I too love these old stories…I suppose from a cryptozoological standpoint, there were a lot less people per capita back then that were starting to make their way into more out of the way places and maybe came across cryptids that were not used to people tromping in their territory…there dooooo seem to be a lot of “back in the 1800′s” tales when it comes to cryptids though…:)

The description is a little odd and outlandish, but that also seems to be a function of these old tales, and I am guessing exxxxxageration made its way into the stories before they ever got writ down…so to speak…still from a face point value of such, it at least adds a little backbone to an area for a history of things happening in a particular spot…

Hmm…..poor hunting could be explained by the hog eating predator in the area.

Interesting old encounter! Thanks for sharing.

1) they had to look up to see what was at the top of a fallen tree?

2) when they say, “One of the hunters, who got too near in trying to throw a rope over its head, was struck by the animal’s tail, and he tumbled headlong twenty feet away.”

Are we talking the creature sent him 20 ft. on level ground, or were they on a hill? I’ve never heard of anything like this one. Usually the unknown’s description follows something similar. This sounds like a dinosaur, but it has hair and scales. Some have pondered just how accurate our concept of most dinosaurs really is.