Last Saturday and again this Monday, I heard what I think was drumming. It may sound silly, but I've never heard it before. But, I heard the same sound in two completely different locations in two different counties about 100 miles apart. So I'm sure that I wasn't hearing the same motor running somewhere. Maybe I can describe what I heard and perhaps some of you experts can help me out . . .
The first time I heard it (on Saturday morning), it wasn't even a sound that grabbed my ear and demanded my attention like a gobble does. At some point, I just sort of became aware of this almost tangible sound. It was one low consistent note. I've heard people describe drumming as a low note whose pitch slides higher. This didn't slide upward. It was a single, long, low note that I could almost feel the way that you feel a low boom from a sub-woofer. It went on for about 5 seconds then stopped. There was nothing for a few moments, and then again the low-frequency rumble began again. When I started to realize what it might be, my eyes opened wide and my heart started pounding. I knew that if I could hear drumming, he was CLOSE. But, then again, I don't truly know what it sounds like so . . .
I made a couple of clucks and super-soft yelps--just two or three--and the sound stopped. About 15 minutes later, my hunting partner walked up on me, ending my hunt. He was cold. It was 8:30 on Saturday morning. Jerk. Bring a jacket next time it's 35 degrees. 
So then Monday morning, 100 miles away . . . I climbed a ridge to the edge of a clearing on top, crouched in some brush, and made a few raspy yelps. A moment later I was rewarded by a gobble from atop the next, higher ridge. I waited a moment and called back to him.
Nothing.
Five minutes later, he gobbled again, but was a couple hundred yards further south and away from my position. I moved in, quickly skirting around the clearing, across the logging road, and up the side of his ridge. I had made it two thirds up the ridge when again I heard the same low-frequency boooooooom I had heard on Saturday. It sounded identical; a single low pitch that would sustain for 5-10 seconds. I swear I could almost feel it.
There was absolutely NO decent setup location within 20 yards, and I knew that if the sound was indeed drumming, I had no time to scramble around. Like what I heard on Saturday, it was almost impossible to tell exactly where it was coming from. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. I sat down as quietly as possible at the biggest tree I could find, which isn't saying much. Once I sat down, I didn't hear it again. I made a couple of soft clucks, and super-soft yelps with no responses. Thirty minutes later, I had to leave to be at work. Yes, I was late.
So, either I'm going certifiably insane listening to rumbly noises emenating from my own fractured psyche, or I'm hearing a noise made by something that lives where there are lots of trees.
What do you guys think? Does it sound like drumming to you, or should I have myself committed?
