I thought I would share my 3rd encounter.

 Well in may 1993, I headed out to the stables In northern vilas county. This is were there are alot of trails are near by the stables. I saddled up star and headed out. It was 2:45 pm when we started. At about 4:00 pm we were heading back toward the stables. I would usually lead him part of the way so he could graze a little. Well after a short time he started to paw the ground and snort, and he would grab the back of my shirt pulling me closer to him, which was odd for him. I have taken him hunting with me many times so he was firmiliar with all types of wildlife.

 I started to smell a rotten fish/musty smell that made me gag a little. So i decided to get back on star and pick up the pace a bit. The whole time he would keep his right ear turned to our right and he would snort every so often, as if he knew some thing was stalking us. At about 5:00pm we came to a fork in the trail that branches off and leads to a secluded fishing spot. I decided to take it hoping it would comb him down a bit. As we reached the shore i let him drink some water. I soon noticed a family of four fishing. The children got all excited about star so i decided to give them some lessons riding a horse. Star was a very kid freindly quarter horse.

At around 6:30 pm We parted ways and I headed back to the main trail. As we turned the corner onto the main trail, I climbed off star to give him a break. After a short distance star began to snort and paw the ground again. I turned to climb back on him and as I did I felt a very heavy foot drops, now i know horses are big but unless they are galloping or running very fast they are light on their feet. These foot drops were not the four legged kind they were the two legged. star kept his ear pinned to our right and would snort and bob his head every so often. As we got to within a little over a 1/4 mile i heard a deep chest grunt to my right. As i heard that star began to really pick up the pace. As he did i heard very loud noises to my right like some thing was trying to keep pace with us. As i turned back and to my right that is when i saw what was stalking us.

It was about thirdy yards away and i could only see it from the waist up to the shoulders, and it looked like it had like a beer belly. Star was 17 1/2 hands tall and this thing looked like it would have been close to a foot taller. At this point star was running pretty fast and this thing was keeping up with him. although star wasn't going at a top speed. As we got to the start of the trail near the stables, star would not stop until we got to the gate. I put star in his stall, gave him fresh oats and headed home.

The next day the stables owner called me and said that star was not acting normal he would not eat and no one could get him out of his stall to let him out in the pasture. As i was leaving to go and check on him " I thought to myself what have i done to him". When i got to the stables star was very aggitated and had not eaten and was chewwing on the gate to his stall. That is when i told the stable owner about what had happened the day before. He told me of a rumor of a Beast the indians called " The crazy one" but it was twenty miles north of the stables never this close to his home. We decided to head to the area to check it out. We found one tree twist about 9" off the ground and alot broken brush. We also found a partial foot print. He had his tape measure with and the print was 19 1/2" long x 7 1/2" wide. As we were looking around for more clues we started to hear wood nocks from two locations very close to us, so we decided to leave. I went to check on star again and he was still aggitated and not eating.

The next day when i was at home i called the vet to have him check star out, He stated there was nothing that could be done for star and that he was now lame, and should be put down before he hurts some one. Well i wasn't about to take one opinion so i called three other vets, they all said the same thing. Two weeks went by and nothing changed so i had no choice, he had not eaten and was looking very sick and was reacting very aggressive to anyone that came near him.

Thanks, Shane