YEAR: 2010

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 18

STATE: North Carolina

COUNTY: Onslow County

LOCATION DETAILS: The location is some woods behind a neighborhood on McGowan Rd. off of Highway 24 between Jacksonville, NC and Richlands, NC. The woods are very secluded and seem like no one has been back there in years.

NEAREST TOWN: Jacksonville, NC

NEAREST ROAD: McGowan Rd off Hwy 24

OBSERVED: I was deer hunting off of Highway 24 near Rhodestown, NC, right outside of Jacksonville, NC. I had been in my stand since about three that afternoon. It was close to dark and I saw a deer walking along the edge of the clearing I was in. It kept looking into the woods like it was curious of something. The deer got closer and I took the shot. When I did, it took off running and hit some brush and fell down. I waited about 30 minutes and it got dark. I got out of my stand and went to get the deer. I got my things together and started dragging my deer to my truck that was about a quarter of a mile through a thick part of the woods I was hunting in. I was carrying my rifle, backpack, the deer, and a flashlight in my mouth. So I could pull the deer by its leg, and hold my rifle and backpack straps. After walking through the thick part of the woods, it was a straight shot to my truck. I dropped the deers leg to get situated and get myself altogether to continue my walk out, when I looked up with my light still in my mouth. I saw two eyes looking back at me. They looked wider than any animal I had ever seen at night. I have been hunting all my life. I have seen everything from deer to coyote to bear. These set of eyes were about my height, I am 5' 10". The trail I was on slightly went down hill. It stared at me long enough for me to put my rifle and backpack down. I had a 9mm Glock with me and I pulled it out, I shot once into the ground next to me to get whatever it was to get out of the trail I was on. It did not move or flinch, it just simply looked to its left and looked back at me. I looked down to take a knee, because I was getting worried. I got on my knee, looked back up, and it walked off to it's left, into some of the thickest woods I have seen. I grabbed the deer and continued dragging it towards my truck. When I got to the spot where I thought I saw the eyes, I looked to both sides of the trail and I could smell a musky foul odor, and where it had walked off the trail, tree limbs and trees were pushed over as if something huge had just barged through the thicket. I went to my truck, cleaned the deer out there in the woods. Like another post on here that I read, I felt like I was watched the whole time I was cleaning the deer. I left the rib cage and spine of the deer I cleaned out there, along with the hide. When I came back to the same spot, the spine had been drug off about 300 yards from where I left it. It was one of the strangest and creepiest nights I have ever had in the woods by myself.

ALSO NOTICED: Foul musky odor, the odd quietness and silence of the woods.

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: Yes, the owner of a farm on McGowan Rd. told me of seeing some weird tracks and things "out of place" on his land.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 830 at night, it was a mild clear night.

ENVIRONMENT: Forest, thicket type woods

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Kevin Zorc:

On February 16, 2012, I interviewed the witness by phone regarding his experience.

The observer, a Camp Lejeune Marine, was deer hunting from a tree stand. He stated that no other hunters used the area in 2010; it is private land and has received very little hunting pressure. The weather was clear; temperature was between 40-50 degrees, with no precipitation. Hunter remembers the terrain as mostly level, interspersed with some swampy areas and thick vegetation near a clear cut.

It was dusk and witness observed a deer acting in a curious and alert manner, possibly reacting to what hunter feels was a distraction in the woods. Hunter subsequently shot the whitetail and after thirty minutes, left his stand.

Witness estimates it was around 8:30 pm, dark, and quiet. He gathered his weapon, backpack and deer, and started traveling the estimated six hundred yards to his vehicle, his path illuminated by a small flashlight held in his teeth. Hunter looked up and was suddenly startled to see a reflection from a pair of solid white, very large and widely set eyes. He could see no physical features or body silhouette. He estimated that the eye height, considering the downward-sloping terrain, was 6 or more feet. The hunter drew his sidearm and discharged a round into the earth to clear the path. In response, the animal looked to the left briefly and then back. Witness took a knee; several seconds later, the animal moved noisily off to its left through an area thick with vines, small trees and brush.

The entire eye shine and departure event lasted 30-45 seconds. The hunter remembers feeling confronted by the animal, and as it stood 40-50 yards away, he was unable to reach his truck. He recalls the animal departure as a tremendous sound, like a ‘bull dozer moving through the woods”, snapping limbs and moving through thicket. Hunter later viewed the escape path with his flashlight and observed a 3’-4’ wide swath of displaced trees and brush. A musky, sewage-like smell was detected in the trail area.

After arriving at his vehicle, the witness continued to feel anxious about another possible approach. He called a friend and asked him to come to his location for security (friend declined!). After starting his vehicle, he quickly and not too neatly field dressed the deer in the headlights. Witness feels that he was being observed during this process. After leaving the deer carcass nearby, he departed for home.

The observer was a credible witness and may have observed eye shine from a sasquatch and heard the animal depart from the area. Witness has been a Marine for 8 years and is an Iraq War veteran. Marines with combat experience obtain emergency training vital to remaining functional and rationale during stressful situations. Witness related that during this experience he felt initially startled, then challenged during the eye shine episode and then just scared after the animal left the area. He has twenty years of hunting experience and is familiar with game animals and firearms.

Game populations exist locally and include deer, boar, bear, and other small animals. Onslow County, North Carolina and Camp Lejeune Marine Base have produced similar unusual animal reports as far back as 1965. The availability of dense wilderness tracts and ongoing reports of animal sightings in southeastern North Carolina indicates the area likely supports a resident sasquatch population.

About BFRO Investigator Kevin Zorc:

Kevin Zorc enjoys outdoor activities; backpacking the Appalachian Trail and hiking around the United States. He attended GA 2011(#1), NC 2011 & 2013, Ohio 2012, West Virginia 2012/2013, Michigan UP 2012, California Central Sierra 2013/2014, California 2015 Expeditions and co organized the June 2014 NC Expedition.