What the heck makes a low pitched ugly growl in the night?

[California]

Around here - only animal that would stand his ground, in the shadows, and continue to growl/snarl - - badger. [everything else] would exit my porch, enter the shadows, keep right on running.

You DO NOT want to mix it up with a badger. There is no question - you WILL loose.

Bingo! We don't have wolverines or armadillos but my neighbors say badgers are responsible for the cantaloupe-size holes I see dug down into gopher holes. I like that theory better than racoon based on the aggressive snarling.

The raccoons here are just a harmless nuisance, for example destroying the bird feeder then scurrying away when a spotlight is on them. The only aggression I've ever seen was the one who tried to come in the screen door same as when you don't want your muddy dog in the house and you have to shoo him away repeatedly with your foot in order to get out the door. Raccoons in my experience aren't nasty like this critter sounded.

I love the rest of the theories! Ex Wife!!!

 

[ericm979]

Raccoons make a sound like you describe...especially if they have young ones...

Or if they think there's food to be had. They can growl and snarl quite loud and sound like they're a lot larger than they are. They will stand their ground or move just the minimum and try to bluff you. Especially the ones that have become habituated to humans to some extent. They know what they can get away with.

The bobcat's growl I've heard were not that much more than a house cat.

Foxes can make a lot of crazy noises but I have yet to hear one growl. I'm sure they can but it's something they don't seem to use that often.

 

[California]

Bobcat:
Bobcat Sounds: Terrifying Growling & Barking in Wisconsin's Northwoods (AUDIO) - YouTube

Badger:
Badgers growling, chattering and eventually popping at each other - with sound - YouTube

I saw this after completing my post above. That badger attacking at the end of that badger vid, was close to what I heard. First as a real attack on my porch then repeated several times, aggressively, after retreating to the nearest shadow. What I heard was similar but he may have been king of the local badgers, he sounded even meaner.

Now a funny story: It's not unusual to hear a chorus of coyotes singing not far away after a kill.
For a while there was as peacock hanging around here, somebody's abandoned pet, who would join in singing along with the coyotes. We couldn't help laughing. Poor lonesome guy. He wanted so much to blend into the wild turkey flock but they didn't want him.

 

[Hay Dude]

What the heck makes a lo pitched loud ugly growl in the night?

There's nothing here big enough to sound like a snarling angry murderous gorilla. I hope.

Racoon, possum, skunk, house cats, coyotes are common. Deer are common in the neighborhood but there hasn't been one inside the 6 ft wire fence since we built that 3 years ago. The retreat of this animal off the porch didn't sound like the familiar clatter of hooves we used to hear all the time.

Maybe wild hog was my first guess before I remembered none, and no evidence, has ever been seen around here. There are some 20 miles away up the coast. I've never seen damage to my deer fence that would indicate one came under the fence.

Bobtail wildcat is the size of the largest housecat, possibly him but I wouldn't expect such a loud ugly growl. My experience is they are rare and run when sighted.

This animal ran off the porch when I ran to the door to see what was snarling, and hid in the shadow of a downed branch when I shined the spotlight - and resumed growling as if ready to pounce. I didn't go off the porch to go test if he was bluffing!

Mountain lions are seen occasionally, most recently here 5 years ago. But like the bobcat I would expect a sneaky retreat, not an aggressive growl as nasty as a much larger animal. This critter wasn't cornered, when I got the spotlight aimed it was 50 ft away behind the nearest obstruction to line-of-sight, with the whole orchard to retreat into. And continuing to snarl menacingly. What the heck? Any suggestions?

Oh, dont mind that noise, its just my mother in law :laughing:

 

[jaxs]

My guess would be a dog,especially if you have a dog in the house that might attract their attention. Perhaps 2 dogs were on the porch in persuit of the dog inside the house and groweled at one another. .

 

[California]

My guess would be a dog,especially if you have a dog in the house that might attract their attention. Perhaps 2 dogs were on the porch in persuit of the dog inside the house and groweled at one another. .

No dogs here. And this was different. The sound from the orchard seemed to be directed to me as a warning I was going to get shredded just for turning the light on him.

 

[Dftodd]

We laugh, yet things out of the ordinary can get a pup's attention. I've seen my dog go apestuff when he sees the truck at the end of the day, if I have it parked in an odd place. Sometimes it makes me realize how much more alert I should be...
Everybody talks about "What a sweet dog he is", yet I've had friends stop by when he's home alone and they say he can sound downright ornery.

I had a weenie dog that was OCD about her yard. Neighbors kids would lose a toy over the fence. Then the dog would get mad as the dickens and bark and growl at it till it was removed.

 

[Wagtail]

If it happened here it would be a bull gator.

And if it happened here it would be either a Tassie Devil or an amorous Brushtail Possum.

 

[Diggin It]

Bingo! We don't have wolverines or armadillos but my neighbors say badgers are responsible for the cantaloupe-size holes I see dug down into gopher holes.

Ahhh. Yeah, you didn't mention the holes.

 

[oosik]

My money is still on a badger. I've seen/heard them growl/snarl so aggressively that it sounds like their teeth are cracking/breaking. When we first moved here there was a den of badgers down on the far side of the meadow. Just NE of the house. I couldn't convince my young black lab to - stay away. I finally had to "move" the badgers.