# Ever had a scare in the woods?



## Loggerhead Mike (Sep 16, 2009)

i hit the woods after work behind the house yesterday since its the only place i can get too after work and still have time to hunt alittle before dark. 

the last 3 of 4 times ive been out there ive heard several yotes hollering on the mtn. i took the stand down last week figurin i was wasting my time but i just had the urge to get in the woods..

well i go about a mile up the mtn to a spring the deer drink from. sit untill dark with nothing. i did hear 1 yote howl between me and the truck alittle before dark, no biggy

so when it gets about pitch black i start heading down the mtn. about half way i stop because i heard a distant wooorrr noise, eahh probably some bird. started heading down again, and about 40 yards i stop again and hear this dang gurgling type wooorrrrrrr noise again. its hard to describe but i figured it was a coyote. could be wrong since ive never heard one up close and ive only heard them howl before. anyhoo it was dark and very foggy, visibility was about 5 feet with my headlight. the noise came about 20yrds away on the edge of a pine thicket next to the trial i was on. all in all i high tailed it outta there skidmarks and all. i didnt know weather to keep the bow in my hand or trade for my knife. never been so scared in the woods by myself before. i have seen mountain loins up here before but they make more of a high pitched type noise from what ive heard

so im debating on bringing my pistol with me next time i go back there bowhunting even though i almost got a ticket last week for having it in my truck on gamelands, or just not stay after dark.... to be a pansy or not to be... hah

anybody else got any storys or idears? im on the edge of probably a 1000 acres of gamelands in the mountains. never been more than 5-10 miles back becasuse the terrain just gets too tuff


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## Captain Ahab (Sep 16, 2009)




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## cyberflexx (Sep 16, 2009)

Wow.. interesting stuff.. I think it was Sasquatch, the wild man of the woods. Nahh I dont beleive in that thing, but very interesting story. 

I was fishing once at a lake in Kentucky and I was using a the trolling motor and slowly fishing the bank. Everytime I would move down the bank 10 yards or so, I kept hearing footsteps in the leaves on the bank. I couldnt tell if it was 4 feet or 2. When I would stop, it would stop. I could never see anything in the brush though. At one point I thought I heard a baby crying but wasnt sure it was a bird or not in the background. When you are by yourself and things like that happen, one tends to get spooked. I finished fishing the rest of the bank and I powered out of that creek with my outboard. I had always wondered what that was..


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## Quackrstackr (Sep 16, 2009)

cyberflexx said:


> At one point I thought I heard a baby crying......I had always wondered what that was..



Bobcat :wink: 

I've been uncomfortable in the woods 4 times.

Once, I got turned around and lost right at dark. Even though I knew that there were enough roads around that I wasn't in any danger of being lost for any real length of time, there is a certain amount of panic that sets in when you don't have a flashlight to find your way out.

Twice I have had to fight horned owls off with an arrow that were intent on tasting my eyeballs after watching them move from afar for some time (full camo otherwise). One of them, I thought I was going to have to actually kill to get it to stop it's repeated advances. I'm talking swoops at the head well within arm's reach.

Finally, I was once blindsided from behind and hit in the shoulder by a red tailed hawk. I had been watching it chase squirrels around me for almost half an hour and I had thought that it finally just left. Something hit me in the shoulder from behind like a Mack truck and sprayed bark all over my face and neck. It was that darned hawk. I guess it saw my camo fleece jacketed shoulder moving from behind the tree and thought that it was a squirrel. I just about soiled myself. The first thing that entered my mind in that first millisecond was that I had been shot.

For some reason, coyotes have never bothered me.


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## cyberflexx (Sep 16, 2009)

Quackrstackr said:


> cyberflexx said:
> 
> 
> > At one point I thought I heard a baby crying......I had always wondered what that was..
> ...



So was that thing stalking me or something? If I hear it again, should I be alarmed?


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## Quackrstackr (Sep 16, 2009)

Nah.

Most likely whatever it was, it was just watching you. Bobcats are one of the most wary animals out there. The slightest bit of unidentified movement usually sends them heading for the hills.

It could have been two different animals. The bobcat may have been stalking whatever it was that was following you down the bank. I've had several different animals just kind of follow along as I made my way down the bank. Turkeys, skunks, deer, the odd coyote. They just follow you to figure out what your intentions are.

But, the bobcat is what makes the sound of a baby crying. It's somewhat unnerving when one does that about 2 am right outside your tent. :lol:


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## FishinsMyLife (Sep 16, 2009)

I get a scare every time I'm walking to a stand or leaving and I have a deer blow right beside me :lol: 

A fella that hunted the same property as me along the Edisto River last year swears he saw a black panther. He was very shaken up even though black panthers aren't supposed to exist anywhere near around here.


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## russ010 (Sep 16, 2009)

FishinsMyLife said:


> I get a scare every time I'm walking to a stand or leaving and I have a deer blow right beside me :lol:
> 
> A fella that hunted the same property as me along the Edisto River last year swears he saw a black panther. He was very shaken up even though black panthers aren't supposed to exist anywhere near around here.



there out there.. we have one that I know of up in Lancaster county that was caught a few months ago... but a lot of people mistaken black coyotes for panthers as well, I've seen them while I've been out hunting


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## Jim (Sep 16, 2009)

Once I was attacked by a hwak as I sat up in my broken treestand

And another time I was shot in the face with pellets from a couple of other hunters in the filed next to us who flushed pheasants.

Being somewhat of a city slicker, I'm always a little uncomfortable in the woods.


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## poolie (Sep 16, 2009)

What scares the heck out of me is when it's getting dark and I hear the faint sound of banjo playing off in the distance ;-)

Great stories guys!


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## Loggerhead Mike (Sep 16, 2009)

> even though black panthers aren't supposed to exist anywhere near around here



one of the top dogs in the wildlife dept. for this area told us they were all extinct, but later in the convo said there was a $5,000 fine for shooting a panther.... :? fine for shooting an extinct animal?

Ive seen 2 in my life that im 100% sure were panthers. one time i saw one late at nite driving jump across the road. it touched the yeller line and was gone. im sure because bobcats dont have 3 foot long tails and it was too dang big to be a coyote

another time we were camping and heard somthing in the garbage. unzip the door to take a look and theres a friggin cat twice my size out yonder. we were half drunk and didnt have anything but knifes. talk about scary. it left when it heard us thank god


can ya squeel like a pig poolie :mrgreen:


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## grizzly (Sep 16, 2009)

a few years back i was backpacking alone for a few days in arkansas, i was fixing dinner at dusk when i noticed the reflection of eyes (you know, that glowing in the light look) off in the trees. if i barely moved it would go away. within a few minutes i started noticing more and more, but just shifting your head could make them disappear. ten minutes later it was completely dark and there's practically a solid ring of that eye glow around me, extending out into the woods on all sides. i walk out to look and it was about 1000 bigfoots, no really it was wolf spiders on the tree trunks, thousands of them. wasn't scary but certainly creepy.


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## russ010 (Sep 16, 2009)

Loggerhead Mike said:


> > can ya squeel like a pig poolie :mrgreen:



you sure do have a pretty mouth... :lol:


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## grizzly (Sep 16, 2009)

oh yeah; walking out to your deer stand before dawn, and a turkey flying off the roost 20 feet above your head, the way it breaks the silence gets my heart racing every time.


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## russ010 (Sep 16, 2009)

grizzly said:


> a few years back i was backpacking alone for a few days in arkansas, i was fixing dinner at dusk when i noticed the reflection of eyes (you know, that glowing in the light look) off in the trees. if i barely moved it would go away. within a few minutes i started noticing more and more, but just shifting your head could make them disappear. ten minutes later it was completely dark and there's practically a solid ring of that eye glow around me, extending out into the woods on all sides. i walk out to look and it was about 1000 bigfoots, no really it was wolf spiders on the tree trunks, thousands of them. wasn't scary but certainly creepy.



haha - out on the water the other night I saw something reflecting light on top of the water.. i hit it with my spotlight and it got even brighter.. i trolled up to it and it was some wierd looking spider - first time i ever saw anything like that


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## Quackrstackr (Sep 16, 2009)

I have never seen them around here but saw a lot of those glowing spiders down in Arkansas while duck hunting with some locals a few years back.

We had hiked back into the green timber and turned off our lights at the water's edge waiting for it to get light. There looked to be several thousand dim glow sticks scattered around as far as you could see. I thought that they had taken me to some radioactive waste sight. They laughed and assumed that everyone had those glowing spiders.


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## poolie (Sep 16, 2009)

grizzly said:


> a few years back i was backpacking alone for a few days in arkansas, i was fixing dinner at dusk when i noticed the reflection of eyes (you know, that glowing in the light look) off in the trees. if i barely moved it would go away. within a few minutes i started noticing more and more, but just shifting your head could make them disappear. ten minutes later it was completely dark and there's practically a solid ring of that eye glow around me, extending out into the woods on all sides. i walk out to look and it was about 1000 bigfoots, no really it was wolf spiders on the tree trunks, thousands of them. wasn't scary but certainly creepy.



My backyard is running over with those things. Very spooky to take the dogs out in the morning and see all those glowing eyes looking at you.


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## FishinsMyLife (Sep 16, 2009)

grizzly said:


> oh yeah; walking out to your deer stand before dawn, and a turkey flying off the roost 20 feet above your head, the way it breaks the silence gets my heart racing every time.


Yep, that's another that gets me :lol: 

I believe that the panthers are around. Someone got fined in GA not long ago for killing a cougar (tan) and they weren't sup[posed to be around either.


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## Jim (Sep 16, 2009)

poolie said:


> What scares the heck out of me is when it's getting dark and I hear the faint sound of banjo playing off in the distance ;-)
> 
> Great stories guys!



:LOL2:


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## switchback (Sep 17, 2009)

The only time I have ever been really freaked out in the woods was when I was walking back to the truck. I was over a mile back and walking down an old train trussell they made into a gravel road for the corp guys to use. Trees and thick brush lined the road and leaves all over the ground. As I was walking I started hearing foot steps. Everytime I would stop it would stop. Start and it would start. After a few times I started walking a lot faster till I got out by the lake. I have a buddy that saw a mountain lion/cougar out there before. I know it was a cat. Probably a bobcat but it don't matter when you fell like your being stalked :lol:


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## cyberflexx (Sep 17, 2009)

switchback said:


> The only time I have ever been really freaked out in the woods was when I was walking back to the truck. I was over a mile back and walking down an old train trussell they made into a gravel road for the corp guys to use. Trees and thick brush lined the road and leaves all over the ground. As I was walking I started hearing foot steps. Everytime I would stop it would stop. Start and it would start. After a few times I started walking a lot faster till I got out by the lake. I have a buddy that saw a mountain lion/cougar out there before. I know it was a cat. Probably a bobcat but it don't matter when you fell like your being stalked :lol:



Thats how it was when i was fishing.... ( see previouse post)


Now last night, I went fishing, was out past dark, using my fog lamps and could see many eyes on the bank, kinda freaky as I have never been out on the lake past dark. Before we headed down the foggy lake, I heard something that sounded like a whistler bottle rocket going off, and I asked Daniel what was that, he said Dont know bub.. we heard it again and at the end it warbled some and it sounded like it was 10 feet off the bank in a tree above us, I said lets get the flock out of here before he gets our neck. I didnt like being on the water, with cloud cover, fog, not knowing the lake very well and using 2 - 15watt 12volt automotive foglamps and no flashlight


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## Quackrstackr (Sep 17, 2009)

You guys need to spend some more time outdoors. :mrgreen: 

There's really nothing out there to be spooked of unless you live in mountain lion, grizzly, gator or meth cooker territory. East of the Mississippi (and a pretty fair piece west of it), there's really nothing out there that's looking to do you any harm.


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## Jim (Sep 17, 2009)

Quackrstackr said:


> You guys need to spend some more time outdoors. :mrgreen:
> 
> There's really nothing out there to be spooked of unless you live in mountain lion, grizzly, gator or meth cooker territory. East of the Mississippi (and a pretty fair piece west of it), there's really nothing out there that's looking to do you any harm.



There are people out there! :shock: 


:LOL2:


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## Quackrstackr (Sep 17, 2009)

Back when I was 10 or 11, my dad took me deer hunting and dropped me off next to a big cedar tree to watch over a field. This was well before daylight. As it started to get light, I started making out light colored shapes all around me that were completely foreign to what should have been in a typical woods/field setting.

As it finally got light enough to make out what they were, my dad had purposely planted me right in the middle of an old graveyard. He was laughing hysterically when he came back by to pick me up a few hours later. He had hung out just on the other side of a hill until it got light and said that when I didn't wig out after it got light enough to see, he went on back to where he was going to hunt.

My dad got the fear out of me at an early age. :lol:


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## Loggerhead Mike (Sep 17, 2009)

lol no graveyards for me



> I heard something that sounded like a whistler bottle rocket going off,



startled alarm call. sounds like you skeerd a deer


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## Monarkman (Sep 17, 2009)

Twice...once was my own fault...
1.)Way back in the day, I was bow hunting deer in northern Wisconsin when I turned around and about 30 ft away was a black bear sow with 2 young cubs. We looked at each other for a few seconds. I slowly turned to walk away looking over my shoulder and she did the same with her cubs following her. After that, I carried a side arm while bow hunting.
2.) When I was young and stuipd while up north gun hunting deer, (same area as above), it was getting pretty dark and I was splitting firewood with a sharp had held hatchet. I was not paying close attention and the blade bounced off the peice of wood and richoched (sp?) off my ankle. In shear panic I thought I was cut to the bone, but after looking close with a flashlight, not a scratch...just real sore....I beleive a guardian angel must have been on my shoulder that night as I was in the woods and far from any medical attention....


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## cyberflexx (Sep 17, 2009)

Quackrstackr said:


> You guys need to spend some more time outdoors. :mrgreen:




Yeah, I do.. I dont hunt, never have. I dont have the stomach to gut a deer. But My wife and I own almost 500 acres with a mobile home with wrap around deck, heatpump, city water ( finally out there ) and a huge garage with a tractor for cutting 4wheeler roads, 2 4wheelers and a Kawasaki Mule. This property is about an hour from my house. It was her dads land that he used to hunt and to get away when he wasnt fishing. 

the only thing i do that is outdoorsy is going fishing so I am not familiar with the sounds of the forrest at night..


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## grizzly (Sep 17, 2009)

there was another time i was backpacking in Big Bend NP, Texas, this time with my older sister. we had one tent, and after dark i'm trying to go to sleep, but she's scared of every little noise and wants me to stay awake until she can go to sleep. 

finally, around 1 in the morning i am fed up and ready for some sleep. we can hear something just outside our tent, i tell her to go to sleep it's just a racoon. 

she STILL wouldn't go to sleep. so i said, "look, it's either a racoon and there's nothing to be scared of, or it's some crazy murderer sneaking up to kill us, and wouldn't you rather be asleep when he does? So either way you should go to sleep"

this bit of logic did not have the effect i had hoped for.

she did not sleep at all, and i got maybe 2 hours. the next day was a long hike back to the car.
now i go alone, or with my girlfriend.


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## Quackrstackr (Sep 17, 2009)

cyberflexx said:


> Yeah, I do.. I dont hunt, never have. I dont have the stomach to gut a deer. But My wife and I own almost 500 acres with a mobile home with wrap around deck, heatpump, city water ( finally out there ) and a huge garage with a tractor for cutting 4wheeler roads, 2 4wheelers and a Kawasaki Mule. This property is about an hour from my house. It was her dads land that he used to hunt and to get away when he wasnt fishing.
> 
> the only thing i do that is outdoorsy is going fishing so I am not familiar with the sounds of the forrest at night..



500 acres and you don't hunt?  

You don't want to adopt an adult son, do you? :LOL2: 

What I wouldn't give for 500 acres of land.


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## cyberflexx (Sep 17, 2009)

Quackrstackr said:


> cyberflexx said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah, I do.. I dont hunt, never have. I dont have the stomach to gut a deer. But My wife and I own almost 500 acres with a mobile home with wrap around deck, heatpump, city water ( finally out there ) and a huge garage with a tractor for cutting 4wheeler roads, 2 4wheelers and a Kawasaki Mule. This property is about an hour from my house. It was her dads land that he used to hunt and to get away when he wasnt fishing.
> ...



LOL!!!!!

To hunt for free, here are the rules of the farm property

1. Be a trusting friend of the family
2. Must work at the farm for upkeep ( ie: cut trees out of road, keep mowed, watch over the property)and make a presence there at least once every 2 weeks for activity so punks wont break in.
3. Do not fight or let anyone else on property without our permission
4. No Alcohol or Drug or big partys
5. You make a mess, you clean it up
6. Leave the land free of trash
7. If you stay in the mobile home, clean the dishes, run vaccum, and keep bathroom clean before you leave
8. Take the trash out with you and make sure the doors are locked on the home and garage and the keys for the 4wheelers and tractor are hidden in our secret hiding spot on the property.
9. RESPECT our property
10. Bring us deer burger and steaks as a Thank You


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## KMixson (Sep 17, 2009)

Thirty years ago, I went hunting one afternoon and climbed a pine tree on the edge of a field. As the sun went down, I kept hearing a moaning sound that seemed to be coming from behind me. I kept looking behind me and could not tell what or where it was. After a while, I changed positions and started staring up at the stars. A couple of minutes later I started to see the outline of a cat above me, a bobcat. He was wanting down and I was in his way. To this day I have no idea how I did not see him in that tree when I went up there. The tree was not all that large. I was kind of nervous coming down out of that tree. The bobcats that I have seen in the swamp seemed to be scruffy looking compared to the ones you see mounted and in zoo's.


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## FishinsMyLife (Sep 17, 2009)

cyberflexx said:


> Quackrstackr said:
> 
> 
> > cyberflexx said:
> ...


If this was within 200 miles of here, I would do my best to become a trusted friend :lol: That would be a great opportunity for a respectful hunter.


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## dyeguy1212 (Sep 17, 2009)

Got kinda spooked today... in the broad day light. I hunt a piece of county property that is for bowhunters only. Tons of coyotes out there, but theyre the least of my concerns....

Got a summer job working a farm two doors down on the weekends. I got talking with the receptionist that normally works during the week, and she and her family are pretty into bowhunting. I told her where I hunt, and she says "oh you didnt hear about the bear??"

Long story short, two police officers spotted a black bear in the 250 acre area I hunt. They called the county park that owns it and their response was "Oh, well thats not really news to us, its been in there for about 3 years now"

Didn't believe it at first, so I had my dad (a police officer for the neighboring county) call and probe for information. Turns out there a confirmed black bear that wandered down from somewhere in northern MI, a real rarity. Turns out the park chose not to do anything about it because there have been limited sightings, and she never seems to bother anyone (suprising, considering there is a large campsite across the dirt road)


Anyways, to the scary part. Went to check on my stand today, before the opener oct. first. On a secluded part of the trail, I found some droppings that coudn't have been left by anything other than a bear. Problem is, that secluded part of the trail is 150 yards from my stand. :shock: 

CCW class starts saturday!


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## Quackrstackr (Sep 17, 2009)

cyberflexx said:


> LOL!!!!!
> 
> To hunt for free, here are the rules of the farm property
> 
> ...



I would say that your friends have no idea how lucky they are. :wink:


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## dedawg1149 (Sep 17, 2009)

i never get scared after a 1/2 gallon seagrams vo


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## cyberflexx (Sep 18, 2009)

This wasnt in the woods. This happened right infront of my house. It was about 9:30pm at night in the fall of last year. I was taking my garbage cans to the curb of the neighborhood street. I had stopped to talk to my neighbor who was walking his dog. We kept hearing a barking sound, he said it was a squirrel. I barked back, and it would bark, We located the sound as being in the trees behind the house across the street. It barked somemore then I did a mean aggressive sounding bark/growl and this thing came running between the houses screetching really really loud, and we could hear the leaves rustling so I knew it was moving quickly, I ducked behind my trashcans and my neighbor ran to his porch and the dog didnt know what to think. We never did see that thing because it never left the darkness between the houses. Cheebacabra is what we called it. Could that have been a ticked off squirrel or a possum coming to get me or being territorial?


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## Quackrstackr (Sep 18, 2009)

Most likely a raccoon.

You should hear those things fight. They are some mean little rascals and are very aggressive. Coon hunters can "squall" them out of a tree by mimicing the sounds that they make when fighting. They will march right down the tree looking to tear into the ones making the sound.


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## bobberboy (Sep 18, 2009)

poolie said:


> What scares the heck out of me is when it's getting dark and I hear the faint sound of banjo playing off in the distance ;-)
> 
> Great stories guys!



City mouse or country mouse it doesn't matter but if you hear the banjo get outta there fast...


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## Andy (Sep 20, 2009)

I've been startled quite a few times in the woods. Birds of many sorts, OWLS can have some of the most freaky sounds you can hear in the woods. Grouse, they'll wait til you almost step on them, and so will a nesting Turkey while you're hunting mushrooms. Deer while on the way to and from stand. Coyote, had one stalking me while I was squirrel hunting. I heard leaves moving behind me, look over my shoulder and about 10 yards was the Coyote in "sneak mode", needless to say he died of lead poisoning. I never thaught I could spin and shoot so fast. Bobcat while fishing the lake bank, boat positoned about 20 foot off bank and the Bobcat squalling close by, so I started making little bit longer casts.. :wink: 

GREAT stuff guys!!! 

Do a quick search on Owl sounds, some of the sounds a few of you have described could have been an Owl. "bottle rocket", "warbling" and "screeching"


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## poolie (Sep 20, 2009)

We have several Barred Owls living in our backyard and I tell you, they can get together and make sounds like a herd of laughing hyena. First time I heard them I was sleeping on our back screened in porch and woke up in the middle of the night to that sound. I was like "what the h%ll is that?"


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## KMixson (Sep 21, 2009)

Andy said:


> Birds of many sorts, OWLS can have some of the most freaky sounds you can hear in the woods.



Eastern screech owls are usually silent until you are directly under them. Then they let out this god awful scream that will wake the dead.


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