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I think the cry of a cougar in the middle of the night is the spookiest sound. I've read that it was supposed to sound like a woman in distress, and when we heard that cry, coming from the woods at our own property in North Idaho some years ago, it absolutely sounded like a woman crying out in mortal anguish. Sent shivers down my spine. Next day our neighbor verified that it really was "an old tom," a male puma. It had been harassing her livestock.
This, because we had seen a big, muscular one in the 4WD headlights, casually crossing the logging road we were driving, right in front of us earlier that night, & we were in a tent.
A close second would be the coiled rattlesnake warning off my sweet but stupid little dog. The dog had his nose literally within an inch of that snake. I didn't know I could scream that loud, but g-d was with my dog & I that day.
I’ll second the sound of a mountain lion. Cat fishing in some ponds along the Arkansas River in Colorado. About 3am we decide to pack it up. All we really have are our poles, tackle, and a lantern. The sudden movement from us must have startled the cougar watching us for who knows how long, it let out quite the howl. Exactly like a woman shrieking. It was close, within 10 yards from us. We were in some heavy brush and couldn’t tell where it was. All I had was a leatherman with a blade, figured it was better than nothing to defend myself. We had a nervous 1/4 mile hike through an open field back to the truck. Closest encounter with a mountain lion I’ve been in.
Wolves howling up here in MN is pretty eerie. If you’re out in the woods at night you can hear them pretty clearly.
I had never heard wolves howling until I started staying up in rural Ontario. The first time, I woke in the night wondering what I was hearing. The sound sent chills up my spine, and I realized I was hearing them running down some poor creature and then yipping in celebration when they made their kill.
The next time I heard them, I stepped outside on a winter night to look at the stars at about 10 p.m., and I became aware of their howling in the distance. It was mesmerizing. I stood out there for quite a while listening.
About an hour later, I decided to check out the stars on the other side of the house, where it's somewhat darker because the lake side gets some light bounce from the snow on the lake. As I stood out there, as always amazed by the star-studded sky away from light pollution, I became aware of another sound now permeating my conscious: Snowmobile engines. Wolves and Skidoos, a sign that I was truly on the edge of civilization!
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