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| A view of the thick woods growin' up the mountain just behind my tent ... |
The followin’ account is a
continuation of events that I logged over the time I had spent in the North American Wood
Ape Conservancy’s research area, deep in the Ouachita Mountains of southeastern
Oklahoma. Again, these are just a few of
the things that I personally experienced while there, and I was both privileged
and humbled to be among our team of veteran field researchers. I had little doubt of what my son and I had
witnessed back in 2009, but doubted that I would be blessed enough to encounter
one of these animals on my first trip into “Area X”. Bein’ wrong sometimes is a good thing;
however, over the past few months, I often wonder whether it was an actual
blessing or a curse. I'd trained for several
months prior to going out there, conditionin’ my body to endure the heat and
harsh terrain, droppin’ over 20 lbs. and packin’ on some muscle. But what actually happened to me out there
was just way outta my comfort zone, because I cannot ever remember feelin’
so alone or vulnerable at any time in my entire life. I’d always thought that what didn’t kill me
was supposed to make me stronger …
Well, since I’ve been back ... I had started smokin’ cigarettes again and gained back those 20 lbs. by
endulgin’ myself in way too many beers on a regular, nightly basis. Finally, towards the end of September I
snapped out of it; I promised myself that, I was no longer goin’ to be weak and
to put away my vices; or, in my case crutches … and to no longer do this to my
body. Even though what didn’t kill me had
really friggin’ screwed with my head, I finally came to terms that this was
their intention durin’ both of my trips.
I use the word, “their” in reference to the wood apes … who simply toyed
with us, tryin’ to elicit responses to their ongoin’ escapades. These animals were unlike anything I’d ever
encountered, and in my opinion, they are way smarter than we give ‘em credit
for. But they are however, just animals
… not monsters. Those things that were
goin’ bump in the night weren’t “haints” … but flesh and blood animals, albeit
mischievous ones at that. And at any
time while I was out there, if any one of these animals had seriously wanted to
hurt me, y’all simply wouldn’t be readin’ this.
Sometimes, things that happen are simply out of one’s control, so here’s
what happened next:
Alton Higgins came out of the cabin around
7:45 A.M., and I told him what-all I had heard from the night before … as well
as what I’d observed that mornin’. When
the others awoke, Graham confirmed that she too had heard the rock slide at
3:15 A.M. as well. By this time, my teammates
could hear my now nervous tone, and told me that I needed to get some sleep. Sleep deprivation is not good for anyone … especially in such a remote and dangerous environment. And with everything that I had experienced so
far, I needed to keep my wits about me … not only for my safety but for that of
my team. I finally retired to my tent
about 10-ish, but was awakened by movement at noon; I watched Alton walkin’ away
from my tent towards the east, and I then noticed Lawrence and Graham movin’
out about 15-minutes later. I fixed a
snack and noticed that Mason was still in camp.
Apparently, Alton was brushed-up to still-hunt in one position, Travis
in another and Graham had just come back from doin’ her time in the grime. The three of us were sittin’ in front of my
tent at about 2:15 P.M. when we all heard three loud metallic soundin’ bangs or
slams echo throughout the woods in front of us.
After confirmation and discussions with our team over the radios, Graham
and I decided to make the rounds in separate directions to see if we could
flush-out anything towards Alton or Travis.
While I did a slow stalk to the west, Graham had observed a doe feedin’
in a clearin’ durin’ her patrol to the east.
Other than that, I had only heard a slight rustlin’ through them woods, but
nothin’ else.
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| The "bait" tent 20-yards in front of the cabin, and my tree-stand was another 30-yards to the right. |
Alton woke me up around a quarter of two; already
dressed except for my boots, I immediately put my tree-stand harness on and put
my newly charged radio into my front left pant pocket. I ran the ear-bud cord over my shoulder,
clippin’ the mic onto my left lapel, around under my collar and tucked the
ear-bud into my front right breast pocket.
I wore a shell-belt and holstered S&W .357 over the harness, with
four speed-loads of 180 gr. Grizzly rounds, as well as a pouch with 14 extra
rounds of 430 gr. Buffalo-Bore for the Henry.
I had a fanny-pack with a water bottle attached … and two extra bottles of
water, a flashlight, extra headlamp for back-up and an Olympus sound
recorder. I checked my Henry .45-70 and
tested the bright green tactical light inside of one my boots before puttin’
‘em on and exitin’ my tent. Upon our teams’
diversion, I crept slowly through the darkness for seventy-five paces to the
tree and my stand. At that point I could
clearly hear somethin’ large movin’ through the brush well ahead of me to my
right. After a brief pause, I quietly climbed-up the
tree, onto the stand and secured my safety harness to its tether and sat.
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| I had zoomed-in for a closer view of the "bait" tent from the ATV trail just in front of my tree-stand. In the darkness, I could barely even see their light ... |
Shortly afterwards, I heard more rustlin’
through the brush, comin’ from the area behind the girl’s tent. Then came the mouth-pops; I can now clearly
remember hearin’ those sounds … as if someone were to put their finger into
their mouth against the inside of their cheek and then pull their finger out
abruptly. (After viewin’ Alton’s video, I
remember now that I had overlooked this upon the de-briefing with my team; but ever
since that night I still cannot forget those sounds.) At first, I heard one in one direction in
front of me, and then one across from me, one well behind me and one or two more
come from down the road to my right. They
seemed to be close, but between the tree-knock and now the mouth-pops, I
suddenly realized that it was now game-on.
I also had the sudden realization that there were several animals movin’ through the pitch-black woods with ease and in
my opinion were communicatin’ each other’s position. Only a mere hundred feet or so from my team
and the cabin, I suddenly felt very alone and very friggin’ vulnerable. I also remember wonderin’ what the women were
thinkin’ sittin’ alone out there in that tent …
 |
| These are one of a few piles of rocks in those woods, just behind and to the left of the bait tent. These were probably the rocks that I heard scatterin' that night. |
The next thing that I heard was very
heavy, steady breathin’ directly under me; it sounded like this animal was inhalin’
through its nostrils, not its mouth. What
I heard was loud, steady inhales and exhales, about 2 to 3 seconds apart, and
it wouldn’t stop. It sounded massive ... like
a bull, but not a snort; it was just breathin’ steadily and loudly in and out. My heart began to pound outta my chest, and
I’m really surprised I didn’t have a friggin’ heart attack. I again craned my head straight up, tryin’ to
calm my breathin’ but I could not control myself. I put my head back down tryin’ to see
anything below me, but it was just pitch black.
I noticed that when I had craned my head straight up, I could see
lighter patches of twilight sky, with the foliage well above me bathed in
moonlight. But lookin’ down I could not
see a thing … just blackness. I remember
thinkin’ that this animal could surely
hear my breathin’ ...
At
that point, the cocked .45-70 was my security and my right finger was across
the trigger-guard. My right hand had a
solid grip on the stock of the Henry, and my left hand was grippin’ the
fore-stock as the weapon lay across my thighs.
My left index finger was restin’ on the button of my mounted tactical
light, so all I really had to do was to stand-up and try to light this animal
up. I wanted to see it so bad, but
because it was directly under me, I would have had to have stood-up and leaned
out a ways just to try to light it up; while at the same time tryin’ to aim
through the foliage below my stand and then possibly attempt to shoot. By then, my legs were shakin’ so bad I simply
could not stand, and I still could not control my breathin’. What alarmed me more than anything was that I
did not hear this animal approach. Period. It was just suddenly there; nor, did I smell
it. I was in total shock, caught like a
deer in the headlights. How in the Hell could somethin’ that
friggin’ big git-up on me like that? I never heard any foot-falls! Did
it crawl or knuckle-walk?
I do not know if it could see me through
the branches below my stand, but it just stayed there, breathin’. I then heard a rock or a nut get tossed, not thrown, about 20’ to the side of me,
to my right. I could hear it penetrate
the foliage and then bounce through the leaf-litter. The next sound that I heard was a stick or
piece of wood being tossed about 20’ to my left. It hit a few branches and then I heard it flatly
come to a rest in the leaf-litter. In my
opinion, my realization at that time was that I had more than one of these
animals in close proximity to me, but they either did not know what I was or
exactly where I was. Or, I could be dead
wrong. In retrospect, I really think it
was the worst-case scenario … they were tryin’ to flush me out. At that point, I do remember prayin’ … prayin’ to God that I would do the right
thing. Should I try to stand and take a shot?
Could I ethically shoot blindly at somethin’ I really couldn’t see? And then I decided, no; just sit-it-out … but
if one of these friggin’ things came up that tree, then shoot! My breathin’
started to calm, but only after I no longer heard that animal breathin’
directly below me. That didn’t mean that
I was no longer anxious; I’d say that I was more so nervous at that point, because
I really did not know what was comin’ next.
I guess I really never knew true fear in my meager life; but right there
and then, I pretty much-well figured-out that
I’d just met it.
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| My tree-stand as viewed from the ATV trail; yeah, Travis ... it wasn't high enough! |
Alton came from the cabin as well, and I
was still shakin’ so bad I didn’t know if I could make it down my ladder. I remember sendin’ the fanny-pack down on a
line, and shoulderin’ the Henry to eventually climb down. At that point I was an emotional wreck, and
had a hard time tryin’ to git my sh¡t together.
Again, we briefly scanned the woods around us, and then walked straight
to the cabin where Alton would interview/video me for a debriefin’. Watchin and listenin’ to this video afterwards,
I basically sounded like a scared teen-aged kid, not a 53 year-old seasoned
hunter. And right after the debriefin’ …
I remember takin’ the Olympus recorder out of its pouch on my left shoulder to
play the audio that would verify everything. To my horror, I discovered that it had only
recorded for less than a minute before it was inadvertently turned off! Sh¡t! I must have turned the damn thang off when I
slid it back into its pouch, or when I snapped its pouch shut. I was told later that this was called the
“Bigfoot” curse. This same type of
‘eff-up had happened to several others from time to time with other equipment. My adrenaline rush had subsided a bit, but I
was now amped-up with the anger from my failures. A simple recorder, one used several times in
the past; but more importantly, a perfect opportunity to possibly obtain a type
specimen, blown! All I had to do was stand-up … light-it-up
and shoot. At that exact moment I recalled; even after all of the excitement of the past 3½ hours, still hearin' my wife’s
voice clearly sayin’ to me, “Be careful
what you wish for.”
This is the second installment to this
blog entry. It is an edited-down version
of just a few of the many things that I personally experienced durin’ my first
few days in a place that the North American Wood Ape Conservancy calls “Area
X”. And again, I urge y’all to go to our
Web site at http://www.woodape.org and
read the NAWAC’s Ouachita Project Monograph, which details the years of study
performed by our members. These folks
have all volunteered serious time, effort and personal finances to try and provide
definitive proof of the existence of this yet undiscovered mystery primate. I will continue to keep y’all abreast of what-all
happened to me on the rest of that trip; however, I’ll tell you right now, it
was not pretty. From fear to anger to sleep deprivation along
with further wood ape activity, it was a serious downward spiral for me. And if any of y’all think that any of this is
bullsh¡t, you might wanna think again. Our members as well as our Board of Directors
read this blog, and would never allow
any of our investigators or members to tell anything but the truth … especially concernin’ the North American Wood Ape Conservancy
and its ongoin’ field research, nor would they ever allow anyone in our group to
give any misinformation about wood apes.
We only report the facts. Period. On top of that, not only would they publicly call
me out, but most of ‘em would take me to
the wood-shed as well! Remember, the
truth is still out there … so until next time, y’all come back now, ya hear?
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