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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WYOHTF" data-source="post: 2407272" data-attributes="member: 115970">Story #2 I was in my early 20's. Maybe 23. I was a drywall hanger and metal stud framer back then.  I had finished a contract and decided I'd go on a 3 day hunt, leaving that night. It was the the beginning of the second week of archery season. September 7th ish.I got my ford ranger all loaded with gear, got showered and headed out.I was living in Ferndale Montana and was thinking I'd go up the North Fork of the Flathead river which is the western boundary of Glacier Park. Then drive across to the the Ten Lakes/Grave creek drainage and hike into a Wolverine lake area. It's a good area to hunt alone and get an animal out. It's all down hill once your there.I like being out at night listening for elk and bugling. Once I get an answer, I come up with a plan and try to get some rest. I had called all the way across the cut off road at certain points with no luck. I made it to a creek drainage that has a gated road going up into the drainage, I think it was about 12:30am.I parked back away from the gate were a pull out was. Grabbed my 444 Marlin and tube, I was almost to the gate and decided to bugle. As soon as I finished this sound of crashing brush and hard movement erupted from the ridge top. In the dead silence you can hear very well. I knew the ridge and the logging road system well.I judged the noises to be about 3/4-1 mile away.Whatever was up there was staying on top of the ridge and covering ground fast. All of a sudden the noise stopped. It had covered about half the distance. Then there was this very loud screech, I instantly knew without a doubt I wasn't a bear. Then I felt a breeze from the ridge top on my neck and face, and along with it came this oder I had never smelled before. It was the rottenest smell I had ever smelt. The hair stood up on the back of my neck and whatever it was started moving again, it was not trying to be quite. The slope to the top of the ridge is about 65% and the road cut going into that cliff drainage left quite a cut in the hillside. All of a sudden small gravelly clay was coming down the cut. I dropped the bugle and sprinted to the truck and jumped in it. I've never been spooked since. I felt like I was gonna pass out. I started the ranger and hit the lights, Instantly at about 35 yards in front of the truck a giant brown blur dashed back into the brush and was tearing back up the drainage. I remember the smell and my heart pounding hard, like that was all I could here was my heartbeat. I got the heck out of there and went about 5 miles back the way I came. There is a big meadow that I felt secure in. I didn't sleep well that night and at daybreak I thought I'd drive back up there and see if I could find tracks because by morning I had convinced my self that it had to be a grizzly. When I was driving back I thought I should bugle from a certain spot that reaches up three drainages. That's when I remembered dropping my bugle tube. I tried with the reed a my hands.No answers so I headed back to closed gate. When I was pulling up to were I had parked there was no arguing where I had been. The spin out marks in the hard packed road stood right out. I put it in first gear and was looking all over the place and pretty nervous. I drove all the way to the gate and when I realized my bugle was gone I got real freaked again. I headed straight back down the way I had come and forgot all about hunting, went to a buddies house in Columbia Falls and told him about the whole thing. He was a drywall finisher I hung board for.He grabbed some 20 minute hot mud a pan and knife and his hunting pack and pistol. We went back and tried to look for a good track to make a cast.We only looked about 100' from the road. That clay slope at the gate never had a mark in it except from that fresh slide material the night before. We never did find a cast and he told me it was most likely a grizzly. Funny thing was, on the way home we both started talking bout the odor that was lingering, Not as strong as when a skunk passes by but you could definitely notice it. When I dropped him off he said"Hell, I think ya might have seen a Bigfoot" he laughed pretty good and went in his house.I don't know for sure what happened that night, and won't. But I know what it wasn't</blockquote>

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