Time: 7:30-7:45am
Weather: Clear & Cold, Temp. about 27, Wind SW

A friend of mine and myself were going to run our dogs on rabbits. I decided we'd go to a cypress slough I had hunted for many years. This slough is about a 1/4 mile wide on average and has row crops on the North and South sides. We had stopped on the North side of the slough coming in and decided we'd go to the South side to get out of the wind and stay a little warmer. To get there you turn off the State highway onto a county road and then cut across a field road. There is a place toward the end of the field road that I always stop and look for deer in a U shaped pocket at the end of a big field. But this time it wasn't a deer that I saw.

What I saw was as tall and wide as a standard door. I would say 6' 8 - 7' 0 tall and 36" - 40" wide across the upper back. I was roughly 200 yards away when I first saw it and I pointed out the truck window to my friend behind me (in his own truck) to look in that direction. The sun was shining on it and it just stood out from the surroundings. It was just huge compared to anything or anybody I've ever seen.

As we drove closer it just stood there with its back to us like it was warming itself in the morning sun. We closed to within 75-80 yards and I stopped again for a better look. It was covered with hair from head to toe. The hair looked dark like a walnut stained color with reddish highlights. The hair appeared to be long and lay against the body. It looked wet or like it had a lot of oil in it. It had a sheen or shine to it with the sun shining on it.

I watched it for about 2-3 minutes from this distance and then it turned its upper body to glance over its right shoulder. When it saw my truck it took one quick long step and disappeared into the woods along the slough. When it turned it didn't appear to have much of a neck. It was as though the head set down into the front of the shoulders. And it was very thick through the upper body.

Once it left I pulled up to my normal parking place (which is about 50 feet from where it was standing).

I got out of my truck and looked over where it was standing but the ground was frozen and there were no tracks. My friend got out of his truck and asked me what the hell I was looking at and I told him I wasn't sure. If he didn't see it I wasn't going to say anything (I'd had a once in a lifetime experience right in front of him and he didn't know and I wasn't sure how to explain it without sounding completely nuts). It was the greatest feeling of awe outside the birth of my children I've ever had.

Anyway, I went to the back of my truck and my friend went to his and we let our dogs out. The dogs made their usual 3-4 happy to be hunting circles around the back of the trucks and both of them just shut down. Their tails were tucked between their legs and they just cowered down right there. We put their leashes on and walked North away from the area we parked and turned them loose and they ran and hunted just fine. But as they turned Southwest and went toward where the thing went into the woods they both shut down again. They tucked tail and came back to us. My friend took his dog by the collar and pushed him into the thicket and the dog just took off running as hard as he could go to the North.

At that time my friend turned to me and said "What the hell did you see back there?" Again I said I wasn't sure. He said well whatever it was is bad ju ju for dogs. We loaded up and went looking for his dog. I looked for 3 days and couldn't find him. On the fourth day he received a call from a lady that said the dog had showed up the night before at her house.. It was about 10 miles NE of where we lost him.

Until I told Tal this story this past week I'd never told anyone (including my wife). I know what I know and I saw what I saw.. Its all the proof I'll ever need. If Tal or someone he trust would like to go to the location I'll be more than happy to take them there..

Tal H. Branco, The RFP Research Project.

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