YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: 28

STATE: North Carolina

COUNTY: Nash County

LOCATION DETAILS: It was on the stand line G. Turn off of Red Bud road and onto Wildlife Rd.

NEAREST TOWN: Castalia

NEAREST ROAD: Wildlife Rd.

OBSERVED: My father and I work as a team while deer hunting. We go into the woods, travel a short distance and stand apart to stalk feeding or resting deer. If we jump a deer the other stays off to one side so that he may sight the deer if it should turn to escape. After leaving Dad that morning, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a 7 1/2 foot tall hairy dark brown animal with a red tint; he never stopped, never looked at me, just kept walking. I froze I couldn't even move, I was able to watch him for 5 or 6 seconds then he just disappeared into the trees. This was truly a mind changing occurrence. I've always not believed in Bigfoot. But now I do, and I would love to have this encounter again

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me. I was walking.

OTHER STORIES: I read on Facebook a day after I saw the squatch, a sarcastic comment made on a fake picture of my friends that said "Tell them that's the bigfoot they have been looking for on Wildlife Road for 20 years."

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 8:30 in the morning. Cold, but light, and very clear.

ENVIRONMENT: wooded area, pine thicket to the left, he was on the edge of the pine thicket.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Kevin Zorc:

Witness is a student, firefighter, and has eight years of extensive local hunting experience on rural private land. On this morning at 8:30 am, while walking to his hunting location, he was surprised and shocked to see a silent form moving parallel to him in the forest about 20 yards away. It was described as 7.5’ tall, approximately 3.5’ wide at the shoulders, perhaps weighing 350 or more pounds and covered in 4”-6”dark brown hair with crimson highlights. The figure's posterior arms, legs and back revealed a heavily muscled biped moving fluidly away from him without making eye contact. A smaller, square-shaped head blended into a thick neck, although no facial details were available as the subject was turned away from the witness as it departed. Arms swung gracefully well past the waist while hair seemed to extend over the wrists but not entirely covering the lighter colored hands. No odors, vocalizations or breathing sounds were detected by the observer during this experience. It took leisurely steps estimated at 4’ each, covering about 30’ during a 5 second viewing. According to the witness, time seemed to pass in slow motion; he felt rooted to the spot, although he did not feel intimidated, scared or threatened. At one point it momentarily quartered left towards a pine thicket to reveal a flat facial profile (no protruding nose or chin) and the witness remembers a slight hunch in the figure's upper back before it moved into dense tree cover and out of sight.

The witness could hear the slight swish of branches for several seconds as it traveled, and then the forest became unusually quiet. The witness immediately felt awkward and “watched”, staying only 10-15 seconds more before feeling that he needed to leave the area quickly.

The observer felt “freaked out” post-sighting. He has not gone back to the hunting spot and is reluctant to tell anyone about his experience, not reporting the incident immediately because of a fear of being ostracized. He asserts the figure was not a bear, hunter in a ghillie suit or hoaxer based on several observations including the subject's massive size and stocky build.

Witness recalled another unexplained local incident in which a harvested deer was mysteriously taken from the kill site prior to the hunter claiming the body. As a former skeptic, he has no doubts about what he saw and hopes to learn more about extant species in the future.

The area is composed of hardwoods and pines; some swampy terrain exists with a large creek and open grassy areas nearby. A utility power line servicing customers and running north to south may provide animals an unobstructed and speedy travel path through the area. Ample deer populations thrive locally and bear, beaver, squirrel, nutria, fox and coyote frequent the region.

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.