What would you think?

[First-light]

I'm in my stand last night. It's about 5:30 and I hear branches breaking in the old pine stand. This is a huge piece of woods that was planted years ago. The pine trees are huge. The bottom of the pines are all dead branches. For about three minutes a animal walked through breaking every branch it came in contact with. It was making so much noise I just couldn't believe it. As it got close to me it veered to the left where the pines end. There was some deep vocalization at one point sounded like a drawn out Whaaaaaaaaao. Not human I'm sure. Deer or Bear what do you think? We have plenty of Bear up here FYI.

Thanks,

FL

[genesee_mohican]

Aliens? Doesn't sound like a deer, they try to be as quiet as possible. I've heard bears walk through the woods before, they sound similar to a deer, a tad louder. Maybe someone's lost livestock?  Maybe someone messing around?  May never know.

[First-light]

2 hours ago, genesee_mohican said:

Aliens? Doesn't sound like a deer, they try to be as quiet as possible. I've heard bears walk through the woods before, they sound similar to a deer, a tad louder. Maybe someone's lost livestock?  Maybe someone messing around?  May never know.

Never thought of a cow? 

[fasteddie]

Probably a Sasquach . They can be very noisy at times .

[wolc123]

Bull moose probably 

[grampy]

Took me forever to get out of that nasty pine thicket! I cried with relief when I finally found my way out!!!

[First-light]

6 hours ago, grampy said:

Took me forever to get out of that nasty pine thicket! I cried with relief when I finally found my way out!!!

And you farted making that noise. Knew it was you!

[Red]

I would guess a bear.

 

[Daveboone]

Where abouts (what locality) were you in?

I doubt you would have heard a bear in the brush...regardless of size, they move like smoke. My property is about a mile from a farm in a strait line, decieving on foot, but every evening I can hear the cows clear as day. I cant convince my sister that it is cows...dingbat. I make sure she wears her "bear bells" to scare squatch away. Must work, despite her needing the relationship, she hasnt seen him yet.

Edited October 21, 2023 by Daveboone
wasnt finished.

[New York Hillbilly]

On 10/20/2023 at 3:36 AM, wolc123 said:

Bull moose probably 

Very good guess in my opinion.

I have never run across moose in NY yet, but almost daily in Alaska. Most of our property there (much of Alaska same way) is pine, and they are loaded with dead, dry branches (big time fire hazard), and so close together it is almost impenetrable.   When moving through more open areas they are ghost like quiet and can startle you when the just appear in front of you. But, when bulls move through the thick stuff, the snapping, breaking, and clacking of there racks against the branches sounds like a tank going through.  And, when they are in rut they are vocal like a whitetail buck making tending grunts. The sound bulls make as my ears hear it is sort of a cross between a low guttural "whooof, whooof, whooof", "errahhhha, errahhha, errahhha".

[airedale]

I would not have been able to stand it, I would have did my best to sneak in and try to see what the heck it was and maybe at the very least find some tracks.

Al

[New York Hillbilly]

14 minutes ago, airedale said:

I would not have been able to stand it, I would have did my best to sneak in and try to see what the heck it was and maybe at the very least find some tracks.

Al

Seeing moose never got old for me and my wife from the first time we saw one. Once early on I watched from my window as a moose was eating the little neighbor kid's Jack O Lantern on his porch. The kid was in tears watching from his window as I watched from mine. After work the same day I stopped at the local grocery store "Fred Myers" and boutgh a new pumpkin and left it on his porch. I never said anything about it to the neighbors, and just let them think it was like the pumpkin fairy. lol

I have pictures of moose on my porch, moose standing and looking in my front window, and still remember the sound of them rubbing against my house scratching their back and sides.

Edited October 21, 2023 by New York Hillbilly
spelling

[wolc123]

28 minutes ago, New York Hillbilly said:

Very good guess in my opinion.

I have never run across moose in NY yet, but almost daily in Alaska. Most of our property there (much of Alaska same way) is pine, and they are loaded with dead, dry branches (big time fire hazard), and so close together it is almost impenetrable.   When moving through more open areas they are ghost like quiet and can startle you when the just appear in front of you. But, when bulls move through the thick stuff, the snapping, breaking, and clacking of there racks against the branches sounds like a tank going through.  And, when they are in rut they are vocal like a whitetail buck making tending grunts. The sound bulls make as my ears hear it is sort of a cross between a low guttural "whooof, whooof, whooof", "errahhhha, errahhha, errahhha".

Ive never seen a moose in NY, but they have been reported all around the spot where I am hunting today, on opening day of rifle big game season, near the border of wmu 6C & 6F.
 

I have hunted them in the pines up in Northern Quebec though.  We used cone shaped calls made of birch bark to make a sound similar to what FL describes.  
 

I still have one of those moose calls somewhere.  I can’t remember if that was supposed to represent the sound made by a rutting bull or a cow on heat. 

[New York Hillbilly]

33 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

I still have one of those moose calls somewhere.  I can’t remember if that was supposed to represent the sound made by a rutting bull or a cow on heat. 

Yup, I have a call in my cellar. Calling moose is making a long drawn out (again the way I hear things) "mooooahhh" which is a cow saying she is looking to breed, and to alert a bull "hey..I'm over here and looking for some luvin". Then taking a branch, piece of antler, or even a plastic jug with the bottom cut out you try to simulate the sound of a bull making a rub on a tree, scruffing against the tree and breaking branches. When making the rut sounds you also make the whoof whoof sound. The idea is it gets a bull to not only come to the cow sound, but also to make him more excited over the idea there is already a bull with or after her further causing him to come to the sounds. It can get pretty dicey depending on the bull, where he thinks he stands in the pecking order, and his mood.

I never shot a moose because where my house is on the Kenai there is a really tight antler restriction criteria and they do not tolerate those who even screw it up on accident. It results in heavy fines and loss of license for a period of time. You need to be REALLY good at judging antler width down to the fraction of an inch to be legal. If I remember correct it had to be either a spike bull (not even the start of a fork) and/or 60 inches between the widest points of the antlers. You need to check in each moose you shoot with the authorities like at a deer check station here when they have them.

I was never confident enough of my antler judging abilities, so was satisfied enough just to try and call them in and to watch them. Also, my house there is quite small and does not have the ceiling height to allow for such a massive and expensive trophy.

Edited October 21, 2023 by New York Hillbilly

[First-light]

2 hours ago, Daveboone said:

Where abouts (what locality) were you in?

I doubt you would have heard a bear in the brush...regardless of size, they move like smoke. My property is about a mile from a farm in a strait line, decieving on foot, but every evening I can hear the cows clear as day. I cant convince my sister that it is cows...dingbat. I make sure she wears her "bear bells" to scare squatch away. Must work, despite her needing the relationship, she hasnt seen him yet.

I'm in 8P Steuben county, no moose here. 

[Doc]

Is it possible that there was another hunter in the area trying to brush out some shooting lanes for a stand in the pines?