YEAR: 1986

SEASON: Winter

MONTH: December

DATE: Dec 24, 1986

STATE: New Mexico

COUNTY: Socorro County

LOCATION DETAILS: The bigfoot was headed west toward the Gila National Forest, and away from the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.

NEAREST TOWN: San antonio nm

NEAREST ROAD: Interstate 25

OBSERVED: Traveling south on interstate 25 on 12/24/1986. My wife and I both saw the bigfoot running across the hwy. I pulled over to shine my headlights on it. It had gone over an embankment. It must have squatted down because we never saw it again. The bigfoot was very tall, hairy, skinny, with long arms.

OTHER WITNESSES: 2. Driving down hiway

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was dark. Around 6 pm. Weather was clear

ENVIRONMENT: Escaping thru a very long desert regions draw or arroyo

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

I spoke with witness at length by phone. Both he and his wife (now in their 60's) saw the bigfoot back in 1986. They got a good look at in their headlights as it crossed Interstate 25 heading west. They were only 40 feet away so when they passed it.

The location of the incident is notable. Interstate 25 parallels the Rio Grande River as it flows south through New Mexico. Although the immediate area looks like desert the elevation is actually 5,000 feet. It is high desert. Roughly 10 miles to the west is the higher Magdalena Mountains and then the Gila National Forest -- both alpine forests reaching up to 10,000 feet. That is the direction the bigfoot was headed.

The Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge is significant because during the winter it is loaded with hundreds of thousands of migratory geese, cranes, ducks, etc. The US Gov has feed plots all around the refuge to support the wintering birds. The sighting happened on Christmas Eve.

Bigfoots and their tracks have been found repeatedly near other high desert locations that host large colonies of migratory geese and ducks in winter, such as the San Juan River in Shiprock, NM.

It's a safe bet to suggest that bigfoots prey upon these migratory flocks in certain areas. I have approached wintering flocks like these near Shiprock in winter at night. With the cover of rushing river noise over rocks I approached geese flocks undetected through the dense brush. I got very close. It would have been very easy to throw a big stick over a flock to disable a bird.

These vast flocks of large birds are a very reliable protein source in winter, and one of the reasons these areas have been frequented by native Americans for thousands of years.

The specific area of the sighting is roughly five miles south of the turnoff to San Antonio from I-25. That puts the sighting location squarely within the boundaries of Bosque del Apache Refuge, and roughly two miles from the Rio Grande riverbed.

About BFRO Investigator Matthew Moneymaker:

Matthew Moneymaker is originally from the Los Feliz District of Los Angeles, California.

- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

- Founder of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization,1995.

- Writer and co-producer of the Discovery Channel documentary "Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science", 2001.

- Co-producer of the TV Series "Mysterious Encounters" for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN Channel), 2002.

- Producer of the "2003 International Bigfoot Symposium" (Willow Creek Symposium) DVD set, 2004.

- Co-host of "Finding Bigfoot" on Animal Planet Channel, 2010 - 2017.

- Current Director of the BFRO