Details: Written by: Yowie Researcher

How to find a Yowie?

Finding Yowie activity takes a lot of time and patience but with persistence and good bush craft it is possible to at least find locations they frequent. We get plenty of reports from people telling us they have yowies on their properties and most of these end being misidentification. We believe Yowies have a very extensive range and from our records it is extremely rare to find them at a single location for extended periods. We know they have a complex diet and eat meat as well as berries, nuts and plants but with creatures this size it makes sense that they must roam great distances to follow food and prey. We know from reports the Yowie will eat deer, rabbits and wild pigs and even wild dogs and we have had our best results tracking Yowiess in locations where these animals travel through. We prefer surveilance techniques rather than tracking. Its a lot easier to be still and quiet when looking for creatures with extremely heightened senses of sight, heraing and smell.

A life-size statue of the Australian Yowie can be found in a park in the town of Kilcoy QLD. The rural town of Kilcoy is located on the D'Aguilar highway in the somerset region approximately 70km from the Queensland capital Brisbane. Yowie sightings were first reported in the region in 1839 and have continued to present times. The rugged Connondale ranges to the north continue to produce compelling sighting reports of the creature.

While the Yowie has been reported extensively along the Great Dividing Range in Eastern Australia and occasionaly west of the Great Divide, finding a Yowie in the Australian bush outside of an accidental encounter will take patience, caution, field knowledge, stealth and heightened surveillance. It goes without saying that you will need some good sound recording/monitoring and camera equipment quite apart from the camping equipment needed for the environment you will be looking in for these creatures. It goes without saying that the utmost caution must be considered when venturing into the bush, especially at night. Tracking a yowie should also be done in small groups and not alone and this is discussed further in this article.

You would think with creatures as large as the yowie is reported that Australian hunters would be finding them all over the country. While there have been quite a few reports in Australian hunting forums the creature remains an elusive cryptid of the outback.

There are many schools of thought about Yowie behaviour and the best techniques to locate them in the Australian bush. Some "authorities/experts" believe the creatures are not nocturnal while others do believe this. Our information in this article is based on our own research from the field AND the sighting and encounters we have collected from the witness reports sent to us. From our own experiences, we believe the Yowie is mostly nocturnal but daylight sightings definitely do occur as some of our most recent reports indicate.

The majority of Yowie encounters come from accidental sightings. These creatures are extremely difficult to track for a number of reasons such as their mostly nocturnal behaviour and also their mastery of concealment and stealth which we believe is part of their hunting strategy for food.

The existence of the Yowie is dismissed through much of our society but to those that have encountered them, the creatures are flesh and blood and living among us. Throughout European settlement, Yowies have been described and reported. There are literally thousands of sighting reports and encounters that act as corroborative evidence of their existence

From the many reports documented along with reports and interviews we have, we would strongly advise keeping away from a Yowie if encountered. The majority of sighting reports would suggest that these creatures are not a direct threat to human activity but there have been reports of very aggressive behaviour and we believe there may well be missing person cases that could be attributed to them. We also believe that not all Yowies are the same. They can be highly aggressive, inquisitive, and shy. they can be very loud and boisterous or strangely silent for such a large creature. If encountered it is advised to move slowly but steadily away and to maintain visual contact, if possible, in the general direction of the creature. We realize how terrifying these creatures are with their massive size and wild demeanor but running away has reportedly produced a chase reaction from some Yowie.

We understand the interest in some people to encounter these creatures and become a Yowie hunter and if this is the case groups of two or more would be very strongly advised. Keep in mind that these creatures are reported to have strength much greater than a human and can be aggressive and can move very quickly when they have to. Early encounters with these creatures describe people firing many gunshots into these creatures before killing them.

If you wish to conduct your own Australian Yowie research and try to find these creatures you will need to be every bit as stealthy as the Yowie is itself and understand some of its behavior. This creature is a predatory creature and master of its environment that has managed to stay mostly out of sight for hundreds of years and probably longer according to Aboriginals legend. It is believed they eat a variety of food and have been reported eating/catching kangaroo, dingo, wild pigs, cattle calves, dogs and cats, chickens, and bird eggs. The lack of sightings during the day is partly due to its mostly nocturnal feeding behavior. It is masterful at blending into its environment, a behavior that would obviously help it capture food. In fact, we have a lot of reports from daytime sightings where the creatures will stand absolutely still beside a tree and only noticed when some movement exposes their position. Many of the sighting reports have been at night or in the very early morning but daytime encounters do occur. We believe it is practically impossible to track a Yowie in the daytime when it's believed they sleep. They do leave footprints similar to a human but on a much larger scale and these can help identify a likely location.

In some encounters reported, not all, a strong odour has been associated with Yowie activity. The odour has been described as a combination of wet dog and decaying carcass and some researchers believe the odour is more often an emission from glands of the creature rather than the smell of the creature.

Vocalizations have also been reported ranging from long voluminous howls to shorter whoops. There have also been reports of humanlike chatter which are vocalizations that sound like a human but cant be understood. A google search for bigfoot or sasquatch vocalizations will provide examples of similar vocalization from Yowie.

From our own personal encounters, we have found they are most active late into the night and early morning. We have never encountered them by sight during the daytime. We have heard vocalizations during daytime exploration of known sighting locations.

Where are Yowies found?

There is some conjecture about where the Australian Yowie can be found. Keep in mind they need a food source, water and some cover as do most animals in the bush. We have just as many reports from low-lying areas as mountainous terrain but we have noted it is very rare to get a report that doesn't have a watercourse of some description in the general area. This makes sense not only for the Yowie requirement of water but also for its food sources. While they have been seen in open woodland and farms they appear to favour bushland near watercourses and hilly areas but not always. There have been reports from around man-made dams but we don't believe these can be classed as Yowie habitat. It's more likely that the dams attract larger volumes of people visiting these areas that have been inhabited by Yowies long before dams were built. From our own research, we believe the creatures have a very large range and continually move within this range rather than migrate from one region to another. This theory has also been supported by multiple eye witness accounts describing similar characteristics of a single creature in one area over a period of time. The Great Dividing Range along the Australian east coast from Victoria and well into north Qld has the majority of credible sightings and encounters. We have had reports from Western Australia but most are barely credible at the time of writing and most likely fabrications or misidentification from the forensic interviewing we have conducted.

Below is a diagram to show the relative size of Yowies to humans. They have been reported in family groups of varying sizes. Read more about Yowie characteristics - What Is A Yowie

Yowie size

We can't stress enough the need for every caution if you intend to track these creatures at night. Their eyesight is far superior to ours and their hearing and sense of smell at least as good as any animal if not better according to reports. If you do find an area where Yowie are active, these creatures will generally be tracking you long before you become aware of their presence which is why we strongly suggest not doing this alone. We strongly recommend doing site investigations during the day initially to establish the lay of the land and then performing the nighttime surveillance but don't do this alone and STAY together and under no circumstances leave a member of your party alone.

What to do if you see a Yowie

Read about how to make a credible sighting report and research best practices here: How To Report A Yowie Sighting

If you would like to contact us about anything Yowie-related please contact John - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or alternatively if you would like to share and report a sighting you can use the form below. We are happy to hear about your sighting via phone and you can email us to arrange a phone chat about your Yowie encounter.

Latest Sightings Of Yowies

The links below show some of the most recent Yowie sighting reports and locations we have on record:

Yowie Tracking Kit

If you know about hiking then you will understand some of the basics required for tracking Yowie such as carrying water and a medical kit, bug repellent etc. Some of the kit you should consider taking with you when Yowie hunting is as follows: Camera that can shoot stills and video, high powered torches (we always have 2 torches available in case one fails while tracking), a digital voice recorder for vocalizations, plaster powder for making casts of footprints, portable hides can be useful to establish a fixed location for observation, a good hunting knife and machete for cutting away bush. Good hiking clothes are essential and good camo cover can be beneficial. We know of one encounter where a witness was in the bush, had head-to-toe camo cover, even on the face, and had a creature walk right by about 80ft away, oblivious to their presence. We have also had reports of bow hunters having encounters using hunting stands attached to trees and sitting in these in the early morning. Don't get a false sense of security if you carry knives and machetes with you. If a Yowie decides it wants to be aggressive or attack the knives and machetes will be wearing you for protection!!

Group Tracking

We don't believe large groups of people wandering through the bush in search of Yowie will be successful. Its a very safe way to engage in looking for the Yowie but the records show that smaller groups have better success in coming across these creatures. Yowies have an innate ability to blend into their surroundings and they appear to have superior hearing and eyesight to us. They appear to have incredible strength and can move extremely quickly when needed and crawl, climb and jump as good if not better than any other animal which puts us, mere mortals, at a distinct disadvantage when looking for them. We have had much better results when traveling quietly in small 3-4 person groups and using surveillance techniques rather than tracking strategies.

These creatures are not to be taken lightly and they will most likely know your whereabouts long before you know theirs. Just remember that some have territorial tendencies and have been known to produce aggressive behaviour exhibiting rock-throwing, branch snapping, tree shaking, bluff charges, and various growling voicings.

We use a multitude of camera equipment and surveillance gear and here is a small sample of the equipment we use for Yowie expeditions and location research.

We use several brands of thermal cameras from the Pulsar and Infiray manufacturers. The InfiRay Finder II FH35R Thermal Monocular (above) is one of favourites.

Yowie sightings aerial drone01