Untitled Sighting

Incident occurred on an old ranch approximately 50 years ago--i.e. around 1950--and was related to us by a native of Safford, AZ who said she and other people have heard the story all their lives, but as usual people joke about it--but the rancher who claimed to have had the sighting was very serious about it, and he said it was no joke and he would get angry when people would joke about it. The rancher was riding the range of his ranch on horseback checking on his cattle herd, and he saw a large, dark brown furry, upright creature walking on two legs that "was not a bear". He said he has seen bears his entire life up there on the range and insisted "this was not a bear." He said that when the creature was aware that the rancher had spotted him/her it turned and ran uphill up a steep tree-lined canyon.