BFRO #10082: Hunter has daylight encounter near Gills Creek
📍 Location
Gills Creek vicinity along Route 122, Franklin County, near Wirtz, Virginia, Wirtz, VA
Specific Location: Old washed-out road off VA-122 near Gills Creek
Coordinates: 37.00556, -79.93972
View Interactive Map
37.0056°, -79.9397°
📝 Description
I was ridding my atv on the family farm going down an old washed out road which you can�t drive fast on. As I started down the road looking down at the road then looking up down the road something caught my eye about 150 to 200 yards down this road. The sun was to my left shining across this road to the right as I looked down this narrow road there was a reflection of the light coming off the fur of something that I never had seen before,it was tall and massive. For that split second I saw it. The way the suns reflection came off of this thing it look almost silver. But being a hunter (I hunt this land all the time) There isn�t anything silver in color. And that the sun coming off the back of a black turkey can look silver. So that�s what caught my eye. This animal went back in to the woods back to the right. I worked my way down to where I thought I saw it. I turned my atv off and smoked a cig. Listing for any thing and about 5 min. had past and I heard something big running away from my direction breaking big tree limbs. (It was way louder than a deer running through the thickets). I could hear this for about 1 to 2 seconds and then it went quiet again. If I had to guess how far away it was I would say about 50 to 60 yards away from me when I first heard the running. (You cant see more than 20 yards in to this thickets from where I was at. (Hunting season end for general firearms 10 days before this so the deer are still alert.) Then it seemed like a couple of min. later I heard two big bangs like someone hitting a stick against a tree or log then the hair on the back of my neck stood up.Then there was the snorting of the deer that came from the thicket right after that. (When a deer snorts from my experience in the woods during the day they see you and snort once or twice and then they take off leaving you just to see there white tail waving at you as they go out of sight.) But there must have been 4 or 5 white tail in there all of them snorting and stomping the ground and they were real loud.The deer did this for about what seamed to be more than a min.then I heard them take off running. And that�s when I decided it was time for me to leave too.I went home and told my wife about what had just happened and she couldn�t believe it and was surprised at what I told her and ask if it was bear? I told her I never saw a beer in the woods and it seamed way to big to be a black bear.So the next day (Wednesday the 22nd) I wasn�t going to GO BACK THAT DAY.I took a camera in where I heard this animal and took pictures of what I believe to be footprints and some hair that was left on a tree limb about 5 1/2 feet off the ground
🔍 Circumstances
just me
🌤️ Weather Conditions
about 3pm sunny clear day about 54 degrees
ℹ️ Additional Details
about 3pm sunny clear day about 54 degrees
🔗 Sources (1)
👥 Community Contributions
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Case Information
- Case ID
- cmizoj090034z8fysbpw6c099
- Primary Source
- BFRO
- Added to Map
- December 10, 2025
- Last Updated
- December 10, 2025