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"tree Knocks"


Guest PastorTim

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PastorTim My first OBVIOUS response to woodknocking involved vocalizations. It appears to me that the variety of responses from both situations in the field and by the various observers suggest a wide array of options regarding responses. I think, some are likely vocalizations that may even sound like woodknocks. Jmho. And regarding tactics, I think so too. Really, it is all quite amazing.

Edited by treeknocker
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On a recent 3 day scouting trip I had some in close knocking at night... Listening to it I realized it was a rock on wood sound... So they are not scrambling around looking for a club, they grab a larger stone and wrap it on the tree trunk, which makes more sense...

I certainly agree that "knocking" rocks might be the "drumsticks" of choice in the mountains. In the wetlands and river bottomlands down south, wooden drumsticks are about it. In the Ouachitas Mountains, it's usually wood-on-wood, sometimes rock-on-rock.

Edited by Branco
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Guest rockinkt

I've heard tree knocks from 2 different locations and within about 6 seconds of each other. They had a silghtly different ring to them. The logical conclusion was that two different things knocked and that one was waiting for the other to do so. It gave the perception of something tactical going on.

It appears you are making a lot of assumptions. Wouldn't a better word be "hypothesis" rather than "logical conclusion" ?

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PastorTim,

I think that same show you've seen has also gotten me interested in tree knocking. Do you know of any good sources online on why people have associated this behavior with bigfoot? I've tried googling it and I have found plenty of sites where people have claimed to hear the knocking but no real information as to why it is associated with bigfoot.

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It appears you are making a lot of assumptions. Wouldn't a better word be "hypothesis" rather than "logical conclusion" ?

It could be considered a simple deduction that it takes hands to swing a stick, this coupled with two knocks occuring within such a short time of each other with none prior or after for hours says it's no coincidence. The absence of a known animal being brought up that does this with the power of a bat against a tree speaks volumes as well.

I could be convinced it's not bigfoot, but people just aren't getting it done so far, and I've been waiting for years. ;) BTW, BF is only one reasoned hypothesis.

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I was camped on a dead end road, 15 miles from blacktop roads last October. There were no vehicles beyond ours on the road, verified by having walked to the end. I decided to woodknock around 10:30pm. About 15 seconds later three knocks were heard aprox. 200 yards up the ridge from us. About 10 seconds later, four knocks came from the same elevation and about 200-300 yards to the South of our location (the dead end direction). The girlfriend's dog, that is never afraid, wanted to be held after the knocks sounded. Something made those sounds.................by the way, isn't there and old saying........"Knock On Wood"???

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Guest FEATHERSTONE

My only encounter, knocks that were so hard and loud the tree tops were shaking, followed by screams every time we stopped to look back, tree's if I remember correct were birch tree's, no man is swinging that hard,I played baseball throughout high school and as a adult, not happening.

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I have heard what sounded like wood on wood, and rock on wood, and rock on rock, numerous times. I never attributed them to BF until recently. (the last ten yrs. or so...)

At first, I thought the sounds were from someone chopping wood (wood on wood) on our permitted cutting area. Sort of like poaching. I never tried to investigate it because I thought, there was plenty of wood for us all. I did wonder why they didn't use a chain saw, but maybe they were squatters who couldn't afford one. It did not sound consistent enough to actually be wood cutting though. It also only happened when we moved closer to the direction they were coming from.

I've also heard sounds that sounded exactly like cupped hands hitting a chest rapidly like a gorilla does. But I assumed they were some type of grouse. I'm not sure if grouse beat their wings year round or just certain seasons.

Finding rocks around where I live is hard, the terain is mostly sand and peat bogs. They can be found around the river, but would have to have been carried to be heard where I heard them. I have read a few reports of BF carrying clubs, I guess why not a rock.

Last weekend I was walking through a clearing, bordered by forest on each side, towards the river. Just as I stepped into the clearing, I heard some wood knocks to my right, from one of the border forests. Almost immediately I heard wood knocks from the forest to the left, slightly farther away. If I backed up into the woods behind me, they stopped. As soon as I started walking back through the clearing, which is roughly 2 acres, they would start again. I did this several times with the same results. Eventually the one on the left grew fainter and stopped. I don't have proof of what it was, but it is suspitious. It was on my property, so if it was human, they were tresspassing. It was intimidating enough, for me not to go further to the river. I haven't heard it this week at all.

Another interesting thing happened one night a couple winters ago. I was loading firewood onto a sled to bring in the basement. As each log was tossed onto the sled it made a wood knock, which in the still winter night must have carried a ways. After awhile I thought I could hear something moving in the brush around me. Just as I was getting done, I could hear a distinct growl close by in the brush. It did sound too big for a coyote, but maybe a huge wolf. Shortly after that I installed motion detector lights to light the area, and haven't heard them since.

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a couple of other possibilities,

maybe when someone is checking a tree they suspect has been hit, they are not checking high enough. They might be checking it in the range if they were doing the hitting.

maybe if a juvenile or young adult BF is on sentry duty, he came already equipped with a sturdy hitting stick, and positioned himself at a tree to hit, with a good vantage point to see in all directions.

Many times myself or friends, or researchers have tried tree knocking with no results, the couple times we did get a reply wasn't right away, but 30 seconds or so later, and maybe just a single knock.

On 2 occasions, we got wood knocks as soon as we light a cigarette in the dark. One time it sounded like an entire log was used for the hitting, and another time when I lit a smoke in the dark, I instantly heard some nearby whoops.

Last weekend when I heard them, sometimes it would be a couple knocks, later maybe 3 or 4 or 2 again. No real pattern detected, and these were definate baseball bat type hits. Not woodpeckers, chest thumps etc.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's harder that one might think to find good, sturdy, thick sticks laying on the ground in the woods. Most of the sticks laying on the ground are there because they died, rotted, and fell there. Try swinging them hard and hitting a tree with them and watch them crumble and splinter. You have to look around to find a good one, or cut a live one instead.

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BFF Patron
....most sticks laying on the ground are there because they died, rotted, and fell there

Most, but not all.

It's harder that one might think to find good, sturdy, thick sticks laying on the ground in the woods. Most of the sticks laying on the ground are there because they died, rotted, and fell there. Try swinging them hard and hitting a tree with them and watch them crumble and splinter. You have to look around to find a good one, or cut a live one instead.

This point is proven in some of my discovery of obviously weaved stick structures, not all.....but granted the most impressive ones have been made with limbs that would construct a two-story lean-to with no problem. I would add to the bolded quote parse above that when you begin to find different species of tree limb/branch which are stout within said structures and the resident or specimen tree/branch is not local to the construction, we have a problem Houston! :unsure:

And, to stay on topic, it is difficult but not impossible to find stout limbs in heavy canopy understory such as rich cove forest, biggest problem being many of the freshest limbs seem to be poplar which would have to be very thick and heavy not to break if used as a bat against a tree.

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Guest Cervelo

In all my years in woods of Virginia I have never heard woodknocking. What I have heard is gunshots from other hunters in our group that sounds exactly what I've heard recorded. I think we way underestimate two things how sound travels and echos thru the wilderness. Another suggestion and I know this is out there but my father is a woodworker he has wood that he stores on his shop to dry. You would not believe how loud the expansion and contraction can be. Could the trees go thru similar cycles thru the nite? I know I'm preaching to the choir on this one but the variety of sounds birds can make is astounding. I've done some turkey hunting and can tell you it's a fact that they will spontaneously gobble and make other noises when they hear a loud noise while on roost. It's how we locate them in the evening before the hunt the next day. Just some other alternatives to Bigfoot bongo drums IMO

And as always I'm sure since I've never heard it that means I don't know squat!

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Most, but not all.

And, to stay on topic, it is difficult but not impossible to find stout limbs in heavy canopy understory such as rich cove forest, biggest problem being many of the freshest limbs seem to be poplar which would have to be very thick and heavy not to break if used as a bat against a tree.

Agreed, which was what I was trying to say, in response to the posts saying that the knocks came in fairly quick response to the researcher's knocks. That made it seem like, if it was a BF, that it was somehow able to find a good, sturdy, thick limb really quick.

In all my years in woods of Virginia I have never heard woodknocking. What I have heard is gunshots from other hunters in our group that sounds exactly what I've heard recorded. I think we way underestimate two things how sound travels and echos thru the wilderness. Another suggestion and I know this is out there but my father is a woodworker he has wood that he stores on his shop to dry. You would not believe how loud the expansion and contraction can be. Could the trees go thru similar cycles thru the nite? I know I'm preaching to the choir on this one but the variety of sounds birds can make is astounding. I've done some turkey hunting and can tell you it's a fact that they will spontaneously gobble and make other noises when they hear a loud noise while on roost. It's how we locate them in the evening before the hunt the next day. Just some other alternatives to Bigfoot bongo drums IMO

And as always I'm sure since I've never heard it that means I don't know squat!

Yep, there are many natural sources of "wood knocks". Here is a response to a discussion I was involved in on another forum:

"Being a BFRO Investigator I can tell you more than half the reports I review and investigate are reports of things that go "Bump in the Night" Here in the PNW knocking noises can be attributed to all kinds of things like beaver tail slaps, deer antlers, dry wood as it pops in the cool night air, wood peckers, falling branches. dislodged boulders etc,etc. All of which I have heard personally and can sound very much like wood knocks"

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It's harder that one might think to find good, sturdy, thick sticks laying on the ground in the woods.

It is not hard at all to find a green limb on a tree, snap it off and make a bat readily if one has the strength.

It is also not hard to carry it with you if thats something you do frequently.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Blcn41LZnJAC&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=chimpanzee+breaks+tree&source=bl&ots=hugGhByrAK&sig=hrb-llswI-8eqfYrHkWuipkx7YI&hl=en#v=onepage&q=chimpanzee%20breaks%20tree&f=false

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