DB and a friend (who was a taxidermist by trade) were hiking near Mills River in Henderson County, North Carolina. This occurred in October 2017 on a game trail along a ridge on Mills Knob.The pair had walked for almost 20 minutes or so when they came to an open cut in the woods. They began to hear loud cracking sounds, which they thought was a small herd of deer moving down the ridge and breaking tree limbs. They took a position above the trail and were well hidden. They wanted to see the apparent deer as they moved down the trail and near them. DB and his partner were on a rock outcrop about 10 ft. above the trail.As they waited they began to hear heavy footfalls, as if a large biped was swiftly walking towards them. To their shock, an 8 ft. tall Bigfoot walked directly below and past them. The creature had 5-6 inch copper-colored scraggly hair covering its entire body. The face was very ape-like in appearance. It was making heavy grunting sounds and seemed to be in pursuit of something. It then moved off the trail and down the steep ridge. As they watched the creature, it suddenly stopped, turned and looked in their direction. The pair was terrified and ducked close to the rocks. They assumed that it had recognized their presence. After 20-30 seconds, it continued its way down the ridge. DB and his friend stayed motionless for several minutes, hoping that the Bigfoot would move off and away from their location.DB's friend, who was in his late 70s and had hunted in the area all his life, turned to DB and said in a serious tone, 'I didn't know that there were gorillas in North Carolina.'The pair slowly descended from their perch and swiftly made their way back to their vehicle. They rarely talked about the incident. DB's friend recently passed away. Lon