Knocking in Skamania County, Washington

Well, I must admit to being rather surprised to ever find myself to be putting together a "report" of big foot activity. With that said, I would like to share with you folks my experience this fall during the 2008 late muzzle loading hunt in Washington state. I saw two different set tracks On two separate days, in different areas of the wind river hunting unit. The below single track was well defined and very recent, as the grass was still coming out of the print whilst I observed it. If I had to guess the print was about 13 to 14 inches long with no instep, five toes and I marveled at how big the big toe was. Anatomically correct in relation to the other toes. Depth was about 3/4 of an inch into the ground. I was well away from the fire roads and still hunting in loops to keep the wind in our favor and to do a complete stalk of the habitat. As I still hunt at a glacial pace I see a lot of game and don't hardly ever disturb the wild life I'm hunting through. I wear dark wool clothes and use the primitive equipment of the fur trade era. My son and I both closely studied the print. I could see less defined impressions leading away by laying on the ground sighting in the direction of travel. As the ground was in a semi frozen state that was softening up after an previous evening of light rain. This was a single print in a remote area well away from the fire roads. The above single track was well defined and very recent, as the grass was still coming out of the print whilst I observed it. If I had to guess the print was about 13 to 14 inches long with no instep, five toes and I marveled at how big the big toe was. Anatomically correct in relation to the other toes. Depth was about 3/4 of an inch into the ground. I was well away from the fire roads and still hunting in loops to keep the wind in our favor and to do a complete stalk of the habitat. As I still hunt at a glacial pace I see a lot of game and don't hardly ever disturb the wild life I'm hunting through. I wear dark wool clothes and use the primitive equipment of the fur trade era. I was in the south prairie area on the north end of the lava flow. As I had seen a cow and a calf tracks in a area south and east of the area we were in, we planned to return to a different spot via a circuitous route using the available cover and watch a park like area that isn't easily viewed for the evening hunt. This overlooked a sandy area that was the result of flooding outflow. Laying down a volcanic pumice like sand. I was keeping track of the tracks that went up and down the temporary water bed as it effectively cut the prairie in half making it convenient to get a "snapshot" of the previous evenings events. These were all marked and noted each morning when in the area. I was narrowing my hunt down to these two animals. That evening, while looking over the prairie and glassing the adjacent treeline from the cover of a large tree, I heard a knock or thwack about 150 yards out (Since I was elk hunting I thought it was an antler strike). This was about 10 minutes before the end of legal shooting light as I keep close track of my time when finishing out the day's hunt. Optimistic about the next day's scenario already, we headed for the truck assisted with flashlights. Which we did not turn on until we were well away from this spot as we intended to be back in the morning before day break. We also used the available trees and cover to mask our departure as well. Next morning, we returned and set up on the previous evenings spot. After the sun was well up I and my son went out on to the prairie to check the sandy wash for sign. This is where we saw three distinct tracks, one in the sand then two deeper ones about 80 inches apart with the last easily defined print on the other side of an log that I could tell, didn't even break it's stride for. These were identical to yesterdays tracks, size, depth shape etc. I feel that it was the same animal. There are numerous other details, conjecture etc, that I would be happy to discuss now that I am no longer in denial! I am hopeful that this information is of some small help. Regards, steve