Footprints in Monmouth County, New Jersey

I had some strange experiences in my childhood. A friend from up the street, she and I would walk through the woods. There was a path that went in a big circle where the older neighborhood kids would ride dirt bikes. It was about a mile around, I'd say. When we'd get about 2/3 the way around this 'circle' we'd hear single short whistles and small stones would be tossed near us. We thought it was the neighborhood kids, so kind of ignored it, but this would happen every time we walked around in this section of the woods. About 3/4 the way around the circle, we saw some matted down dry grass, that looked like a bedding area. Also, some strange footprints as well in the muddy areas. They were huge footprints and the toes seemed almost rectangular in the dried footprints. We'd also smell a wet dog type smell in this area. The last time I was in that section of the woods was 1975/1976. A couple other times, I'd go with a friend to the Howell/Farmingdale area. We'd walk back to an abandoned house in the woods and drink a couple beers. We'd hear noises and saw some of the same size footprints that the neighbor and I had seen in the woods behind my neighborhood. Fast forward 5 years or so, a boyfriend and I were smoking cigarettes in the school field by the house I grew up in. It was Fall, just at dusk, probably 6pm-ish. I happened to look up and look across the school field and saw this HUGE shadow standing on a slightly raised hill across the school field, by another neighborhood...I stared at that figure for a minute thinking that person sure has long arms, It was probably 60 feet away from us at that time. I stared a minute more and suddenly I could see that figure crystal clear as it bolted across the school field towards us. As it got closer I could see reddish brown shaggy fur on this huge man/ape type creature. It ran towards us silently, but with huge strides, as it came closer and closer. All I could do was yell, "RUN!" and we ran through a neighbor's yard and back to my house. I told my mom what happened and she said we shouldn't have been in the school field when it was getting dark...I was petrified and the next day my boyfriend and one of his friends went back to look for this thing, but we never found it again. I recently talked to my son about this incident and wrote it out for him, as I wanted my story documented. I still to this day get goosebumps every time I talk about it.