Bigfoot Hunt #2 Green Swamp, South Florida

On Thanksgivng Day, I got to Green Swamp around 7 p.m and planned to go through the swamp, about thirty miles wide by way of Route 470. Green Swamp is just north of Tampa, Florida and very near, if not contiguous to Land  O'  Lakes, where, though or because it has recently become highly developed. there have been numerous Bigfoot sightings including a confused, possibly homeless, Bigfoot standing in the middle of the road with traffice stopped on both sides. Green Swamp is also rich in encounters and still very primitive. Going up 470, I saw a paved road marked 788 and turned in. The road lasted only a hundred yards or so ending at a big gate with a sign announcing a conservation center. There was a large building beyond the locked gate. I saw a dirt road going off to the left that went into the swamp. Soon I saw what looked like a game-checking shed on the right. I should have stopped to see if I could find a map but was eager to get on the with the hunt. I drove very slowly, about 10 mph, shining my 4 cell Maglite flashlight into side roads, openings, and watery areas. In two places on the road I found small trees and shrubs lying on the road and wondered if Bigfoot might have done that. I thought back to a recent story from Washington State about two boys on a fishing-camping trip seeing a Bigfoot across the creek they were fishing. The creature climbed a skinny tree and rode it down into the creek. Then he began wading the rest of the way toward the two boys. Terrified, the boys ran back to camp to tell their parents. Their parents informed the investigator that they had been to the creek earlier that day fishing and the there had been no tree in the creek. I passed three hunting campsites filled with hunters, camping trailers, canopys, tents, and trucks with dog boxes.You could hear the generators working.  Only one or two dogs bothered to bark as I drove by. I imagine the rest were exhausted and asleep. I was happy to see women hunters around the campfires as it projected a more civilized, family atmosphere. I soon lost my phone conversation with my daughter Hilda who had called me,concerned about where I was. I really didn't know except in Green Swamp somewhere. The road had turned from dust to mud as I got deeper into the swamp. I could see that the road was going downhill. The gas gauge showed half a tank, but it is not linear; the latter half goes much more quickly than the first half. I was able to stay in second instead of having to use the four wheel drive. Second was much quieter. Of course, I had both windows down so I could hear any noise though I knew Bigfoot was famous for thrusting his hand inside windows and fishing around with his huge hands.I made sure my filleting knife was on the passenger's seat. I remembered how I had heard hogs grunting and moving around in the Okeefenokee Swamp on the perimeter road years ago. I had stopped the vehicle and the hogs worked their way out to the road. Taking only my hiking stick out of the vehicle, I had stalked very close to them. I went as far as my nerves allowed, and they never saw me. Maybe Bigfoot would do the same though I didn't know if  I would find the nerve to approach him. I had driven twelve miles into the Green Swamp now. It had taken me over an hour. I didn't know where I was, and most importantly, I was unarmed. I turned around. I went back through the hunters' campsites, happy to see people. By now, most of the campfires were burned down, and the hunters were in their sleeping bags. In all the camps, there was only one campfire that still had a group of men sitting around it. I made sure to switch off my high beams as I passed through. Little did I know, the wildest part of my hunt was still to come. To Be Continued. You take care, Two-Guns.