Possible Yowie prowling our area

[Ros777]

Hi all,

I live in a very a very small remote town in the Wimmera region of Victoria. There are only 3 inhabited homes in our town and the surrounding area is all farms. The farmers raise sheep and produce. Last week, I was walking around our town oval which is situated on the outskirts of town around 6 am in the morning. It was still dark and there was a heavy fog making visibility very poor. We have lived here for a few years and have never experienced anything unusual and like most small towns we are very familiar with our neighbours. Anyway, when I had got outside our German Shepherd dog was going ballistic at something. He has different barks for different situations, but that morning he was completely over the top. I put it down to maybe kangaroos or something and left him home, because I didnt want to be dragged around whilst he went after what ever was bugging him. I got to the oval and saw my friend across the oval leave for work and continued on my walk. Then to my astonishment, I heard 3 huge angry bellows that were coming across the railway tracks in the direction of the paddock next to my friends house. It was a sound I had never heard before. I can only describe it as a cross between an angry bull or lion like roar. The lung power on what ever it was, was massive. my friends dog who was in her front paddock, whimpered and went dead silent. Which is very unusual as its a yappy type dog. The dogs further down the road also near this paddock were also dead quiet, which is also highly unusual as they howl and bark like crazy most mornings. The only noise that could be heard was my own dog who was still going ballistic. Anyway, I got the jitters big time and walked straight back home. When I got home, I told my husband and said I do not know what the hell it was, but what ever it was it was loud and angry. I tried searching through the internet for sounds that were similar and tried all kinds of animals and nothing matched. My friend who had gone to work before the 3 roars came over today and I was telling her. She then said, that her dog this last week is terrified of going out the back at night and will only go out the front of the house to go to the toilet. She said he has been growling at night so bad, that when she gets up to see whats happening, the dog completely refuses to go out the back. So, I said lets go and check the back property and see if anything has been around. We took a look around the back of her property and found these huge footprints in the grass which has been flattened down. Who ever it is or was has some weight to them as the grass and soil was pushing down about an inch and there is no shoe prints. I put my shoe into the footprint and estimated that the indent was atleast 4 inches bigger than my boots. After looking at the tracks, I went home and got my husband who is Native American and an expert tracker to show him what we had found. He tracked the prints for awhile and said what ever it is, its not an animal and who ever it is, has some serious weight to them and is not wearing shoes. There is some state forrest across from that paddock, so I wonder. And I will say, everyone out here is armed to the teeth, so only a mad person would stalk around the back of our properties. Any ideas?
Ros

[MalcolmDouglas]

Is your home town situated near the grampians?

[Yowie bait]

Hi all,

I live in a very a very small remote town in the Wimmera region of Victoria. There are only 3 inhabited homes in our town and the surrounding area is all farms. The farmers raise sheep and produce. Last week, I was walking around our town oval which is situated on the outskirts of town around 6 am in the morning. It was still dark and there was a heavy fog making visibility very poor. We have lived here for a few years and have never experienced anything unusual and like most small towns we are very familiar with our neighbours. Anyway, when I had got outside our German Shepherd dog was going ballistic at something. He has different barks for different situations, but that morning he was completely over the top. I put it down to maybe kangaroos or something and left him home, because I didnt want to be dragged around whilst he went after what ever was bugging him. I got to the oval and saw my friend across the oval leave for work and continued on my walk. Then to my astonishment, I heard 3 huge angry bellows that were coming across the railway tracks in the direction of the paddock next to my friends house. It was a sound I had never heard before. I can only describe it as a cross between an angry bull or lion like roar. The lung power on what ever it was, was massive. my friends dog who was in her front paddock, whimpered and went dead silent. Which is very unusual as its a yappy type dog. The dogs further down the road also near this paddock were also dead quiet, which is also highly unusual as they howl and bark like crazy most mornings. The only noise that could be heard was my own dog who was still going ballistic. Anyway, I got the jitters big time and walked straight back home. When I got home, I told my husband and said I do not know what the hell it was, but what ever it was it was loud and angry. I tried searching through the internet for sounds that were similar and tried all kinds of animals and nothing matched. My friend who had gone to work before the 3 roars came over today and I was telling her. She then said, that her dog this last week is terrified of going out the back at night and will only go out the front of the house to go to the toilet. She said he has been growling at night so bad, that when she gets up to see whats happening, the dog completely refuses to go out the back. So, I said lets go and check the back property and see if anything has been around. We took a look around the back of her property and found these huge footprints in the grass which has been flattened down. Who ever it is or was has some weight to them as the grass and soil was pushing down about an inch and there is no shoe prints. I put my shoe into the footprint and estimated that the indent was atleast 4 inches bigger than my boots. After looking at the tracks, I went home and got my husband who is Native American and an expert tracker to show him what we had found. He tracked the prints for awhile and said what ever it is, its not an animal and who ever it is, has some serious weight to them and is not wearing shoes. There is some state forrest across from that paddock, so I wonder. And I will say, everyone out here is armed to the teeth, so only a mad person would stalk around the back of our properties. Any ideas?
Ros

Sounds like a yowie to me. I would describe the roar/howl as a lion mixed with elephant and foghorn. Those footprints sound suss too. Be careful out there!

[David]

Gday Ros.

The State Forest being so close is telling along with the footprints. I too have lived on the outskirts of a small town with only 3 houses in the vicinity and I agree if something is unusual in the area its noticeable. I assume the prints were grass impressions so no chance of casting any prints. I'm not familiar with Victorian geography but a google map search will indicate if there is a corridore ir access to wilderness areas. It's my belief they live just about anywhere there is habitat to support them. This of course comes into conflict with our habitation once in a while. There is a researcher who lives on a ridge spur in the blue mountains who had one, which he named flatfoot, visit his house, and neighbors houses for over a decade. It in fact used to slap the sides of the house for attention. Please keep us updated if anything else unusual happens. If there are any other impressions found please upload photos. Cheers Dave.

[Ros777]

Is your home town situated near the grampians?

We are east of the Grampians

[Ros777]

Gday Ros.

The State Forest being so close is telling along with the footprints. I too have lived on the outskirts of a small town with only 3 houses in the vicinity and I agree if something is unusual in the area its noticeable. I assume the prints were grass impressions so no chance of casting any prints. I'm not familiar with Victorian geography but a google map search will indicate if there is a corridore ir access to wilderness areas. It's my belief they live just about anywhere there is habitat to support them. This of course comes into conflict with our habitation once in a while. There is a researcher who lives on a ridge spur in the blue mountains who had one, which he named flatfoot, visit his house, and neighbors houses for over a decade. It in fact used to slap the sides of the house for attention. Please keep us updated if anything else unusual happens. If there are any other impressions found please upload photos. Cheers Dave.

Hi Dave,

There are plenty of corridors around our area, including the railway line. We also have a lot of state forrest mixed in with farm lands. The foot prints were flat and deep.

[Ros777]

Hi all,

I live in a very a very small remote town in the Wimmera region of Victoria. There are only 3 inhabited homes in our town and the surrounding area is all farms. The farmers raise sheep and produce. Last week, I was walking around our town oval which is situated on the outskirts of town around 6 am in the morning. It was still dark and there was a heavy fog making visibility very poor. We have lived here for a few years and have never experienced anything unusual and like most small towns we are very familiar with our neighbours. Anyway, when I had got outside our German Shepherd dog was going ballistic at something. He has different barks for different situations, but that morning he was completely over the top. I put it down to maybe kangaroos or something and left him home, because I didnt want to be dragged around whilst he went after what ever was bugging him. I got to the oval and saw my friend across the oval leave for work and continued on my walk. Then to my astonishment, I heard 3 huge angry bellows that were coming across the railway tracks in the direction of the paddock next to my friends house. It was a sound I had never heard before. I can only describe it as a cross between an angry bull or lion like roar. The lung power on what ever it was, was massive. my friends dog who was in her front paddock, whimpered and went dead silent. Which is very unusual as its a yappy type dog. The dogs further down the road also near this paddock were also dead quiet, which is also highly unusual as they howl and bark like crazy most mornings. The only noise that could be heard was my own dog who was still going ballistic. Anyway, I got the jitters big time and walked straight back home. When I got home, I told my husband and said I do not know what the hell it was, but what ever it was it was loud and angry. I tried searching through the internet for sounds that were similar and tried all kinds of animals and nothing matched. My friend who had gone to work before the 3 roars came over today and I was telling her. She then said, that her dog this last week is terrified of going out the back at night and will only go out the front of the house to go to the toilet. She said he has been growling at night so bad, that when she gets up to see whats happening, the dog completely refuses to go out the back. So, I said lets go and check the back property and see if anything has been around. We took a look around the back of her property and found these huge footprints in the grass which has been flattened down. Who ever it is or was has some weight to them as the grass and soil was pushing down about an inch and there is no shoe prints. I put my shoe into the footprint and estimated that the indent was atleast 4 inches bigger than my boots. After looking at the tracks, I went home and got my husband who is Native American and an expert tracker to show him what we had found. He tracked the prints for awhile and said what ever it is, its not an animal and who ever it is, has some serious weight to them and is not wearing shoes. There is some state forrest across from that paddock, so I wonder. And I will say, everyone out here is armed to the teeth, so only a mad person would stalk around the back of our properties. Any ideas?
Ros

Sounds like a yowie to me. I would describe the roar/howl as a lion mixed with elephant and foghorn. Those footprints sound suss too. Be careful out there!

The roars were very loud and I could not place the sounds. The closest I could think of, was a really angry below from a huge bull, mixed with a lion roar lol. I know that sounds strange, but it definitely freaked me out. I have lived in the country for the best part of my life and have never heard anything like it.

[Ros777]

Is your home town situated near the grampians?

We are east of the Grampians. but there is plenty of bush corridors that the wild life use to travel across to our area. Most of the farms are surrounded by state forrest.

[Ros777]

Hi all,

I live in a very a very small remote town in the Wimmera region of Victoria. There are only 3 inhabited homes in our town and the surrounding area is all farms. The farmers raise sheep and produce. Last week, I was walking around our town oval which is situated on the outskirts of town around 6 am in the morning. It was still dark and there was a heavy fog making visibility very poor. We have lived here for a few years and have never experienced anything unusual and like most small towns we are very familiar with our neighbours. Anyway, when I had got outside our German Shepherd dog was going ballistic at something. He has different barks for different situations, but that morning he was completely over the top. I put it down to maybe kangaroos or something and left him home, because I didnt want to be dragged around whilst he went after what ever was bugging him. I got to the oval and saw my friend across the oval leave for work and continued on my walk. Then to my astonishment, I heard 3 huge angry bellows that were coming across the railway tracks in the direction of the paddock next to my friends house. It was a sound I had never heard before. I can only describe it as a cross between an angry bull or lion like roar. The lung power on what ever it was, was massive. my friends dog who was in her front paddock, whimpered and went dead silent. Which is very unusual as its a yappy type dog. The dogs further down the road also near this paddock were also dead quiet, which is also highly unusual as they howl and bark like crazy most mornings. The only noise that could be heard was my own dog who was still going ballistic. Anyway, I got the jitters big time and walked straight back home. When I got home, I told my husband and said I do not know what the hell it was, but what ever it was it was loud and angry. I tried searching through the internet for sounds that were similar and tried all kinds of animals and nothing matched. My friend who had gone to work before the 3 roars came over today and I was telling her. She then said, that her dog this last week is terrified of going out the back at night and will only go out the front of the house to go to the toilet. She said he has been growling at night so bad, that when she gets up to see whats happening, the dog completely refuses to go out the back. So, I said lets go and check the back property and see if anything has been around. We took a look around the back of her property and found these huge footprints in the grass which has been flattened down. Who ever it is or was has some weight to them as the grass and soil was pushing down about an inch and there is no shoe prints. I put my shoe into the footprint and estimated that the indent was atleast 4 inches bigger than my boots. After looking at the tracks, I went home and got my husband who is Native American and an expert tracker to show him what we had found. He tracked the prints for awhile and said what ever it is, its not an animal and who ever it is, has some serious weight to them and is not wearing shoes. There is some state forrest across from that paddock, so I wonder. And I will say, everyone out here is armed to the teeth, so only a mad person would stalk around the back of our properties. Any ideas?
Ros

Sounds like a yowie to me. I would describe the roar/howl as a lion mixed with elephant and foghorn. Those footprints sound suss too. Be careful out there!

It was a very powerful sound. There were 3 huge roars that were definitely freaky. I now listen out very carefully when I am out walking in the dark, lol. I am accustomed to bush noise, birds, sheep, cattle, lamas, deer and so forth. But I had never heard anything like this.

[Yowie bait]

Hi all,

I live in a very a very small remote town in the Wimmera region of Victoria. There are only 3 inhabited homes in our town and the surrounding area is all farms. The farmers raise sheep and produce. Last week, I was walking around our town oval which is situated on the outskirts of town around 6 am in the morning. It was still dark and there was a heavy fog making visibility very poor. We have lived here for a few years and have never experienced anything unusual and like most small towns we are very familiar with our neighbours. Anyway, when I had got outside our German Shepherd dog was going ballistic at something. He has different barks for different situations, but that morning he was completely over the top. I put it down to maybe kangaroos or something and left him home, because I didnt want to be dragged around whilst he went after what ever was bugging him. I got to the oval and saw my friend across the oval leave for work and continued on my walk. Then to my astonishment, I heard 3 huge angry bellows that were coming across the railway tracks in the direction of the paddock next to my friends house. It was a sound I had never heard before. I can only describe it as a cross between an angry bull or lion like roar. The lung power on what ever it was, was massive. my friends dog who was in her front paddock, whimpered and went dead silent. Which is very unusual as its a yappy type dog. The dogs further down the road also near this paddock were also dead quiet, which is also highly unusual as they howl and bark like crazy most mornings. The only noise that could be heard was my own dog who was still going ballistic. Anyway, I got the jitters big time and walked straight back home. When I got home, I told my husband and said I do not know what the hell it was, but what ever it was it was loud and angry. I tried searching through the internet for sounds that were similar and tried all kinds of animals and nothing matched. My friend who had gone to work before the 3 roars came over today and I was telling her. She then said, that her dog this last week is terrified of going out the back at night and will only go out the front of the house to go to the toilet. She said he has been growling at night so bad, that when she gets up to see whats happening, the dog completely refuses to go out the back. So, I said lets go and check the back property and see if anything has been around. We took a look around the back of her property and found these huge footprints in the grass which has been flattened down. Who ever it is or was has some weight to them as the grass and soil was pushing down about an inch and there is no shoe prints. I put my shoe into the footprint and estimated that the indent was atleast 4 inches bigger than my boots. After looking at the tracks, I went home and got my husband who is Native American and an expert tracker to show him what we had found. He tracked the prints for awhile and said what ever it is, its not an animal and who ever it is, has some serious weight to them and is not wearing shoes. There is some state forrest across from that paddock, so I wonder. And I will say, everyone out here is armed to the teeth, so only a mad person would stalk around the back of our properties. Any ideas?
Ros

Sounds like a yowie to me. I would describe the roar/howl as a lion mixed with elephant and foghorn. Those footprints sound suss too. Be careful out there!

It was a very powerful sound. There were 3 huge roars that were definitely freaky. I now listen out very carefully when I am out walking in the dark, lol. I am accustomed to bush noise, birds, sheep, cattle, lamas, deer and so forth. But I had never heard anything like this.

Yes if they roar at you up close, you can feel the force from it.

[Dion]

Hi Ros777

Did you take photos of the Footprints you found? Would love to see them if you did.

Good Idea to document any further incidents as well if you havent.

[Ros777]

Hi Ros777

Did you take photos of the Footprints you found? Would love to see them if you did.

Good Idea to document any further incidents as well if you havent.

Hi Dion,

We didnt take any photos of the footprints. We should have, but didnt really think too. I will go back tomorow and see if any of the prints are still there. My friend is going to put a trail cam in the direction of the footprints to see if we can catch anything. My husband and I took a drive down the road to the state forrest which is a couple of kms from our town and found that there is a water canal that goes through the forrest down to the paddock area that I heard the roars. There are masses of kangaroos in the forrest, we lost count at around 50, so there is plenty of food and plenty of cover.
Regards
Ros

[Ros777]

Is your home town situated near the grampians?

Hi Malcom,

When we look out our kitchen window all we see is the Grampian ranges. We are around 30kms from the mountains and are surrounded by state forrests and farms. There are plenty of bush tracks and paths that wild life can take without really ever having to be seen to our area. I think the heavy fog must have made excellent cover for it. My friend is going to put a trail cam in the direction of where I heard the sound, to see if we can catch anything.

Regards
Ros

[Ros777]

Gday Ros.

The State Forest being so close is telling along with the footprints. I too have lived on the outskirts of a small town with only 3 houses in the vicinity and I agree if something is unusual in the area its noticeable. I assume the prints were grass impressions so no chance of casting any prints. I'm not familiar with Victorian geography but a google map search will indicate if there is a corridore ir access to wilderness areas. It's my belief they live just about anywhere there is habitat to support them. This of course comes into conflict with our habitation once in a while. There is a researcher who lives on a ridge spur in the blue mountains who had one, which he named flatfoot, visit his house, and neighbors houses for over a decade. It in fact used to slap the sides of the house for attention. Please keep us updated if anything else unusual happens. If there are any other impressions found please upload photos. Cheers Dave.

I will go tomorow and see if the prints are still there. I would not be surprised if it visits my friends property regularly as she has had a number of odd things happen that we could not work out for the life of us. We all get regular fox problems around here until the shotguns come out, lol. But my friend has lost stock that dumbfounded us. To give you a couple of examples, she had a bird cage about half way up her yard, in which she kept a dove and a cockatiel. The cage was well secured and the latch opening on the cage is half way up. The catch is about 4ft of the ground and is a bolt type action that slides down and across to open. The latch was stiff and not easy to open. My friend was away one night with her dog staying at her daughters and came home to find the dove and the cockatiel gone and the door which is halfway up the catch open. There was no sign of a struggle, no feathers on the ground, so she was absolutely astounded as to what or who had taken her birds. Her husband was completely surprised and promptly brought a trail cam and placed it in the back yard area, thinking a trespasser must have taken them. The thing is, there were much more valuable things in their yard than a couple of birds, so we all just put it down to odd things that happen. A few weeks later, she had put her 2 huge turkeys down the very back of her property, thinking they were 2 big to be knocked off by a fox. Anyway she went down to feed them and found that one of the turkeys had been killed. It had been grabbed from behind and literally torn apart. It did not look like a fox kill, its head was still on and its chest was in tact. There were no fox tracks or dog tracks that we could see and we hunted around looking for trails because at this point, we were going to blast any foxes or stray dogs in the area. but nothing showed up. I think her place is targeted because of ease of access from the back. So, Im wondering now what has been around her place. regards Ros

[Ros777]

Hi Ros777

Did you take photos of the Footprints you found? Would love to see them if you did.

Good Idea to document any further incidents as well if you havent.

I should have taken the pics a few days ago. You can still see where the step over the fence is. But its fading. You can also see the track is well worn. The fence height is about 4 ft high, so it must have stepped over the fence and that first indent would have been its landing step.

[Ros777]

im2.jpg

[Ros777]

More pics Ros

[Dion]

Hi again Ros777

Thanks for taking the time to upload the photos, I can see some impressions in the grass, but other than that...... it could have been a person that made them.

Its always important to look for the most practical explanation first, but I am sure you know that.

Regards