Ronald Smith finished work and drove home like any other work day. He got home at around 12:20 a.m. and as usual, went out to feed his horse. And that's when the "usual" ended.

When he got out to the pasture, the horse wouldn't come to the fence. So he resigned himself to going into the pasture to feed him. That was when he heard something in the dark, walking on two legs through the snow. Knowing that only his horse should be out there, he concluded there were some kids up to mischief.

There was some moonlight and he could make out a dark figure walking across the pasture. Still, he thought it was only a high school student trying to get away.  He didn't think about the size of whoever was out there. He watched the figure disappear into the trees. The horse was not frightened or spooked, although it was acting a "little funny" and watching the woods. That was when Ronald heard the screams. They were unlike anything he had ever heard. Similar to a cougar, they had much more volume. And although similar, they were different. And that's when he ran from the pasture for his house.

The screams came 3 more times while he ran, and then another 3  times once he got inside. His wife met him with the advice to grab either his gun or a camera. His reply: "I think it's Bigfoot out there." He was half joking but the screams were unlike anything he had ever experienced.

The next morning when he finally returned to the pasture area, he found traces of footprints in the field. Unfortunately, the horse had managed to trample them.

Two reporters from the local paper came out to check around. They found tracks in the snow near a canal. These were over 15 inches long and with about a 4 ft stride. The tracks appeared to have been made by something very heavy. What was even more unexpected was the set of smaller identical tracks running alongside.

When people in the area heard of Ronald's encounter and the canal tracks being found, others began coming forward with tales of hearing strange noises, smelling strange smells, and recounting other unusual experiences that they were now attributing to a possible bigfoot. Black hair found on a barbed-wire fence was turned in for analysis. It was later said to be from a cow.

Update:  Thanks to Dave Harvath for allowing me to share his comment.

"I remember this. This was just one of the reports that happened during a couple of months. The canal that is mentioned was wood-covered and ran east towards the mountain about a mile away. We lived about 10 minutes away from here. This area is an old river wash that was mostly farmland between a major city and a military base. That end of the Base is not really used and is mostly a buffer zone for aircraft. It is heavily wooded with tangle brush oaks."