Yowiehunters Forum

Recently went to the Blue Mountains a few months back with my old man for a weekender and we were at Evans lookout one evening when it started pelting down with rain and I heard a howl coming from the other side of the ridge. It was only just audible because of the rain, which was really heavy. I told my old man about it a few days later to see if he too had heard it and he said he did. It most closely resembles the Ohio howl of 1994 which can be found at the BFRO site here, you have to scroll down a bit. http://www.bfro.net/avevid/SierraSounds/911.asp#howls
Just thought I would share/tell of my experience

Maybe they only howl when it rains... I would be interested to hear others' thoughts on this matter.

The best time I believe to look for the big fella is during the wetter months, while most are indoors. The rain could have contributed to what we both heard who knows?

Howls have been heard often in dry weather. During the middle ages, European peasants believed strongly, yowie type creatures would prowl the countryside prevalently during thunder & lightning storms - at night. Be careful also that what you're hearing isn't some native owl uttering it's mating call.

The howl we heard was early morning in winter and it was extremely foggy. Scared the c**p out of the kids and actually made me go inside and lock the doors too it was so loud and out of place.

Hi Tish, Did your howl sound anything like the ohio howl in the link provided. The howl we heard was pretty powerfull even in the muffled rain. Looking on the map I would estimate the howl we heard to be about 3 kilometers away.

A little like it, it was more like a cross between a lion and bear like you used to hear at the African Lion safari. Ours was more a roar then howl.

Is it possible that it was a big hairy fellow looking for a nice hairy girl

Its possible there yowiejoe as we don’t know much about their communication methods it could have howled for a number of reasons.

A mating call like you have suggested, or to let others (yowies) know of its location, the possibilities are endless or it could have just hit its toe on a rock (ouch!).

i downloaded one of the recordings but the niose of there recorder used to record it was to loud to make out the niose

Hey Steven

Try the 1994 ‘moaning’ Ohio call that’s the one I am referring to, the two below it are very faint so you will need to turn up your speakers and tune your ears in

I'd like to toss some links in here and see if anyone can get the people who have had encounters to listen and see if any of them are comparable to what they've heard.

This first one is from British Columbia Canada. This fellow is a researcher, has many stick formations in his area and just sat in his car this rainy night and recorded. He never saw the primate, but you can hear the thumps then the sounds. Bears don't thump, they paw at times and their claws would scrape.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RXwSwM6u-C8

This next one is a compilation of recordings from the Sierra Nevada mountains in northern California. Recorded in the early 1970s. When I first heard these recordings 15 yrs ago, I had my doubts on their validity until the recording from the link above was heard. If you listen closely, when the wood knocking starts you will hear a faint grunt that is identical to the link above which was recorded in the last 3 yrs.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wXAIRJ3Q2_w

Now, this next clip is of a blasting call that's been recorded in Northern Cali, Oregon, Washington state and Canada for the last 40 yrs. The first 3 you hear are very much like a large primate either threatening or proclaming it's territory. Oranguntans make a similar call. The howl you hear in the video and the ones people are describing to me is more for location than anything else. I'm sure it can be heard for 5Km and a responding howl would give a location back. Also wood knocking here is used for location and used when they hunt deer. The man at the end of this clip was doing his best not to say bigfoot. His dog was killed 2 weeks earlier and came flying over his fence some 20 feet through the air. In any case, have some of the people filing reports listen to these sounds.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=H5auC7_1Q5Y&feature=related