Tracks found by hunters, creature seen witnessed in Marinette County, Wisconsin

Open Map

My father and I were deer hunting the WI gun deer season on 80 acres of land owned by my father's friend. The land was in the middle of the cedar swamp already mentioned. We had several encounters that before and during that week. During the pre-season scouting in the area and the actual hunting season I found large tracks, although it was difficult to make them out with any detail since it was very wet and muddy, and had been raining/snowing which washed out any definable tracks. I first assumed they were bear tracks, but given their uniformity (bear have smaller front feet than their rear) I doubt that. I also noted the absence of deer or any other activity in what became the center of all these encounters (geographically). The deer that I observed before and during the hunting season seemed to be deliberately avoiding the center of the swamp and were staying well to the edges near the farmland. That struck me as odd. In my many years of hunting and spending time in the outdoors, I'v...