View Full Version : Bobcats Scream?
Can anyone confirm for me that the scream of a Bobcat sounds like that of a woman screaming bloody murder? I heard this recently in the Maine woods after dark...nuff to make the hair stand up on the back of my neck!
I would say it is pretty close. Another weird sounding noise at night is Rabbits being attacked by a preditor. My cat got out one night and got into a Warren of rabbits and it sounded like people screaming. It was horrible, who knew that fluffy was such a killer.
Can anyone confirm for me that the scream of a Bobcat sounds like that of a woman screaming bloody murder? I heard this recently in the Maine woods after dark...nuff to make the hair stand up on the back of my neck!
There are other blood-curdling screamers in the Great North Woods. From owls to fishers, it would be difficult to say with any certainty that what you heard was a bobcat.
KirkMcquest
02-19-2006, 17:09
Can anyone confirm for me that the scream of a Bobcat sounds like that of a woman screaming bloody murder? I heard this recently in the Maine woods after dark...nuff to make the hair stand up on the back of my neck!
Or it could have been a Banshee, hungry for fresh souls:eek:
I think Topcat might be onto something here. If I were a bunny in the jaws of a Bobcat I might be screaming for all I was worth till the final chomp.
There were 7 of these screams ...starting out high pitched ...ending low pitched ,lasting about 5 seconds each. Awful!
if you heard 7 like that back to back, could very well be. Nature is beautiful but cruel, just like my first girlfriend...:-)
Know what ya sayin, had one of those once too. Meaner n a vicious Bobcat. By the way... Saw the cat tracks next morning in fresh snow so it could be narrowed down to one of the two. At least we know it's not a Yeti waiting for a thru hiker in the Bigelows.
http://www.sound-effect.com/sounds/animal/BigCats/BOB-CAT.wav
grrickar
02-19-2006, 21:26
I heard one that sounded closeby one night while in a shelter in GSMNP (anout the only time you will catch me in a shelter). It screamed twice, and the first time I was convinced it was a woman. The second scream sounded more like an animal, but I was not convinced as to what it was until I came off the trail and heard a mountain lion sound clip.
I would guess that what you heard was a Fisher. I've heard both Bobcats and Fishers, and I would definitely describe the noises a Fisher makes as a "screaming woman" more-so than a Bobcat. I can't find a soundclip of a Fisher online to show you, but everyone who has ever heard one describes it exactly as you did - a woman screaming bloody murder.
A rabbit can screem pretty good too. I don't know if any of you have ever heard a rabbit screem. They make a pretty earie screem when something is coming down on them.
a fox can make some unusual sounds as well
Just Jeff
02-20-2006, 11:41
Off-topic, but my wife's grandmother used to have a pet bobcat back in the 60s. They even trained it to use the toilet. They were even on the cover of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. They said it played just like a normal cat and didn't go on wild rampages trying to eat them, but they raised him from a kitten.
Jester2000
02-20-2006, 12:44
I heard the same screaming woman sound in Hanover, but it turned out to be Blister Sister screaming.
Actually, I did hear the same sound a day before I got to Upper Goose Pond Cabin. They said it was a mountain lion, but didn't get more specific than that. I'll tell you what, though. I was camped by myself and it sounded close and it scared the crap out of me.
Kerosene
02-20-2006, 19:16
I heard what I attributed to be a bobcat at the Tagg Run Shelters in southern Pennsylvania in June 1979. The scream ended abruptly when a small squeak signalled that it had caught its prey.
There are other blood-curdling screamers in the Great North Woods. From owls to fishers, it would be difficult to say with any certainty that what you heard was a bobcat.
The old saying "Hard tellin not knowing" applies here.
Without a visual on this screamer, it could be any number of animals.
Thanks for all the input...anybody else whant to take a stab at it?
woodsy
saimyoji
02-20-2006, 20:27
Many owls scream in ways that'll make your hair stand up. Check out the barn owl call here:
http://www.owlpages.com/sounds/Tyto-alba-3.mp3
Bobcat can sound about 5 times it's size. My wife wanted to move after the first time she heard one below the house. Thought the sound came from something large enough to bust down the door. Now a peacock can sound like a woman screaming........scary!
I woke one night in a cold sweat trying to figure out what the noise I was hearing was coming from. I described as either a woman or a baby screaming for life. The next day, I was told it was a couple of bobcats mating. I can see how this could be true as I've heard the sound of common house cats when they mate and it's rather disturbing as well.
I was in the Adirondacks last summer, and in the early evening I heard the most awful screaming and crazy laughing coming from across a pond. At first I thought it was beer-crazed yahoos, but it slowly dawned on me that it was an animal. I decided that it was a pair of owls. I had never heard barred owls before, but there was an old-timer there that confirmed that they were making that noise.
saimyoji
02-23-2006, 18:41
Barred owl.
http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=varia
The Desperado
02-23-2006, 21:33
The Barn owl makes a very convinceing "lady like" scream. That's what you hear on Saimyoji"s link.......
saimyoji
02-23-2006, 21:52
The Barn owl makes a very convinceing "lady like" scream. That's what you hear on Saimyoji"s link.......
Yeah, the sound file shorts when you first click on it. CLick on it again to hear the full scream...I mean call.
Quite frightening to hear close by when you don't know what it is. It made my wife and daughter scream themselves and want to go home. Took me a good hour to convince them its just a stupid bird.
Last year a friend and myself were hiking in the Virgin Falls/Polly Branch area in middle TN and we stopped at a watering hole after passing 2 women about .5-.75 miles earlier - we never saw them, but heard them as we were approaching the small area. After about 5 minutes of snacking we heard the most God-awful scream I have ever heard. I have heard bobcats before (to my knowledge what I thought were bobcats), but this was something different. It honestly sounded like a woman being beat to death. Blood-curdling screams, probably about 5-6 in 30-45 second intervals. I seriously thought something was happening and we should at least check it out. My friend opted to just truck it home.
On the way home (yes I gave in - no heroics here, I was scared $hi+le$$) we found a 6-7 foot stick stuck vertically in the ground on the trail we had used to get to this area that were were both SURE was not there when we passed earlier. For some reason I warned my friend not to bother the stick. (Crazy superstition/idiocy?) I thought it might be a practical joke or something we could have easily missed, but what if it wasn't a joke? huh? ... No other thought was given to this instance other than the crazy scream. ... 3-4 weeks later we returned for another hike to the area along the same route and made it to the watering hole without a weird instance this time. We snacked as before then proceeded to make our way back to the vehicle ~2 miles. On the way back out after passing by the VERY same point as before (Yes, I had a mental flag up to check as we made our way to the watering hole and did not see it)....we passed another 6-7 foot stick stuck vertically in the ground. Strange. I can give no other word than strange. I had mentally thought to watch as we went to the watering hole, even thought to check in approximately the same area where my friend thought there were a certain type (?) of walnut (I'm not tree-crazy).
This time my friend broke the stick in two and threw it across the path and we proceeded to the vehicle. Strange.
I can say nothing else than "strange".
Very strange.
Jester2000
02-24-2006, 14:11
It made my wife and daughter scream themselves . . .
By "scream" did you mean "pee?"
MOWGLI16,
Thanks for the sound effects (Post #8). http://www.sound-effect.com/sounds/a...ts/BOB-CAT.wav
Alice makes that sound every week. She’s a Maine Coon who gets her nails trimmed on cleaning day.
Her nails appear just fine to her, untrimmed.
saimyoji
02-24-2006, 18:28
By "scream" did you mean "pee?"
No, but it does read that way. My daughter may have, she was still in diapers then.
RockyTrail
02-24-2006, 19:00
I had an unusual encounter with a bobcat, face to face, but no scream was heard (except in my head!)
In about 1974 my sister bought a "survival hammock," one of those hammocks made out of thin cord that you can ball up in the palm of your hand. I volunteered to test it out for her late one Saturday afternoon. So I hooked it between 2 trees in the backyard at the woods edge, climbed in and promptly fell asleep. I must have been asleep maybe 30 minutes or so, and then something made me open my eyes, otherwise I was completly motionless in the hammock. There, not 20 feet in front of me, was a bobcat checking me out :eek: . We stared at each other for maybe 20 seconds, then it bolted as I rolled out on my feet. I went from shock to awe as it scampered off...I have to tell you, that was a "really cool" experience.
saimyoji
02-24-2006, 19:52
I have posted this encounter elsewhere, can't remember where...
I was hiking SB from Little Gap towards Lehigh Gap, in Danielsville, PA...I had just made it back up to the ridge when I started hearing what sounded like a struggle, squaking, squeeling, hissing. It gave me the distinct impression of a bobcat hunting a bird. I never saw anything, but it was a cool auditory experience.
One afternoon I was walking along the Appalachian Trail when I saw what I initially thought was a gopher leap upward, from next to the trail onto a tree about a foot off the trail and dart around behind it. This didn’t make sense and I immediately stopped walking, about three feet short of the tree.
I waited about a minute breathing slow shallow breaths, and a bobcat peered around from the back of the tree up the trail behind me, and scanned past me and down the trail as far as the tree allowed. It then turned, crossed behind the tree, and once again peered up and down the trail without recognizing me as something which didn’t belong there.
This went on for a few minutes until it hopped off the tree and busied itself pawing around in the undergrowth. When I finally moved to resume walking, the bobcat took off making barely a rustle and disappeared almost instantly.
It was a great, privileged, feeling.
I think hiking solo - not chatting with anyone, and minimal footsteps - and not using a hiking stick - banging along on the ground in use - helps in seeing animals.