Growling in Carter County, Tennessee

My wife was going to work around the end of july 2002 and saw something by the side of the road. It was tall and dark colored. She slowed down because she thought it was someone who might have broken down. The thing was at the edge of the road near a creek. As she stopped it crossed the road and leaped onto a dirt bank about 5 or 6 feet off the road and went into the woods. A day or two later as she was going to work she saw something standing by the edge of the road in the same area. It was tall and dark with reddish eyes. It made no effort to come into the road and went back into the woods. All of these events occured during the early morning hours on a remote section of mountanous road in the Stoney Creek section of Carter county on Highway 91. On August 1 2002 at 0300 hours I was letting my dog out of the house because I thought he had to go to the bathroom. My female dog would not leave the house and my male dog went onto the porch and stared at a field adjacent to my house. He would not leave the porch and his ruff was up and he would growl low. I looked around and saw something in the field about 2 o'clock from my elevated position. I could not get a direct look at what it was but it was large enough to be seen bent over in a field of nearly mature untopped tobacco. When it realized it was spotted it made a chuffing noise, between a growl and a guttural throat sound. At this time I noticed another figure in the field moving off into a shadowy area between a barn and a road behind my location. This was a smaller version of what was in the field near me. The thing in the field from me stayed until the thing that had crossed the road made a similar chuffing sound. The dogs behind my location and in the area where this happened were barking. The thing in the field then began to move through the tobacco field to the tall grass and the tree line. I also heard a noise like something in pain, something small. This was follwed by two additional series of sounds (the chuffing) coming from an area near a creek across the road from us. this was answered by the things that had crossed through the field at my location. The only look I got at the thing was a rounded back covered with a brownsih red or light brown fur. This again happened at night and the light was not bad. There was a partial moon and ambient light from property nearby.