Hunter Claims He Shot and Buried a Sasquatch in California

Posted Saturday, July 25, 2026

By Squatchable.com staff

So there's this wild documentary floating around YouTube that dives deep into one of the most jaw-dropping Bigfoot stories to ever surface. We're talking about a hunter named Justin Smeha who claims he not only encountered a Sasquatch back in 2010 but actually shot and killed one. And if that wasn't enough, there's allegedly DNA evidence from the remains being studied right now. The story goes like this. Justin was out bear hunting with a buddy on October 8th, 2010, in the Sierra Mountains of Northern California, around 7,000 feet elevation. About an hour and a half before sunset, they came into a meadow clearing and spotted movement about 80 yards away. What Justin describes seeing was a massive creature, somewhere between 7.5 and 8 feet tall, weighing around 600 pounds, with huge muscular shoulders. The guy literally thought he was having a nightmare. In a moment of pure adrenaline and fear, Justin chambered his rifle and fired. The creature went down but started trying to get up, staggering away sometimes on two legs, sometimes on all fours. And then things got even crazier. Two smaller ones appeared, cinnamon-colored juveniles that Justin says were on two legs but would drop down to all fours. In what he describes as "nightmare mode," he shot one of the juveniles too, right in the neck. What happened next is honestly heartbreaking. Justin describes holding the juvenile as it was dying, looking into its white eyes, and realizing how human it seemed. He says he felt an overwhelming amount of shame and guilt. They buried the bodies out of fear of the game warden showing up, and on the 2.5 hour drive home, neither of them spoke a word. The shame was just too heavy. Now here's where it gets really interesting from a research standpoint. Word got out about the shootings, and Justin was contacted by Derek Randles, one of the most prominent Sasquatch hunters out there. Derek basically told Justin he had potentially the biggest archaeological discovery of all time just rotting in the woods. But Justin wasn't having it. The idea of going back and reliving that nightmare was too much. Derek Randles isn't just some random guy though. He's been hunting Sasquatch for decades and has his own terrifying encounter story from August 1985 in Washington's Olympic Mountains. He and a friend were hiking off-trail past Camp Pleasant when they heard a massive crash. Then a rock came flying at them, deliberately thrown, landing about 10 feet to their left. Whatever threw it was clearly intelligent enough to aim. The documentary also touches on the broader cultural significance of Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest, from Native American legends dating back 1,500 years to the famous 1958 Bluff Creek footprint discovery that started the modern Bigfoot craze. There's even mention of how the dense, rain-soaked forests of the region create the perfect hiding spot for something that doesn't want to be found. The big takeaway here is that DNA study. If the remains are real and the DNA is being analyzed, this could be the kind of definitive evidence that researchers have been searching for. The documentary frames it as potentially one of the biggest things to ever happen in the Sasquatch world. Definitely worth checking out the full video. It's one of those stories that sticks with you long after it's over, especially the emotional weight of Justin's guilt and the haunting description of looking into that juvenile's eyes. The Pacific Northwest setting adds that perfect atmospheric backdrop that makes you realize just how vast and unexplored these forests really are.