My first encounter?

[WanderingLorax]

In 1994 or 95, I was still living in Minnesota. The eastern portion of the state is thickly forested, and where I grew up was no exception. The underbrush can be very difficult to get through, let alone see into. The summer leaves make for ideal cover. 
 

I went bear hunting with a friend of mine that late summer/ early fall. Bear baiting is legal and an accepted practice there, at least it was. You could go to most grocery stores and bakeries and get a pickup load of food for free. You had to check back almost everyday, most hunters would be looking also. Sweets made for the best bait pile. We would just throw it on the ground at likely places. Some scouting beforehand would be ideal, of course.

 

We had one bait pile hit out of three, I believe. A bear will absolutely destroy the bait. It looks like a small tornado has gone through, lol. My friend was going to sit in his tree stand above the bait pile, and we decided to set out “honey burners” to attempt to attract the bear. To make a honey burner, we took two coffe cans. A 5lb and a 1lb sounds right, but I don’t drink coffee, so my memory may be fuzzy. (It’s actually quite fuzzy from time to time.) we drilled 4 holes in the 5lb can to put a couple metal rods through to hold the 1lb can up from the bottom of the other can far enough to put a can of lit sterno under it. We then poured honey into the 1lb and wired the contraption to a tree. We each had a burner set up and we were about 200 yards apart. The smell of the honey was thick, as there was only a slight breeze. I only had a burner going. No bait pile. We could not see each other at all.

 

 I sat in my portable tree stand for a few hours, and along about dusk, something in the brush behind the burner started to growl at me. Deep, guttural grows. The growls were loud. I thought there was a bear back there, naturally, I was bear hunting, what else could it be? Lol. Those growls were quickly turning into a underwear changing moment for me. Then a tree in the background started to shake. Like, whip back and forth like nothing I had ever saw before. The top of the quaking aspen, (pople in Minnesotan) was somewhere around 15 feet off the ground, and the very top was shaking so fast. I don’t even know how to describe it. The growls intensified dramatically. I switched the safety of my .270 off. Then it just quit. The silence was deafening.
 

The 200 yard walk to my friend was long, I tell ya. When I got there, we walked out together. It was almost completely dark by then. I never returned to that spot after I retrieved my stand the next day.

 

 I never considered this a Sasquatch encounter. I hadn’t even heard of tree shakes being a thing until about 8 years ago. When I heard about Sasquatch shaking trees, I instantly remembered this experience. At that time, I thought the PNW was the only place Bigfoot lived. Had I known then, I could’ve looked for tracks. I could’ve looked for bear tracks too, but those growls made me not want to know. So, I have no clue if this was an encounter or not. And I’m still just as happy to not know. 

[SquatchRex]

1 hour ago, WanderingLorax said:

In 1994 or 95, I was still living in Minnesota. The eastern portion of the state is thickly forested, and where I grew up was no exception. The underbrush can be very difficult to get through, let alone see into. The summer leaves make for ideal cover. 
 

I went bear hunting with a friend of mine that late summer/ early fall. Bear baiting is legal and an accepted practice there, at least it was. You could go to most grocery stores and bakeries and get a pickup load of food for free. You had to check back almost everyday, most hunters would be looking also. Sweets made for the best bait pile. We would just throw it on the ground at likely places. Some scouting beforehand would be ideal, of course.

 

We had one bait pile hit out of three, I believe. A bear will absolutely destroy the bait. It looks like a small tornado has gone through, lol. My friend was going to sit in his tree stand above the bait pile, and we decided to set out “honey burners” to attempt to attract the bear. To make a honey burner, we took two coffe cans. A 5lb and a 1lb sounds right, but I don’t drink coffee, so my memory may be fuzzy. (It’s actually quite fuzzy from time to time.) we drilled 4 holes in the 5lb can to put a couple metal rods through to hold the 1lb can up from the bottom of the other can far enough to put a can of lit sterno under it. We then poured honey into the 1lb and wired the contraption to a tree. We each had a burner set up and we were about 200 yards apart. The smell of the honey was thick, as there was only a slight breeze. I only had a burner going. No bait pile. We could not see each other at all.

 

 I sat in my portable tree stand for a few hours, and along about dusk, something in the brush behind the burner started to growl at me. Deep, guttural grows. The growls were loud. I thought there was a bear back there, naturally, I was bear hunting, what else could it be? Lol. Those growls were quickly turning into a underwear changing moment for me. Then a tree in the background started to shake. Like, whip back and forth like nothing I had ever saw before. The top of the quaking aspen, (pople in Minnesotan) was somewhere around 15 feet off the ground, and the very top was shaking so fast. I don’t even know how to describe it. The growls intensified dramatically. I switched the safety of my .270 off. Then it just quit. The silence was deafening.
 

The 200 yard walk to my friend was long, I tell ya. When I got there, we walked out together. It was almost completely dark by then. I never returned to that spot after I retrieved my stand the next day.

 

 I never considered this a Sasquatch encounter. I hadn’t even heard of tree shakes being a thing until about 8 years ago. When I heard about Sasquatch shaking trees, I instantly remembered this experience. At that time, I thought the PNW was the only place Bigfoot lived. Had I known then, I could’ve looked for tracks. I could’ve looked for bear tracks too, but those growls made me not want to know. So, I have no clue if this was an encounter or not. And I’m still just as happy to not know. 

 

There's a chance that it was. It wasn't a visual encounter so you'll never truly know for sure what you ran into in the woods that day. 

 

That being said, I can definitely sympathize with you when you say that you're just as happy with not knowing. I had a little auditory encounter with something unknown right outside of my apartment window at one o' clock in the morning several years back. Something with a DEEP lung capacity passed by my apartment breathing heavily. It only lasted for a few seconds but it really left an impression. It was something very, very large. I could tell by the deep gutteral vocal pitch. It was something that you would expect from something that is 500 lbs or bigger like a bear or a lion. The thing almost sounded like a miniature freight train, and till this day I have no idea what it was. 

 

[NorthWind]

22 hours ago, WanderingLorax said:

In 1994 or 95, I was still living in Minnesota. The eastern portion of the state is thickly forested, and where I grew up was no exception. The underbrush can be very difficult to get through, let alone see into. The summer leaves make for ideal cover. 
 

I went bear hunting with a friend of mine that late summer/ early fall. Bear baiting is legal and an accepted practice there, at least it was. You could go to most grocery stores and bakeries and get a pickup load of food for free. You had to check back almost everyday, most hunters would be looking also. Sweets made for the best bait pile. We would just throw it on the ground at likely places. Some scouting beforehand would be ideal, of course.

 

We had one bait pile hit out of three, I believe. A bear will absolutely destroy the bait. It looks like a small tornado has gone through, lol. My friend was going to sit in his tree stand above the bait pile, and we decided to set out “honey burners” to attempt to attract the bear. To make a honey burner, we took two coffe cans. A 5lb and a 1lb sounds right, but I don’t drink coffee, so my memory may be fuzzy. (It’s actually quite fuzzy from time to time.) we drilled 4 holes in the 5lb can to put a couple metal rods through to hold the 1lb can up from the bottom of the other can far enough to put a can of lit sterno under it. We then poured honey into the 1lb and wired the contraption to a tree. We each had a burner set up and we were about 200 yards apart. The smell of the honey was thick, as there was only a slight breeze. I only had a burner going. No bait pile. We could not see each other at all.

 

 I sat in my portable tree stand for a few hours, and along about dusk, something in the brush behind the burner started to growl at me. Deep, guttural grows. The growls were loud. I thought there was a bear back there, naturally, I was bear hunting, what else could it be? Lol. Those growls were quickly turning into a underwear changing moment for me. Then a tree in the background started to shake. Like, whip back and forth like nothing I had ever saw before. The top of the quaking aspen, (pople in Minnesotan) was somewhere around 15 feet off the ground, and the very top was shaking so fast. I don’t even know how to describe it. The growls intensified dramatically. I switched the safety of my .270 off. Then it just quit. The silence was deafening.
 

The 200 yard walk to my friend was long, I tell ya. When I got there, we walked out together. It was almost completely dark by then. I never returned to that spot after I retrieved my stand the next day.

 

 I never considered this a Sasquatch encounter. I hadn’t even heard of tree shakes being a thing until about 8 years ago. When I heard about Sasquatch shaking trees, I instantly remembered this experience. At that time, I thought the PNW was the only place Bigfoot lived. Had I known then, I could’ve looked for tracks. I could’ve looked for bear tracks too, but those growls made me not want to know. So, I have no clue if this was an encounter or not. And I’m still just as happy to not know. 

Thank you for sharing.

 

I know about the tree shaking. I have experienced it twice in Florida, not far from Myakka State Park. I have posted about it here before. But both times it scared the stuffing out of me, big time. I can relate. 

[Annie Nore]

This may be a silly question, but bears do shake trees, don't they? It would be more like thumping a tree?

Sasquatch shake or make a motion as if "waving" with a tree?

[Doug]

On 5/7/2022 at 6:02 PM, WanderingLorax said:

Had I known then,

I have had numerous experiences that I never thought were sasquatch related until I found out later that they were. If I had a time machine, I believe I could maybe had an actual sighting had I known what I know now.

[MIB]

1 hour ago, Annie Nore said:

This may be a silly question, but bears do shake trees, don't they? It would be more like thumping a tree?

Sasquatch shake or make a motion as if "waving" with a tree?

 

It's not a silly question, it's just a mis-imagining of what has been reported.    Certainly bears shake trees but what I saw required the tree to be pulled back just as violently as it was pushed away .. that takes grasping hands, not merely feet pushing away.     The size of the tree was too large for human hands and the shaking too violent for human muscles.   It was .. BIG.  It was .. STRONG.     

 

MIB

 

[Annie Nore]

1 hour ago, MIB said:

 

It's not a silly question, it's just a mis-imagining of what has been reported.    Certainly bears shake trees but what I saw required the tree to be pulled back just as violently as it was pushed away .. that takes grasping hands, not merely feet pushing away.     The size of the tree was too large for human hands and the shaking too violent for human muscles.   It was .. BIG.  It was .. STRONG.     

 

MIB

 

 

It sounds like a remarkable experience!

[7.62]

4 hours ago, Annie Nore said:

This may be a silly question, but bears do shake trees, don't they? It would be more like thumping a tree?

Sasquatch shake or make a motion as if "waving" with a tree?

They do 

 

Black bears do shake trees back and forth  . It's mostly done for a purpose in mind . We had an apple orchard we use to deer hunt and black bears would get on their hind legs and rock the smaller trees  . You could always tell that a bear did it . It's a lot easier than climbing and trying to swat or grab them with their mouths .

[Celtic Raider]

Thanks for posting this @WanderingLorax.

 

I wonder if I can ask a couple questions...............

Did you smell anything unusual?

Also, when you hear purported sasquatch howls now such as those on this website,  is it similar to what you heard?

[WanderingLorax]

@Celtic Raider I do not recall smelling anything unusual. As for the howls, I have not found that part of the forum yet. Where do I find this? 
 One thing though, and I didn’t know this until recently, black bears don’t growl. What I saw was better described by @MIB than myself.
Thank you 

[Celtic Raider]

7 hours ago, WanderingLorax said:

@Celtic Raider I do not recall smelling anything unusual. As for the howls, I have not found that part of the forum yet. Where do I find this? 
 One thing though, and I didn’t know this until recently, black bears don’t growl. What I saw was better described by @MIB than myself.
Thank you 

 

Thanks for the reply! 

 

In the Film/Video/Photos/Audio section there is a specific topic called A Place to Share Audio Files but they're often posted in other topics as well. I've heard some very strange ones on here that don't sound like any other animal that I know.........and I'm no expert of course, but just wondering if any are eerily similar 

[WanderingLorax]

On 5/10/2022 at 4:02 AM, Celtic Raider said:

 

Thanks for the reply! 

 

In the Film/Video/Photos/Audio section there is a specific topic called A Place to Share Audio Files but they're often posted in other topics as well. I've heard some very strange ones on here that don't sound like any other animal that I know.........and I'm no expert of course, but just wondering if any are eerily similar 

Thank you. I’ll look into it.

[Stabbath]

On 5/8/2022 at 8:00 PM, Annie Nore said:

This may be a silly question, but bears do shake trees, don't they? It would be more like thumping a tree?

Sasquatch shake or make a motion as if "waving" with a tree?

Yes. they shake trees. https://www.google.com/search?q=bear+shaking+tree&oq=bear+shaking+tree+&aqs=chrome..69i57.5481j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Viral vid of the two men working out with the bear cracks me up. 

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Stabbath

[WanderingLorax]

@Celtic Raider I forgot to reply to you about sounds that I heard. I apologize for my late response. I have been listening to audio from here and other sites. Nothing matches what I heard that day. 

[Grubfingers]

On 5/7/2022 at 9:02 PM, WanderingLorax said:

In 1994 or 95, I was still living in Minnesota. The eastern portion of the state is thickly forested, and where I grew up was no exception. The underbrush can be very difficult to get through, let alone see into. The summer leaves make for ideal cover. 
 

I went bear hunting with a friend of mine that late summer/ early fall. Bear baiting is legal and an accepted practice there, at least it was. You could go to most grocery stores and bakeries and get a pickup load of food for free. You had to check back almost everyday, most hunters would be looking also. Sweets made for the best bait pile. We would just throw it on the ground at likely places. Some scouting beforehand would be ideal, of course.

 

We had one bait pile hit out of three, I believe. A bear will absolutely destroy the bait. It looks like a small tornado has gone through, lol. My friend was going to sit in his tree stand above the bait pile, and we decided to set out “honey burners” to attempt to attract the bear. To make a honey burner, we took two coffe cans. A 5lb and a 1lb sounds right, but I don’t drink coffee, so my memory may be fuzzy. (It’s actually quite fuzzy from time to time.) we drilled 4 holes in the 5lb can to put a couple metal rods through to hold the 1lb can up from the bottom of the other can far enough to put a can of lit sterno under it. We then poured honey into the 1lb and wired the contraption to a tree. We each had a burner set up and we were about 200 yards apart. The smell of the honey was thick, as there was only a slight breeze. I only had a burner going. No bait pile. We could not see each other at all.

 

 I sat in my portable tree stand for a few hours, and along about dusk, something in the brush behind the burner started to growl at me. Deep, guttural grows. The growls were loud. I thought there was a bear back there, naturally, I was bear hunting, what else could it be? Lol. Those growls were quickly turning into a underwear changing moment for me. Then a tree in the background started to shake. Like, whip back and forth like nothing I had ever saw before. The top of the quaking aspen, (pople in Minnesotan) was somewhere around 15 feet off the ground, and the very top was shaking so fast. I don’t even know how to describe it. The growls intensified dramatically. I switched the safety of my .270 off. Then it just quit. The silence was deafening.
 

The 200 yard walk to my friend was long, I tell ya. When I got there, we walked out together. It was almost completely dark by then. I never returned to that spot after I retrieved my stand the next day.

 

 I never considered this a Sasquatch encounter. I hadn’t even heard of tree shakes being a thing until about 8 years ago. When I heard about Sasquatch shaking trees, I instantly remembered this experience. At that time, I thought the PNW was the only place Bigfoot lived. Had I known then, I could’ve looked for tracks. I could’ve looked for bear tracks too, but those growls made me not want to know. So, I have no clue if this was an encounter or not. And I’m still just as happy to not know. 

Great story! I’ve heard things I can’t explain it keeps us looking.