Utah Bigfoot Files: Darrell Smith - Bigfoot Hunter 1945

Monday, October 13, 2014

Darrell Smith - Bigfoot Hunter 1945 - 2012

Darrell Smith on Hoyt Peak 2008

Darrell Duane Smith 01-03-1945 to 03-23-2012 was a good friend and fellow Bigfoot hunter for over thirty years. I first met Darrell in Salt Lake City, Utah back in 2005, when he gave a presentation on the Utah Bigfoot. I stayed after the meeting and we talked for quite a while about the subject and we become good friends. We would spend days in the different mountain areas of Utah, searching for evidence of the big elusive fellow. Hoyt Peak, I know was his favorite place to be and we spent many days on the mountain looking for tracks by day and calling by night. Darrell always told me that the Hoyt Peak area was a hot spot for activity and in August of 2008, we spent 5 days near the summit and had spectacular results. On that trip we got plaster casts of two different sets of three toe tracks. I remember it was getting late in the evening and after we cleaned up the area and collected our casts, I asked Darrell to do one of his long Bigfoot calls. We were approximately ¾ of a mile from my truck and after Darrell called, we got a response of three long yells back, similar to the Washington State vocal. That was one of my favorite Bigfoot hunting trips, ever. In 2010, we were camping at Mill Hollow, east of Francis, Utah and that’s when he started to show signs of something being wrong. After this trip is when he told me he had ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). I would visit Darrell on many occasions and we would always talk about UFO’s, ghost hunting and other paranormal subjects, but Bigfoot was his favorite topic. On 12-17-2011, with the permission of his wife Debra and family, I recorded Darrell for the last time in an interview at his bedside. Darrell, your earthly work here is done, for now you know the truth in all things.

Ron Johnson
Kevin Allridge