Huge Cryptid 'Bird' Encountered by 1930s Canadian Mounties in Northern Wilderness

This would not quite be the northern wilderness if they were raising sheep  And I am pretty sure the RCMP never issued Mausers.  This never stopped private use by all those thirty year old WWI veterens out there.

Whatever they spotted, it appears to be a very large unidentified raptor about the same size that i saw covering our field at about two hundred yards in distance.  Unfortunately at night, so they could not nail the color and yes, they likely missed the bird.  No squawk either from a bullet impact.

Shooting over iron sights in the dark means you can not see the end aiming ball.

The bird went away which stopped predation on the sheep.  This was the most likely outcome as well.

 We have had old photos of downed cryptids with similar wingspreads along with the usual denials,  at hte same time, as here, we have good eye witness reports.

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Huge Cryptid 'Bird' Encountered by 1930s Canadian Mounties in Northern Wilderness

Saturday, June 11, 2022

https://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2022/06/huge-cryptid-bird-encountered-by-1930s.html?

A Canadian woman relates a story told to her by her Great Uncle from the 1930s while in the RCMP. They encountered a huge bird that was reportedly taking sheep from the local people.

The following account was recently forwarded to me:

"Back in around the early 1930's, my granddad was a bi-plane pilot while his younger brother was in the cavalry (both RCMP lieutenants at the time, the elder having 2 years seniority over the younger). They were stationed about 60 or 70 miles apart, in Canada's northern wilderness. The cavalry brother (mom's uncle) was in command of a small 30-strong contingent serving the area as "paramilitary police force."

He said one day the locals came in a group of 3 "respected elders" to file a complaint of an eerie shrieking sound in the night and their sheep going missing. So he decided to take a small platoon of 5 Mounties and go to the village where the supposed happenings were taking place to investigate and intervene if need be.

They stayed in the village for 3 days without any incident, patrolling the days and staying in the village by night. But the night between the third and fourth day, a young chap came bursting into the village inn to tell him that "it" struck again.

So great uncle, as I may call him, took 4 of his Mounties, leaving one behind for liaison, and rushed to the scene. He and his troops heard the terrible eerie shrieking alright and unlike the villagers who were huddling with fear, galloped toward the sound following the military instinct of "always go towards the sound of calamity."

It was a reasonably moonlit night and when they approached this rocky area, they saw the culprit (according to the exact description great uncle told me): "It was some kind of a bird of prey. Not possible to put a finger on the color due to the light conditions, of course, but presumably some "fuzzy dark reddish-brown." It was perched on a rock shelf and from what he judged was around as tall as me; I was 16 at the time he told me this story and around 1.81 meters tall at that position. It paid no attention to the cavalry platoon although the horses had been spooked and were snorting, neighing and shuffling with all the gear of the Mounties clattering due to all that movement, etc.

His Sergeant offered to shoot the thing and great uncle agreed, ordering to dismount and fire at will. However, the bird seemingly heard this and took to the sky. He described it as not simply bouncing up into the air and flying away like some sparrow or pigeon. He said it threw itself down from the rock shelf it was perched, to a free fall while spreading its wings and flapping strongly until it gained altitude. He also added it took the creature some considerable effort to rise up and fly. He then estimated the wingspan to be around 3 to 3.5 meters.

He said he didn't feel like killing the majestic creature but since it caused loss of property, he thought of it as duty and ordered "fire!" He said since the Mauser rifles they were equipped with did not fire tracers, so he cannot actually tell how accurate the shots were but at the end, the bird flew away, disappearing from sight in the dark. But after that night, the sounds and disappearing sheep incidents ceased so they must have seriously wounded it, causing it to eventually succumb he said.

To summarise; the description goes:

- 1.8 meters body length (not sure if tail included or not)

- Presumably dark reddish brown (he later said the "fuzzy" was meant to describe it was a camouflage pattern like those of owls etc.)

- 3 to 3.5 meters wing span.

- Guessed to be at the tune of around 50 to 60 kgs of weight.

He was a sober, serious and no-nonsense gentleman. So I doubt he would make up such a story to impress a 16-year-old." SW