YEAR: 2018

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: July

DATE: 30th

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Clay County

LOCATION DETAILS: You can park by the bridge crossing the Red River and walk down into the Corps of Engineers land.

NEAREST TOWN: Byers, Texas

NEAREST ROAD: 79

OBSERVED: So I am an avid hunter and I used to hunt the Corps of Engineers land on the Texas side of the Red River. I was going to get my trail camera and check the pictures for any sign of wild hogs moving along the river and eating at the bait I had set up. When I pulled up to the parking area, I was the only truck there. It’s hot in the summer and in those woods there is little breeze. It’s about a 20 min walk through the woods to the camera. So I had navigated my way through the brush and had come around the old piece of original bridge supports and turned slightly north west and something yelled at me about 100 yards away, through the woods.

It’s hard to describe the noise. It didn’t taper off, just a blast. I froze, and I don’t know why, but my instinct was to “whoop” at it. I “whooped” and it remained frozen too. I knew where it was but I couldn’t see it through the trees. I raised my rifle to locate whatever it was through the scope. I systematically started searching, and all of a sudden, it tore off through the woods. I saw a glimpse of it through the scope as it took off. What I saw is difficult to explain but you know how a skiers legs look them they are crouched, it was like that, like a spring compressing the knees to unleash power.

The sun shone through the trees and I could see the legs had reddish brown fur but was shaggier than a deer. Almost like course hog hair but was soft. Everything about this makes me want to say it was a deer. The fur color, the legs bent, I would even entertain a deer having shaggier fur. But the yell is what makes me know it was something else. It’s yell was intimidating and demanding. It knew I was there and was letting me know it was there. After it ran off, I was filled with a sense of dread and had to talk myself out of not going back to the truck and leaving the camera.

ALSO NOTICED: Everything else that trip went fine. Saw some armadillos and raccoons. Got my camera and came back, nothing interesting on it except raccoons and some deer.

OTHER WITNESSES: Just me

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Around 1400, sunny, hot, full moon

ENVIRONMENT: That area is a bottom land mixed with cottonwood trees and overgrowth, when it rains it’s floods and is a nightmare to try and navigate. It was dry down there when this happened.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Gary Christensen:

I spoke with the witness by phone. His description of the encounter matched his written narrative. During our discussion, he added the following details. The sighting through his rifle scope lasted a second or less. The range was 50 to 100 yards; and if the animal had not been in the sun, he would probably not have seen it at all.

The view was quartering away of a rear haunch down to above the ankle. The length of hair did not fit with animals he was familiar with in this part of Texas. The animal moved extremely fast and unlike the movement of bears that he had hunted previously in other parts of the country.

The vocalization he heard was deep and powerful and like nothing he had heard before. He said that it was unlike any of the vocals he had heard on TV Bigfoot shows and that he had tried, but could not duplicate it with his voice.

Finally, he said the sense of dread was very intense and that he has not returned to that area since the encounter. I found the witness to be very articulate, candid, and credible. He was a former marine with combat experience in Iraq and an avid hunter, well familiar with Texas wildlife.

Although we mutually agreed that this encounter could have been another animal, the unusual vocalization, length of hair seen through the scope, and feeling of dread, to us, eliminate the usual suspects that live in this area.

The Red River has a history of sightings, some of which I have investigated.

About BFRO Investigator Gary Christensen:

Gary is a retired USAF pilot, a Vietnam veteran with 312 combat missions in the B-52. He also retired from American Airlines in 2008 after 18 years service as a flight training manager. A graduate of USAF ground and sea survival schools, Gary is an avid bird hunter and fisherman. He has been following the bigfoot phenomenon since the 1950's.