Last week I posted a thread about bumping a nice buck on the way to my climber. Well Saturday morning I climbed up in it at 4am and waited for daylight to break. At 0610 I heard limbs breaking and leaves rustling. At first I thought its a buck chasing a doe, then it let out this loud growl that lasted for about 3 seconds. Holy crap I thought what the heck is that. It milled around for a bit then growled again. Talking about the hair on the back of your neck standing up. There was only one animal I could tell by the sound of it walking, it headed off to the east then came back closer to me, then headed back east again. I never got even a glimpse of what it was. There is a bear season open where I hunt, but I have never seen a bear or any sign of one before. I have heard bucks growl twice before, but both times it was chasing a doe with other bucks around, i'm sure this was a single animal. The woods are really thick, its where the hardwoods meet a mix of ceder and hardwoods. The other thing I thought of later was I never heard it approaching, the first thing I heard was the limbs breaking 35 yards from me. Makes me wonder if it was bedded when I climbed the tree. Sure wish I could have got a look at what it was.

Sasquatch - I bet that's what it was.

Just be glad it didn't start climbing.

But don't worry, I got 'im!

Sounds like the goatman to me. Watch yer back.

If there's a bear season open, that's a good bet. Bears are pretty reclusive (hence the typical method for hunting is baiting) so the fact that you have never seen one doesn't mean much. I have to this day never seen a coyote in the area I grew up, but the trappers and guys hunting with dogs find enough of them.