YEAR: 2004

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: January

DATE: 8

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: San Jacinto County

LOCATION DETAILS: Creeks and ponds in the area.

NEAREST TOWN: New Waverly

OBSERVED: While predator calling this date, I was targeting bobcats with an electronic call. (I mention this because with this particular call, only a bobcat would be expected to respond. A fox, coyote, coon, etc. would not respond to this call.) After about 10 minutes of calling, I heard a sound from behind me that I could not identify. I was using a varmint light, which has a red filter. This light is not normally readily seen by predators. I shined the light toward the sound, and saw what I thought was a bear. It was dark in color, but everything was either light or dark because of the red filter. I have hunted in the West several times, and seen many bears. I initially thought that's what this was. But as stated earlier, a predator does not respond (normally) to this light. But this animal did. It stood up and moved away very rapidly on it's two "hind" legs. While on all fours, it appeared to be a bear. Upright, it appeared to be around 5-foot tall with a fairly large stride. I wasn't able to notice any other details because of the light source and because of how quickly it moved off. Bears do not move great distances on their hind legs, and especially not rapidly. It made this sound continuously as it moved away, gradually decreasing in volume until I couldn't hear it any longer. I'm not sure what this was, but I'm quite certain what it was not, and it was not a bear, a hog, or any other animal native to this area. After a recent conversation with Daryl Colyer, he and Craig Woolheater encouraged me to make this report. I did not do so earlier because I simply had no idea there was a possiblilty this could have been a bigfoot-type animal. Should there be any follow-up, I'd like to request Daryl Colyer as the investigator.

ALSO NOTICED: It was a deep, throaty, raspy "growl", over and over. The best way I can describe it would be to imagine dragging a file quickly and abruptly across the edge of a piece of corrigated tin. As it moved away, the sound continued, but was a little more intense. My impression, then and now, was that it was "irritated". I hear sounds I cannot identify regularly in these woods, but they would be hard to describe.

I went back and called the area again the next day, but wasn't looking for anything associated with a bigfoot-type animal.

OTHER WITNESSES: My wife and I.

OTHER STORIES: The weekend before this, I heard what I believe was the same sound, but I did not see any animal.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 8:00 PM, cold, overcast, intermittent drizzle.

ENVIRONMENT: Wooded. Sam Houston National Forest.

Follow-up investigation report:

I talked at length with the witness about his encounter in the Sam Houston National Forest. The witness is still perplexed about what he and his wife actually encountered in 2004. He is an experienced outdoorsman and is quite knowledgeable of known, indigenous wildlife.

The witness did not realize until my conversation with him that primates would be able to see his "varmint light" with its red filter. The light is normally used by those who hunt at night because it protects natural night vision and because it seemingly has no effect on non-primate predators and the like. So, until our conversation, the witness was quite puzzled why the animal seemed so disturbed when he illuminated it with the red light. I explained to the witness that the type of behavior that he described as being exhibited by the animal seemed to fit the profile of how a nocturnal primate such as a sasquatch might react to a light that was even filtered with a red lens.

The witness knows what it wasn't, but he is still not able to come to terms with the possibility that what he saw was a sasquatch, although all other indigenous animals fall outside the physical and behavioral profile.

The witness and I will meet in the very near future at the site of the encounter. I will post any updates as warranted.