First of all I'm not suggesting this is the answer to all reported Rock Throwing experiences people have reported in the woods, however this is what happened to me.

I just returned from a camping trip to one of the National Forests in Northern Wisconsin. In this forest there is a "Wildlife Viewing" area designated. These areas are usually places where certain species or types of animals are found on a fairly regular basis so people have a better than average chance of seeing them in the wild. I had only seen 2 of the types of animal I was seeking in the previous 2 days, so thought I'd give this method a try. I had been sitting there for several hours, watching a variety of birds fly by, a chipmunk, and a butterfly, none of which I was waiting for. Then this little red squirrel comes running towards me from a tree about 30 feet away. As small as he was I'm assuming he was born this last spring. He runs up onto a log that is sitting maybe six feet away, and stops about three feet from the end of the log where he hopped up on. He sits there, chattering at me, and flicking his tail which is a sign of agitation. Then he runs to the other end of the log and repeats this process. Finally he comes back to the center of the log where a branch sticks out and ends maybe 2 feet from my face chattering and flicking his tail the entire time. For a moment I get read to move as I think this crazy squirrel is getting ready to attack! Don't laugh I was attacked by a rabbit once. Anyway after chattering away for a few more seconds he runs around to the back side of a tree the log is laying up against. I watch him as he climbs up the tree and into the branches. I turn my head away, and hear something falling through the leaves, look up and see a black round object fall through the last few branches, and hit the log which that little squirrel had just left, making a good solid sound. I couldn't believe it and looked up to see the squirrel now at another branch about 5 feet of so higher, again flicking his tail and here comes another rock down through the leaves/branches.

A squirrels tail is not much, so I can only assume that he was kicking them with one of his back legs. I can only guess that the were rocks had been pre-placed in the crook between the main trunk of the tree and a branch. This little squirrel had easily pushed/kicked them out to a distance of about 7-8 feet from the trunk of the tree. Would a full sized squirrel be capable of twice that far? More?

So WHY? The only thing I can think of, it may be a learned behavior? Possibly previous encounters with bobcats/wolves both found in this forest? A well placed hit on the noggin from 20-30 feet high with what appeared to be a walnut sized rock might be enough to send them on their way without squirrel dinner?

Personally if I had not seen and watched where the squirrel had gone and had just heard the rock hit, I'd probably be wondering the same thing as others have.

Interesting...squirrels use tools, whoodathunkit! I had a dog that never much bothered any cats or wildlife for that matter, but there was this squirrel that used to run to the end of a fence in our backyard specifically to chatter " curse " him out about every other day, if that squirrel had ever fallen...he chased all squirrels after that.


(Edited to remove entire quote of previous post. Not needed when posting right after.)

Hmmm...
That could explain the rock that landed on top of my trailer one night. It was about the same size and shape as a wedge from a tangerine, maybe a little bigger.

Interesting story, but I have heard stories about several pine cones being thrown at a subject by a campfire away from the trees. and large rocks hitting the top of a vehicle. Those would not be squirrles but I would have liked to see that little fellow. Would have been amusing.

Which is why I said...



Due to the many "Rock Throwing" reports, if someone hears a rock hit the ground near them in the woods, they automatically assume it's bigfoot if they don't see an obvious rock tosser. t's just one more thing to check when evaluating the incident before going full speed into an investigation wasting lots of valuable time, energy and money.

Mother Nature is awesome!

Really neat experience and observation, 'moregon'. A tiny squirrel dropping rocks? Who'd 'a thunk it?
Dudlow

Would've made an awesome youtube video for sure......

I find that really interesting, especially given how that report several months back about Chimps throwing rocks from a pile they had made earlier in the morning was a "groundbreaking" discovery on the animal's ability to plan for the future. Squirrels throwing rocks. Amazing. I've often wondered if other non-primate animals were capable of such a feat.

Next time video tape it! That would have been really cool to watch.

The wife and I were out riding our bikes a few weeks ago. She mentions to me that she found a dirt trail that follows a creek. I asked her to show me. We got about a mile or so down this trail and she stops and shows me an area that she had been to twice before but was forced to leave due to an overpowering odor. This was a beautiful area with beams of sunlight steaming through the towering oak trees.

We both were standing on the bank of the creek I asked my wife to describe the odor she encountered. She said it was worse than a dead animal and was quite intolerable. I am there thinking to myself…Hmmmmm. I then walked down a steep path to get on to a sand bar down in the creek bottom. At about that same time from two different directions acorns started flying in at us. My Hmmmm turned into a “son of a” At this point I have not said anything BF related to my wife. (She is a major skeptic!!) We had a dozen or so acorns land in the water directly in front of us. We could see and hear the acorns as they flew through the trees. I then moved across the sand bar to see if the acorns would follow me. They did. I asked my wife to move as far away from me as she could. Acorns kept landing around me but my wife calls out to a said that was a rock! And then a few seconds later she yells to me again that was a clump of dirt! I saw it break up just before it hit the water. I said out loud… this is weird! You know the big guy has been known to throw things. OMG! If looks could kill. I swear my wives eyes turned red. (The red eye shine some people see must be from pissed off female BF’s) She yells very loud back at me… "No! We are not going there. It must be some kids". I could tell by her reaction that she was waiting for me to say something BF related. I replied, go back up there and see if you can spot them. The acorns stopped at that time. After a few minutes she made her way back down the river bottom and the acorns started flying in again. This time they came from only one direction and a few minutes apart. They were obviously being thrown from a farther away too. We still could see them as they flew in. The area of forest is very dense and we could not see or hear the culprits. Then it all seemed to stop. We got on our bikes and went home.

I grabbed my camera and went back to the same location. Nothing strange happened so I made my way across the creek and looked around in the area for “kid tracks” or any other signs of movement. I was a bit perplexed and frustrated when I couldn’t find any evidence of man or beast loitering around back in there. I am certain of the location. I made my way to a clearing off to my right and then I find this stick formation. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I spent about a half an hour looking around in that area and found nothing.

Because of the location of this area! I am forced to conclude that all of this must be done by people. I live in the northern suburbs of Dallas. Plano, TX to be exact. This area is in a game preserve just a few miles from my house. I believe it is one of the strangest string of circumstances I have seen in a while. If this had happened to me in a more remote place while out squatching I would be writing a possible class B report right now.

To sum it up! There are at least two kids in Plano that desperately in need a bath and hang out in the woods throwing forest debris at people as they pass by while making stick structures. The thing I don’t get is…Why?

Bob

Welcome to Bigfoot, Bigfooting and the BFF. Nice incident report!

Thanks Bipedalist.

Bob

You are starting to put 2 and 2 together, 'Bob', so I would recommend you don't jump to any negative conclusions just yet. Just remember, you don't necessarily have to be 50 miles from nowhere to run into a BF. At times you can find them in your own backyard, so to speak. Keep vigilant and keep gathering evidence.
Dudlow

In the rock throwing incident I had several years ago the rocks were roughly the size of soft b*lls. I am sure the guilty party was not a squirrel!

A couple of years ago, I was hiking a pretty heavily-traveled tourist trail in Death Valley NP (not squatch-related - LOL). It was a dry wash at the time and there were quite a few folks hiking it. At one point, the trail followed a bend around a fairly high cliff face (about 20-30 feet high). As I and the person I was with went round the bend, a small rock landed in the sand off to our left. I stood there for a moment looking at it and up at the cliff (was made of compressed mineralized sand and such) thinking it had dislodged from the cliff face. As I was looking up, I saw a slight movement at the top.

We moved away from the trail to a point where we could see the top more clearly and saw two ravens sitting at the top of the cliff. We sat down on a rock and watched, and I swear to God, every time a hiker came along the trail at that point, one or the other raven would drop a rock over the edge of the cliff. Most of the hikers never even noticed, but a few did, and did what I did.. Look at the rock, and the cliff face and surmise that it had been dislodged, and walk on. If I hadn't caught that small movement, I'd've done the same thing.

We sat there for about 45 minutes watching and those two birds kept it up the entire time we were there and were still doing it when we left. They were very specific about it. The only time they'd do it was if there were hikers present. Dunno if they ever hit anyone, as the trail was out away from the cliff some, and they were smallish rocks, but it didn't keep 'em from trying. And we could see that it was both of 'em doing it.. Like they were taking turns or something..

We chalked it up to very bored birds.. But I've never seen anything like that before or since.

Now that is not only amazing, but funny too!! You just never know what animals will do.

This story is not funny, nor nearly that amazing but: My Jack Russell (Actually Parson Russell, 22lbs) who thinks he is a Pit Bull, and sent a 100lb plus Doberman to the Vet last year with part of his tongue torn off, did a curious thing the other day. He dove into a group of bushes next to the house, when I heard ungodly screaming coming from some animal. Well as I stood on the front porch calling him, he came out of the bushes w/something in his mouth. He trotted up to me, tail wagging, and very, very, gently, laid a baby rabbit at my feet. He had taken this rabbit out of it's nest, which had not even opened it's eyes yet, and delivered it to me unharmed. I put on some old gloves (to keep my scent off) and put the rabbit back. Jack's are known for their ferociousness even though they are smaller dogs, but he made sure not to harm this new born rabbit. I was Impressed, of course I am biased.

As far as I am concerned, there is no better dog than a Jack Russel (or Parsons) Terrior. They are just amazing animals.

This time of year you can sit in my church parking lot and watch the crows drop hazelnuts from off the roof onto the cement sidewalk that goes around the church. They're just trying to crack the nuts open. Works, too! Smart critters!

There's a big difference between rock throwing and rock dropping. Only those under trees would have to consider a belligerent squirrel.

Very Interesting Don't look now but here comes the rock throwin shaggys.


Click to view attachment

I have a hard time with "rock throwing" or "stick throwing" stories

Have you ever tried to wing a rock or stick or anything for that matter in a dense wooded area?

Kinda like trying to hit a golf ball out of the trees or brush.

More often than not your going to have it deflected off a tree or branch.

In order to be accurate, you have to often be close and likely unobstructed and if you are close and unobstructed you are likely to be observable.

Heck, it's hard enough to hit a deer with a firearm fired projectile in such dense wooded conditions.

I find it kind of hard to fathom that from the close distance that a rock thrower would have to be - in order to be accurate - that there would be little to no visual sightings of the culprit.

I think the real culprits are probably more often than not gravity and old tree limbs / acorns.

Sorry....just not big on this supposed aspect of bigfootery.

However, I am open to the possibility that UFOs beam BF's down and up immediately before and after the rocks are flung in order to help them remain elusive and pesky.

Slabdog, I tend to agree but then there's that pesky Monsterquest episode where Dr. Meldrum and friends are having rocks tossed on top of their cabin at night. Just plain hard to explain.

I do however find it easy to imagine hiding behind brush and small trees near a break in the forest and throwing things into that break (like snowballs, when I was in eighth grade (and just before I went to the pricipals office)). ALL YOU KIDS OUT THERE: Do not throw snowballs at the daughter of one of the teachers.

Have fun, Norcal

I have much respect for Dr. Meldrum but don't forget that that was filmed for a TV show and Dr. Meldrum cannot control what others might do in order to get ratings. I'm not saying that the rock throwing was hoaxed in that case, I just didn't see any evidence to prove it wasn't (And I frigg"n cringed when I saw the kid on the roof pick up the rock with out latex gloves.....GGGGRRRR....(great potential DNA evidence opportunity blown to smithereens)





Again....I don't disagree, but when we threw snow b*lls as kids from behind the bush, we eventually had to get up and be observable when the snowball victims came to investigate and retaliate. Just Imagine if the hiding kid in question was 8 ft tall and covered in hair?

Just seems tough to swallow.

I'd guess that the stinky Plano rock throwers were homeless people. They tend to smell bad, and many live in the woods just outside urban areas.

On the other side of the spectrum was a story a buddy told me. He grew up a rancher and still lives on a working ranch. One day they went driving the back roads/logging roads for some wood. Couple hours in they stop to take a pee break. While peeing off the side of the logging road a large rock comes across the ravine and lands near their truck. Then another. And another. Then LARGE rocks weighing a couple pounds start flying. None of that sent them running back to the truck tho - it was the crazy wailing/screaming that went along with the rock throwing that unnerved them....
Never could get him to post a report, he's just a good old boy and doesn't want others to think he's crazy.

Wonder how many square inches of rocks your friend watered during that particular pee-break........

I wouldn't be too concerned about rock throwing. Cause a Bigfoot can just run you down, grab you by your ankles and commence to smashin you against a tree like you were a catfish...


Click to view attachment