YEAR: 1979

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: October

DATE: Unknown

STATE: California

COUNTY: Siskiyou County

LOCATION DETAILS: Hilt, Ca. is located right off the 1-5 freeway in the most northern part of Ca. on the Oregon border. The Fruit Growers Supply Company is located there.

NEAREST TOWN: Hilt, Ca.

NEAREST ROAD: 1-5

OBSERVED: : This sighting occurred quite some time ago, and I haven’t told a lot of people. I was a logger for 15 years, in and around northern California, and I was a timber faller, probably 5 years out of that period. Timber falling puts you out in the really remote areas, and we were always the first guys in there to drop the timber. I started working a real thick area, and began working my way back threw the thick woods, my plan was to reach the very back portion of the sale, and then cut my way back toward the logging road.

The first day in there, I had the feeling of being watched, thinking it was just our boss spying on us, so I gave no further thought to it. The next morning I spotted large tracks in the muddy areas. It had rained hard that night, so the tracks were not sharp, and they were not from a bear. Further into the woods, I came up on a flat spot in the faint trail that smelt so terrible, that I almost gagged. It smelled like wet dog, a very filthy wet dog. Just past this spot is where I spotted what appeared to be human droppings. What was weird about the dropping is they were really huge, not trying to act like an expert on droppings, but the largest piece was about 18inches long, and 3inches in diameter. This really freaked me out, because there was no body else in the area. My partner was working over the other slope, and actually went out another way. The cruisers were out of this area about two months back. This stuff was fresh looking, about a day or two old, tops.

My partner was a Kroch Indian, and I didn’t know the guy that well, we just paired up for that season. At quitting time, I sort of approached him about the idea of bigfoot, and he said, “they have been in these woods for ever, and my people have told me many stories about them.” “You white guys just make fun of what ever the Indian talks about, so we keep it to ourselves.” And, that was about it. I guess if I took him to a bar on Friday night, and got his tongue oiled up a bit, I’d have learned a bit more, but I dropped the subject. We finished the sale and that was it. This area was really secluded with lots of deer sign. I had a habit of mapping and remembering really good spots for future deer hunting, and prospecting spots that I would use during the winter lay-off.

This particular spot, after logging, was strictly off limits, as it was part of the Fruit Grower Company's land, and after logging they would lock up the roads. It didn’t matter how long you logged their property after a sale it was shut down, and you had to stay out! Well, hunting season arrived, and I breached the locked gate, and snuck in there for a day of hunting. I took along my ever-present companion, Pappy, my hunting cow dog. Him and I were inseparable, because he didn’t know fear, and would attack a grizzly if you didn’t keep him under control. He had a good nose, and located many a deer that got away from me.

Well, we got into the same area that I had spotted the droppings, and Pappy went on purple alert. His fur went straight up and he acted totally weird. He came to a halt and refused to go any further down the trail. I never saw him act quite this way! Just 100 yards up the hill I spotted movement. It was crouching down behind a buck-brush bush, and it just crouched there staring at us. It was completely unnerving! I realized I was illegally in that area, and this might be another hunter, or a DFG cop ready to bust my butt. Note, guys were always getting busted for hunting on the California line or the Oregon line. It was just a bad spot, and it was so close to each border, it would be up to that game warded.

Well, I had a Remington rifle, in a 270 caliber, with a 3x9 scope, and not really wanting to aim a rifle at another hunter, I sort of swept the total area, like I was looking for deer. What I saw chilled me to the bone! It was not human, and that’s about all that I can really say! To this day, it looked like a king sized Eddy Munster, and it didn’t look ape like, but it sure as hell wasn’t human. The eyes, were what got my leg’s going, because I wasted no time getting back to my truck and getting out of there.

ALSO NOTICED: Lots of UFO activity in the area for years

OTHER WITNESSES: None.

OTHER STORIES: Lots of stories from the Indians, other loggers, and this area is located very close to Happy Camp California, where there are a lot of sightings. Also, The Rodger Patterson sighting is only about 80 miles down the river.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 11AM or pretty close.

ENVIRONMENT: Thickly forested, with lots of mountains, streams, and creeks, and a very few roads.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Richard Hucklebridge:

Today, on the 7th of December of 2002, I contacted a Robert D. and in a very sincere and believable manner he went over his report that he turned in a few months back. One of the first questions that I had to ask him was, "What is a cruiser?" His answer was “He is the person who marks the trees to be cut down, and he is also the one who marks the trees that are to be saved.”

The tracks that Robert first came across, looked to be human with no separate toes showing, because they were in very wet mud. The tracks were not that of a bear, but more human like, because they were larger and deeper. Also, Robert followed them for about a ¼ mile, and the distance between the tracks was approximately five to six feet. The scat was dark in color and had hair mixed in with it, and it was large and human looking.

I asked Robert a few more specific questions about the creature.

* What distance would you estimate you were from this thing when you first saw it? “I was about 100 yards from it, and it was squatting behind a large buck brush bush."
* What was your first reaction? “My first thoughts were it was a DFG person checking on hunters in that area, but after giving it a quick glance through my rifle scope it was not a person that I was accustomed to looking at. My dog was acting very strange, like wanting to leave the area right now, and its hair was standing straight up on its back.”
* What was it doing? “It was just staring at me and my dog. The only movement that I saw, that it was trying to squat a little closer behind the bush.”
* Was it covered in hair, and what color was it? “Yes as much of it as I saw, and the color of it was a dark brown.”
* How tall would you estimate this thing to have been? “Couldn’t tell, because it was squatting, but the bush was large, and it couldn’t really hide very well.”
* What would you estimate its weight to have been? “This is just an estimate, but I thought it weighed about four to five hundred pounds.”
* Did you see any facial features, and could you describe them? “Yes! The eyes were the most telling. They were not round like an ape, but looked more human-like. Also, I noticed the skin on the face was black, and the eyebrows reminded me of Eddie Munster, because they were straight across the forehead.”
* Did you observe any ears? “No!”
* Could you describe the arms, legs or any other part of its anatomy? “No!”
* Could you tell if it was a male or a female? “No!”
* For about how long did you see it? “For a total time of about ten to fifteen seconds.”
* Did it see you? “Yes! It was staring straight at us, the dog and I.”
* Did you smell anything? “Yes! The area smelled of an old man’s body odor, but much more potent. It almost made me gag! The odor during the logging incident smelled like a filthy wet dog."
* Did you check for footprints? “No, not after the sighting. I was too shook-up to go back to that area right away.”
* Did you report what you saw? “Only confided in my uncle, who believed in what I told him about the sighting.”
* What was his response? “My uncle spent his last years of his life investigating that area, because of the strange lights at night, and the sasquatch possibilities.
* Did it ever make any noise? “No!”

In summary: Robert D. thinks that this creature is more of a human than it is an animal. I believe that Robert had a visual sighting back in October of 1979, because he is a very experienced outdoor person who has prospected and hunted for minerals most of his life. Robert had a very bad feeling about this creature, and that’s why he had to leave that area. His legs were leaving, so he thought he had better follow.

• Explanation of the report classification system
• Submit a report for the sightings database
• Please send any comments or inquiries to ContactUs@BFRO.net