YEAR: 1973-1974?

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: don't remember

STATE: Oregon

COUNTY: Union County

LOCATION DETAILS: It has been so long ago, I couldn't tell you exactly where it was, just that the incident is very vivid in my memory.

NEAREST TOWN: Elgin, Oregon

NEAREST ROAD: Summit Road

OBSERVED: I was rifle deer hunting. Waiting "on stand" -watching a mountainside. The "driver" (other hunter who was walking the mountainside to drive out a deer to the stander (me). The hunter I was expecting to see was my brother. I had a clear view of the mountainside-there was a lone pine tree with a fallen log in front of it. It was mid-morning, good weather-clear day and view. I was watching the mountainside when it walked into view. I assumed it was my brother because it walked like a man-upright. It was all in brown. In retrospect, I should have realized right away that it wasn't my brother because of the clothing. It stopped beside the tree and stood there. I had the feeling it could see me. I thought about putting my rifle scope on it, but thought my brother might not appreciate that,so didn't. After a few seconds, it dropped down to all fours & disappeared out of my view. That was when I realized it couldn"t have been my brother, so I thought it must have been a bear. Then a few minutes later my brother did appear-in the same place-I could tell right away that it was him & what I had seen was a lot bigger and taller. I have never forgotten the incident-although my family and friends all said it was a bear-I have seen lots of bear in my life and I'm sure it wasn't a bear. I thought it was a man when I first saw it. It walked like and stood like a man-thought it was in a brown coverall or something. Never have seen anything like it since.

ALSO NOTICED: Nothing, other than what sticks in my mind is that I thought it was a man, didn't realize it wasn't until it dropped to all fours. Then a few minutes later, saw my brother and could tell right away that what I had seen was not a man.

OTHER WITNESSES: I was the only one who saw it.

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: mid-morning-full daylight-clear view

ENVIRONMENT: mountain ridge, rocky, sparse trees at the spot I saw it. plenty of pine trees, etc. all around. I was sitting on a log in a small draw with a good view of the ridge/clearing.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Geoff Robinson:

I spoke with the woman on the phone as she vividly recounted her experience in 1974. She was articulate, lucid, and a very credible witness, and went on to describe seeing what she initially thought to be a "man in light brown coveralls" from approximately 150 yards while seated in a deer draw during an early morning hunt in the Umatilla National Forest. She appeared to have a high degree of aptitude with matters relating to hunting and local wildlife.

She mentioned that at first she thought it was her brother who was in the approximate area "driving" deer to her stand. She stated that she did not think much of it immediately, since the creature nonchalantly walked upright along the side of the ridge with a gate "very similar to a man" and approached the pine tree, put its hand on the tree, and then turned to look at her. She described feeling very strongly at the time that the creature was looking straight at her. After a few moments of this behavior, the creature "dropped to all fours" and scampered with some degree of speed up the side of the ridge, out of sight.

She said at that point she began to wonder if the creature was a bear, but noted that in all of her experience in the woods with bears she had never seen a bear “walk like a man". She explained that she later wished that she had viewed the creature in her rifle scope, but since she initially thought it was her brother, she felt that "he would not have appreciated her drawing down on him".

When her brother did approach the area adjacent to the pine tree shortly after the creature left, she described a sudden realization that this was a very unique experience in that her brother was much smaller in stature than the creature, and dressed in "blue jeans and hunting jacket, not brown coveralls." Her brother was completely unaware of any unusual presence in the location.

The witness maintained that she has never forgot about the experience, it has stuck with her, and she felt that it was important to describe the experience formally for the record.

About BFRO Investigator Geoff Robinson:

Geoff Robinson is a software engineer and manufacturer's representative. As a teenager Geoff spent many nights in remote Georgia forests raccoon hunting. Mystified by seemingly inexplicable events during that time, Geoff has pursued explanations in the Pacific Northwest via study of an elusive bipedal primate that leaves tracks attributable to the taxon Anthropoidipes ameriborealis

Since those early experiences, Geoff has had encounters at his home in Granite Falls, WA, at the 2008 and 2009 WA Cascades expeditions, the 2009 Olympics expedition, as well as a number of smaller outings in WA and OR. He currently resides in Portland, OR with his wife and two sons.

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