YEAR: 2008

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: 07

STATE: Utah

COUNTY: Daggett County

LOCATION DETAILS: 3 miles west of flaming gorge dam in utah

NEAREST TOWN: vernal

NEAREST ROAD: highway 44

OBSERVED: well i was driving down the road late at night headed back to work in vernal utah i was driving over the flaming gorge pass i was somewhere between 1 to 3 miles before the dam turn off when i was driving i seen some eye balls about 6 1/2 to 7 feet in the air so i locked up my breaks backed up to and faced my head lights at it and i seen it my first thought was a bear that was standing on its hind legs but then i noticed it was not a bear by that time he turned around and slowly started walking away from me it had verylong black mated hair and i know for a fact it wasn't a bear by the way it walked it scared me so bad i got out of there and i did not care to go back and look so the next few times going back through been watching every track to see if i could find them but no luck but i know one thing he was not scared of me nore my loud deseil motor

ALSO NOTICED: he was not scared by my truck it slowly walked away

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 10 pm bright night

ENVIRONMENT: snow pine forrest

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Todd Strong:

I interviewed the witness on the telephone. He was driving home to Vernal from Manila. He travelled this route several times a week. He first noticed the eyes reflecting in his headlights. When he first saw the animal he thought it might be a black bear, so he stopped the pickup truck, backed up and positioned the vehicles headlights to shine on the animal. It was standing in the trees five feet off of the road. The witness was surprised at how calm the animal stayed, even with a noisy diesel stopping and backing up. He was impressed with how much ground the animal could cover as he watched it turn and take ten steps before disappearing into the trees. He saw that it had long, black and grey hair that was very matted and wet from the snow. No details of the face were seen.

The witness was believable and familiar with the area, he has lived in the area his whole life and has hunted and fished a great deal, very familiar with the outdoors. This was his first sighting but several members of his family were loggers in the Uintas, which border Flaming Gorge, and always told of seeing and hearing these animals.

About BFRO Investigator Todd Strong:

Todd Strong has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and is self-employed.
He is a Certified Visual Tracker; Level 1.
Todd has been an avid outdoorsman since childhood. Attended the following BFRO expeditions:
Utah 2007, Northern California Spring 2008, Olympic Peninsula Washington 2008, Northern California Spring 2009, Northern California Fall 2009, Wyoming 2010, Olympic Peninsula Washington 2011.
Todd was the Expedition Organizer for the Utah 2010 expedition and is organizing the Utah 2012 expedition.