Bigfoot Hunt #2 Continued

 I worked my way through the three camping areas, going past numerous hunting camps. Down the road, I pulled over for a hunting truck since I was going slower, and as it passed by, it stopped. I asked the two hunters inside, "Have you seen Bigfoot?"  \
  "Yeah" was the unenthusiastic reply. and then one said they had dogs to catch, and they moved on. Then I encountered a hunter standing in front of his truck using his flashlight to try to find dogs. I stopped, and he explained, " We have a female out running a deer, and she won't come in." He was a young man, a big boy, and I asked him the question. He responded, "No, I haven't, sir."
  "There's been sightings in here," I said.
  "I know," he replied. He seemed lost in thought for a minute and then said, "You know they caught Bigfoot a couple of years ago."
   "They did? What's the story?"
   "They called him the Chinaman because he was Chinese. He lost his job and his home and started living in the woods. He grew long hair. You can research this. He started causing problems because he caught dogs, took off their collars, and ate them. The police finally caught him, put him in jail, but he escaped, and hasn't been seen since."
"Wow!" I remarked.
 We stayed in ackward silence for a bit until he said, "Well, I have to go look for that dog, sir."
  I thanked him for talking to me and drove on. After almost an hour of putting along, I came out to a field on my right and figured I was near Route 470 again. I encountered another dirt road on my left and shined the Maglite down the road at a height of 8 to 10 feet. I thought how absurd that would look to onlookers. Looking for a ten foot tall biped. Somewhat chastened, I shined my flashlight directly on the road. I picked up something that was a mottled brown and black. My batteries were running down for the light was much dimmer. Finally, I realized it was a house cat who was smelling something on the road. When she looked up to me, I got shiny lights reflected from her timpanem, I believe it's called. When I said something to her, she became alarmed and disappeared up the road. I didn't know this cat was a precursor to somebody much bigger. Soon I was back in civilization at Route 470. Relieved, I decided to turn around and check out what looked like a state game checking station. It was. There was a list of deer and hogs killed and their weights.
There were only about four each, a surprisingly low number. Without feeders to attract and hold deer and hogs, they are hard to find. Also, they don't eat and thrive as well. This was witnessed by the weights of the deer and hogs. Except for the first deer, a big one at 190 pounds, the rest were puny, all a little above 100 pounds. The hogs were thin too, also just a little over a 100 pounds. I found a game management phamplet and learned I was in the Richloam Game Management Area, The road I had taken was named Main Road and continued off the map into the next county. I had almost traveled into that county. I then called Hilda to let her know I was okay. Then I got onto 470. There was some traffic so I kept my low beams on as I drove through the rest of Green Swamp, south Florida. Suddenly, I saw somebody crossing the road to my side. It was gray, high, and very long. My first impression was that he was a panther. When he crossed to my side of the road, he started to go into the swamp, didn't like the spot, came my way a few feet, and then entered the swamp and was gone. I didn't see a tail but I didn't see a head either, and he had to have a head. It  happened so fast and I was so intent on watching that I didn't think to move my left hand a couple of inches and turn on the high beams. That would have shed a lot of light on the subject. I hope this does it for being stunned by seeing unusual animals. I don't want to be that way when I see Bigfoot. The animal seem to flow, his body didn't not show the movement that you would see in a deer or even a dog. It was much too long and big for a bobcat which has the body type of a cocker spaniel. The head of a deer is usually very conspicuous. I have, for sure, seen a Florida panther and a cougar. An acquaintance of mine had one of each together in a cage. I even brought them a deer killed on the road. It was so painful seeing those creatures in a small cage that I couldn't make myself visit them more than I did. It was viewing torture.I avoid zoos for the same reason.All I can say is that I think I saw a gray panther. I have collected over 500 sightings of panthers, mostly in Florida, and can recall only one being described as gray. But since we have a black morph, and you can be sure black morphs breed with the tan ones, it is reasonable to expect a gray panther to be produced. I didn't see Bigfoot, but it was a great night. This sighting was around midnight, and I got home at 3 a.m. Happy trails to you, Two-Guns.