A very tall figure in Monroe County, Alabama

My wife and myself were visiting her mother in south Alabama shortly before moving to Florida. At approx. 0100-0200 I was was voluntold to get our bags out of the car since we hadn't brought them in. The car was about 30 ft from the bottom of the ramp on the back porch and 20 ft from the north end of the car port (which is mostly open, except for a single partially closed in section on the north end). The night was dead silent with no wind. Upon reaching the bottom of the ramp I began to turn to my right towards the car when I heard what can only be described as similar to a bull snorting mixed with a grunt. I immediately turned towards the location of the sound, the back of the carport, and drew my sidearm. Due to a light on in the carport being pointed directly at me, I could not see what it was, but a shape. I had a small flashlight on me and pointed it at the thing. It didn't help much due to the light being in my eyes, but I was able to make out a creature bigger than me and at least 3 ft across at the shoulder. It made the sound again, but didn't move. I called out to it, thinking it was a person, but no response. After what felt like a few minutes, it made the sound again and seemed to get shorter. I began to move to my right towards the car to retrieve a rifle I kept in there and the thing moved to my left, so that we effectively circled each other until it reached the end of the carport on the south end. I reached the car and without turning, retrieved my rifle. As i pulled it out, the creature turned towards the woodline at the back of the property and seemed to either slowly run or quickly walk into the brush. i took this time to go back into the house and get a better flashlight. I came back out maybe 5 minutes later after finding one, to find nothing. The guard dog had reappeared and you could hear various insects around. The next morning I went to the area at the back of the property where the sighting had happened. From looking at disturbed spots on the ground I could tell that whatever it was, it had padded feet with a step of about 3-4ft., was between 7-9ft. tall, and moved in an upright fashion on two legs. Since then it hasn't been seen again, but there are times when the guard dog mysteriously disappears and there is no sound outside. the whole incident lasted 10 mts. or so. To add, the dog is called a "guard dog" because if anything happens, he will be the first to leave. i.e, if he's there, nothing else is. Don't see the dog, you have a problem. I've never believed in sasquatch, bigfoot, or whatever name is given to them. But I've researched this incident for a year now and I can't come up with any other reasonable explanation.