One hour north of Madison in Marquette County
About 10 years ago I was four-wheeling with my friend about an hour north of Madison in Marquette county on his parent's property. It is surrounded by a pine forest and a few corn fields and we were out by the tree line at dusk when I felt something hit my leg with some force. I stopped the quad and looked down to find mud splatter across my leg and the side of the machine and also on my friend's leg who was sitting on the back. The area we were going over was completely dry, so I was very confused. We both were unsure where the mud came from. It also smelled very odd. I don't think it was feces, but it was like rotten mud. I don't know how else to describe it. We were stopped for a few minutes. I began to feel as if something was watching us, but it was getting dark and I couldn't see too deep into the trees. My friend also felt the same. However, I was very curious as to where this came from. Every so often we would hear some movement in the near forest, like twigs snapping. We decided to investigate in the direction of the noises. We ventured somewhat into the trees on foot. There was still enough light to see immediately in front of us. To be honest I thought someone was playing a prank on us, as I had never heard stories of big foot in the area. The pine trees in this area are used for farming christmas trees so they are not very tall, maybe anywhere from 6-12 feet, but very close together. My friend noticed branches rustling to our right and through a little gap in the trees we saw a dark figure behind a pine about 20 feet away. I immediately thought it was a bear, although rare they have been spotted in the area. I knew not to run, so we stood still. I realized the creature was on two feet and was very tall. The head of it was almost to the top of the tree but well hidden...maybe 8 feet. We stared at it for a while, trying to make it out. It was either very dark brown or black. We were completely still for fear of being attacked. My friend was about 2 feet ahead of me and took a slow step back and the creature took off, leaving rustling trees in its path. I never got a clear look, but it was definitely not a bear. It moved quickly on what appeared to be two feet. When it took off, we became very scared and began to run back to the quad. We both got on and sped back to his house.
We told his father, an avid hunter, when he got back from work and he told us how about a month earlier he had been awoken two nights in a row by their dog barking outside. Both times he had gotten up to see what the problem was and he noticed the dog, which was chained up, staring directly into the forest on the side of their house barking crazily. The dog was used to animals frequenting the property like deer and other small creatures that live in the surrounded forest and rarely barked at them. For fear it was someone trespassing, his father went out on the second night with a rifle and a flashlight and walked into the forest to see if he could find what was disturbing the dog. He had gotten in about 20-30 feet shining the light ahead when we heard steps behind him. He said he would take a step and stop and it would stop...a few more steps and he sensed he was being followed. He said the footsteps were heavy, like a bear, but that it sounded like it was only on two feet. When he turned around he could not locate it. He continued a few more steps and started to yell to scare off whatever animal it may be which worked because it did not continue to follow him. He was quite frightened himself and returned quickly to the house. The dog did not bark the rest of the night but had barked every so often, even during the day.
I was wondering if there have been any cases of mud being thrown at people or people being stalked by big foot.