YEAR: 1981, 1982

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: December

STATE: Texas

COUNTY: Houston County

LOCATION DETAILS: This area is near the Trinity River bottoms and National Forest.

NEAREST TOWN: Lovelady/Austonio Texas

NEAREST ROAD: 21

OBSERVED: While hunting in east Texas I saw a large hair covered, 7 ft tall, 275 lb. something ape/man like creature vault/leap over a fence, land on 2 legs and step off the trail into the forest. Through the 9 power rifle scope it looked exactly like some of the sketches I have seen. This occured 25 years ago and I just now started looking into other peoples sighting.

ALSO NOTICED: A doe jumped the fence first. She looked right at me (80 yards away). I checked her out through the scope. She calmly stepped off the trail as if to allow another deer to jump the fence. I assumed it was going to be a buck. Instead it was a tall somewhat lanky tannish/brownish hair covered bipedal creature. Also, the height it gained in jumping the fence was notable. I guess the fence to be about 4 1/2 feet high. This thing cleared it by 3 feet. When it landed in the trail it was facing me and stared at me just like the doe did. I immediately moved the rifle off of center mass and hollered HEY! Having much experience in the National forest I know to be wary of other hunters. This time I was on private land so I was upset that a human had disrupted my hunt. All that was a split second reaction. Hours later it dawned on me what I had seen.

OTHER WITNESSES: None

OTHER STORIES: Wildlife Biologist Dr. Bill Maurel or Marrel of KTSA Radio in San Antonio told me via a phone conversatiuon in about 1992 that he spent 7 years working in those National Forests and he believed many people who told him of sightings. He was the first person I asked about this subject but I had told other about the event.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 5 PM, clear, cool, minimal wind

ENVIRONMENT: Heavy woods, creek bottoms, slight rolling hills. Typical east Texas Forest.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator D.A. Brake (PhD):

The witness was interviewed by phone and provided the following additional information.

The sighting took place on a tract of private land owned by a friend’s family. The friend accompanied the witness on the hunting trip but was physically separated from the witness when the sighting occurred. The witness, an avid hunter, had walked down a trail immediately parallel to a fence line separating two adjacent tracts of private land, and had passed by the specific spot where the subsequent sighting of the animal occurred. The witness identified this particular spot as a suitable area for possible deer traffic. Nothing unusual was noted on the walk in. He proceeded down the trail about 75-80 yards and took up a stationary position on the ground behind a large stump just off the trail. He steadied the rifle on the stump and began to view through scope back up the trail he had come down, focusing on the previously noted spot. After 10-15 minutes he watched a large doe jump the fence.

Within 5 seconds of seeing the doe cross over the fence and while still viewing through the scope, the witness described seeing a large creature ‘vaulting’ the fence in the exact location that the doe had crossed. The witness described the animal as similar in body stature to a tall, lanky and agile basketball player. The animal’s long arms were out to the side, bent and swinging as it landed on two feet. Remaining stationary for a moment, the creature did not have a noticeable neck and was covered in burlap sack-colored hair from head to toe, with a slightly stomped posture and slight knee bend. In one stride the bipedal creature stepped off the trail in the direction that the doe had moved. The duration of the sighting was approximately 5 seconds.

The witness immediately walked up the trail to where the creature had been spotted, but did not observe any footprints or unusual smell. He then moved into the woods in the direction the animal had headed and after a short walk came to the deer stand where his friend had been waiting. The friend did not observe or hear anything unusual.

This sighting occurred in the general vicinity of other reported activity such as Report #15627 and Report #7604 in/around the Trinity River Bottoms valley and flood plains and intersection of Houston, Walker and Trinity counties.

About BFRO Investigator D.A. Brake (PhD):

D. Brake holds a PhD in Immunology and attended the Maine 2008 expedition.

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