What's out there?! Scary noises curious & nervous

[Jeanw]

Fox, or could be a deer getting attacked.

 

[birdlady11]

Many species of owl produce quite a scream, especially barn owls, but I've seen screech owls, barred owls, and great horned owl sound like a murder victim. And where I live there are some free-roaming peacocks and nothing sounds more like a woman being murdered than a screaming peacock in the middle of the night.

 

[Rivendell Chick]

Cougar would be extremely rare in my area but if it sounds cat related bobcat would make sense

When I left SW VA 10 years ago a cougar had made it's way to my area. I supsect more have in the years since as the area was so similar to the Ozarks where I heard them a lot. I worked briefly at a large cat rescue there and their screams to the cougar residents were incredibly loud and chilling at first.

Wild hogs are also growing in numbers all along the Appalachias - I suspect a coyote or bobcat bringing down a young one would sound pretty awful. I'm at the bottom of the AT and my husband had a 200lb hog run across the road on his way home from work one night - quite the sight!

 

[MamaUrsus]

I was writing in my garage office one night after the kids went to bed and heard a sound like you describe. Almost killed myself crashing back to the house and upstairs to check on them. One of the most horrifying experiences of my life, crated dogs going crazy and that awful screaming.

I learned that night after thorough Googling what a red fox sounds like during mating season. She must have been right under their window. Also never crated my hounds at night again for that matter. Phew!

 

[rocking2r]

I’d bet my next paycheck that it’s a cougar/mountain lion. I lived in an area where they were common and their “scream” sounded exactly like a woman’s scream.

 

[rocking2r]

Also I’ve never heard a bobcat scream like that and have lived around them for 40 years.

 

[Dos Locos Polackos Acres]

I'm going with mountain lion. It is one of the eeriest cried of all the big cats. The first time I heard it I swore a woman was being murdered nearby. My girlfriend just laughed at me, calling me a city girl. And you may not see it on a game camera for quite awhile as they have a 400+ mile roaming range. Something like that. We had one come thru our property 21/2 years ago and haven't seen signs of it again.

 

[Schoolchicks]

You are very correct. I've heard that also. But there's no way this could be a rabbit it was much too loud.

You may be surprised at how loud a rabbit can be. I caught a wild one last year (by hand, in a shed), and it let out the most ear-piercing scream I had ever heard! I had never heard a rabbit before, and was astonished at how LOUD it was!

 

[lamccasker57]

Foxes scream during mating. It is a blood-curdling sound, especially in the dark!
To me it sounds somewhere between a someone being attacked and killed, and a chicken being choked to death. It can also contain a yelping like quality to the sound.

 

[Malamute1]

OK this is more curiosity because before when I've posted on the predator site it was because of the loss. So I'm glad this isn't on such a gram note but this morning on the opposite side of the property from the chicken coop I heard the most frightening noise. Very much sounded like a young girl getting killed. But I could tell shortly after obviously an animal. I've always lived in the rural areas and used to having to worry about coyotes foxes raccoons in the occasional bobcat. I've heard the coyotes howl at my old property before but this was a sound unlike no other. But I have moved to a 17 1/2 acre property surrounded by conservation area.
So just curious and the coop is prepared for predators but what screams such a spine wrenching scream at 4 AM ?!

Does anyone around you have peacocks? They most definitely can sound like a woman screaming.