Knocking in Washington County, New York

On November 7th and 8th I re-visited my family property to investigate wood knocking I recalled hearing there since childhood. The impetus for this investigation stems from my own sighting in the area in the 1980's and the anecdotal reports on BFRO concerning the behaviors of the species. The family property is situated in the Town of Whitehall in Washington County New York. We used to operate a tree farm on the property and were there quite often, even staying overnight, on weekends and weekdays. --------------------------- [Click the image above for larger version of this map.] ---------------------------- Frequently I would hear repetitious 'knocking' always coming from the west, southwest, or northwest of us. When I was younger I thought nothing of it. As I got older and realized it was coming from our own property, I began to ask those with me what I was hearing. No one could say anything except, "Some one with an axe I guess". I spent much more time in the forest than anyone I knew. Soon, the idea that some lazy axe man was there every time I was in the forest occurred as too large a coincidence. I went looking for the trespasser, but never could catch up to him, or find what he was chopping at a rate of four to five blows every ten to fifteen minutes. On the return visit I wasn't disappointed. There is a particular place formely part of the property which the species may frequent for some reason. I headed there in a deliberate attempt to provoke a reaction. The knocking began as soon as I was 1/4 mile into the forest. I was moving uphill, and off trail so I was making a good amount of noise as I went. At first it was one source to my front (west) which, as always, retreated in front of me. As I came closer to my destination, the knocking began to circle around me. At this point there were as many as three sources of knocking and it was coming at regular intervals. As I crested the ridge and began the final approach to the destination, the range and the intervals of the knocking decreased. This remained steady until I reached the destination at which point I turned and headed northward to an old farm road and homestead site (occupied). At this point the knocking trailed off, the range and interval decreased and eventually it ended altogether. From here I climbed east over the mountain again to return to my place of origin. There was no further incident of knocking during the return trip. On the second day (8th), I returned to a site we used to frequent during our tree farming days. This was a site we used frequently for our overnight stays. While approaching this site from the east and travelling uphill, the knocking began immediately. Again the knocking stayed to my front (west) until I reached my destination. Once there, the knocking stopped all together. I occupied the site for a few hours. During this time I ate lunch, and, being an ecologist, I collected samples of vegetation and made notes and sketches of the changes occuring in the surrounding forest. While walking the perimeter of the clearing in which this site is located, I heard a sound which is best described as a 'buck snort' played poorly on a low-quality decoy. A 'snort' is the noise a buck makes when he's expressing aggression or agitation. It came from the vicinity of a rock outcropping approximately 25-yards to my north-northwest. Thinking about it now, it was almost comical. At the time however, I was more than a little frightened by it. I turned, walked quickly to my pack, and removed a survival rifle. As I assembled the rifle, several stones flew over my head, but near enough for me to hear them going past. As soon as the rifle was assembled and brought to bear, the rocks stopped flying and the forest was quiet. I left the area after that with the rifle at the ready. There were no further incidents. This was a scouting trip intended to assess the area for activity and the potential for a sighting. I plan to return to this area with others (wildlife biologists) for further study and observation.