Mounties in eastern Manitoba have nabbed a strange, hairy monster that has been stalking campgrounds in and around the Whiteshell Provincial Park for the past two summers.

Police received the call around midnight on July 30 from a woman who had been startled by the beastly creature while camping at Pinawa, about 90 kilometres east of Winnipeg.

"This was further to about 10 calls we had last year of the same incident in the Whiteshell Provincial Park, so the members were aware of the type of person we were looking for," Staff Sgt. Glen Reitlo told CBC News Wednesday.

"A couple of our members attended and ended up finding the sasquatch."

The creature turned out to be an 18-year-old Winnipeg man wearing a hairy gorilla mask, which Reitlo described as "ugly" and "scary."

"Something like that at midnight would scare someone," he said.

"When he was confronted by not only the police, but the person who he scared, he admitted that he was the person who had been responsible for the last year and a half," Reitlo said.

Reitlo said the man was not intoxicated when nabbed by officers; he apparently had been camping in the area over the past two summers and simply enjoyed the prank.

His victims were less impressed.  The woman who complained gave the man quite a tongue-lashing, Reitlo said.

"He was pretty meek and mild at the end of it … he definitely learned his lesson, that's for sure."

No charges have been laid.