A Life-long Quest for Mysterious Beasts: Doug Hajicek

Doug Hajicek in a promotional poster for MonsterQuest

High in the Northwest Territories, at a remote, fly-in-only fishing lake, a group of men are stealthily stepping along the shoreline, searching in the shadows of a cold, freshwater inlet for signs of giant trout.

Suddenly they spot a deep track in the sand…a bare, human-like print much too large to be that of a man. The tracks straddle a black spruce tree nearly seven feet high, as though the maker of the tracks had simply stepped over the top of it and then disappeared into the thick shrubs and jutting pine trees of Canada’s boreal forest. 

Selwyn Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada

The men can’t believe what they’re seeing, but it is there, right in front of them…physical evidence of a massive creature they had thought was only a myth. “It’s real…Bigfoot is real, and it’s here, right now,” one man whispers to his friends, his voice slightly unsteady, as they all retreat to the safety of their fishing vessels, moving purposefully now, all senses heightened...on alert for danger. 

Promotional poster for MonsterQuest

It sounds like a plot for a 1970s schlock-horror movie, but it’s the real-life experience of Doug Hajicek, (pronounced “high-check”) an award-winning producer and creator of documentary television programs and films. Best known for producing “MonsterQuest," a popular series for the History Channel, Hajicek has always held a deep fascination with the mysterious beasts found in the traditional tales of nearly every culture around the world. 

"The idea that there could be something out there, a huge creature that hardly anyone has seen and that we might be able to get on film and show to the world, I just love that idea,” explains Hajicek. “What great mysteries are left in life? The tallest mountains have been climbed and submarines have gone to the deepest parts of the oceans, but the creatures—the creatures are still out there and still being discovered. Even to this day, we’re still finding new animals and new species in the jungles and in the forests,” Hajicek continues.  

Mother bear and cub in their den, filmed by Hajicek

A dedicated wildlife researcher and photographer as well as a television producer, Hajicek has found a way to combine his passions, business interests and technical expertise to capture never-before seen moments on film.

Giant squid in its natural environment, filmed by Hajicek

Some of his most noteworthy footage includes up-close scenes of beavers and muskrats inside their lodges in the wild, the birth and rearing of baby bears inside their den, revolutionary images of microscopic life deep in Lake Superior, and the world’s first filming of a true giant squid in its natural habitat. Hajicek has even published a scientific paper on techniques for filming baby black bears within their dens. 

Hajicek's scientific paper

As the President and Founder of Whitewolf Entertainment, Hajicek is deeply involved with programming that focuses on Bigfoot/Sasquatch as well as other cryptids. Hajicek produced a full-length documentary film called “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science” which first aired on the Discovery Channel in 2003. The program showcased interviews with scientists and experts such as Dr. Jeff Meldrum about the most convincing evidence for the existence of Bigfoot, including the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film from northern California and the Skookum Cast from Washington State. Hajicek also served as a technical director and consultant for Les Stroud’s popular television series, “Survivorman Bigfoot.”

Promotional poster for the Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science film

Currently based in Minnesota, land of ten thousand lakes, Hajicek continues his life’s work of searching for mysterious creatures via local research expeditions. He is also cohosting and producing Untold Radio AM on Spotify, iHeart Radio and Apple podcasts with his son, Alex, and publishing innovative books on cryptozoology, UFOs and various other mysteries through his Hangar 1 Publishing company. He is also working on a new documentary film, a follow-up to “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.”

Untold Radio network programs

Hajicek can be found on Facebook here or contacted via the Hangar 1 Publishing site or on the Untold Radio site.

Hajicek will be a featured speaker at Sasquatch The Legend’s second annual Forks Sasquatch Days, May 26-28, 2023. For tickets, visit Forks Sasquatch Days. 

By Christina Hebert

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