Boy sees Bigfoot sitting on bank

A boy encountered a creature sitting on the riverbank as depicted in this drawing. Illustration by AI

People talked about these big hairy people-like creatures ever since I can remember.
In my Yugtun dialect, we call them Miluquyulit (the throwers) because they throw something at you when if you get too close to them or to let you know they are there.
They throw something like, most of the time I heard, a piece of dry branch – but never to hit, just so the person will see the branch.
I never saw one, but people said they are very big, with hair all over the body, arms down past the knees, and don’t seem to have a neck. When they turn their head, the upper part of their body turns.
My mom’s young cousin saw one when he and his step-brother were looking for rocks for their slingshots along the riverbank during low tide at fish camp.
He said his step-brother was doing something and was behind him, but he, trying to find more rocks walked on ahead picking up little rocks that he saw.
He said he then looked up into the trees above the riverbank where water doesn’t reach at high tide, and saw a very big, hairy manlike creature sitting there between two trees, holding the trees alongside him, his legs hanging; the creature was watching him and his step-brother who was behind him.
He said he then got so scared that he froze there for a long while, looking at the creature, like he was stuck to the ground. He thought of running, but couldn’t turn and run.
When he finally turned, his legs felt so heavy he couldn’t run, and he stumbled when he tried to run. When he reached his step-brother, they went back to fish camp.
When they reached fishcamp, he told his mother that he saw the Miluquyuli when he and his step-brother went looking for rocks along the riverbank.
This story was sent in by letter and the writer asked for anonymity. The writer is from Nunapitchuk.