US Marine has a possible encounter with his deer kill outside Jacksonville witnessed in Onslow County, North Carolina

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I was deer hunting off of Highway 24 near Rhodestown, NC, right outside of Jacksonville, NC. I had been in my stand since about three that afternoon. It was close to dark and I saw a deer walking along the edge of the clearing I was in. It kept looking into the woods like it was curious of something. The deer got closer and I took the shot. When I did, it took off running and hit some brush and fell down. I waited about 30 minutes and it got dark. I got out of my stand and went to get the deer. I got my things together and started dragging my deer to my truck that was about a quarter of a mile through a thick part of the woods I was hunting in. I was carrying my rifle, backpack, the deer, and a flashlight in my mouth. So I could pull the deer by its leg, and hold my rifle and backpack straps. After walking through the thick part of the woods, it was a straight shot to my truck. I dropped the deers leg to get situated and get myself altogether to continue my walk out, when I looked up with my light still in my mouth. I saw two eyes looking back at me. They looked wider than any animal I had ever seen at night. I have been hunting all my life. I have seen everything from deer to coyote to bear. These set of eyes were about my height, I am 5' 10". The trail I was on slightly went down hill. It stared at me long enough for me to put my rifle and backpack down. I had a 9mm Glock with me and I pulled it out, I shot once into the ground next to me to get whatever it was to get out of the trail I was on. It did not move or flinch, it just simply looked to its left and looked back at me. I looked down to take a knee, because I was getting worried. I got on my knee, looked back up, and it walked off to it's left, into some of the thickest woods I have seen. I grabbed the deer and continued dragging it towards my truck. When I got to the spot where I thought I saw the eyes, I looked to both sides of the trail and I could smell a musky foul odor, and where it had walked off the trail, tree limbs and trees were pushed over as if something huge had just barged through the thicket. I went to my truck, cleaned the deer out there in the woods. Like another post on here that I read, I felt like I was watched the whole time I was cleaning the deer. I left the rib cage and spine of the deer I cleaned out there, along with the hide. When I came back to the same spot, the spine had been drug off about 300 yards from where I left it. It was one of the strangest and creepiest nights I have ever had in the woods by myself.