Possible activity described around a home near Mossyrock witnessed in Lewis County, Washington

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3 miles from mossy rock washington.we live in a wooded area on a hill there is a gully and a little river next to the house.it was about 4am thursday june 9 2010.I had awaken to the sound of what I thought was growling not loud but a few feet away from the open window we keep open and like someone hitting well what sounded like someone hitting a tree with a piece of wood with a 3 to 4 second pause between the sound.at first I thought someone was chopping wood.and we have a lot of cats and they were in protective mode growling as if something was threatening.it lasted about couple of more minutes then it stopped and got real quite.a few days ago i saw large areas of grass fields flattened wide open and around the drive way a large opening bigger than a deer in the grass.mind we do at times have coyotes and deer in the area but really this sound was made by a walking creature be it man or ??