then again, i also have never seen or heard a fisher or been to your state.

sounds like my idea of heaven. can i visit? :)

sorry .. the whole thing would make great satire ... ken

Badgers & Bears & Skunks...oh, my!

I once sent my hubby out to douse the neighbor's cat w/ a bucket of water while it was tearing up our garbage. He quickly came running back in the house shouting, "That's no cat, that's a skunk!" It reaked outside for days, but thankfully hubby didn't get sprayed! Skunk didn't come back either! LOL

Heather

just kidding...I am not sure what you have, but keep us posted. You need to get yourself one of these small digital cameras with a motion sensor attached. Just position it out in the yard, then next time the critter comes around you can get a good photo of it.

The odd screeches and the hissing, and the hissing back in challenge,and the mock charge, and the height of eyes from ground; the timing of the various noises in day and night; the huge clumsy noise they make when crashing thru vegetation.... All sound like the big bold raccoons we have around here.

The size, and timing, and crashing noises could also be groundhog, but the noises don't fit. And groundhogs generally will not challenge unless you stumble close to them when they have no easy escape route. They would rather just give you a nasty look, and crash off into the underbrush.

Maybe you have a deranged raccoon there.

I read that skunks are raccoons, unlike opossums, are serious rabies vectors.

http://www.wildlifetech.com/pages/home.htm

They have a huge list of animal sounds. They aren't available online but if you call the number provided for a sample you will get a very nice lady who will try and figure out the animal for you. She did this for me.

The closest thing we could find was a fisher cat as the sound was like a woman wailing and then a laughing noise. It scared me so bad I couldn't go outside to feed my horse last night. The night before when I fed my horse the dog was growling at something and the horse was standing with her ears pricked in the same direction towards the woods. I was so flipped I started imagining ghosts or something as I have just moved to this remote place next to a national forest with an old cemetary across the street.

It could be a coyote too as they have a very large array of noises and I know they are out there as I heard puppies yipping in the April/May.

I'm thinking of getting a motion triggered camera to catch whatever it is in the woods for something is tracking the deer. I suspect cougar but I don't know.

I'm also afraid for my two domestic kitties!

there is one sure way to solve this mystery. NO ITS NOT FOUR KIDS IN A VAN, WITH A DOG NAMED RUUBBY RUE.

GET A GUN, AND SHOOT THE DANGED THING!! NUFF SAID

WE ARE ALL DIEING TO KNOW!

Kathy (Jackson, NH)

I was searching around the web for fisher cat sounds and wandered across this post. Back in 1985-87 (I was in high school) I lived in Sunapee, NH and we had an animal that lived in the woods out in back of the house (there were trails, lots of woods, and a swamp) that used to scare me to death with its shrill human-like cries. One night I heard it over the television and just turned out all the lights and listened to it for a while. Sent shivers up and down my spine. I don't remember exactly what it sounded like all these years later, but I remember it sounded kind of human, and it scared the daylights out of me.

That "hissing and crashing" sound like you described sounds EXACTLY like something my brother and I heard around the same time one night... I'm wondering if it was the same animal that made the cries?

We were going out on our porch just after dusk and heard what sounded like something BIG falling out of a tree, then CRASHING through the brush at breakneck speed away from us, making a noise that sounded like a person trying to yell through clenched teeth.

It sounded like something big, like it was just crashing through tree branches and brush...

Scariest thing I ever heard. Was pretty scared to go into the woods after that. :)

Aaron
Farmingville, NY

Well, gotta go take a shower now -- got the heebeegeebees, and got to wash off all those loud, clumsy, sounds and feelings crawling up and down my skin. (NOW I remember why I moved into the city! LOL)

A cougar can sound like a screaming woman. Think of a house cat but bigger and higher pitched on the sounds. I think some of the descriptions here might fit this. I am originally from Tennessee, and know very well they are there. And have heard from countless people that have seen them, even in areas they are not supposed to be, according to the government agencies.

I saw this when searching google quickly.
screeching tires may match a ranting chimpanzee
Anything is possible, as people have animals they shouldn't, and things do get out. Also certain groups, who I shall leave nameless... release animals in areas that would be worse than keeping them in cages... thousands of minks is an example...

What I was hearing was NOT a Fischer Cat, I have seen and heard them in New Hampshire before.

While this was happening, I got on my mobile phone to a friend who is a Navy Seal and spends alot of time hunting and tracking in his off time. He heard the sound through the phone, but then he immediately asked me a question. He said " Is the sound stationary ? Can you hear it moving on the ground ? Or is it moving silently over quite a distance when you hear it again ?" Well, it was moving over a large distance and it was moving silently. I would hear it near by me, like just in the woods a few feet, and then 10-20 yards away, and then quite far away. Then it would come back again. Getting louder as it came closer.

He started to laugh and told me it was a "Screech Owl". Compared to a wood or barn owl, it is relatively quite small and it hunts at night in the air. It uses this terrible sound to startle and shock its prey (coons and rabbits) which stop and freeze, paralyzed at the sound. Then the owl swoops for the kill, lands and eats the prey on the ground.

Key words here "It eats it on the ground"

The reason for the sounds moving back and forth near and far through the woods was because the owl was " flying " as it searched prey. Gliding silently. Thats why I couldnt hear it moving.

In your case, I believe it was also a Screech Owl. Just the way you described the sound as screeching tires, screaming, hissing mixed together. I bet it had just caught its prey and was on the ground eating it. The false charge you describe was probably the owl rustling through the brush on the ground, then screeching at you to defend its prize meal, probably threatened when you drove up or came outside the house.

If you ever hear the sound from this bird, you will never forget it. Never....Ever.....

Solve the puzzle yet? Put a game cam up that takes infrared pix. Bobcats make blood-curdling noises at night, but it actually sounds like a deer blowing at you, especially if it's a couple feet off the ground as you say in your post. I've had it happen a hundred times. And they will mock charge too. What color were the eyes you saw? Makes a difference in ID. Throw some corn out and put up a game cam. Game cams are great for letting you know exactly what/who may be out there when you're not around or when you're sleeping. And carry a 45 in case it's something hungry.