Flathead County, Montana

I live up against Flathead National Forest in the Swan Mountains. I ran into something two days ago while walking my dog on a forest-service trail.

It was dusk, still somewhat light. My dog is old, and he has to lay down a lot to catch his breath. We stopped, he's panting like crazy and I glance over through this small birch tree. I see through the sparse leaves this silhouette of a person crouching down quickly. I say "Hello?"

I hear a grunt and the thing turns around and runs directly away from me.

Whatever it was, I can tell you it was bipedal, fast, and very hairy. Probably around 6 feet tall or so.

It could have been a person trying to mess with me, but I carry a .357 magnum on my hip with Buffalo-Bore cartridges (180gr, High velocity rounds designed to kill bear) to protect myself from Grizzlies. Any person stupid enough to try to play games with a Montanan like that is likely to get shot.

Anonymous in Kalispell, Montana
Sept 6, 2007