Bugle Magazine Article
November/December 2002

Elk hunters report possible sasquatch encounters in "Bugle" magazine.

In the November/December 2002 (Volume 19 Issue 6) issue of "Bugle" magazine, publication of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, several writers shared their possible encounters with sasquatch.

One article titled "Bigbutt" in this issue of Bugle was written by David Petersen, author of the book "Ghost Grizzlies", which deals with the possibility of a few surviving grizzlies in the mountains of southern Colorado. Petersen is also a regular contributor to many outdoor magazines and has also authored other books on outdoor subjects.

Petersen's article in "Bugle" details how he met a sasquatch on an old road-cut at dusk while bowhunting in a forest in southern Colorado. Walking quietly around a bend in the road-cut, Petersen was startled to see an odd upright creature coming down the road-cut toward him at a range of only 20 yards. Petersen described the creature as somewhat over 5 foot tall, perhaps 200 pounds, having somewhat short legs compared to a man, longer arms than a man, thick through the torso, upright posture, bi-pedal locomotion, and Petersen was struck by the creatures apparent large butt as it eventually turned and stepped off the trail. (A description rather reminiscent of the female sasquatch in the Patterson/Gimlin film, but on a slightly smaller scale).

It was too dark to see facial details beyond the fact that it had a flat face. The two strangers stopped and stared at one another for awhile on the road-cut before the creature eventually stepped toward the edge of the road, where it swayed back and forth for a time as if trying to get a better sense of the bow hunter it had encountered on the trail. Eventually the creature walked off into the darkening forest and Petersen went on his way.

Other articles in this addition of "Bugle" also dealt with possible sasquatch activity. Experienced bow hunter James Slack of Farmington, New Mexico wrote in his article of finding a very large, human-like track in a sandy wash while bowhunting elk in the mountains of northern New Mexico. (This would have occurred not too far south of the sighting experience of author David Petersen in Colorado)

Chris Mortenson of Avon, Utah wrote an article titled "Keeping an Open Mind" about an experience he had while hunting elk near the Utah-Idaho border. Mortenson describes a long series of incredibly loud animal sounds he heard, "a very loud, low-pitched sound that I had never heard before---like a cross between a shout and a growl" with each blast of noise "lasting maybe one or two seconds". He could hear the animal, as it seemed to approach him, screaming and popping brush and limbs. Mortenson wrote "The most eerie thing about the noise was the sheer volume?" He also wrote, "What I heard that October day was not an elk, moose, cougar, bear, wolf, coyote or anything else I have ever heard in the wild".

48-year-old veteran bow hunter Terry Coon of Nampa, Idaho wrote an article titled "It Had to Be Big," which details an experience he had while bowhunting elk in Oregon in 1991. Coon describes how he began bugling on his elk bugle in hopes of luring a bull elk, but the answering call was not an elk but rather "the loudest and longest scream that I have ever heard". The screaming thing kept screaming then began to loudly approach Mr. Coon and his wife with a steady walking sound. Coon wrote "The scream that erupted would make the hair on your entire body stand straight out. Whatever it was, - was clearly outraged by my bugle". He also wrote "in all my years in the mountains, I have never heard such a sound". The couple departed hastily in fear after the outraged screamer loudly circled them off trail in the underbrush to within 50 or 60 yards.

Article submitted courtesy Keith Foster , Kansas
January 17, 2003 12:58 PM

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