YEAR: 1982

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

STATE: Oregon

COUNTY: Deschutes County

NEAREST TOWN: Tumalo

NEAREST ROAD: NF 4606 logging road

OBSERVED: I lived in Tumalo Oregon in 1982 and made a deal with my landlord to pay off some rent by providing him with long fence poles to line his nearby property with.

I worked nearby on a horse ranch and rode extensively into the Deschutes National Forest on extended rides to the end of old logging roads into small valleys, toward the Three Sisters Mountains. Once I remember my bounding cow dog running from my front and staying behind my horse. A few minutes later the horse was alerted to something in the distance and refused to go any further.

It was in this direction I drove the Chevy truck toward where I could cut down some long, straight narrow poles to pay off my rent. I drove up a narrow road that ended with a loop around a big Douglas fir. The valley was steep to both sides with steady elevation increases to the west toward the Cascade Mountains.

I had a hand tree saw and an ax, and I started to cut down, clean up, and drag several pole trees toward the road/truck. About 15-20 minutes later I started to hear faint crackling from the ridge above to my south, like a large deer or elk was walking about. As I continued to work the sounds became louder, more frequent, and generally closer. I could not see what it was but thought it might be a bear. Forest was not that thick but I could only hear the crunching of something coming closer and making its presence known.
I had no permit to cut the trees, and whatever was seemed kept getting louder and closer (I could hear snapping dry limbs), so I decided to leave.

A few days later I enlisted a friend to go with me to get the poles I had cut. I told him of what I had experienced and he thought I was full of it. I brought a .22 rifle. Upon arriving we proceeded to load up the poles I had left and cut some more. The same thing happened. In about 20 minutes something slowly and methodically came crackling down from the south ridge toward us. At first my friend thought I was pulling a prank on him, that I had enlisted a friend to scare him. As it became apparent this was not the case the 'thing' was within maybe 100 yards of us, behind some old dead trees. It broke more limbs, and we migrated to the pickup, which was parked just before the end of the road and the large Douglas Fir. We sat in silence. Nothing. A few minutes later the noises were back, coming from the woods behind the large Fir. I drove to within maybe 50 feet of the Tree. Embolden with my friend, the truck, and the 22, I opened the door and took maybe two steps toward the tree.

Something was behind the tree, and it made an extremely loud noise that when into our core. My best remembrance of it was like a cross between a bear and a lion with a megaphone. I have never experienced anything like it since. Pure fear.

I bolted back on the truck, we backed up, turned around and left as fast as we could. I left the ax, bow saw, and some unloaded poles.
We didn't tell anyone because I wasn't supposed to be up their in the first place and had no wood cutting permit.

Whatever it was, although extremely close, never showed itself.

Sincerely

ALSO NOTICED: Earlier that year I rode a horse in the area with a dog. The dog was always in front of the us hunting, but as we neared the area the dog came running back behind the horse. A few minutes later the horse stopped, raised it's ears, and would not go forward no matter how hard I kicked it. We rode back to the ranch.

OTHER WITNESSES: One then two

OTHER STORIES: Just a few reports on this site I believe from that time frame.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Clear, middle of day

ENVIRONMENT: Douglas fir, Pine, partially logged hillside with snags.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Kevin Llewellyn:

I talked to the witness by phone:

He was one year out of high school and had hiked and rode horses in this area.

After chopping wood for twenty to thirty minutes, he then started to hear branch breaks and downed limbs cracking as if being stepped on. Something was coming toward him.

Three or four days later he returned with a friend. Again after chopping wood for about twenty to thirty minutes, they heard branch breaks and limbs cracking. Whatever it was, the approach was a little faster this time. As reported, they went back to the pickup. When he got out of the truck with the .22 rifle, the large fir tree was less than 100 feet away. After one or two steps the roar stopped him. He described the vocalization as a guttural lion roar for about two seconds. Whatever made the vocalization was behind the four foot wide fir tree.

I asked him if he thought that it was using the trees to hide behind as it approached. He said he is 100 percent sure of that.

He did not detect any foul odor. From exploring the area, he is aware of different sized caves throughout the region.

Using trees to hide behind while moving/approaching is common Bigfoot behavior.

About BFRO Investigator Kevin Llewellyn:

Kevin has camped, fished and hunted in Eastern Washington all his life. His interest in Sasquatch began when he was 10 years old and saw Roger Patterson present "the" film. He lives in Eastern Washington.

Recently retired, he was a veterinarian since 1984, after graduating from Washington State University.

He attended Washington BFRO expeditions in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. Oregon in 2015 and 2018, Montana in 2017 and 2018. He was co-leader of N.E. Washington 2019, Washington 2020, 2021 #1 & #2, and Montana 2020, 2021expeditions.

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