A deer hunter in the Western Kentucky wilderness is stalked by an unknown green-eyed bipedal creature while attempting to reach his tree stand.
I recently came across the following account:
"I was black powder hunting alone in a very rural area in Grayson County, Kentucky far off the parkway. An off grid property with old growth timber surrounding it for many miles in every direction with just a few seasonal hunting cabins that lie dormant most of year.
I’ve deer hunted this property all my life and had never had any reason to fear walking into my deer stand in the dark. Until the 2008 season changed my life forever.
I always rode my four-wheeler in and parked 250 yards outside of my favorite spot and walked the rest of the way in to not spook any game before I got to my stand. So as I shut my four-wheeler off and put on my back pack, I heard a very large limb snap and thought it was a deer or animal moving around maybe 20 yards away.
So I didn’t think anything about it. I just figured I had spooked an animal inside the woods. So, I gathered my gun and hunting stuff and started walking down the 2 track trail without my flashlight on due to having good enough light from the moon to see where I was walking (I hunted here along time and knew the trail). This trail ended in a 15-acre hay field surrounded by old growth timber.
As I walked in the dark, I started to realize something was paralleling my every step just inside the woods. I walked and stopped and it would do the same. As I moved along the dark trail the footsteps starting getting closer to me. I wasn’t sure but it sounded like it was bipedal.
By the time I realized I had a serious situation on my hands, it was too far and too late to make it back to the four-wheeler safely so I picked up my pace and made a beeline for the field. I got to the field with my stalker pacing my every step. I moved swiftly towards my stand 75 yards down the edge of the woods.
When I got within 10 yards from the stand, I heard another large limb snap really close to the edge of the field on my left. I stopped turned my flashlight on and shined in that direction. I observed 2 glowing green eyes about 10 inches apart. Instinctively I raised my hands in the air and yelled “get out of here.” I stomped my foot at it not really sure what I was seeing. It just blinked its eyes once and never moved. I could not make out any details just that it may have been crouched down due to the proximity of the eyes to the ground. Whatever this was didn’t run like most non-predatory animals would do. I realized in that instant the best thing to do was take the high ground and get in the stand as quickly as possible. This (whatever it was) was no more than 8 steps away and if I shot at it in the dark, I would have been blinded by the muzzle flash and it might attack if I missed. And with only one shot I knew I would be in trouble if it did attack.
I climbed up the ladder like a squirrel. I watched, listened and waited for what seemed an eternity for day break. This “thing” circled me in my stand just out of the reach of my flashlight for over an hour. I not ashamed to admit, I was scared but I remained calm and knew the only way it could get to me was on the ladder and I felt comfort in knowing it had to climb up the ladder to get to me but didn’t seem to know exactly how to utilize it.
At one point, in the dark, I heard what sounded like a small rock bounce off the lower end of the metal ladder. I waited with my gun at the ready, and I would have done whatever it took to stay alive and wasn’t going without a fight. I could see a shadow moving, but in the dark you never know if your eyes are playing tricks on you. But I could sense a real threat lurking in the dark field surrounding my deer stand.
For whatever reason this “thing” was stalking me and did so until just a few seconds before daybreak. I heard its footsteps fade into the woods where it had followed me from. I waited, watched and listened intently until full daylight and descended cautiously down the ladder on high alert. As I walked back to my four-wheeler, I knew this “thing” wasn’t gone but hiding inside the forest watching my every move.
I moved across the field quickly and waited and listened before heading down the two track surrounded on both sides with trees. I knew this would be a perfect ambush spot with close quarters and not much room to evade or fight off an attack of any kind. I unsnapped my hunting knife sheath, got a firm grip on my black powder rifle and went for broke ready for battle of life or death.
As I rounded the corner where my four-wheeler was sitting, I seen my escape and wasted no time jumping on the machine. As I turned the key and reached to hit the starter button, I heard another branch or limb snap with great force somewhere behind me. The bike fired up and I goosed the throttle hard going through the gears as fast as I could never looking back. To be honest, I didn’t want to know what it was and was just relieved I had escaped a close call.
I got back to my cabin, packed up and left the area and went back home and cut the week long hunt short. I didn’t return until the following spring.
I’ve often thought about this experience and since realized the days leading up to it, I didn’t see any wildlife at all. The forest was eerily quiet and no animal activity at all. What it was you ask…Bigfoot, Wendigo or some sort of cryptid? I don’t know but I do know I experienced it and I’ve never been the same when I enter the woods.
I changed my hunting tactics, how and when I enter the woods, and always carry a backup sidearm. And I tune into what the creatures in the woods are telling me first and foremost. If the squirrels and the birds are not moving around normally, there is a predator in their midst. And it just might be hunting you as well." BE
NOTE: This is an area well-known for mountain lion habitation. I believe, because of the green eyes and activity, that this hunter may have encountered a cryptid canine. Lon
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