I had an issue with several interviews last week where the audio is terrible and I am not sure why. While I work on it, I am loading one of my favorite episodes 729. A listener writes "My brother in-law and I have hunted all over Oklahoma. Grady County, in Central Oklahoma, Near Clayton in the South East, but in this one piece of property in Nowata, smack in the middle between the Verdigris River and Ooligha Lake, we had a very Terrifying encounter, …….with something.
I'm 53 years old and hunted, with my dad, in Nowata, before I was old enough to drive. Not many people know how wooded this area is. My father and I hunted only 8 miles away from this property, I'm going to tell you about, and there are caves in the area. My dad and I use to hunt from the mouth of one on rainy days. I think, I could hide from populated areas, easily myself, so I'm pretty sure an elusive animal could too.
It all started on our father in-law's land. It was about 40 acres, but we had permission to hunt another 40 on the back side of it. I always felt uneasy on this property. Like I was being watched, but I just rationalized it away. I would hear someone else walking the property, in the dark, keeping pace with me, as I walked to my hunting spot. I would swallow my fear and tell myself it's just another armadillo or racoon, and keep going.
Once I borrow a knife from my dad, just in case I got a deer. The last thing he said to me was, " I don't care if you leave everything ease, just bring my knife back" . This knife was hand made, razor sharp, and entirely metal. I knew he meant it, so I was not going to leave it.
That hunt I struck out, but my brother in-law, got a small buck. I was in my early 30s then, but he was in his 20s and had never gutted a deer before, so I was going to gut it for him. I slit open the abdomen and began pulling out the insides, in a bloody mess. He laughed at how bloody I was getting, calling me doctor Dave. I was trying to show him but he just laughed and teased me all the more. Frustrated I cleaned the knife on my camo and stuck it in the dirt.
It was later in the day, so we gathered our haul and started back to camp. We walked, maybe 1/8th of a mile when, you guessed it. I forgot that knife. We were already sweating despite the cold, so my brother in-law wasn't happy about turning around. After less than 10 minutes, we got back to the spot, I picked up the knife, and wiped the dirt off on my pants.
I looked up and said, let's go, but my friend didn't move. He turned and said slowly, " you don't see anything wrong here." The entire gut pile was gone. Even the blood. There was just one leaf with one drop of blood. No drag marks, no sign anything had been there, except for one large area of disturbed grass where the carcass had been, one small spot of crushed grass and of course my knife.
Now I think there was a track there, but I didn't see it as that. This was Oklahoma and Bigfoot was not in my vocabulary. We walked back to camp in silence with guns loaded. What ever took that 30 pounds of slimy deer guts, had to be watching us while we opened the deer, was big enough to carry it off, and was probably still close.
We had other things happen over the years, but one night stands frozen in my memory. In a later season, we were late getting to the property. We left too late to get there in the daylight. I was perturbed to have to set up the tent in the dark. It was darker than dark that night. It was nearly 2200, when we got it up. I was ready to start a fire, my brother in-law, and friend, Zack, said OK, let's go set up my tree stand. I replied, are you kidding, it's dark, I'm tired, and we haven't been here for an entire year. It was no use objecting, he was going on his own if I didn't go with him, so away we went. Trampling through the woods. The flash lights we had weren't great either.
As we navigated off the ridge down into the bottom, of the hollow, I remember hearing something behind and to the right keeping pace with us in the woods. Fear hit me like it had never before. I tried to push it down, telling myself, it was nothing, but I struggled to stay upright on the dimly lit trail, carrying my pack.
Finally, he found the tree he remembered from last year. I pulled screw in foot pegs out, and successfully got the stand in place 12 or 15 foot up. It took a long time and it was unusually warm.
I set it up, so Zack wanted to make sure he liked it, so climbed up as I shined my, dim, flashlight on the pegs. While, he was climbing into the tree, that uneasy, fear, hit me again. I was hearing something moving behind me, and was having a hard time keeping that light shining on the tree. I would swing the light around and immediately heard my brother in-law yell, hey, give me some light, and WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I can't see.
He finally get up there and bounces on the platform. Shining a flip phone around saying, "yeah, this'll work." I didn't care, I had my back to the tree, trying to see what was spooking me so bad. I was normally like that. I use to walk by moonlight to my hunting spot, but I could hear something moving around us in the dark. We were loud and it didn't seem to care. Finally, FINALLY, he got down and we made our way to camp. I started a fire and was feeling pretty comfortable on my sleeping bag. The fire comforted me as I cooled off, when Zack said, we gotta go back. I left my phone in the tree. I said , " it'll be there in the morning!!!!" He said, I'm going back. But I had enough. I was not leaving the fire. I told him your going on your own if you do. He took his rifle, and a flashlight and disappeared into the dark.
I was just dosing off, when BOOM, and another BOOM. HE WAS SHOOTING. I bounced up pulling on my pants. As I fumbled with my boots Zack came running full sprint and stopped standing over me.
I was mad at him. I didn't give him a chance to explain saying, you can't shoot at night! It's not legal to shoot a deer after dark, and everything is scared away now for half a mile.
I feel bad now, he was pale, and just kept saying, " I saw something. I heard something."
IT WAS NEARLY 10 YEARS LATER HE TOLD ME WHAT Happened. He said, something on 2 legs followed me in the woods. I paced me just out of sight. I yelled, thinking it was you messing with me. DAVID, cut it out. When he got to the tree. He yelled again, DAVID CUT IT OUT. then something mocked him out of the darkness. DAAVVIDD. He said something inside him told him to get up that tree. He shimmied up the tree like a squirrel. He cocked his gun and said DAVID, if that's you, you better cut it out. I'm going to shoot. Then he sees a huge black shape, and it mocked his frightened words, saying, DAAVIDD, HEA HEA HEA. Almost laughing.
He thought it was a demon. So he shot, it ran, and he shot again. Seei g his chance, he scurried down and ran back to camp.
There was no way we were going to sleep so I roasted hotdogs on the fire. And we had visitors.
I heard coyotes yelp earlier, so I rationalized that's what it was. We where being harassed and circled by something on all fours. There was no eye shine, and they took care to not be caught in a flashlight. For nearly 2 hours they ran back and forth around us. The truck was close, but the gate was locked, and neither of us where going to fiddle with a lock, in the dark. We had guns but they were bolt action with a scope. These things were fast. We yelled but unless they came into the light, forget it. We threw out a weiner with antifreeze, in desporation. I heard something get up, run on 2 legs now and race to the weiner. In shock, we listened as this thing, started coughing and hacking. I thought to myself, that sound like a person. Then Zack said, what I thought. That sounds like a man. That sounds like a man. I said it can't be. Running in the woods with no light.
He said, we just killed someone. I said, as the coughing continued, anyone who runs around hunter, at night, and picks up a hot dog, off the forest floor deserves to die. He laughed. Then I laughed. We bother laughed nervously, as this thing walked away coughing. We could hear it 100 yards away coughing.
It was morning before we fell asleep. We didn't hunt that day.
The treestand was ripped off the tree, broken at the welds. Chain still attached"
