# Find out if Bigfoot is around your hunt camp.



## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)

jeeptastic thread about folks beeing skeerd of the dark got me to thinking. If thaughts and images are envoked into the minds of others will it affect them? Check this map out of all the areas where Bigfoot has been sighted in Ga. Some of the storys are a bit off the beaten path and in the realm of Sci Fi. Some may hold a seed of sanity. Who knows?

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/state_listing.asp?state=ga

Elkins Creek, where several footprints of an alleged Bigfoot were found, flows into the Flint River in Pike County. 
Steve Hyde/Special 

Jack Hovatter was hunting in the forests on the Fort Gordon Army base near Augusta in the fall of 1979 when he saw a huge footprint that would lead to the biggest shock of his life.

''I thought it was two bear tracks, and I didn't know there were bears around here. My son was off to the side and he said, 'No Dad, that's one track.'''

Hovatter, who is retired from the military and lives in Augusta, said he kept thinking about the track, so he returned to the area more than a week later to see if he could find what made it. The track was near a thicket that at first Hovatter thought was nearly impenetrable until he located a path leading inside.

''I got inside and here that thing came. It's not like it was trying to catch me. It was trying to scare me,'' he said.

What Hovatter saw was a bipedal apelike creature covered in thick hair. It was about 10-feet tall or slightly taller. It came within 15 feet of him.

''I wanted to turn and run, but I've always heard that with a wild animal that's a bad thing to do. I had a shotgun, but it was too big and too close,'' he said. ''It seems like a 16-gauge shotgun is a powerful weapon until I saw something that big, that close up. It felt like I had a .22.''

Hovatter, who backed out of the thicket, said he couldn't believe the animal's size and the width of its shoulders.

''I'd seen the film Roger Patterson made (in northern California of a supposed Bigfoot), but I wasn't expecting anything that big,'' he said.

''It didn't look like it was trying to look vicious. It was an ugly face anyway. It just looked stern, like it meant business,'' he recalled.

''The face was not exactly like a gorilla, but somewhat similar. I hear people say they think these things are human. Well that means they haven't seen one. Just because they walk on two legs doesn't mean they are near-human. If they see one they will change their mind.''

Do the creatures called Bigfoot exist? No one has proven one way or the other, but reported sightings of the creatures are not confined to the Pacific Northwest. In fact, sightings have been reported in all states of the South.

John Butler, an Atlanta-area special education teacher who is working on his doctorate in education, took an interest in the mystery several years ago. Although he has never seen one, he believes the animals exist based on his research.

Many people still have the misconception, he said, that Bigfoot ''is one solitary joker walking around from coast to coast. They don't realize there are many of them.''

Butler said people have reported sightings from the North Georgia mountains to the South Georgia swamps. There are still many remote areas ''relatively untouched by humans,'' he said.

Steve Hyde, who works for a rock company in the Griffin area, searches for the animals in central and South Georgia.

His friend, former deputy sheriff James Akin, made a plaster cast of a print that contained dermal ridges, the same kind of ridges that make up fingerprints. The print, which was 17.5 inches long, was found along Elkins Creek in Pike County following reports of barn damage and animals disappearing on a man's farm, according to Hyde. The only other supposed Bigfoot prints with dermal ridges were cast in the Pacific Northwest. The ridges are different from humans and known apes.

''The Elkins Creek cast enabled scientists like Dr. Jeff Meldrum at Idaho State University and dermal expert Jimmy Chilcutt to better demonstrate that Bigfoot is not only a real animal, it can be demonstrated to be a unique species,'' Hyde said.

Hyde said people are surprised and usually skeptical about the existence of Bigfoot in this area because ''not only is it something completely outside their own experiences here, they usually don't see how something like that could possibly survive in Georgia's woods, particularly without being seen more often.''

Hyde believes the Bigfoot occupy the same biological niche in the environment that bear do, with similar diets, feeding habits and ranges - the primary difference is Bigfoot are nocturnal and bears scavenge for food mostly during the day.

Case in point, the Department of Natural Resources estimates there are hundreds, if not thousands, of black bears in central Georgia.

''This surprises a lot of people, especially since black bear are difficult to find when you're hunting them and rarely, if ever, seen at random,'' Hyde said.

At least two organizations listed on the Internet collect Bigfoot sighting reports and both have ample reports from Georgia. Both groups have said they try to weed out unreliable reports before posting them on the Web site.

The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization lists 20 such reports from Georgia. Adjacent counties show 53 reports in Florida, 20 in South Carolina and 29 in Tennessee. In comparison, Washington state has 285 reports.

The Gulf Coast Bigfoot Research Organization shows 17 counties in Georgia with Bigfoot reports.

At least one sighting of a creature near Athens is claimed by a man, who has been in law enforcement for 33 years.

Now involved in jail administration, the officer, who declined to have his name used, was a young deputy for the Clarke County Sheriff's Office in 1971 when he and a partner were called to a report of a suspicious prowler outside a trucking business north of Athens. Back then, it was a rural area.

''When we got out of the car, there was this god-awful smell,'' he recalled. At least two people were there burning something in old oil drums, but it wasn't the smoke they smelled.

''We were talking and somebody said, 'That looks like something over there.' I mean the hair on the back of my neck stood up,'' he said. ''It looked 7 or 8 feet tall and it walked like a human being.''

He remembers they called the animal a Yeti, a term used mostly for a similar creature alleged to live in the Himalayan mountain range.

When he returned to the police station, he was laughed at by other officers. So he has preferred to keep his sighting anonymous.

But Hovatter isn't sensitive about the fact he claims to have encountered an unidentified animal.

Those who ridicule the possibility such creatures exist ''haven't seen one,'' he said. ''And they're not likely to because the people (who) laugh about this are the people who don't go out in places like this.''

''I know it because I saw it, and if they don't believe me, they don't have to. I don't mind talking about it,'' he said. ''I know what I saw.''


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## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)

Here is what you think you are afraid of on those dark foggy mornings.


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## SADDADDY (Sep 9, 2005)

*ooooooh if that don't make you cry*

 
imagine coming around the corner walking to your stand and you hear a strange noise, you flip on your flashlight only to see


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## Mechanicaldawg (Sep 9, 2005)

Thanks, LT!

Know I'm going to be skeered that someone read your thread, let their imagination get the best of them and think I'M Bigfoot and shoot me!


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## SADDADDY (Sep 9, 2005)

*what was that noise....*

snap! crack! crunching sounds behind you....


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## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)

Jeff Young said:
			
		

> Thanks, LT!
> 
> Know I'm going to be skeered that someone read your thread, let their imagination get the best of them and think I'M Bigfoot and shoot me!


Naw Jeff. I am just currious as to how many folks will read it and wait till daylight to get on stand. They may find this stalking them. LOL.


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## HuntinRebel3 (Sep 9, 2005)

Here is another website with sitings.  The Putnam County sighting was my wife.

http://gcbro.com/gadb1.htm


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## SADDADDY (Sep 9, 2005)

*Snap,crunch,crunch, snap....oooooh*

is it right behind me


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## scshep2002 (Sep 9, 2005)

They will only attack you if you have a bottle of tinks 69 in your pocket and a ole man trestand lol


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## HuntinRebel3 (Sep 9, 2005)

*Another Article*

This guy interviewed my wife (Amy) over the phone.  These are the excerpts from the article.

Bigfoot Encounters 

Georgia's Swamp Ape, Fact or Fiction?
By Wayne Ford, sculpture by Sam Mitchell 


Athens Magazine, April 2001

 A year later, in August 2000, and about 15 miles south in Putnam County, two women had taken a wrong turn on a dark country road when they saw something. Amy  a medical transcriptionist from Tallahassee, Florida and her husband were visiting her husband's brother who lived in the Lake Sinclair area. Unfamiliar with the roads, she, accompanied by a female friend had made a wrong turn and was slowly driving on Blue Fill Road about 10 pm with her windows down. That is when she saw the creature about 6 feet away. 

"The thing was huge. It was really tall and its head looked like it went right down \into its shoulders. It didn't have any kind of neck, so to speak. Its arms were larger than normal and kind of thick. It scared me to death," she said.


And then there are the people who have seen something in the forests, like Amy. "There is a Bigfoot - - definitely," she said.


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## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)

HuntinRebel. I thaught you knew that dead end roads are only used for two things. Makin out   and doing drugs  . You guys were not obviously making out  . This leads me to believe the other.   This may explain the sighting. You know that stuff messes with the ole head.     
Besides. We all know that ole bigfoot is a transplant from another world braught by the mother ship.


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## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)

SADDADDY said:
			
		

> is it right behind me


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## HuntinRebel3 (Sep 9, 2005)

http://www.chattahoocheebigfoot.org/chattahoocheebigfoot/multimedia.html

Some of those will make your skin crawl.  Imagine hearing that in the stand!!


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## HuntinRebel3 (Sep 9, 2005)

Lthomas said:
			
		

> HuntinRebel. I thaught you knew that dead end roads are only used for two things. Makin out   and doing drugs  . You guys were not obviously making out  . This leads me to believe the other.   This may explain the sighting. You know that stuff messes with the ole head.
> Besides. We all know that ole bigfoot is a transplant from another world braught by the mother ship.




I wasn't with em!


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## SADDADDY (Sep 9, 2005)

*HuntinRebel3*

did you say Blue Fill Road about 10 pm  

oh man I'm sorry I like to jog down Blue Fill Road at night but that night was a little chilly and I couldn't find my jacket so I grabbed the wife's Fur coat and went for a run


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## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)

HuntinRebel3 said:
			
		

> I wasn't with em!


Now that is the story of my life.
I all the time have family and friends of big ole deer they have seen. I never seem to be with them. LOL.


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## SADDADDY (Sep 9, 2005)

Lthomas said:
			
		

> Now that is the story of my life.
> I all the time have family and friends of big ole deer they have seen. I never seem to be with them. LOL.



me too! and it always goes like this  
oh man you should of went to the store with us, we were pulling out of camp and ya know right where you got that stand a huge buck come running across the road, musta been a 9pt no make that 10pt, bill wouldn't you say it had at least 10? no 12pts wow I must have missed that watching the other 4 bucks standing on the other side of the road...


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## LJay (Sep 9, 2005)

Some people don't believe in Ghosts either. I used to be one of them until I saw one.


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## HuntinRebel3 (Sep 9, 2005)

SADDADDY said:
			
		

> did you say Blue Fill Road about 10 pm
> 
> oh man I'm sorry I like to jog down Blue Fill Road at night but that night was a little chilly and I couldn't find my jacket so I grabbed the wife's Fur coat and went for a run


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## Woodsong (Sep 9, 2005)

you know, you all will think i am crazy but i saw a ghost of a bigfoot and blackpanther running through the woods last year.  Until this thread came up i was just too embarrassed to post about it.  I feel better now.  They were trying to jump over my high fence as my dogs were chasing them away from my pile of bait when i was hunting last summer.  If i didn't have that big spotlight with me i would not have even seen them.


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## Branchminnow (Sep 9, 2005)

Jeff Young said:
			
		

> Thanks, LT!
> 
> Know I'm going to be skeered that someone read your thread, let their imagination get the best of them and think I'M Bigfoot and shoot me!


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## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)

Hey Jimbo. Ya better keep yer shoes on. HAHAHAHA. Folks are seein your tracks again.


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## Jewels64 (Sep 9, 2005)

Dang, I couldn't sleep because of a spider the last few nights, I'm going home to Mama til sunday!!!!


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## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)

habersham hammer said:
			
		

> What are you guys smoking?
> 
> With a 7mm in your hand why would you fear anything?


You cant be havin that thing in the woods during Archery season.


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## Madsnooker (Sep 9, 2005)

About a year ago I thought I spotted what looked like a big tall black looking creature across the field from my stand while hunting in Dooly county. I threw up the binoculars to get a better look only to find that it was just another black panther standing on it's hind legs as it leaned against a tree watching some turkeys as they roosted.

I would bet that most people that thought they had spotted a bigfoot type creature had actually only seen a black panther and just got confused.


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## SADDADDY (Sep 9, 2005)

*Silver Bullets*

I think you can only kill a bigfoot with Silver Bullets   

oh wait that is a Werewolf   
hadn't seen one of those in awhile


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## Lthomas (Sep 9, 2005)




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## SADDADDY (Sep 9, 2005)

*Run for your life!!!*

no where to hide from the hairy one


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## Hawkeye (Sep 10, 2005)

We have one in florida at the Big Cypress preserve, since around 1967 but I know his address and phone number,he he he LOl

My friend and I in the 60s saw that movie about the big foot somewheres in oregon, and since I had study orthopidics and having a taxidermy knowledge we put together a sculptured cast of what i thought a bigfoot print should be, Jack is 6' 7" and has huge feet so we strapped it on him and we went to the swamp buggy trails in an area called monroe station and also Occhoppe Fla on turner River Road and he would walk along the trails made by the swamp buggy, we would spray skunk scent which drove the dogs wild.

The rumor began to surface such as "he came into our camp last night and torn it up"

He ate all of our food and smashed our station wagon"

One lady found two miles from where we left the prints appeared with her car all crashed up and said she ran over big foot.

Up to this day in occhoppe Florida there is  afeller who owns a souvenier shop, which has a giant panther outside as a sign that claims he has photographed and filmed bigfoot.

All of these started because of a prank we started on innocent hunters.

Amazing what the human mind can make up.

Felt good to confess it after so many years, wow!


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## Coastie (Sep 10, 2005)

Well, according to that first website, I've got a couple of them living about 5 miles from the house. The incident that supposedly took place in 1985 in Fannin county when a Cobra helicopter went down on the Blue Ridge Management area above camp Frank D. Merrill. Only problem is I can't find any reference anywhere to a helicopter crash in that area at that time. The Warden for the South end of Blue Ridge WMA is my neighbor and my boss has worked Dawson Forest WMA for nearly 30 years and has spent a good amount of time hunting and patrolling Blue Ridge as well, neither of them have ever mentioned anything about reports from anybody that hunts here or folks that have lived here for generations.   I guess my dog food is safe from everything but possums and bears for now, but one never know, do one.


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## No. GA. Mt. Man (Sep 10, 2005)

Up here in Union Co. I ain't got time to worry about Bigfoot I have to protect my family from them dadgum Black Panthers. I think that spaceship that landed up the creek brought 'em with them.


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## Hawkeye (Sep 12, 2005)

You think Big foot raptures wives ?


Please !


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## Sandman619 (Sep 12, 2005)

No sightings in the county i hunt in so I reckon I'm safe!

No need to get spooked in the woods anymore


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## dixie (Sep 12, 2005)

ROFL, some of you old timers here will remember the stories I've posted about our lease, everything from haints to a colony of werewolves are suppose to live on it. The ONE thing I worry about  is that critter I've nickednamed "ole shaggy" I've seen him more than once and smelled him a LOT this year. I'm to the point of wondering if he's not stalking me. I spend a LOT of time there alone and I've never had a glimse of him or smelled him when someone else is there. maybe he's just shy!!!


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## duke13 (Sep 12, 2005)

HuntinRebel3 said:
			
		

> I wasn't with em!



Wife .....and ex-wife........together, on a dark dead end road?  That is an even scarier thought than any bigfoot!!!!!

So....I hunt in Putnam....just where is this Blue Fill Rd.? I may need a bigger gun.


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## HuntinRebel3 (Sep 12, 2005)

It's on the lake somewhere.


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## SADDADDY (Sep 12, 2005)

I love the one story I read up in North Florida about how a Capt. of the Santa Rosa fire dept. was coming home late one evening from the Moose Lodge with his father when they saw a big hairy creature run across the interstate, the creature stepped over a 6' fence and was gone   of course the father was asleep when this all went down and never seen a thing  

I would too be seeing alot of weird stuff after a all nighter at the Moose Lodge


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## BANDERSNATCH (Sep 12, 2005)

It's like my dad told me long ago....

"If there are bigfoots out there then one of them is going to step out in front of a semi one day and we can all, then, take a look at him!"    

He also said that "if there were flying saucers then one day one of them is going to have carburetor trouble and we can take a long look at them"

What wisdom!!!!

Bandy


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## Mechanicaldawg (Sep 12, 2005)

Bandy,

I'd say your Dad had things 'bout right!

I figure that all the blank panthers and big feets are hanging out playing cards somewhere!

Of course if that was the case we'd have velvet panings of them instead of hound dogs playing cards!


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## coon dawg (Sep 12, 2005)

*...........*



			
				dixie said:
			
		

> ROFL, some of you old timers here will remember the stories I've posted about our lease, everything from haints to a colony of werewolves are suppose to live on it. The ONE thing I worry about  is that critter I've nickednamed "ole shaggy" I've seen him more than once and smelled him a LOT this year. I'm to the point of wondering if he's not stalking me. I spend a LOT of time there alone and I've never had a glimse of him or smelled him when someone else is there. maybe he's just shy!!!


Dixie.........could you direct me to the Werewolf Colony???...got some Silver Bullets I need to get rid of.....  ....is it either sex?? .........folks say huntin' 'em can be really tough except for the week of the full moon??


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## captainhook (Sep 12, 2005)

There's a guy here in Bulloch Co that claims he had one living behind his house in the swamp off Lott's Creek. He said he used to feed it and it tried to lure him into the swamp with some kind of calls. This man is known to consume moonshine regularly so no one puts much credence in his claims. It makes you wonder though. If I ever saw one I'd probably keep it to myself. Ft Stewart would be a good place to find one, that is a big wild area.


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## How2fish (Sep 12, 2005)

captainhook said:
			
		

> He said he used to feed it and it tried to lure him into the swamp with some kind of calls.
> 
> If Bigfoot tries to lure him into the swamp..he best start feeding it more!!!


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## joshwesley (Jun 12, 2021)

wouldn't you know my digging led me here again, just passing through guys.


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## kmaxwell3 (Jun 18, 2021)

Elkins Creek runs through back of my property in Pike County. We see him back there all the time. He is a good guy. Just wants to be left alone.


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## jbogg (Jun 19, 2021)

I swear I’m not going to put this on the trail leading to my buddies ladder stand.?


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## bilgerat (Jun 19, 2021)

I hit one with My car years ago, Took him home and nursed him back to health in the basement, We named him Harry , He was really nice  gentle creature, Heres a pic from the day he left to go back to his family, He was sad to leave us.


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