'Deer-Chasing Sasquatch' Encountered by Hunters in Florida Panhandle

“I had several experiences throughout the years hunting that I was able to explain them away up until our 1995 trip in the Florida Panhandle. The '95 hunting season started out normal and we were enjoying our vacation, but noticed the deer were not as active as they usually were. We had the forest to ourselves, so we always put our tree stands close to the hunt camp. The open area around the camp always allowed for great visibility and the deer were usually abundant.

A few days in we were enjoying a morning hunt on a nice clear day and the forest was extremely quiet. The sun had been up for a couple of hours when I saw two deer run into the clearing about 250 yards from my stand. They were headed towards my friend's stand which was about 100 yards to my left. Chasing the deer was what looked to be a man dressed in black. The man was keeping up with the deer which was the first thing I found odd. Another strange thing was the way he seamlessly switched between running and crawling. It seemed that he would crawl when in the thick brush and run in the clear areas.

They went by my friend first, then towards me. As they got closer to me, I got a good downward view at what I thought was a man. He was crawling toward me when I noticed he wasn't wearing clothes, but was covered with hair. He was about six and a half feet tall and built like a basketball player with extra long arms. The hair was dark brown and longer on the back of his head and arms. He was crawling, not relying on his hands, much but instead using them to separate the bushes while he snaked his way forward. I noticed his long arms didn't seem to taper down but seemed to be the same diameter the entire length. I couldn't see the face from my view but noticed his head seemed to swivel up on his shoulders in an odd way. The crawling motion reminded me of a lizard or snake the way his hip swayed.

I thought I was discovering a new species and wanted a better look at the face of this creature. I remember debating in my mind about making a noise in order to get get it to stop and look my way. My fear was that if it turned my way, it would forget about the deer and come after me instead. When they were about 20 or 25 yards from me, I let out a gasp. The creature stopped stood and turned toward me. He saw me in my tree stand almost instantly and we stared at each other for what seemed like a minute. The adrenaline was pumping and I thought my heart was going to jump right out of my chest. It felt like I was looking at his face through a tunnel. I remember that the face wasn't human which increased the tunnel vision effect. His eyes were large and almond shaped with very little whites. The eye color was a dark brown. He opened his mouth and gave me a snarling look. His teeth were square, larger than normal and a few were broken. The mouth was huge and the look he gave me was a mix of anger and surprise. He definitely didn't expect to see a human up a tree and he didn't seem happy to see me.

I was relieved when he turned his attention back to the deer and continued his chase into the thick tree line. Just a minute or so after that, I heard what sounded like the deer meeting their fate. It took several minutes for my heart and breathing to return to normal. The reprieve didn't last long as I had my second look at this creature about 30 minutes later. He walked out about 80 yards from me staring at me from the same tree line he had disappeared from earlier. He stood there looking at me for a few minutes, but it felt like much longer at that point. I couldn't make out any details just a dark figure standing upright. He eventually slipped back into the trees.

When I made my way back to camp, I asked my friend if he saw the man in in black and he said, 'Yes!' I told my friend about the dirty look the man gave me he told me that he didn't want to talk about it. When I asked him why he didn't want to talk about it, he got agitated and again said he didn't want to talk about it. I knew my friend well enough to know he was serious so we dropped the subject. I didn't sleep much that night because I couldn't get the being's face out of my head.

At about 3:00 AM, I heard bipedal footsteps around the camp and our tent. Our only weapons were our bows and hunting knives that we that we stored in the tent at night. I laid there trying to come up with the defense plan. Fortunately the intruder left us as fast as it arrived. I mentioned what I heard to my friend the next morning and he didn't reply. I wonder now if he heard the same thing but decided not to talk about it. I kept telling myself that it was just a man dressed in black. I was in denial and shock which caused several weeks of nightmares. I had nobody to talk to about this encounter so I kept it to myself. I had to tell myself over and over again that it was just a man so I could finally sleep again.

I spent a total of eight bow seasons at that location and had many other experiences that I managed to put in the back of my mind. I didn't think much of my experience until I started checking into the Sasquatch subject on YouTube about seven years ago. I now believe that these were all Sasquatch related. My family thinks that I’m crazy but I know what I saw. I feel fortunate that I had these experiences but I don't believe I would hunt in the Panhandle again. Life is crazy enough without adding cryptid encounters to the list.”