YEAR: 2001

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: October

DATE: 25

STATE: California

COUNTY: Fresno County

LOCATION DETAILS: Near Keiser pass east side of sample meadow

NEAREST TOWN: Huntington Lake

NEAREST ROAD: Keiser pass road

OBSERVED: I was hunting at sample meadow above Huntington lake, I had just walked through a marshy area and had gotten into some dense pine trees when I spooked two deer up and I got a glimpse of them as they ran through the trees. I stopped and was motionless for a couple of minutes when I heard a loud expulsion of air and a branch snapped behind me in the thick pine trees I had never heard anything like that before so I froze and did not move, and about one minute later I heard the same sound from a little farther away and then the next time I heard it, it was closer and to the north, this happened about six times each time it was in a different location like it was trying to see what I was and scare me off. The last time I heard it sounded like it was right behind me and I flinched then it must have seen me I heard it running away from me through the trees making the same noise and breaking limbs as it was running off. I stood in the same spot for about five minutes and did not hear it again. I walked out of the woods to my truck where my dad was waiting for me and we drove about a mile down the road to a campsite to eat lunch.

At lunch I told my dad what happened and described the noise and he thought it might have been a buck grunting it sounded good to me since I never heard a buck grunt. So we decided that the buck might come back to that spot. So we ate lunch and drove back to the same spot. We hiked in and at the marshy part I told him to go in the direction that the deer ran to and I would try to spook them out again I waited for him to get out of site then I walked toward the pine trees, I got to the pines trees when I seen three does running in my direction toward the grove of trees in front of me, just before they got to the trees I heard the same noise again the expulsion of air and a branch break it spooked the deer two of them ran downhill and the last one ran uphill right at me it stopped within ten feet of me but it never seen me it was so frazzled by what it saw it stopped slowly turned around and tried to see around the tree to what had spooked it. It stood there for about one minute oblivious to me it then slowly turned around and started walking right at me it got within five feet of me then I flinched my arm so it would see me before it walked into me, it startled it so bad the deer fell down on its side did a spin on the ground and jumped up and ran the other way when it got around the tree and down about twenty yards I heard that noise again. The deer ran down and to the south and I seen it stop about 150 yards away through a clearing it would look at me then it would look at where the noise came from, it looked back and forth several times then it slowly walked away.

I then followed where the deer had ran to see what was making that noise I walked very slowly came around the tree and about thirty yards down the tree line I saw a large figure with black hair sitting under a large pine tree sunning, it had large shoulders four to six inch hair but you could still see the muscular definition of its chest and shoulders there was a fallen tree blocking my view below its waistline. But we locked eyes and stared at each other motionless, it had dark eyes I could not see any white, I could see the hair on its head blowing slightly in the breeze, I didn’t see any facial hair just a very dark skin face like an ape, after looking at each other for about a minute I wanted to get closer but the fallen tree was in my way so I took a step to my left to go around and when I got out of its site I heard it get up and bound through the trees making the same noise as it ran away from me the loud expulsion of air and breaking branches as it ran off.

ALSO NOTICED: I went back to the same general area one year later with my two kids and found about four large footprints in the dirt, you could make out the ridges of fingerprints. It had about a four foot gait.

OTHER WITNESSES: hunting partner was a couple hundred yards to the south did not see it.

OTHER STORIES: I have a hair sample from a different situation, found a mountain bike deep in the woods torn up by something teeth marks on the seet and bicycle helmet. and saw a large impresion that could of been a foot print three witnesses (2004).

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
clear sky, very cold 25- 30 degrees.

ENVIRONMENT: Leading up to the area the ground was swampy like the ground was saturated with water, then it turned to very dense pine trees. There is a creek within 100 yards.

Follow-up investigation report:

I talked with the witness by phone. The following details can be added to the report.

--The witness is a regular hunter.
--The witness saw the creature from about 30 yards and they stared at each other for several minutes.
--The witness got a good look at the creature from the waist up. The creature had large shoulders and large arms. It was covered in long black hair. Its head was round and its face flat. There was no hair on the face from the lips up. The face was leathery and ape like, and the skin was black. Its eyes were very dark.
--There was no smell of any kind.
--After the creature left, the witness went to the area where the creature was sitting and sat in the same location, trying to get a better feel for what the creature had been doing. After a few minutes, the witness then followed the creature a ways into the forest, but it got too thick so he left.
--The witness and his dad were supposed to stay the night that evening, but after the event, they decided to go home.
--Hair sample is from Kings Canyon/Hume Lake area and the witness is mailing it to me. I will update the report after the analysis is completed.

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