Veteran Recounts 13-Day Bigfoot Investigation on Montana Ranch

If you're looking for a deep-dive interview that goes beyond the usual campfire stories, there's a recent episode from the Creek Devil YouTube channel that's worth your time. Hosted by William Jebning—a two-time witness and field researcher with 43 years of experience—this particular installment features a returning guest named Dalton, and the conversation gets into some seriously compelling territory. Dalton's story begins in northern Oregon, where he grew up as an outdoorsman, hunter, and fisherman. Despite spending his life in the woods, he never had any unusual encounters until one day he started finding tracks. And then, in May of last year, he came within 72 feet of one of these creatures. That close encounter shook him to his core, and he reached out to Jebning and the Creek Devil team to process what had happened. What makes Dalton's account particularly fascinating is his military background. Using his resources and connections, he started reaching out to former special operations colleagues to see if anyone else had similar experiences. At first, he got the usual pushback—denial, dismissal, people who didn't want to talk about it. But then, at a reunion that summer, he connected with a buddy from an adjacent unit who pulled him aside and said, "Hey, we need to be careful out there. There's other things out there." That conversation opened up a whole new chapter. Dalton and his group of former operators draw hunting tags together every year, and this time they drew Montana elk tags. One of his buddies had connections to a massive 1.2 million-acre ranch that bordered national forest land. The rancher who owned the property had been having ongoing problems with these creatures—so much so that local guides refused to work the land, regardless of how good the elk or mule deer hunting was. The place had a reputation, and nobody wanted to go. The rancher, a veteran himself in his mid-70s, offered to host the group free of charge as a way of giving back to the veteran community. But there was an understanding: the group would also help him deal with the ongoing issues on his property. Dalton and his team—including his buddy "Brian," who had private knowledge about events that had taken place on the ranch—spent 13 days out there, bivouacked about 14 miles from the main ranch house, over two or three ridges. What happened during those 13 days is the kind of stuff that keeps researchers up at night. The group experienced sustained activity—day and night—for the entire duration. Grapefruit-sized rocks thrown at them. Vocalizations ranging from monkey-like sounds to screams to deep growls. The classic horseshoe formation hunting behavior. Probing maneuvers where one would come in, two or three would flank, a rock would get thrown, and then they'd retreat before coming back with reinforcements. Dalton mentions there's a formula for where these creatures come down based on the topography of the land and the pathology of the group, and they identified their location based on the rancher's years of experience combined with their own analysis of the terrain. The rancher had walked them through year-by-year how the wildlife patterns shifted based on the activity of the creatures—pastures that used to be full of elk now empty, animals pushed to different areas. For anyone interested in group encounter dynamics, military witness testimony, or the kind of sustained contact experiences that rarely get documented in detail, this interview is a must-watch. Dalton's progression from skeptic to witness to active researcher is a journey that a lot of people in this community will recognize. The Montana ranch segment alone, with its 13 days of documented activity, offers a rare window into what prolonged engagement with these creatures actually looks like. Check it out on the Creek Devil channel—you won't be disappointed.