Does Bigfoot WHOOP in the woods? A strange Washington encounter

The woods can be an eerie place. Many years ago, I was on a fishing trip at Cachuma  Lake in California. After enjoying some time fishing off a dock, I headed up a short hill to where a picnic bench was placed for a little rest in the shade. As I sat down, I heard a low-pitched, loud, groan from the woods up the hill - and I thought twice about staying there. While it was probably a warning call from a deer - common in the area - I wasn't yet woods-wise and didn't want to push my luck.

What would you do if you were in the deep woods and heard a strange sound?

During the summer, a Washington State hiker was deep in the back country of the western woods northwest of Conconully. A strange encounter and a "whoop!" led them to share their story on Reddit.

They said that they "got that familiar feeling that a big animal was around." The hiker made plenty of noise and whistles, and moved slowly so that they wouldn't surprise what they thought might be a large predator. As they continued, the hiker said, "I noticed something had made its way off the path, up a steep washout, but the sandy soil hid any outline of what the prints could have been, though they were noticeably large."

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So far, nothing was particularly out of order for the Evergreen State's woods. But on the return hike, the hiker says:

About an hour later when I had doubled back down the hill, while walking the valley floor below, something went “whoop!” at me from above, back where I had been hiking when I felt there was a large animal around. I was later informed by my family that lives there that Sasquatch are known to “whoop” but I still lean toward a more prosaic explanation.

What was this mysterious "whoop!"?

The Pacific Northwest loves to claim Bigfoot (also known as the Sasquatch) as its own cryptid. Some places have even made it illegal to hunt Bigfoot. So it's no surprise that a spooky sound in the woods might be attributed to a myth.

It seems the hiker's family is on to something. The North American Wood Ape Conservancy keeps a catalogue of recorded audio of the believed cryptid, and they remark that the "whoop" is the most common call of note. One reply shared this audio from Kentucky. There's even a t-shirt sold on Amazon that says "You had me at WHOOP."

Scientific answers to the reddit post suggested that it might be a greater sage grouse lekking (OP says "Def not"), sooty grouse, a Roosevelt elk (truly terrifying when you don't expect it), deer, whooping cranes, or other humans.

Does Sasquatch whoop in the woods?

Unfortunately, the original hiker never gave a clear hint as to what they thought it might be after doing research, nor did they provide audio. Instead, we're left with our imagination, and the many recorded whoops and calls of Bigfoot believers posted online (some more below!).

If you ask me - while I can't say what this hiker heard, I definitely think a lot of these 'whoop' sounds are just various birds and animals. None of them are consistent between areas, and many are too light in vocalization to match the lungs of a "giant ape." It's easy to get spooked when you hear something you don't recognize and you can't see the source.

What do you think? Tap the app to let us know, and check out more stories and haunts of Bigfoot in the PNW below!