“It’s intriguing because she sounds like a very credible witness,” said the professor. “Her first response was to report it to the sheriff and not post it on Facebook.”

“The most common places to see a Bigfoot is on a highway at night or adjacent to a body of water," noted Dr Meldrum. "The whole northern panhandle is prime habitat for a Sasquatch. This is also the time of year you would expect a Bigfoot to be chasing deer, when it’s malnourished at the end of winter.”

The professor also believes that the creature's means of locomotion rules out a bear as the prime suspect.

“A bear isn’t going to be chasing deer on its hind legs," he said. "The bear would have taken one or two steps before going back on four legs.”

Nor does Dr Meldrum believe this was a prank, stating the mundanity of the encounter lends it credibility.

“What’s interesting is the attention it has gotten,” he said. “It isn’t obviously involving a crazy person and it doesn’t seem like a prank. I think it struck a chord because it was just so mundane, but it smacks of a credible encounter.”

This is the first reported Bigfoot sighting of the year in Idaho, according to The Bigfoot Field Researcher's Organization, and the last sighting in Benewah County reportedly took place in 1972. Reports of Bigfoot elsewhere in Idaho have occurred as recently as 2015.