News flash: the scoffing denialist "doesn't buy this silliness". Wow, I'm shocked and amazed.
Y' know what? I, too, have spent thousands of hours in the woods and I haven't seen them either. Doesn't mean they're not there. I've only seen tree arrangements (X-s, "braiding") once each in those same hours. I haven't made it back to the "scene of the X" but the "braids" were gone when I returned the next day. All that can be said is "hmmmm". If it is regional behavior rather than universal for the species ... well, the number hours you spent searching are totally irrelevant if you were digging through the wrong haystack.
MIB