Meaning of Tree Knocks?

[markc]

I would like to hear what others have to say on this subject. I am sure there is no wrong answer. I particularly would like to know about what you have to say about the tree knocks I have been experiencing when I am leaving the woods, on three occasions when I have left the tree line I have heard knocks.

 

I experienced on several occasions before the knocks started, the sound of very large rocks or something splashing into the pond I was walking next to which was about about 150 feet from me, it was dark so I could not see what caused it but sounded like something that weighed about 1-10 pounds, that hit the water.

 

First time was when I was leaving the woods which I always do after dark, the same area right when I came out of the tree line, leaving the woods, I heard two very loud smacking sounds of what sounded like 2 rocks, being hit together right in the location that I was doing my standing meditation in. I tried to duplicate the sound the next day but there are no large rocks in the area, and the small rocks I could find and smacking them together as hard as I could only made a sound about 1/8 of the volume of the hits I heard. 

 

Second time I went for a long hike in these woods and, and then heard a single knock of wood about 150 feet from me right when I was at the side of my car which was parked about 10 feet from the tree line.

 

Third time, I was again leaving the woods at the tree line, and it was about 25 feet from me a double tree knock sound, this one sounded like it might have been about 15 or so feet high, not sure, I immediately stopped and took my two knives out and clacked them together two times but did not get any reply. Of course it was dark again and I can see ok in the open areas without a flashlight at night but this was in the wooded area, and it was just black, so I could not see anything.

 

I was told the reason I can see in the woods at night in this area, is because it is in an urban area and there are lights from houses in the area shining into the sky and reflecting back down on the ground. 

 

I have only heard a tree knock once in the woods while I was in them, and it sounded like two kids talking to each other walking down the trail on the other side of the creek from me and then sounded like they were running down the trail as they were talking very loudly,  and then a single tree knock but sounded like it was done with a baseball bat, and sounded like it was a much louder sound than what I could have made, and sounded like they were headed towards the road. It was still about 30 minutes before sunset. At the time I thought it was two kids about the age of about 10 years old, but the more I thought about it, I started to have  doubts, because of the location, for kids this area is kind of scary, because of the way the the trail is not all so easy to go down, you have to walk through a patch of grass and reeds about 6 feet tall, and remnants of tents set up from homeless people that have abandoned them.

 

All of this has happened in the same woods.

 

Thanks in advance for your kind answers. 

 

[MIB]

Truly I do not know what the knocks mean so I do not knock.   There is no point in inadvertently knocking a declaration of war nor an offer of sexual favors "banned in 27 states and the District of Columbia" to the boss of the woods.

 

I don't think all of those knocks are rocks or sticks, I think some may be hand clap, mouth pops, and tooth clacks.  Given the lack of suitable materials in some locations, and the apparent instant availability of whatever is used,  I suspect the BFs making the mouth sounds are very much closer than we realize thus accounting for otherwise unaccountable volume.

 

Some people believe the number of knocks matches the number of humans.    I've heard knocks 4-5 occasions ... it tracks.   However, my then-partner in research said she heard a knock.   I didn't hear it.  There were 3 of us.  So ... dunno.    In at least one instance, I think the wood knock was intended for me, I'm not sure there were any other BFs around.   

 

MIB

[Huntster]

http://texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com/2015/01/drumming-chimps-and-wood-knocking.html

 

........Slocombe and her colleagues studied a group of 13 male chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest Reserve in Uganda. The goal was to find out why some chimps drummed and hooted some of the time and drummed without vocalizing at others. The study also sought to find whether drumming rhythms were individually distinctive. The scientists studied 293 instances of drumming and/or hooting and came to some interesting conclusions.

“The sound they create makes it ideal for long distance communication,” said Dr. Slocombe. “We think drums help coordinate movement and grouping patterns, so advertising to others your location when traveling may entice others to join you, and other chimps may pant hoot and drum back, which may influence where the caller decides to travel to.” Dr. Slocombe summed up the study by stating, “We conclude that drumming patterns may act as individually distinctive long-distance signals that, together with pant hoot vocalizations, function to coordinate the movement and spacing of dispersed individuals within a community.”.......

[SWWASAS]

My one experience with tree knocks that I can assign any meaning was my encounter with two adult and one juvenile BF.    They were traveling up a creek, one on each side of the creek.    The first I became aware of them was a whoop on one side of the creek answered by a similar whoop from the other side.    My immediate reaction was that it was two owls whooping back and forth to each other.   Then the azimuth of the whoops began to change,    indicating they were moving, and giving the impression they were flying up the creek.    My thoughts to this point was that this was really strange owl behavior.   I dug out and thought I turned on my audio recorder, setting it on a post.   I stood and just waited for the two owls to come flying up the creek past me.  They continued to whoop back and forth to each other as they progressed towards me.  Then I heard the brush crashing and heavy footsteps on my side of the creek headed right towards me.   Obviously not owls flying.   This crashing and footstep thuds were loud and  very similar to the T Rex night encounter portrayed in the original Jurassic Park movie.  Something large and very heavy crashing through the brush.      I stepped off the trail, attempting to hide, and waited for what I now suspected was a BF headed right towards me.    Suddenly I heard and felt a huge thud in my feet as the BF apparently saw or smelled me, and went into a crouch just a few yards away in the brush.     15 seconds after the thud,  there were 4 rapid tree knocks.   That was the last thing I heard from either.       It seems fairly obvious to me that the knocks were to warn the other BF on the other side of the creek,   that I was present.   The brush at that location would prevent them from seeing each other.    Those knocks had to have been a warning to the second BF,  because the one that made them had to have known I known I was there, and the second BF did not know I was present.    For those that do not recall, or have not heard about my encounter,  I did not see the nearby adult but got a picture of the juvenile peeking at me over some sword ferns, before they both silently withdrew.   

 

Other knocks I have heard seemed to be a response to me slamming my truck door when I parked it near an active area.   These were single knocks that happened twice in response to my slamming truck door.   Perhaps some kind of response to my door slam.   EIther in response to an assumed knock or warning to other BF in the area, who may not have heard the door slam,  that I was present.  

 

I can easily assume from my experience in this context that knocks are a warning, not at me, but for other BF in the area.   Other knocks in other context may have different meaning.   If I am correct,  those that think making knocks will attract BF, might actually be warning them that you are present so other BF can avoid you.   I also do not make knocks for that reason.   

 

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by SWWASAS

[NatFoot]

Have you posted the pic before?

[SWWASAS]

No and as I have stated before, I will avoid that as long as there is a possibility that I will write a book someday.     I do not want to get into a copyright battle over a picture that someone can claim is theirs because it has already been published.  .  It is not that  good anyway but certainly the events leading up to the picture point to it being more than a blobsquatch.    The picture shows most of the head and one arm which I believe was extended towards its prone mother nearby.    I  believe that was a cinnamon brown object in the picture that was not present when the thud / knock location was examined and surface disturbance was located.        It is however one of the very few that show a juvenile at all.   Due to its size it was likely being carried by its mother.   Certainly it would not have been capable of keeping up with mom when she came crashing through the underbrush towards me.   I know it was difficult for me to get to the thud and knock location to take the picture.    If any of you run into me at a conference I usually carry an 8 by 10 of the juvenile that I can show you.   

 

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by SWWASAS

[wiiawiwb]

The first I do when I hear a wood knock is ascertain the likelihood it was produced by another human.  The Finding Bigfoot series popularized wood knocks for the public.

 

Am I close enough to humanity to suspect a human?  The next thing I do, either in the field or at home, is to try to pinpoint the location of the wood knock(s) on both a topo map Google Earth. Get a sense of the forest density, mountain or hillsides, ponds or water, to determine what features are out there that would either impede or carry the sound.

 

It helps to form a better sense of what may have initiated or answered a wood knock.

 

 

 

[NCBFr]

Mine was a warning not to screw up their hunt.  It was 3 AM and bleary eyed I blundered in to it when I let a sick dog out to go to the bathroom.  It took 3-4 very heavy knocks before I really understood and got the message, hurried the dog along, and went back to bed.  I wish I had stayed up and tried to spy on them.

[SWWASAS]

21 minutes ago, NCBFr said:

Mine was a warning not to screw up their hunt.  It was 3 AM and bleary eyed I blundered in to it when I let a sick dog out to go to the bathroom.  It took 3-4 very heavy knocks before I really understood and got the message, hurried the dog along, and went back to bed.  I wish I had stayed up and tried to spy on them.

Interesting that your number of knocks and my knocks were similar in number.    The tribe in my research area were rock stackers.    They would stack rocks on stumps, I think to define a trail in star or moon light.     Passing these stumps you could see a very faint game trail devoid of deer or elk prints but something heavy kept the vegetation knocked down.  In almost every case it was three rocks to a stump.     For some reason I am guessing that the number three has some significance  to them.   Could the number 4 mean danger?    This kind of stuff builds a case for intelligence beyond some big ape.   

 

I also assume BFRO knockers.  In the case of a repeating knock I tracked it down to one tree knocking against another when the wind blew hard enough to get it to sway that far.    A woodpecker or two has got me going also then their knock was not rhythmic.   When my research area was very active any knock was very rare.  I think they avoided it to avoid giving away their position.   I learned to listen for movement to give me indication of activity. 

[NCBFr]

I do not think the number of knocks in my case was significant.  They simply timed it about 30-45 seconds apart until I figured it out and left them alone.  I do not think they were concerned about their position as I knew within +/- 10 yards where they were but just was too tired (and maybe smart) to really investigate.  I suspect if I had advanced to them things would have turned out differently.  My guys, and I have run in to them 4-5 times over the last 10 years, was simply on the very outskirts of their hunting zone.  I am tired of deer eating all of my shrubs so I am happy for them to kill a few deer and lunch on my peaches when they are in season.

[Huntster]

5 minutes ago, NCBFr said:

........I do not think they were concerned about their position as I knew within +/- 10 yards where they were but just was too tired (and maybe smart) to really investigate.........

 

Ten yards (30') is 1.5 times the length of my pickup truck. It is well within my personal space for a potentially dangerous animal. I would be outside my tent with a firearm, light, attitude, and getting a fire lit.

[NCBFr]

100 yards from me between two houses with shrubs between the houses.  I knew where they were within +/-10 yards along the hedge after the 3rd or 4th knock. Not +/- 10 yards from me.  That would be a very different set of issues.  

[Madison5716]

In 2012, I traded knocks with something (what I was just learning was a bigfoot; I had no idea that they were real). It was blatant and obvious attempts at communication. Two days prior, I traded whistles with them while they were hunting (the deer ran past me thru the parking lot at the camp towards the populated areas). It was neat!

 

This past Sunday, I got my first obvious wood knock on film, and I interpret it as a warning to a second Bigfoot that my bigfooting buddies and I were just about to enter the woods. 

 

So my two experiences were both for communication, but of two different sorts.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Madison5716

[SWWASAS]

Madison,    you very well could be right but you can never be sure you were not trading knocks and whistles with another human who also thought you were a bigfoot.  .  

[SWWASAS]

My field objectives go beyond simply believing something is out there that I can exchange wood knocks or vocalizations with.    Nothing can be learned from that after you have a direct encounter with a BF and know they exist.   After you know they exist,   the next step is get close enough to learn something through observation, pictures,  etc.   That, unless you are very lucky, means putting yourself in their way somehow.  I say that because in any given situation they can move faster than we can unless we are on or in a vehicle.    If they know you are present because you are knocking and howling you cannot get in front of them and they will not blunder into you if they know where you are.   I estimate that they walk twice as fast as we do without obstructions like heavy forest and probably 4 times faster with obstructions.   That makes it impossible to chase or track and catch up.    You have to situate yourself so they blunder into you.      Because of that,  the knock/howl methodology seems to be a dead end and the Finding Bigfoot series was good evidence of that.  The show principal characters would insert into the field,   occasionally hear a response to a knock or whoop, then after a couple of hours not hear a thing.     Any BF present would simply withdraw and watch the human show from a distance.   .