SC EP:1196 The Hunting Club

Spoke to Drew and he has agreed to come on the show. A listener writes "I'm 56 years old and an avid deer hunter with 39 years of hunting experience to date. I've had several experiences in the woods leading up to my day time sighting on my hunting club in SC . My youngest son turned me on to your podcast. I feel compelled to share my experiences."

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Speaker 00

  It looked like somebody was bent over and had their head in the window of the deer blind and it either heard me or smelt me and he pulled his head out of the tent and stood straight up and that, that shocked me. They don't make people that, that big.

• 0:31Speaker 01

  The way it moved, almost as if it was gliding across the beach. I've never seen anything move like that in my life.

• 0:45Speaker 01

  They were screaming at each other in gibberish.

• 0:49Speaker 01

  It sounded like a language and they were chuntering away, back and forwards, back and forwards, back and forwards.

• 0:57Speaker 01

  I know what a bear looks like and there is no way on this planet that what I saw bears.

• 1:14Speaker 02

  911, what are you reporting? Jesus Christ, you better... Karen, see ya! Hello? Get somebody out of here. What's going on now, sir? That son of a bitch is about six foot nine, I don't know. Do you see him now, sir? Yes, I'm looking right at him. Uh-uh.

• 1:35Speaker 03

  This is Alicia from Kennesaw, Georgia, and you're listening to the best podcast on the planet, Sasquatch Chronicles.

• 2:09Wes Germer?

  Welcome to the show, everyone. Thanks for being here tonight. Got a great show planned for you. I want to first kind of apologize about yesterday. The show for tonight was meant to go out yesterday, but I have this little dog named Teddy, for those that don't know. And he's been favoring one of his back legs for most of the week, really. And it's only really when he's laying down, or when he's trying to get up, that he would whine. Once he's on his feet, he's fine. But it was just getting worse and worse and worse all week long. And yesterday, he was full blown, like crying, just trying to get up. You know, like some wacky parent or something. I'm like freaking out. I'm calling different

• 2:53Wes Germer?

  vets. And I finally got ahold of this emergency vet, which you know, they're never cheap. And it was like, an hour drive away. But he's my boy. He's my responsibility. And so I drove him to the vet, and I'm just stressing the whole time. And I could tell he was in pain most of the week, but it seemed like it was getting worse. And so we went to the vet, you know, he did his full examination. And he was basically saying, you know, I think it's like, like you and I tearing a hamstring or something, a muscle. And there's nothing really wrong with the joints. There's nothing really, it's just,

• 3:32Wes Germer?

  I think it's a torn muscle. And so we gave him painkillers, and antibiotics. And he's doing much better today. But I was laughing, because the vet's like, how do you think this might have happened? And Teddy's got this thing where I think he thinks he legitimately can fly like Superman. And he does it in my house and I let him get away with it because it's Teddy. But I have this coffee table and the top of it is like fabric, like you would sit on it. It's the most useless thing on the planet, but he does the same where he'll run like full sprint from the kitchen, jump on that and launch himself in the air to land on the couch.

• 4:17Wes Germer?

  And I don't know why he gets away with it. I guess it's because it's him, but he does this and he'll do it in my backyard. Like we'll be at one end of the deck and I could see his eyes light up and I'm like Teddy, you, you, you can't fly. And he'll just take off and launch himself in the air, arms straight out, back legs straight out like Superman. And I think every time he does it, he thinks he's gonna fly, but then gravity kicks in and brings him back down to earth and he can't fly. So anyway, I've been worried sick about him. I was up at 3am this morning giving him medicine and just kind of keeping an eye on him. But again, I apologize for yesterday. Tonight, we're going to be chatting with Drew.

• 4:59Wes Germer?

  And Drew comes to us from South Carolina. He had this incident happen to him back in 2015 and he, he's part of this hunting club out there and he had a full daytime sighting. So I asked him if he'd come on and kind of share it. If you've had an encounter and you'd like to be on the show, shoot me an email. My email address is [email protected]. And if you get a chance, check out sasquatchchronicles.com. You can become a member and get additional shows. And again, for the members, I will return tomorrow night. Let's jump into it. I want to welcome Drew to the show. Drew, thanks for coming on.

• 5:43Speaker 05

  Yeah, thanks Wes.

• 5:44Wes Germer?

  Yeah. And I wanted to ask you, how long have you been hunting on this property out there in South Carolina?

• 5:51Speaker 05

  Well, this particular property, I was in the club for about five years. I got out for about five years and then been back in for three now. So about eight years total on this property where I had the daylight sighting.

• 6:11Wes Germer?

  If you would before you go into what happened to you, what was kind of your feelings about the whole subject of Bigfoot prior to any of this going on?

• 6:22Speaker 05

  Well, um, not a whole lot. Um, it kind of back to 1987. I was hunting with some family friends and I had a encounter during the early morning hours on some different property down in a small town called Modoc, which is about maybe an hour's drive from where this property is, where I went in the woods, hardwood bottom and climbed up a tree stand before daylight, something on two legs walked up out of a bottom and got under my stand and was breathing heavy. It just didn't, it was just one of those things

• 7:06Speaker 05

  that just did not fit. Uh, no flashlight. I was like, no way somebody could walk through there, come up and come under my stand. Never seen it, but um, just, it was just out of place and it turned and walked off after a little bit back in the general direction where it come from. So I had a feeling of, you know, there's more to what we know about the woods in the South and across the country than what, you know, we're accustomed to. I mean, you know, when deer, what they sound like when they're walking, you know, what small rodents or animals smell like, but uh, just that kind of just put an uneasy feeling

• 7:46Speaker 05

  like, you know, what's going on? What was that? And uh, with the time going by, um, you know, in the South, we'd sit around the table at night and talk to my grandmother and family and stuff. And I was sharing that with her one time and uh, she told me she saw, you saw a booger. And I said, what? She said, yeah, a booger. She said, oh, let's the boogers get you. And she ended up being, you know, living about 98 years old and. That stuck with me every time I was around her, you know, I'd wanna talk to her about it. You know, didn't wanna bring it back up or, you know, be annoying to her. But um, that just in the back of my mind and I started looking into the subject a little bit, but just, you know, not knowing where it was gonna go.

• 8:32Speaker 05

  Being a hunter, I said, you know, I'll probably never see one. Being in South Carolina, you know, didn't know if there were a lot of them here or not. Um, you'd hear stories here and there, but a lot of people didn't talk about it. So, anyway, leading up to that point, I had experiences with people out. We would be, you know, hunting different areas of property. There was like almost a million acres, I think, what the internet says in South Carolina. There's a million acres of game management or public hunting land. And so there's big plots that has four or five thousand acres. And with different people, I would go out and hunt and we would stumble across stuff way back in the woods. It just was out of place.

• 9:14Speaker 05

  So we run across one of these teepee looking structures. And like I said, I didn't see what built it, um, wasn't there, but it was just out of place. Another strange event like that. Tracks on dirt roads where you would find footprints on, you know, on the side of the road. And it's like, why would somebody be out here barefooted? And foot, you know, and I said, it wouldn't always be that big, but it's just out of place. And with that kind of stuff leading up to this event, I just, you know, had

• 9:46Speaker 05

  thought about it, but really wasn't, uh,

• 9:50Speaker 05

  deep into the subject. Um, I'd heard about, seen about it and, and, you know, before cell phones come along, a lot of this stuff had already taken place and, and internet and all that. So when that came about, of course, like anybody else, you'd go and research that and anything, think about it or whatever, you'd go look it up and you'd see things. But, uh, that's kinda where I was at up to this point.

• 10:17Wes Germer?

  Yeah, it's interesting. You know, I've heard that from many, many hunters where they'll be sitting in their tree stand. You know, hunters don't go in with lights or try and make noise, or a lot of times they're sitting in the dark quietly in their stand. And I've heard this behavior before where something will walk up on two legs, stand underneath the stand, and they can only hear the breathing. And the hunter's terrified, didn't know what it is. I mean, it sounds like a man, but it's way too big to be a man. And it's just, it's fascinating. I've never been able to really figure out that behavior. Tell me on this property, prior to leading up to your sighting, what were some weird things that happened out there?

• 11:03Speaker 05

  Me and my son was down on one of the stands one evening, my oldest son. And he was still in high school and we were back on a stand one evening and had a deer come out. He shot it. And I said, well, let me go back and cross this little creek and go over there and see if I can find it. I said, you just sit here and wait. And I got across the creek and we heard noises up the creek that just were out of place, like a high pitched, I wouldn't call it a whoop. It'd be more like a, and it wasn't like a fox. It's really hard to put an around it. Just nothing I

• 11:47Speaker 05

  could recognize it and relate to any animal here. I was like, well, I need to hurry up and find this deer. It's getting dark. And I was able to find it and drag it across the creek. And as we were loading it up, he's like, Dad, did you hear that? And then I stopped what I was doing because I was focused on getting the deer on the full with her. And I started listening and I was like, I don't recognize that sound. It was just a weird sound. You know, it just, one of those other things, really can't put a word to it, but it, to the sound, but it was just out of place. He said, he's heard wood knocks down there. So in that same area where me and him were hunting. So,

• 12:32Speaker 05

  but I didn't hear, hear that when I was in there that night. But anyway, going back to the places where exactly where I hunted, I

• 12:44Speaker 05

  Was going in there is probably about two years prior to my daylight sighting. So this would have been maybe the second, third year I was in the club before I got out the first time. Um, I was walking in. I got off my four wheelers where that dirt road comes in from the main club is probably about three quarter mile drive on the four wheeler to where I parked and I would park just off the edges of the road and I walk the trail down to my stand. And I got back in that morning, that morning I was hunting to the left of the creek back, you know, angled going more southeast.

• 13:28Speaker 05

  Uh, from where I actually had the sighting. And as I was walking in to my right, as quiet as it was that morning, uh, I was going in with a low dim flashlight. I didn't want to really shine up anything. And I was walking and I would hear walking. I heard something walking, probably at about a thirty or forty degree angle behind me. So I stopped and then it took, you know, a couple more steps. It stopped. And it was two leg walking. I started back walking. It would start back walking.

• 14:04Speaker 05

  And I still probably had another seventy five, eighty yards to go. And I said, okay, I'm gonna stop this time and I'm gonna just stand still and see what happens. And I stopped and it stopped. And I turned facing that direction. I said, I'm gonna see this by standing here and wait till daylight. It's either gonna move off or I'm gonna see it if it's visible. And I stood there till I could see, you know, my hand in front of my face. I didn't see anything, never heard anything else. So I was like, well, uh, I know I'm not hearing things, but what do you do? I'm not gonna just stand here. I'm gonna go and get my stand and hunt.

• 14:42Speaker 05

  So, you know, that was one of the strange things that happened. Another day I was in there and down the hollow, when I was in my box stand, which is on that same wash in there, so hardwood bottom, they only clear cut the pines up to the edge of the hardwood wash. They don't get the tractors involved down in there and do too much work. And they leave that, you know, just for the runoff. But down in that bottom, I had a box stand and I was sitting in that box stand and I heard, um, I guess you could call it like a bionic whistle, which there was nobody down that

• 15:25Speaker 05

  way. And then I heard whoops. And that's the first time I'd ever heard any vocalization out of any thing that I've heard other people, you know, play, you've played. That's the first time I'd ever heard anything like that. And that was back toward Park Creek. And, um, Little River, excuse me. And that Little River, um, it's called Little River, but it's actually a big river that flows over into Clark's Hill. It's about an 80 mile run of river, which leads all the way back up to Dewes, which is a small town between Abbeville and Anderson. And in Anderson, you know, is at the foothills

• 16:07Speaker 05

  where you got runs up into Appalachian Mountains. So, you know, all that river change is like four big lakes that run down through there. And all that area down through there is just, you know, game management or wilderness. And so, you know, that being one of those areas tied to that river, I was like, this is, you know, prime habitat if I was to ever see something. Why, you know, there's, once again, there's two strange events, something paralleling me, walking me, and then now I hear that. So after that, they uh next couple, the next following next year, I think they started cutting timber right at the end of hunting season.

• 16:48Speaker 05

  And they had clear cutted the whole hillside that led back up to the road where I parked my four wheeler. In 2015, it was October, it was the middle of the week. I know that because I was by myself that morning when I went to the pegboard. We have a, what we call the pegboard, it's a, the lodge area, a little shack and there's a few cabins they, people stay at every once in a while when they come down. But um, when I went to pegboard that morning, I pegged in, so it would have been middle of the week and I'm pretty sure it was the second week of October, uh, second week after gun season had opened because I had killed a deer out of that stand the week before. And that always stuck in my mind.

• 17:32Speaker 05

  And so I was gonna go back in that same area. Um, I had a climbing stand on a hardwood tree where I could overlook the hillside. And um, when I got up in my stand that morning, oh, about 10 o'clock, it was an overcast day. Um, I'm looking, doing north, I had the wind out of the northeast. My four wheeler, um, I had parked, where I'd always park it up there and, and I could see it once I got up in my stand and the short pines, because they had planted them back, were starting to come up.

• 18:15Speaker 05

  And uh, they probably were about four, four foot tall at that point in time. And uh, to my left, down that valley, there was a, the way those short pines get planted in rows, I could see the road that continues on past where I come in and park my four wheeler, it goes on down and kind of angles to a 45, then it straightens out. So as I'm sitting on this edge of this hardwood. Edge that drops off into a bottom. I'm watching this whole big clear cut.

• 18:51Speaker 05

  And uh, like I said, 10:30, 10 or 10:30, I'm looking down that way, just the same direction from where my other buck I had killed the week before it come from, just seeing if I could see anything. And I'm scanning that way and I can only see about half of that road through that row of pines. And I see movement. I'm like, oh boy. So I picked up my rifle. I'm looking down through there and Wes, what I saw

• 19:22Speaker 05

  blew my mind. I just, I couldn't find, I had never seen anything move like that. And whatever it was, was down all fours, but it was big from what I could see is its right shoulder, about half of its right shoulder into and over. I couldn't see its head. I couldn't see its left side at all, but I could see it coming down that road and it, you know, it almost looked like you would say

• 19:54Speaker 05

  like spider crawling or walking. It just was out of place. And I was like, oh boy. When it gets down to where the road falls back uphill at a 45, I lost sight of it. I'm like, well, I didn't know if I'd ever see it again. And I had more questions than I had answers. I'm like, what was that? Um, so I'm watching, I didn't put my gun down by then and it's probably a couple hundred yards to where it tops that hill. And I'm watching up there and all of a sudden, this thing pops up. It don't stand up. It pops up. It's the weirdest move I ever saw, way it stood up. Um, and then I knew what I was looking at.

• 20:39Speaker 05

  Cause now I'm looking at something that I had seen pictures similar to. I don't know if you remember that movie, uh, TV. It's actually a TV series. It came on back in the seventies. Land of the Lost. Um, there was a monkey, little monkey boy or something that was on that TV show.

• 21:00Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I think his name was Chaka.

• 21:02Speaker 05

  Chaka, yeah. This thing was about seven and a half foot tall. It's way bigger than that little character on that TV thing, but it looked like that. Um, when I first saw it, it had like cinnamon brown colored hair. When it was coming down the road and I was only seeing half of it. Because it was more shady, but when this thing popped up, it looked more like a, uh, which I'd call brown sugar color. And I think it was because of how much light was hitting it. Maybe its underside was lighter. I don't know. But at this time, it looked a lot lighter in color. But it was seven and a half foot tall. It had a rounded head. It didn't have a, like a real

• 21:46Speaker 05

  conical or pointed head like some of those, uh, pictures I've seen of Patty and other things. It, this thing had a rounded head and it had patches of hair on its face. But I, it was looking in the direction of my fore with it. I think it could, and I think the look on its face. When it saw my fore with her was what the reason it got up and it's like, that's not supposed to be here. And when it's looking at my fore with her and it had that expression on its face, um, I would, once again, I, my brain was trying to comprehend what I was seeing. I had, didn't ever expect this, you know, you don't never, they always show up.

• 22:29Speaker 05

  Don't expect it. I'm sitting there deer hunting and now I'm looking at something that not even supposed to exist. But, uh, I had a feeling that, you know, they did from what my grandmother told me and, and what had happened back in, in eighty seven, eighty eight, um, walking under my standing, it kind of just kind of went full circle there. My brain's thinking, okay, what am I seeing here? Um, now I know what I'm seeing and, uh, I just, it was just hard to put into words. You know, and feelings, um.

• 23:04Speaker 05

  What, you know, what was standing there. And then at that point, I'm like, what's this thing gonna do next? That's the next thought that went in my brain. And uh, it, I don't know how long it stood there. It wasn't very long, you know, things like that. It seems like slows down. I mean, I replay it in my mind every day. I still see that walk. As it's coming down the road, even though I could only see its right side. That movement it was making was just so odd. That it just replays in my mind. And the same with when it stood up. I've never seen anything stand up like that. And especially to be in that tall. And then seeing the expression on its faces, it's looking at my four wheeler. And like I said, it,

• 23:49Speaker 05

  I looked there for a few seconds or however long it was. And then instead of turning its head, which I think they may be able to do or turn their eyes. Its whole upper section, it didn't move its legs. It just kind of turned its shoulders. And I was looking in my general direction. I'm like, okay. I wonder what it's picked up. I wonder why it's doing that. Um, I don't know how it could have smelt me. Um, maybe it just was checking out the area because that four wheeler was there and it was seeing what else was there. But uh, when it turned its shoulders and looked my direction, I'm like, in my brain, I'm going, okay, is it gonna come this way? Is it gonna? What's it gonna do? I had no idea. Um, I heard

• 24:34Speaker 05

  a couple of your shows I've been listening to and it was talking about, you know, somebody's four wheeler got tore up. And then I talked to people at work and they said, well, and I tell people about my story, people that trust me with my line of work. They know I'm not gonna just talk. And say something that's not true, my uh, reputation. Um, about line of business and they they're like, well, why didn't you shoot it? And I'm like, that's the last thing that was on my mind. I said, I had a phone in my pocket, a gun in my hand. I said, but I'd never seen one of these things before. And I'm looking at something that I really, you know, back when I was a young boy, my dad always told me, he says, look, if you ain't gonna eat it or if it ain't gonna harm you, he said, you best not shoot it.

• 25:18Speaker 05

  And I took that as good advice. So. I didn't want to draw attention to myself and they said, well, you should have hollered at. I said, no, I said, you know, a hunter is always like you said earlier. You want the element of surprise. You want to be the quieter you are, the better you are. And that's the same thing I was feeling at time it walked up underneath me. I had no inclination of grabbing a flashlight and turning it on and shining it down there. I didn't know whatever it was below me. I didn't want to know what was up there, even though it might have knew I was. And that's the same feeling I had about when I was looking at this thing. I was trying to study it and figure out as much about it because I, you don't know how long that it's going to last. You don't know what it's going to do next.

• 25:59Speaker 05

  And then immediately in that moment of time, my brain thinking that this thing turns and it's like, I don't want no part of this. I'm, I'm, I'm moving away and it walked straight away from me over the road. And it's probably maybe 25, 30 feet to the next row of pines, but those were a little bit taller. And it moved right between them and went on. So, uh, that was the end of that sighting, but it changed my life forever Wes. I, you know, I, I look at a lot of things differently. When I go out in the woods, I feel that I'm not always on edge, but I'm just more cautious. That's a good way of putting it. Um, there was times in back in when I was young, I didn't even own a pistol.

• 26:44Speaker 05

  I'd have a Bowie knife on my pocket or a knife in my pocket and I'd just head out. But I don't feel the same way anymore.

• 26:52Wes Germer?

  The majority of hunters are really safe with guns and they're not going to shoot something just to shoot it. It's kind of like that mentality you were just talking about where if I'm not going to eat it, I'm not going to shoot it. Obviously unless they're in danger, the hunter is absolutely going to shoot it. But I, I think when it comes to Sasquatch and putting one down, I really think a hunter is going to be the last person to do it. When you were looking at this thing, would you describe it? And did you put your scope back up when it came back out?

• 27:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, I never, when I, when it popped up, I, like I said, I was looking with my naked eye. When it popped up, I mean, I didn't add that in there, but when it, when it stood up, I took, that's, that's when I raised my rifle and I was checking it out. And that's when I realized it looked like that, that character in that TV series came to my mind. It didn't look, uh, what I thought, um, by seeing a Patty, a picture of Patty in the face. It didn't look a lot like that. Um, it wasn't as broad or heavy set as the one, the, um, picture of Patty. It was more slender, but yes, it was still muscular, but it was, it was tall and kind of almost,

• 28:09Speaker 05

  is the width of its shoulders, of course, were wider than, but when it dropped down to its legs and it had a long torso, um, his head stayed right on his shoulders, but like I said, it was a rounded head. And then its legs, you know, were shorter than the torso, which was odd. I mean, you know, it's just the way the thing was built. But, uh, the face, like I said, it had patches of hair, um, eyes seemed to be sunk back in a little bit and kind of a heavier brow ridge. It might have, his forehead might have sloped back some, but the skin was kind of an ash color. Uh, it's just, it just blew my mind.

• 28:51Speaker 05

  I just, what do you do, what, you, you just can't hardly comprehend seeing something like this and trying to, you know, and my brain recorded, of course, like I said, there's not a day goes by, cause I listen to the podcast, I, I watch TV shows, my eyes like, hey, there's some special coming on. And immediately when I start watching it, that whole.

• 29:15Speaker 05

  Siding plays back through my mind again. And, uh, but like I said, with its face, um, I really couldn't tell the color. I just know they were dark. With that scope I had, I have three by 50 millimeter scopes. That being, you know, hundred or so yards from where I parked the four wheeler to where I climbed up the tree to overwatch these hillsides. And it kind of widens up to my left. But, uh, that's basically all I could tell. I couldn't see any ears, so they must've been smaller. I mean, like I said, the hair, the way if you ever that looked that creature up on that TV series, the hair was longer coming off the top of the head.

• 29:58Speaker 05

  It had more of the forehead showing, just like in that, uh, creature on that show. But the hair on the side of his head kind of hung down like, uh, almost like a guy with, um, um, I don't see a mullet or whatever, but mullets when it's in the back. But it's all the way around the sides over its ears. And that's kind of all the details I had in its, in, in looking at its face. I was checking it out the best I could in the time I had, but, uh,

• 30:28Speaker 05

  I survived because I, and his nose was, you know, flattened, it wasn't like a human nose, even though it had, when it's, you know, was on the ground, I didn't see its head. I wished I could have, cause then I could describe what it looked like, more animal like is when it was crawling. That was more animal like, but when it stood up, it looked more human like, I guess you'd say. Minus the fact that it was covered with hair and, you know, just the different facial features. It almost looked like it was.

• 30:57Speaker 05

  In a, in a sense, you would think when you're talking about a creature like that, like it was maybe interbred a little bit. It didn't look, compared to the patty as being the standard, this thing looked a little bit different.

• 31:11Wes Germer?

  I've heard that Chaka character referenced many times by eyewitnesses. Would you say what you were looking at was more human like?

• 31:21Speaker 05

  I would say about 50 50.

• 31:24Speaker 05

  Like you said, it had human features, just kinda like, you know, an orangutan or a monkey or whatever. They have, you know, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth like ours, nose, but then, you know, they more resemble a monkey, but then, you know, a gorilla resembles a gorilla, but then you mix in that human factor of a human face mixed into that. You could even go to say as far as a little bit of a Native American look mixed in there. I know I've seen on totem poles and masks that they've carved a Bigfoot. They had to be spot on because, you know, it really had that oval facial look that a lot of those

• 32:11Speaker 05

  Native American carvings look like, they knew what it looked like in the face when they carved that. I really believe they saw the same thing that I saw or similar to.

• 32:24Wes Germer?

  And when you said it looked at your four wheeler, almost like, oh, that doesn't belong here. What was that expression like that gave you that impression?

• 32:34Speaker 05

  It was like

• 32:38Speaker 05

  shocked and at the same time, kind of confused. Like, that shouldn't be there. And I don't know what it was doing. I don't know if it was traveling up that road. You know, when it down on all fours and not seeing its head, I couldn't tell if it was sniffing it around. I can only speculate what it was up to. But when it got to the top of hill and obviously it had to seen the four wheeler, which is the only reason it popped up, I assume.

• 33:09Speaker 05

  But with that look on its face, it like, that shouldn't be there.

• 33:15Speaker 05

  And it was more of a kind of almost like a frown, like it was disappointed, but at the same time it was like frustrated. Does that make sense?

• 33:24Wes Germer?

  Yeah, that does make sense. And so kind of the expression you're describing almost sounds more human than it does really animal.

• 33:33Speaker 05

  Yes, and that, and that, in that aspect, yeah, because if you look at most animals, they look the same whether they're mad or, you know, the only difference between mad is their mouth open and they're growling or their mouth closed and, and you say, oh, well, so I guess everything's okay. Um, with this thing, you could tell it had emotion. I mean, it showed emotion to itself and to its expressions. And, um, and like I said, that's, you know, my mind at that point in time when I was looking at it and then it finally turned its shoulders toward my direction and general direction that looked, it was like, what, what's, what's it gonna do next? That's, that was the biggest question at that point.

• 34:14Speaker 05

  I, I said, is it gonna come toward me? Is it gonna make any sound? Is it gonna go toward my four wheeler? I mean, I had no idea. But that expression was like either, you know, frustration and it interrupted what he was doing, uh, or whatever he was doing and he didn't like it. And then it was kind of like at the same time, um, maybe I shouldn't be here or I'm the one that shouldn't be here, but I'm not going to confront this because I don't know where, where it's, what's going on down there. Who's there? Why that's there? I'm just gonna get out of the area.

• 34:49Wes Germer?

  After I looked at the four wheeler and kind of turned in your general direction, do you think it knew you were there?

• 34:56Speaker 05

  I think, I think it was just trying to scan what else might be in the area. Um, I don't think the sun was shining enough to pick up a glare off my scope. Cause like I said, at that point I was looking through my scope so I could get a good close up view. Um, there was no doubt what I was looking at was flesh and blood. And if, and, and only like I said, when people ask me why didn't I shoot it? I was like, well, it wasn't threatening me, wasn't tearing up my four wheeler. I had no reason to kill it. I wasn't gonna eat it. What would I do with it if I killed it at that point in time? I mean, all those quick questions go through your brain. You know, of course, a hundred times since then, I'm going, you know, well, you saw one and you had your chance and you must, you could have been famous, but that's

• 35:38Speaker 05

  not always, you know, the telltale, would it mess up? You know, like I said, I'm a hunter first. I don't go to the woods just to see Bigfoot. It was a fortunate thing to happen. I guess you could say, it's changed my whole thoughts on a lot of things about the woods, but I, I, I love to hunt so much and being an avid hunter, I ain't gonna let it change how I feel about the woods. Cause the people ask me, they say, well, if you saw one of those things, ain't you scared? I'm like, well, you know, we should be scared to get on the highway every day. I mean, you can, you know, it's just one of those things where, you know, you never run, you know, when somebody's drunk driver is gonna hit you head on. I said, I go the same way to the woods. I don't know when

• 36:18Speaker 05

  something might happen, but I'm not gonna let that incident and the, that experience change how I feel about the woods. That's just me, you know?

• 36:31Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I generally try and tell people, especially hunters, not to shoot them. Obviously, if they're threatening you, send lead down range. Or even if it was tearing apart my four wheeler, I, I would have shot it. But I, and I've said this many times on the show, I don't believe that they run around by themselves. I think if you see one, there's probably two or three nearby. Um, and they tend to have a revenge streak. Uh, and so I, I tend to tell hunters not to shoot them. Uh, if you want to become famous or infamous and shoot a Sasquatch, I'm all for it. I, I don't have a lot of love for these things. So I'm not saying it for Sasquatch's sake, mainly for the

• 37:14Wes Germer?

  hunter's safety. But it is interesting too, about the spider crawl. I remember when me and my brother reported that, and we were laughed at. I remember all these big time Bigfoot researchers said, oh, they don't move, they don't do that. They don't move like that. And it's like, well, I don't know what to tell you. That's what we, you know, that's what we saw.

• 37:33Speaker 05

  That that's so strange Wes, cuz I didn't even know they did that. When, like I said, when I had that walk up under my stand and I did a little research after that between that sighting and or the sighting I had in 2015 and then having that experience cuz I can't, I I can only speculate what that was. But like I said, the strange things that I've run across out in the woods that just out of place up to that point. Where I see this thing, it's just one of those scenarios where I didn't know all, you know, and nobody would probably know everything about these things.

• 38:14Speaker 05

  I think even if they studied one, they still don't know it cuz they don't know what it does in the time it's in the woods. I mean, if we had one on our table, they'd still be, you know, speculating, you know, what's this migrational habits or whatever. Unless they was able to track one or tag one and and follow it that way. Uh, maybe they can in the future, I don't know, but I didn't know they they even got on all fours. And after I had that experience, the first thing, one of the first things I'd done when I got home from the hunt and then told my family about it and and of course, you know, they were, you know, just didn't know what to say. But I got on the and Googled it and I was like, well, let's just see.

• 39:00Speaker 05

  And sure enough, you know, reports in Kentucky, you know, there was just numerous people had spotted these things crawling on all fours. I didn't even know that. They did that. I thought, you know, okay, it's a Sasquatch. They walk around like we do, you know, but nope. And that's what, you know, the whole thing that that about that experience that was really just overwhelming was it approached me doing something I didn't know it could do. I never thought about it doing and then I see it in a second. Way it moves around and it doesn't drop back on all fours to walk away. So what's the mindset

• 39:43Speaker 05

  that they have between crawling and walking, you know, is can they travel faster or they, why they do that? I don't know. It's just strange. I mean, you know, deer, he stays on all fours all the time unless they fight and then they can rear up and kick and stuff like that. But this creature has multiple ways of moving around. So I think a lot of times people's idea of one thing, oh, is shocked by another. And that's just another thing about this creature is it is is kind of unpredictable and the fact that, you know, you don't know, you just don't know what they're gonna do and how they're gonna react.

• 40:22Wes Germer?

  Yeah, my personal opinion, and and again, it's just my opinion. I think they do it for stealth. And I think the other reason why they might do it, you know, as a hunter, you're you're engaged with all your different senses and being low to the ground like that. I wonder if it was kind of smelling and sensing where everyone was at where they kind of left the four wheeler. And then when it popped up and was looking at the four wheeler, I almost wonder if I almost wonder if they had that same feeling we get of being watched, like it knew it was being watched and it was time to go. And I'm just guessing, of course, I wasn't there and it's just my opinion.

• 41:07Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's a good, that's a good possibility. I know since that occurrence, it seems like, you know, I'm more in tune with what's going on in the wood. It just sharpened my skills that much more, I guess, because I'm knowing that they're out there. A lot of times I would be just, you know, in the woods and just happy go lucky and and I'm a lot more sharper now and, you know, and I'm listening out for Signs for that and, and whatnot, not that I'm totally scared, but just, just, just being a hunter. You know, we, we're born with the God given abilities he gives us and then we go to school and they teach us things.

• 41:49Speaker 05

  And then by the time we get out of school, we're filled with a lot of books and knowledge that, you know, with half truths and then our real true life experiences is really what we grow on. And I think in that sense, you know, learning just in that short window, it, it wanted me to know more about it and that's what really, you know, led into me studying it. And, and then my son turned, my youngest son turned me on to your podcast and I've just absolutely enjoyed it. Cause it just, this, you don't get to hear it anywhere else. Hunters down here, one other short tidbit about that, but right after I had spotted that one,

• 42:28Speaker 05

  one of the chief, I'd say chief guys in the club, the elders, this was one of the older elders of the club was sitting there one day. Uh, following week after I had that sighting in 2015 and I was like, you know, I'm just gonna pop the question. And it was over in the afternoon. We were getting ready to peg in to go hunt that evening. I said, Terry, I got a question and I know this is gonna sound out in the middle. And I was just expecting him to go, ah, nah, I ain't no thing. I said, Terry, have you ever seen a bigfoot or anything that looked like a bigfoot down here? And he shot me with, he turned and he looked at me and he said, well, I was back here on stand one, three,

• 43:10Speaker 05

  13. And he said, I was sitting up there in the morning and he said, up out of a bottom. He said, I saw, I said, he said, I guess you would call it a young one. That look what you're talking about and it come up on, out of the bottom up into just like a little. Shooting lane of grass and there was old big pine stumps down through there. And he said, well, he crawled up on one of those pine stumps and stood up. And I said, really? And he said, yep. And he said, and it's, you know, kind of put his head back, kind of looked around, sniffed around. And then he said, it turned and went right back. He said, but it didn't come off that stump. It went back on all fours and went back down in the bottom.

• 43:54Speaker 05

  And I was like, well, I can't believe it, Terry. I thought, I thought for sure you was gonna tell me I was crazy. And he said, no, that happened. So I know for sure. I ain't the only one on that club now. Other people haven't come out and said anything. I really haven't asked a whole lot of questions, but I know I wasn't the only one that spotted one on that property.

• 44:17Wes Germer?

  Yeah, in a situation like this, where it's a hunting club, I would be shocked if you're the only one that ever saw it. I almost wonder how many people in the hunting club have shot a deer and went to look for it and it vanished.

• 44:31Speaker 05

  That's happened, Wes. No doubt about it. There's several deer over the, let's see, five, and then I got out for five, got back. For eight years I've been there and probably some of the years while I was gone, I know there was several deer that was shot and fatally wounded and we never found them. And I wonder sometimes, you know, are they, is that, is that a dinner bell for these things? Are they no hunters or shooting deer? And are they hoping to find it before we do? But I shot one since I've been back in the club. A couple of years ago, I knocked this deer down and I knew it was down and then I had a, it was a buck, nice buck. And then I had a doe come out.

• 45:16Speaker 05

  I shot her and she ran off and fell down and died. And so I climbed, I'll sit there for about another 30 minutes, getting close to dark. I walked down, found the first one, drug it out. And then I went on down where I knocked the other one down. And there was puddle of blood and some blood going up the bank, but it was just drops and the deer was gone. And we, I went back down there and spent a half a day the next day scouring that hillside and found nothing. So it wouldn't shock me at all, Wes. I mean, if they, I've never seen them eat a deer, but if they do, then you know, that's a possibility, good possibility.

• 45:56Wes Germer?

  You know, prior to your sighting, there was a lot of weird things that went on. You were finding weird structures. You were hearing weird things in the woods. Did you kind of know what was going on? I mean, thinking back to that incident, that was about 28 years earlier when you were in a tree stand. Did that go through your mind? Or were you just like, I don't know what, what is going on here, but we're just going to continue to hunt here. And that's the way it is. I mean, did you kind of know what was going on?

• 46:26Speaker 05

  Um, I really didn't know. Um, other than like I said, the prior experiences, I just, I figured it may be, but like I said, not seeing it along with it, you can only, you know, say maybe or speculate that that's what that is, but it doesn't fit the place. I mean, like, you know, when it's out of place, it's out of place. Um, we have occasional black bear down here. Oh, and that's really rare. Mainly is, you know, coyotes, whitetail

• 47:00Speaker 05

  deer, turkeys, squirrels, foxes, raccoons, ducks and geese. But that's about it. You just don't have any animal sounds outside of owls. You do, of course, and coyotes make noises, but the weird sounds that just don't fit. You just, in the back of your mind, you're saying, is this Sasquatch or is this Bigfoot, whatever you booger, whatever you want to call it. Um, I think most people around here call them boogers in the South. They more know more about what you're talking about when you mention that than they do Bigfoot,

• 47:42Speaker 05

  especially the older people I've talked to. But, um, other than hearing other people's experiences and what they heard and say they hear, hear, hear sounds and they collated to it. That was just weird stuff.

• 47:56Speaker 05

  And didn't fit. And, and that's why, like I said, when I finally saw this and it was like, okay, then maybe this is what making these sounds. I mean, with other experiences people have told and they tie the two together because they seen it and heard it. It kind of puts, you know, one plus one equals two.

• 48:17Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I would imagine, especially after you see it, there's always that moment of, oh, I wonder if that's what all that weird stuff was that I experienced before. Uh, your grandmother, she talked about the boogers. Did you ever get a chance to talk with her as far as what she knew? Or you ever have any long conversations with her about the boogers?

• 48:40Speaker 05

  Well, she told me when she was a little girl. And the reason that she said that because I was telling, you know, telling her that story about mine and, and what I thought it might be. And she says, well, she says, when I was a little girl, you know, we didn't have screen windows back in the days. They would open the windows at night and when it was hot, that's just the way it was. And she said one night she heard something and she woke up and she looked through her bedroom window and there was a hairy hand reaching in toward her nightstand. And she said that, you know, she just froze. And I don't know, you know, I can't remember all the details from

• 49:25Speaker 05

  that point on, but that's what she was telling us. So.

• 49:30Wes Germer?

  Yeah, that's creepy. That's really creepy. I wanted to ask you, you know, after that experience you had in the eighties, which again, I've heard that sort of encounter many, many, many times. Uh, and people react the same way you did where you just sit there kind of still and hope it goes away. And then after actually seeing this creature, what, what do you think that they are? What's kind of your take on it?

• 49:57Speaker 05

  I believe it's an animal that has characteristics that we humans have. Uh, that's my firm belief in it. I don't see, um, if, you know, if we found where, I guess you'd say that, uh, they were characterized different than that, then, uh, I would say, you know, by things they left behind where it was more human-like, you know, I think this just the appearance has human-like features. Like I said, we, I was saying a while ago, there's monkeys and gorillas and, and whatnot that have same features we do. They just don't look as human-like, but that doesn't make them a human.

• 50:43Speaker 05

  But, you know, same difference with this. I feel like it's an animal, a wild animal with that and, uh, they gotta be the ninjas of the forest, um, the, the extreme hunters of the land. I mean, to hunt with their bare hands. They don't use weapons that I've, I've never seen, you know, like I said, I've only seen one and I've never seen anything or anybody contribute to say other than maybe rocks. They use their hands. So, you know, with that thing and to be able to slip up on prey, it gotta be an animal. You know, if they are half and half or, or something that goes back into the past, then, you know, wow, that's all I can say to that is wow, you know, so I would, I would lean toward the animal side.

• 51:28Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I respect your thoughts on it. And you still hunt this property?

• 51:33Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not afraid to go. Like I said, if something's gonna take me out, it's gonna take me out. Carrying my 300 wind mag. Some people say it's overkill. I said, yeah, but I don't track deer very far when I do get them. But, uh, I got that in a nine millimeter during gun, gun season. And like I said, uh, I just go, I, it's, it's a passion. It's like, some people have a desire to go deep sea fishing or hiking or whatever, but, you know, hunting is my deal and, uh, There's one other thing I wanted to tell you about Wes, and that's not Sasquatch related, but I've heard some of your shows back. I'm still listening to, I think I'm in the 400s,

• 52:15Speaker 05

  trying to catch up because my son turned it on. You'd already been going quite a few years. But I was down at my brother-in-law's, which is probably 15 minutes away from the hunting club. And me and my son were back in there bow hunting one evening, and I went to check a trail camera right at dark. And from the bottom to our right, my son had just climbed out. We call it the Fern stand, and I have a stand in there for bow hunting. And it's 48 acres of private land that ties into a bunch of other private land. And my brother-in-law, that was bow hunt back there when we went to. And because I was out of the club and

• 52:56Speaker 05

  helping my son, you know, get started into college, we would just go there instead of being at the club because I wasn't a member. And one evening, we were back here, like I said, and I went down and he was, he had climbed out of the stand and started up toward the road. And I said, Hey, son, I'm gonna go down here and check the trail camera card. So he stopped at the foot of the hill instead of going back off in the bottom. And I went down close to where Fern stand is and found the trail camera. And I retrieved the card out of it and I closed the door on it. And when I closed the door on it and went to stand up, this light, a ball light, size of a basketball, that was not really lit up like

• 53:36Speaker 05

  you would say a, a, a strong beam of light. It was a dull blue color, but it was a light dull blue. And it had like, a little bit of white around the maybe outer edge of it. And as it shined, coming up out of the bottom, it shined at like a 45 degree angle from left to right. But behind it, it was not illuminating any light. And the light was enough to shine in the sea trees and you could see what it was shining up, but it was like not like a bright blinding light. And at the, at moments, that blue would turn almost to a dull.

• 54:24Speaker 05

  Maybe deep orange color, amber color, I guess. And then it would come and go back into the blue color. And this thing was controlled. It was not some gas bubble floating through Wes. This thing was controlled. And while I was standing at the trail camera, my son said, because I turned and looked up at him and I'm like, are you seeing this? He goes, yeah. He said, when I said that and was turning back toward him, he said it came up over my head. I don't know. I said, well, how high? He says, probably about 20 feet over your head. And when I had turned back around, it was coming back down. So I didn't see all the movement at bay, but while I was over my head,

• 55:09Speaker 05

  I was looking his direction. But when, as I turned back around, it was coming back down from an upper position above me. And it was shining up to the woods to the left, which goes across the creek and goes on to some other private property. And it was lighting up the woods, Wes, as it went up the hill. It was like I said, a 45 from dead center where it was facing. It would be like 45 to the left, 45 to the right. Anything behind it was completely dark. Strangest thing I ever saw in my life. And this thing was maneuvering through the trees. I mean, it would go to the left, avoid this tree, and then it would go back straight. Then it would go up this way a little bit. I had no idea what it was. But like I said, my son can vouch for that when he saw it with me. Strangest thing ever.

• 55:52Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I appreciate you sharing it. The lights are weird. I, I, I'm with you. They're weird. I don't know what they are. Um, and when you say controlled, I get it. They don't just aimlessly float like they're nothing. It's almost like there's a weird intelligence behind it. Um, and this didn't happen in the same place where you had your sighting?

• 56:14Speaker 05

  No, um, my son said he's had rocks throwed at him down there bow hunting before, but then bushes shaking, but he never saw anything. I've never had any experience there at all, other than seeing deer in that light. Um, like I said, and I came over there to where he was at, just to retrieve the trail camera pictures and that happened. And like I said, it was right at dark and he told me even when we were leaving, he said, Daddy, I heard weird stuff down in there tonight. He said, I just couldn't put my finger on it. He said, it wasn't normal. And I said, well, that ain't normal either, you know? We talked about it several times on the ride home. We live about 30 minutes from there. And like I said, it's about 40, 45, 50 minutes to the club. So when my brother in law is, he's in the club with us.

• 56:57Speaker 05

  It's only about 15 minutes from there to where I have my sighting of the booger Sasquatch, Bigfoot. There's a hundred names for them. Indians named them, every tribe. So I know with that going on, I always had an inkling. I said, with every story, there's a bit of truth. And too many people from the globe around with all the different names have seen the same thing, look at the same. They look similar, but they are the exact same. I don't believe so. I've seen so many variations, heard so many people tell variations in there. The variations are the same depending on how many people you talk to or listen to.

• 57:36Speaker 05

  Some of the people seem the same variation in the same area. So that tells me there's multiples, but um. He has had experiences down there and do with us.

• 57:48Wes Germer?

  Yeah, I really wish I knew what the lights were. Um, I've only seen them twice. And on the second occasion, I actually thought it was someone with a flashlight, uh, that was walking. It was kind of that motion. Uh, but the other one I saw kind of, it sounds very similar to what you saw. And it is a kind of a dull light. I wouldn't really say either one of them was a terrifying experience. It was just weird and just kind of confusing, but not terrifying.

• 58:17Speaker 05

  Yeah, it didn't, it didn't put me in a position where my heart was about to beat out of my chest with the one walking up in the dark and breathing, if that's what it was. Like I said, I'm speculating because I didn't see it. But that really put me into overdrive. The daylight sighting, it, it put more of, like I said, just blew my mind. And then seeing that light was just, I was just like, wow. You know, we think we know what's going on in this, in this world and we don't have a clue. I mean, there ain't none of that in no history books they taught us and ain't none of that nobody talking about on the news. You know, you're crazy if you see something like that. I know I'm not.

• 58:58Speaker 05

  There's most people, they live their daily lives. They drive up and down the highway. They go same places to eat. They go to the same place to work. They go to same places to party. They never get out in the outdoors. And those of us that enjoy that, we have so much more to see, so much more to do. And we are experiencing a heck of a lot more than most people realize. And that's probably part of the drive that makes me like to go out and hunt is it's always a new experience. Anytime out there is better. Good day at work. I think a bad day in the woods is better than a good day at work. So.

• 59:35Wes Germer?

  Yeah, without a doubt. And I, you know, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share it. You'll have to let me know if, um, anything else happens on that property. And I know, you know, that you go back to hunting and everything. Be careful, will you?

• 59:52Speaker 05

  I sure will, Wes. I appreciate you letting me share. Like I said, I enjoy the show. I'm trying to catch up, but uh, it's a good out for those that their lives, your life's been changed by having an experience. Um, you can't get closure or at least, uh, I guess that feeling, like I said, unless you see another one in the woods, it's not going to give you any more insight. So you have to listen to other people's experiences to kind of build on what you've got and what you, you, you've experienced because uh, it's just, it's one of those things. Can't put it away. So therefore you gotta kind of feed it. I guess it's about that's the way I could put it.

• 1:00:34Wes Germer?

  Yeah, that's a good way to put it. And definitely keep me updated and I appreciate you coming on again.

• 1:00:41Speaker 05

  Thank you, Wes.

• 1:00:43Wes Germer?

  And that's it for tonight, everyone. Remember, if you've had an encounter, shoot me an email. My email address is [email protected]. And if you get a chance to check out sasquatchchronicles.com, you can become a member and get additional shows. Until next time, everyone.

• 1:01:02Speaker 06

  When your love's too low and you want it bad The lights on With roses and your hand up in the air The lights on My wheels untied and I go alone The lights on Baby you should know that you're gone The lights on This is my home This is where I own Memories of you dear Untie your eyes Close at the sky I'm mesmerized Memories of you dear

• 1:01:45Speaker 06

  I saw you as a human and writer The lights on And your power grew wider The lights on So we both must be a little wiser

• 1:02:00Speaker 06

  The lights on To do instant in the quiet time The lights on This is my home This is where I own Memories of you dear Untie your eyes Close at the sky I'm mesmerized Memories of you dear

• 1:02:47Speaker 06

  Cut the lights on, this is my home Close it out, memories of you dear Untie your knife, close up the sky I'll make snow bright, memories of you dear

• 1:03:52Speaker 06

  Say that you're still here in my mind And it's my relief in my mind 'Cause I found the key to my mind

• 1:04:03Speaker 06

  Say that I want you darling And I'll make you stay in my mind Don't slip away

• 1:04:14Speaker 06

  Say that you're still here in my mind And it's my relief in my mind 'Cause I found the key to my mind

• 1:04:25Speaker 06

  You are the guest in my mind And I'll make you stay in my mind Don't slip away

• 1:04:34Speaker 06

  Don't slip away