Oregon Cascades and the 2007 Utah Expedition in the Uinta's. He attended the 2008 and 2009 Olympic Peninsula Expeditions and co-lead the 2013 Expedition. He has participated in numerous speaking engagements over the past 17 years.

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