The department is checking a reported sighting of an unidentified figure in the woods. Mr. Gai reports a large, hairy subject moving between trees after he had been left alone.

The persons involved in the preceding snipe-hunt prank are not identified in this bulletin as witnesses to the later sighting. Their participation in the prank does not establish what Mr. Gai observed afterward.

The subject’s identity and the appropriate jurisdiction remain unestablished. The department is considering the report without adopting a species designation.

Residents are asked to remain clear of the search area. Observations should distinguish the subject’s appearance and movement from any assumed identification.

Mr. Gai has raised a jurisdiction question in his published account. Addressing that question does not require the department to accept his proposed identification.

The Tribune reports that a search followed the sighting. That sequence is not a departmental conclusion about what the subject was.