YEAR: 2006

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: ?

STATE: Tennessee

COUNTY: Hawkins County

LOCATION DETAILS: it was on TVA land on the back side of short moutain.and the lake was down

NEAREST TOWN: mooresburg

NEAREST ROAD: 11w

OBSERVED: I has hunting on short mountain.it was oct.2006.
i was in my tree stand deer hunting and i seen a
couple of deer and then they ran off realy fast.
this was about 8:00 am.so i stayed in my stand til around 9:00am then packed up and headed
out.thats when i heard a growling noise and it was coming from the thick brush.i was walking on the river bank looking up at the brush.it was following me so i started to walk faster and it started shaking the trees very hard. and they were good size trees.i never seen what is was and i know there is no bears there and a bear wouldnt do what i seen.i would like to know what i seen and herd that day.

ALSO NOTICED: just the deer running of so fast

OTHER WITNESSES: just myself

OTHER STORIES: i did read some other siting around the same area.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: it was around 8:00amand the sun was up i could see a good distance.and it was a little cold
and a clear morning.

ENVIRONMENT: i was hunting on what i call a shelf.over looking the lake and it had allready droped for the winter

Follow-up investigation report:

I spoke with the witness and found him to be very credible. He is a seasoned hunter and outdoorsman and very familiar with the area and its wildlife.

He was bow hunting for deer on an arm of Cherokee Lake between Mooresburg and Sneedville, Tennessee, and had walked in to his hunting spot around 5 am with a portable tree stand. Around 8 am he shot at and missed a deer. After spending another hour in his stand and realizing that the woods were extremely quiet and the deer were probably not coming back he decided to call it a day.

The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) lowers the levels of all of the major lakes and reservoirs during the fall and winter and this had already happened for that year, so the witness decided to walk out in the now dry lake/river bed to avoid having to walk through the heavy growth on the rock shelf above the normal water line.

As he was walking out he heard an animal grunting and growling from the tree line on top of the shelf. This was approximately 8' above him. Upon stopping the witness realized that the trees were moving and in fact being shaken. The trees along the shelf were 15 - 16 ft. tall and 2 - 3" in diameter, a combination of pine, oak and maple. There was also a heavy undergrowth of scrub brush which made visibility extremely limited, but the witness estimated that the animal was 30 - 40 feet away from him.

As he continued to hurry from the area the animal kept pace with him and continued to make grunting and growling noises.

The witness also noted that this area was a dropping ground for unwanted dogs and that the now wild dogs were packing together and had become quite a nuisance and somewhat dangerous, following people and acting aggressively. He found it interesting that no dogs were seen at all that day. He also is very familiar with bear and their habits and has never seen any sign of bear in that area.