Wildlife sound question - I keep hearing croaking similar to deer grunting but not quite. What could it be?

[Waddams]

Exactly what the subject lines says. I've been sitting in my area in the lease a lot, moving around some. It's almost like a deer grunt but higher pitched. At first I thought it was frogs or toads but none of the recordings of any Georgia species I've found are even close. I thought maybe a bird species, again, no matches in listening to various things.

Can anyone advise what else croaks similar to a deer but isn't a deer? I can sit there, hear them, even make out it's moving around, make out other similar critters answering, but can't see them. They'll seem really close but I see nothing. Hence why I was thinking something small like a frog or a bird fluttering around.

Next time I'm there and I hear it, I'll try to get a sound recording. If it is deer, they love bedding in this one area because them suckers are noisy whenever I'm there!

 

[JustUs4All]

Is this the sound you are hearing?

 

[chrislibby88]

I’ve heard it too. It’s like a washboard kinda click that starts off at a fast cadence, kinda a grunt-like lower buzz then slows into higher pitched individual clicks. Kinda sounds like someone flicking a credit card fast at the end.

It isn’t deer.

I’ve been wondering what it is too.

 

[chrislibby88]

Is this the sound you are hearing?

I’ve heard pine beetles crunching. Isn’t them.

 

[1eyefishing]

I've heard it. I think it's deer.
Small bucks, does, and young ones quietly vocalizing to keep in touch with each other.
I may be wrong but that is my deduction.

 

[Hunter/Mason]

Maybe an armadillo, I can hardly go in the woods now without seeing them.

 

[bfriendly]

I've heard it. I think it's deer.
Small bucks, does, and young ones quietly vocalizing to keep in touch with each other.
I may be wrong but that is my deduction.

Ditto this^^^ Or frogs, the occasional cicada too. Still not sure.
I’ve also heard a type of putt I swore was a single Turkey going around me. Then my bff said he saw it and it was a woodpecker. Nope, not it! Cause Then I saw it, and it was a chipmunk……sorry to get off topic.
Sounds in the woods are a big part of why we like being out there. I often times hear sounds I don’t recognize……makes me nuts

 

[sportsman94]

I’ve heard it too. It’s like a washboard kinda click that starts off at a fast cadence, kinda a grunt-like lower buzz then slows into higher pitched individual clicks. Kinda sounds like someone flicking a credit card fast at the end.

It isn’t deer.

I’ve been wondering what it is too.

A deer can make a similar clicking sound at times. Watched a mature buck do it when following a doe once.

 

[rugerfan]

Been hearing similar noises as well, but it isn't constant like the pine beetle video. Since it has been warm lately, I was guessing tree frogs.

 

[Full Draw McGraw]

I've been hearing it too, not sure what it is. If it were a deer making the sound i'm sure i would have seen at least one of those deer by now, but whatever it is always seems to stay out of sight. Or maybe it's something too small to see unless you're right on top of it.

 

[IrishSniper]

Exactly what the subject lines says. I've been sitting in my area in the lease a lot, moving around some. It's almost like a deer grunt but higher pitched. At first I thought it was frogs or toads but none of the recordings of any Georgia species I've found are even close. I thought maybe a bird species, again, no matches in listening to various things.

Can anyone advise what else croaks similar to a deer but isn't a deer? I can sit there, hear them, even make out it's moving around, make out other similar critters answering, but can't see them. They'll seem really close but I see nothing. Hence why I was thinking something small like a frog or a bird fluttering around.

Next time I'm there and I hear it, I'll try to get a sound recording. If it is deer, they love bedding in this one area because them suckers are noisy whenever I'm there!

Listened to a podcast the other day (called Bear Grease, it's one of the MeatEater affiliated podcasts) and they talked about Bucks "clicking". Allegedly, the most dominant buck in a given area will "click" rather than grunt. Whether or not this is purposeful, or the buck in question being so old that he has a smokers cough was not discussed

 

[chrislibby88]

A deer can make a similar clicking sound at times. Watched a mature buck do it when following a doe once.

I’ve heard the buck click. This isn’t it.

 

[chrislibby88]

It moves around in pretty open woods, where you would see or hear a deer moving, or comes from trees, or down in brush too small to conceal anything bigger than a bird. It’s something tiny. And when one starts it is usually answered by another within 50-70 yards. The noises comes in series and sometimes they break up and just make stuttered clicks instead of the full “brrrrrrrip” kinda sound.

It isn’t a buck clicking. It isn’t a buck grunting, but it sounds similar enough that if you just heard it once, kinda at the edge of hearing, or mixed with wind, that you may be tricked into thinking you heard a grunt.

 

[OwlRNothing]

It's them dang Joro spiders!!!!!!! LOL

 

[Hunter922]

Frogs

 

[Waddams]

Glad I'm not the only one. I've had the experience that it sounds so close but there's nothing seen. I thought it was a small buck or doe at first but have come to think frog, toad, or bird.

 

[Wanderlust]

Hunting near water, lve heard hooded mergansers grunt on roost.

 

[HoofTracker]

From your description, and my input (worthless) it could be a grasshopper or cricket species, such as the Bush Katydid since you hear them from the tree canopy to the forest floor. I read some articles from the UGA Extension Office and of the species of A Crididae we have in Georgia - many of which reside in forests. These could be the culprit.
Also to add to this mystery: the warmer, drier fall could delay a species' activity of which you may not have been in the woods before to notice. When I started observing black bears, the first cub I heard crying left me dumbfounded. I thought of a bobcat, fox kits, or a squealing rabbit could only make such a raspy noise. Nope. A lost bear cub in the woods in the middle of the night is a noisy critter! It was an eerie albeit creepy sound, especially ten meters away!

 

[Taco4x4]

Sounds to me like a few of those Chameleon Predator's are out there looking for a worthy opponent to hunt. If the sun hits um just right and you see a blurry figure standing in front of you " DON'T RUN "

 

[campboy]

black panther