Leading a vengeful existence, resenting the intrusion of the logger, the agropelter deals misery to the lumber jack from Maine to Oregon. Ill fares the man who attempts to pass a hollow tree in which one of these creatures has taken up its temporary abode. The unfortunate is usually found smashed or pinned by a dead branch and reported as having been killed by a falling limb. So unerring is the aim of the agropelter that despite diligent search I have been unable to locate more than one man who has been the target for one of their missiles and yet survived to describe the beast. This is Big Ole Kittleson, who, upon a certain occasion, when cruising timber on the upper St. Croix, was knocked down by a partly rotten limb thrown by an agropelter. This limb was so punky that it shattered on Ole's head, and he had time to observe the rascally beast before it bounded from the tree and whisked itself off through the woods.

According to Ole, the animal has a slender, wiry body, the villainous face of an ape, and arms like muscular whiplashes, with which it can snap off dead branches and hurl them through the air like shells from a six-inch gun. It is supposed to feed upon hoot owls and woodpeckers, the scarcity of which will always prevent the agropelter from becoming numerous in any locality.

"Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods" by W.T.Cox (452: p.35)

A peevish quadruped, highly resentful of the logger’s intrusion upon his woods home. Common, and well-known from coast to coast but limited to the Northern forests. The beast’s ugly disposition is attributed in part to its diet of Hoot-owls, High-holes, and dozy wood.

As with many of these elusive, nimble creatures, a detailed description is lacking. But it is fully established that the Agropelter (sometimes called the Widow-maker) has a sturdy body topped by a villainous, ape-like countenance. His outstanding equipment is a pair of long, muscular arms. Stealthily reaching out from his lair in the top of a hollow tree, he can snap off a heavy dead limb and either drop or hurl it with deadly accuracy on the pate of the woodsman passing beneath.

He is a marvellously rapid free-climber and traveler, swinging himself, acrobat-fashion, from limb to limb. In picking a home site, he selects a tree having numerous dead branches and a dozy upper bole, and which stands handy to a frequently traveled trail. He quickly eats out a roomy nest. The pups (born on February 29) always arrive in odd numbers.

"Fearsome Critters" by H.H.Tryon (453: p.3)

The creature as having the head of a gorilla or some other terrifying ape, but fully furred, and its body was like that of a stretched-out, starving bear.

They are also said to be completely black save for its face, which had a spoken ash-grey skull pattern contrasting with the black of the rest of the animal.

"A Treasury of Legends" by J.R.Lucas (1311: p.157)