YEAR: 2012

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: 2

STATE: Montana

COUNTY: Meagher County

LOCATION DETAILS: Between WSS and Checkerboard, just west of Sutherland Lake.

NEAREST TOWN: White Sulphur Springs

NEAREST ROAD: Highway 12

OBSERVED: It was about 3 p.m. Early in December of 2012. I was up at my cabin cutting up an elk and had to run into town to get some pork suit for hamburger. I have made it a habit to keep track of where the ranchers have their cattle near the highway so I know where the elk will or will not be. On my way back I was driving about 60 mph while scanning a ridge side and tree line where I had seen elk before when I noticed something very out of place and very dark running along the tree line. I don't know whether it was cause I was in disbelief or I was just being a good driver, but I literally did a triple take after noticing it. It was about 230 to 300 yards away and I could make it out quite well. The thing was on two legs, had very long arms that seemed to end barely above the knees, its head was positioned as if a person were sticking their neck out, and it ran while barely moving its arms. It didn't look like it was alarmed, just as if it were just going along its way heading back into the mountains. In scale to the trees I'd say it was about six a half feet tall. I watched it for about ten seconds or so ( as much as I could without wrecking, don't know why I didn't stop) and there's no way it was anything else. I've had a few other encounters, but nothing as concrete as this. There was no way this thing was anything else.

OTHER WITNESSES: No

OTHER STORIES: My buddy claims to have seen something in the same spot off the highway just after midnight about a month ago. I've also heard of other encounters in the same county

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 3 pm ish. Sunny 35 to 40 degrees

ENVIRONMENT: Open hillside leading up to a pine tree line.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

The witness is a hunter and has a family owned cabin in Checkerboard. On December 2, 2012 he was returning to Checkerboard from White Sulphur Springs on Hwy 12. It was about 3 PM on a cloudless day, the temperature was in the high 30’s. (At 3 PM in December in this latitude, it is nearing dusk.)

The witness explained to me how he would look for cattle when driving; at times he will see elk amongst them. This is how he would know the elk had come down to the lower elevations. He strangely had not seen any cattle for two days. Hunting season had just closed the week before and he speculated that the cattle had been moved because of this.

He was driving at about 60 mph and was between Jamison Trail Road and Lake Sutherlin when he caught site of a figure moving along the tree line to his right. It was about 300 yards away and dark in color. He realized it was too big to be a bear. He then looked a second time and he thought for a moment it was the back of a moose. As he got closer and looked a third time, he realized he was looking at the profile of a bi-pedal figure that was man shaped. It was jogging with its knee-length arms by its side, and its body seemed to be slightly leaning forward. It appeared to be just less than half the size of the 15 foot trees it was running along. It did not look at him. There were no other vehicles on the road.

The gentleman refers to himself as a sasquatch skeptic but cannot explain what he saw other than it being a sasquatch. He tried to debunk it in his head – it was not a moose or bear. If it was a man, he would have to be very tall, with long arms and running in a gorilla suit in a desolate area at sundown.

When asked what it appeared to be doing, he felt it had crossed the road earlier and had been heading from the Little Belt Mountain range going into the Castle Mountains. If one was to head in the direction it was seen going, you would run into more forest, deep ravines, and several creeks.

On June 22, 2013, his friend was driving approximately 35 mph in the opposite direction around 2 AM. It was a full moon. I was able to make contact with him and he described seeing a shadow to his left; a “big, tall, dark man” standing against a fence post about 25 yards from the right side of the road, before Bair Reservoir. The fence is 4 feet high and the silhouette was clearly twice the height of the H brace of the fence. It was facing the road, with its arms and legs by its side. The witness described it as looking like “a really, really big man,” where a man shouldn’t be. A few moments later he turned his truck around after discussing what he saw with the other car occupants; they found the figure was no longer visible. His windows were open, and they neither heard nor smelled anything. The gentleman said the figure had been standing on a small hill near the fence. He saw the figure about 7 miles from the where the running figure was seen, on the same side of the road. He believes it to be a sasquatch.

Google Earth Image of the Area:



These reports are less than 15 miles as the crow flies, near another Meagher County BFRO Report #36281.

I spent a summer on a nearby cattle ranch in my teens and am familiar with the area. It is very isolated and the ranches are large spreads that can easily be ten or more miles apart. There is ample water, wildlife, cover and low human density. (County is 2395 square miles and population is 1891 persons ) It offers a good habitat for a Sasquatch.

About BFRO Investigator R. Monteith:

Re Monteith has had a life-long interest in Bigfoot and has an extensive background in outdoor land and ocean survival as well as mountaineering. She has tran-sailed the Atlantic, backpacked in remote places throughout the world and has climbed three of the seven summits. She studied International Relations at Florida International University, and is a Financial and Real Estate Consultant. She has participated in many private expeditions as well as the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 BFRO North Florida Expeditions and the 2013 BFRO UP Michigan & Alabama Expedition. She also organized Florida's 2017 Town Hall Meeting. She was an Executive Producer of the documentary film, "Skunk Ape Lives" and featured as a Crypto Expert on The Science Channel's television show, Strange Evidence for seasons 2 - 5.