YEAR: 1970

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

STATE: Washington

COUNTY: Okanogan County

LOCATION DETAILS: Moses Mountain, Moses Meadows, Omak Washington, Okanogan County

NEAREST TOWN: Omak

NEAREST ROAD: HWY 155

OBSERVED: Ok, My great great uncle owned a ranch (long story) on the Colville Indian Reservation in Okanogan County just outside of Omak Washington. Our family would buy beef from my uncle on a yearly basis since I was a year old so I knew the ranch and the acreage pretty well. The ranch has since been sold and is dilapidated, but there are people living there. The ranch is located just west of Moses Mountain and incorporates Moses Meadows as part of the ranch. My first encounter of which I had no idea what I had seen was when my brother and I were at the "log playhouse", just east of the main ranch house. While we were acting like cowboys, I was at the west side of the log playhouse, and seen what I thought was a bear, just the back mind you, going over a slight ridge in the road, which, I believe was about 50 yards away, I yelled bear and we both took of to the ranch house located about 50 yards to the west. We both told our great uncle about what we had seen. Well my uncle went to investigate, when he came back he spoke to my uncle and my uncle and him went to see what he had seen. When they both returned they "privately" spoke in the meat cutting room of the ranch house, after which my great uncle suggested we stay inside for the evening and play games or whatever, he didn't even allow me or my brother to go with him to feed cattle that evening like we always did with him. Later the next year I had heard through my mom and dad that my uncle had seen some huge "foot prints" by the road when he investigated my bear sighting. Remember I have been riding horse, fishing and exploring this ranch for nearly 14 years by this time. When I was old enough (15 years old) I had asked my great uncle if I could work there for the summer, (1977) since I was of age at that time for ranch work he was more than welcoming. At the time he had 2 other hands there besides me. One time I, and another ranch hand, went up Moses mountain when my great uncle and aunt went to a party or something and wanted to get some rabbits or grouse we had been traveling for a bit when the ranch hand shot a huge rabbit, we gathered it in his truck and proceeded up Moses Mountain, he then shot a grouse on the left side of the road at that moment I caught a glimpse of the back of what I thought was a bear out of the right, at the same time he looked over at me after shooting the grouse and his eyes widened like a guy being electrocuted, mind you this is a 2 lane dirt road uphill, he turned that old willys around in short order and hauled ass, and I kept asking WTF what are you doing?. When my great uncle and aunt returned he told them what he had seen and my great uncle was very inquisitive on what he had seen and where he had seen it. I was in AWE, We all headed up to Moses Mountain, my great uncle insisted everyone stay in the truck when we arrived where the ranch hand said he saw something. After my great uncle searched the area (rifle in hand) he asked that anyone who needed to go outside, in daylight or dark to take someone with them, then we all headed back to the ranch.I need to bounce back a bit in time, my great uncle was a great coyote caller, he could call them in to 30 feet of where he was standing, back when I was a boy (5 years to 14 years old) he would call them off the porch of the ranch house, and then you could hear them from Moses Meadows, they would get closer, he would howl, and they would get closer yet. As I am telling this memory other things come to mind so bear with me. One time in particular my uncle did his howling (1973 or so) and a low tone howl, followed by a sort of sharp type up ooooooppppp followed, my dad said jokingly, " sounds like a coyote with a calf in its mouth", my uncle then grabbed a rifle and headed to Moses Meadows, about a mile away, he said he was going alone! no shots were fired and my great uncle came back to the ranch house. October 1974 I will never forget this, my great uncle is doing coyote calls from the front porch, my dad, brother, mom and aunt are laughing at the variety of calls being made back to my uncle. When all of a sudden a very loud and definitive type howl comes from the back of the ranch house, definitely not coyotes, followed by 3 huge grunts, the fence is 100 feet from the back of the ranch house, not much of a fence, but that was my judgement of distance. My great uncles eyes went totally wide and white, then both my aunt and great uncle said they would like us inside. 1977, summer, July. So I began working on my great uncles ranch, we all went to Bill's Hill directly behind the ranch to fix fence, at about noon that day, just after lunch while I was pounding in a fence post I looked up to ask my great uncle a question and I seen 2 trees, pine trees, that were at least 20 feet tall sway, I was looking I believe east and he west, the trees were 20 feet inside the fence line to the south, at the same time my uncle had evidently seen the swaying trees and came directly to me and stopped. Once there he said, "you have to ranch with them, and live with them, they mean no harm, just leave when they ask and come back and finish your work", at that time we both heard a uuggh ugghh (loud, like someone yelling), the tree to the right of the fence line moved a lot, 20 foot tree bent or swayed nearly 75 degrees, then crashing through the woods, you could actually see where an animal was moving, a large animal, these trees and the brush on Bills Hill at the time were very close, and the brush was very dense, I challenge anyone to copy that. I think my great uncle knew, hope he did!!. I aint lying County

TIME AND CONDITIONS: see what I wrote

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Darrel Verney:

The area described in this report is sparsely populated, has varied mountainous terrain, and plenty of resources for a variety of wildlife. It has a long history of sasquatch activity. The witness included several encounters in his report and was only able to add a few more details, since they occurred years ago. His great uncle was respectful of wildlife, so it was very unusual for him to carry a rifle to investigate something in the area. When the witness and his uncle saw the trees shake, he remembers his uncle repeating, “Get in the truck! Get in the truck!” Looking back, he wishes he had stayed longer when he saw something, but recalls feeling it was a “Let’s get out of here!” situation.

About BFRO Investigator Darrel Verney:

Originally from Alaska, Darrel now lives in north central Washington. He studied Wildlife Biology and Wildlands Recreation, and has worked for the National Park Service and National Forest Service in the past. He feels fortunate in having had several sightings and numerous encounters during expeditions and informal outings. Darrel has attended the Redwoods ’06, North Cascades ’08, ’09 & '16, Olympic ’09 & ’11, and Morton ’12 & ’13 expeditions.