YEAR: 1978

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 21

STATE: Montana

COUNTY: Madison County

LOCATION DETAILS: Upon entering Virginia City via Hwy 287, take a right if your coming from Nevada City, or a left if you came in from Ennis, up Alder Gulch. This is the first place in Montana that gold was discovered, so there is a monument a short was up the gulch. I was 16 years old at the time and my cousin was 25, so quite a few years have passed since this sighting happened. My Grandfather's cabins are about 8-10 miles up Alder Gulch and the road to the ridge is another mile and a half from my Grandfather's cabin. My Grandfather no longer owns the cabin.

NEAREST TOWN: Virginia City

NEAREST ROAD: Montana 287

OBSERVED: On the morning of October 21, 1978, my dad, uncle, cousin and I awoke in preparation for opening day deer season. After spending the night in my Grandfathers cabin up Alder Gulch, we geared up for an early morning hunt. My cousin and I rode in the back of my uncles pick-up truck with my dad riding shotgun. We planned on hunting the ridge to the west of my Grandfathers cabin. We had to drive about 2 miles south or as I would call it (up) Alder gulch to get to the road that goes to the ridge. We missed the turn to the ridge road, but quickly realized our error. Upon finding the correct road we progressed up the gradual slope climbing and meandering through mostly pine and some meadows dominated by waist-high sage brush. Of course, being opening deer season my cousin and I were being vigilant scanning every opening and meadow.
My cousin and I were hanging on to the cab of my uncle's truck due to a slight uphill grade. To our right was an open hillside meadow covered with thigh high sage brush surrounded by pine trees. We both were scanning the meadow when my cousin said, "there's another hunter, (slight pause) why is he wearing all black?" All I could do was stare and keep staring. My cousin looked over at me because I had not said anything. We both viewed the animal for about 10 seconds. About 250 yards out in the sage brush meadow was a bigfoot. We banged on the cab so my uncle would stop. The pick-up came to a quick stop and as luck would have it, there were pine trees blocking our view from the sage brush meadow. We immediately said to back-up. As we backed up my cousin and I expected to see the bigfoot still in the meadow but there was no sight of him/her. We both looked at each other in disbelief and questioned each other as to what we saw. Make no bones about it the animal had the distinctive dome shaped head with no neck broad shoulders and solid black. The animal was facing us and slightly bent forward and looked as if it was resting it's right arm on it's right knee. It occurred to me that he/she knew it got caught out in the open and was just going to stay motionless and hoped we would drive right by. The closest tree line was about 50 yards away from the big foot and it had taken us only about 15 seconds to get back to were we could see the sage brush meadow again. We didn't see the big foot again. We didn't tell our dads until later on and just kept it to ourselves. My cousin and I continued to hunt deer that morning with a constant thought in the back of our minds of what we saw earlier. We did separate from each other as we hunted the ridge and I did get an eerie feeling that I was being watched. Hustling to find my cousin down the ridge and put the feeling of being watched behind me I heard a gun shot. My cousin did get a nice mule deer buck. This was about 2 to 2 1/2 miles from our sighting. I have hunted most of my life and have seen most animals that live in these woods. My cousin has been hunting all his life and knows every animal there is in these woods as well. We will never forget that morning and talk about it with each other occasionally. I hope to possibly get another chance to witness another big foot and get one on video.

ALSO NOTICED: After the sighting, a feeling of being watched. There was no snow at this time.

OTHER WITNESSES: Two, myself and my cousin. We were both scanning the sage brush meadow looking for deer on opening day of deer season.

OTHER STORIES: No.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Early morning, approximetly 6:00 am, clear sky, sun was up enough to see well. Sunny 50 degrees, no wind.

ENVIRONMENT: 7000 to 8000 feet. Pine and fir forest, with steep slopes. There are intermittent sage brush meadows with grass meadows as well. Alder creek is below my Grandfather's cabin with plenty of mountain streams in the area.

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

The two cousins were together with their fathers on opening day of deer season. While driving up Alder Gulch to hunt, the cousins one aged 15, the other 24, were standing in the truck bed leaning on the cab, looking for deer. As they passed a clearing the cousins witnessed a large, dark, bipedal figure walking up towards the ridge. It appeared that the figure was uniform black in color, had turned its face towards them. They both say they could tell it had been walking and the truck had surprised it and it froze. Because it was walking up the hill, leaning forward in doing so, it looked almost like it was crouching - but because it was going up hill it was leaning. Because of the rising sun, facial details could not be seen. The older cousin hit the cab, and told the driver to backup. In the few seconds it took to back-up a few feet the figure was gone.

Knowing it wasn’t a bear and not a hunter, the older cousin turned to ask his cousin if he had seen the figure too. He found his cousin wide-eyed and teary. He had seen it too.

Once up the ridge, the cousins didn’t see prints (if it had been a hunter that continued in the direction it was headed, it would have left footprints on the ridge.) They discussed how it wasn’t a bear, and that a person couldn’t be so fast to move to the trees in such a manner. Although feeling on edge, they split up in different directions to hunt which was the usual, but after a few minutes decided to stay together. They both felt the uncanny feeling of being watched.

It should be noted that if it had been a hunter it would not have been dressed all in black, and after having seen other hunters would most likely have let them know he was in the area to avoid being shot.

Both cousins agree that what they saw was larger than a human and not a hunter, and that it was not a bear. Both say it did not have a neck. Both recall it disappeared from sight much too quick to be human. The older cousin knows what it is not: a bear or a hunter. The younger cousin knows it to be a bigfoot.

Both men now living in different states, told their similar story very sincerely. I found them extremely credible.

Location:

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.

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