PNWexplorer Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 I went up into the Idaho mountains earlier this afternoon to do a video review of my UTV for my YouTube channel. I was in the area for about 2 hours and did not see another human. I parked at the trailhead, unloaded my UTV, and then proceeded up the trail for my video. I went about half a mile and discovered that the area had been heavily logged and the trail destroyed. So I spent the next hour or so doing different takes, different camera shots, etc. I returned back down to my 4Runner and backed the UTV onto the trailer and shut it off. As soon as I got out of the trailer, I hear a whistle about 15-20 yards away coming from the deep timber right behind the trail sign. This sounded EXACTLY like a human doing a quick whistle to get someone's attention. My initial reaction was embarrassment that I was there for awhile and didn't see or hear someone approaching. I looked in that direction and expected a hunter or hiker to come out of the woods. But there was nobody there. I started strapping down the UTV nervously, with the hair on the back of neck standing up due to the feeling that I was being watched. I kept trying to process what I had just heard. Could it be someone messing with me? No vehicles in the area, and the only trail between my vehicle and the woods beyond was the one I just spent an hour on that was blocked off from the other end. What's the chance that a human would be miles from his vehicle, 10 yards into the brush from a trail sign, just sitting there for hours waiting for someone to stop so he could whistle at them and not reveal himself? What about an animal making the noise? I have heard every single animal and bird noise in these woods and have never heard an animal make a human sounding whistle. In my review video of the UTV, you can hear a very loud bird call in the woods. That is a very common bird call and I believe it is of a certain species of woodpecker. The whistle I heard was NOT a bird, or a fox, or a cougar, or a deer. Here's my video of trying to figure out what it was... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinwalker13 Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 Interesting. Any traces of anything being in the area at all other than the noise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNWexplorer Posted November 14, 2021 Author Share Posted November 14, 2021 It was dense and wet foliage, so didn't go back in the exact location. Part chicken and part didn't want to get soaked. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigantor Posted November 14, 2021 Admin Share Posted November 14, 2021 Are you 100% sure it was a whistle? Could it have been a squeak from the trailer? you know, metal on metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiiawiwb Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 I suspect almost everyone who enters the woods where you were would be armed. If the whistle originated from a person, they're flirting with danger by messing with someone. What's the risk/reward for someone to do that? They get a 5-second chuckle at the potential cost of you going in there and confronting them. I don't see that happening. It was difficult to tell from the video but how was the ground for purposes of presenting a footprint? Was it soft, especially after the rain, and likely to show an impression or was it littered with debris? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7.62 Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 Almost 99.9999 % chance it was a bird 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNWexplorer Posted November 14, 2021 Author Share Posted November 14, 2021 7 hours ago, gigantor said: Are you 100% sure it was a whistle? Could it have been a squeak from the trailer? you know, metal on metal. Definitely a whistle. I was standing next to the trailer and clearly heard it about 20 yds away just in the timber near the front of my 4Runner. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKH Posted November 14, 2021 Share Posted November 14, 2021 (edited) I answered my own question, I guess marmots could possibly be in or near woods. Edited November 14, 2021 by JKH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelticKevin Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 Who knows. It is up to your personal interpretation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PNWexplorer Posted November 15, 2021 Author Share Posted November 15, 2021 On 11/14/2021 at 2:19 PM, JKH said: I answered my own question, I guess marmots could possibly be in or near woods. Except that the area was not Marmot habitat and they started hibernation a month ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 Impossible to know. And either way? Kinda creepy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKH Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 Thanks for clarifying PNW, and agree it's very creepy! Did you get goose bumps, I think I would! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper1410 Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, JKH said: Thanks for clarifying PNW, and agree it's very creepy! Did you get goose bumps, I think I would! "My initial reaction was embarrassment that I was there for awhile and didn't see or hear someone approaching. I looked in that direction and expected a hunter or hiker to come out of the woods. But there was nobody there. I started strapping down the UTV nervously, with the hair on the back of neck standing up due to the feeling that I was being watched." Goose Bumpy enough for me, lol. Edited November 16, 2021 by Trooper1410 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiiawiwb Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 (edited) It's quite something to be out away from civilization knowing that you're on you own...literally. When something odd like this occurs, you know it and feel it. There is the excitement that maybe discovery is 10' inside the treeline. There is also the nagging thought that maybe I'm being lured into the shadows where nothing good happens. It's one thing to summon the troops to enter. It's another thing altogether to go in there alone. Kudos. Edited November 17, 2021 by wiiawiwb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7.62 Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 Mag dump solves a lot of these issues kidding of course ....maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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