Screaming or howling in Lamoille County, Vermont

This Story takes place about 1995 at my Uncle's Cabin in Morrisville Vermont. I had been visiting on a summer day with my aunt and uncle. They have a small handbuilt cabin in Morrisville which they have had since the ealy 70's. They are only there infrequently, so similar events may have occured there that they are not aware of. The cabin itself sits in the middle of an open feild on a small plot of land (1 acre?), sandwiched between two farms (they are located of the far side of each). The nearest house is about 3/4 of a mile away. The feild is bordered on the other two sides by a dirt road and a heavily wooded ridge. So, this one summer day, I had been up to the cabin for a visit, and we were winding down after dinner inside the cabin. My Uncle noticed a noise in the far distance, and opon listening, my aunt and I noticed as well. Listening, I can only describe this high-pitched sound as exactly like that of a child, screaming as if they were being torn in half. I know that sounds morbid, but thats all I can think of to accuratly describe the sound. It was blood curdling. We continued to listen, and we noticed that the noise was both continuing and getting closer, although it was coming from at least a 3/4 of a mile away at the top of the ridge. My Uncle and I went outside to figure out what was going on. My Uncle is a lifelong hunter and rabid outdoorsman. This guy knows more about New England wilderness than Grizzly Adams. He told me at that point that the noise was definitly animal, was getting closer, and running down the ridge at what he estimated to be about 20 miles an hour, screaming as it went. He said he'd never heard anything like it in his life. Being a very conservative guy, he guessed it might be a jackrabbit, who make some very odd noises when in mating season (no joke!) Well, whatever this thing was was running toward us (still at a comfortable distance), maybe 1/4 mile. Now, keep in mind, this is the middle of nowhere, at probably 11 pm, we had one lantern in the cabin, and other than that, it was pitch black out. We heard dogs barking at this thing, and my Uncle noted that this thing was going from house to house on the ridge, waking up dogs, and particularlly seemed to bother one home of a man who raised german sheppards (he gathered this from the scream's direction and the intentsity of the dogs' barking) and that this was an odd thing for a jackrabbit to do. My Uncle asked my aunt at this point for his pistol and a flashight, and we stood on the porch listening to this thing run around for 15 mins. Then, it started right toward us, maybe it saw the cabin? I asked my Uncle is maybe we should go inside, to which my Uncle said not to worry, as we were well armed! The screaming had started and stopped a few times during this incident and we were calculating its position by that. Well, that thing (whatever it was) got within 100 feet of us, screamed, stopped for a minute, turned and ran, fast, the other direction. All we could make out was a dark shape and a pair of eyes reflecting our light about 4 foot off the ground. It then headed straight down the valley and continued to wake up dogs, screaming as it went. We never did find out what it was. The hair on the back of my neck stands up thinking about it even now.