Screaming or howling in Humboldt County, California

There was about 10 of us watching the Perseids meteor shower from a clearing near an area where we were building a small cabin. Previously that summer we had heard some moanings or low growlings up on the top edge of the property coming from the uncut Bureau of Land Management forest, but did not think much of it. Everybody else got tired of watching the meteor shower (it was spectacular!!!) and went back to the cabin site. I was alone laying on my back in a clearing about 100 yards from camp at about midnight, looking up at the stars and admiring the shower when I had the feeling of another presence. This seems to be a common phrase in these situations but I have to say that this feeling of being watched is something I never felt before or after. Makes you wonder about some sort of a higher lever of consciousness or something similiar (dare I say telepathic?). I got up and cut over to a logging road that went back to camp and was about 20 yards from camp when I heard a rustling off to my right just a few feet away in dense brush. I did not even look to see what it was. I just sprinted the rest of the way back to camp and did not say anything. We were having a good time listening to loud rock and roll music (car stereo with trunk open) and drinking beer when a friend of mine said to me, "Do you smell that ... what is it??" Well ... I had been noticing this odor but had not said anything. It smelled like a cross between an oil refinery (very sulfurish) and had an animal musk smell to it and was VERY VERY strong. I recognized the animal muskiness from my trapping days as a youth, so I told my friend, "This is an animal." My friend said it smelled like diesel fuel and put out his cigarette it smelled so strong. This smell was so strong that it seemed that it had to be right in front of your face. We figured it was coming from a particular stand of trees and decided to walk up and behind this stand to see if we could still smell it. When we got behind the stand we couldn't smell it but when we got back around down-wind of the stand we heard something take off downhill and down-wind of us. All we saw was swaying brush where it had gone crashing down the mountain side. Some of the guys wanted to chase it but I convinced them that since it had left that we should leave it alone if it left us alone. Well ... in 15 minutes the smell was back. This time everybody in camp grabbed a gun ... we had a lot of guns and decided to chase this smelly thing down. Except for me and 2 others. I just had a flashlight. Well ... they chased this thing out of the aforementioned stand of trees and could hear it and smell it but could not see it. We could hear it stomping and thrashing around behind the stand of trees. They chased it up a narrow trail that led to a spring. I was bringing up the rear but only had the flashlight so I went back to camp with the other 2 that had remained. We could hear the "hunting party" about 50 or 60 yards up this narrow difficult trail yelling "He's right up here ... there he is!!!!" Then the yelling stopped for a few seconds then they started screaming. They came running out of the forest single file screaming in fear. They said the could hear and smell what they were chasing but could not see it and then suddenly there was no sound or smell. At this point they decided that whatever it was had stepped off of the trail and they had run right by it. Well this freaked them out and explains their hasty retreat. It was quiet the rest of the night but a couple of mornings later 2 of the guys were sleeping in a 2-man tent on a hillside above the camp and woke the rest of us at first light, yelling. When we got to the tent we found a huge turd about 18 inches from the front of the tent opening. It was about 4-inches in diameter and about 20 inches long and appeared to be mostly leafy material with some berry seeds. I guess that was his notice to us that he did not appreciate our company!!! It was uneventful for the rest of the summer.