Hunters hear possible vocalizations, large head seen peeking from behind boulders near Franklin witnessed in Pendleton County, West Virginia

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On November 19th 2012 the first day of hunting season in West Virginia, I experienced a few events that I am unable to explain. My step father and I were hunting in Pendleton County and had split up on either side of a ridge. At around 6 am before daylight, I heard a loud "whooping" that was so loud it almost sounded as if it came from an amplifier. This only happened once, but my step father and I both heard it and agreed it wasn't a normal animal sound. After lunch we went back into the woods. We split up again, this time I was going to try to hunt a thicker area than I did in the morning. The treestand I was going to had large boulders behind it with some very thick vegetation. I began climbing the treestand when all of a sudden in behind me in the boulders going up the ridge I heard what sounded like a very angry growl and what sounded like two rocks being smashed together violently. I jumped halfway out of the tree off the ladder, and as I turned around to see what had growled...