Giant's three clues to Cooper

Question

I just finished a re-run of the original two seasons of Twin Peaks and I found one thing still puzzling.

The Giant gives Cooper three clues and tells him he will return his ring once Cooper discovers the meaning of the clues. The clues were as follows:

• There is a man in a smiling bag.
• The owls are not what they seem.
• Without chemicals, he points.

Cooper eventually is shown to have figured the clues out and the Giant returns the ring. However, while he actually figured out the first and the third clue, I don't understand how he would've figured out the owl one. Granted, Major Briggs tells him about the communications the military received regarding this, but this doesn't really give the clue any meaning. It is only later when Cooper speculates about the owls being vessels for the evil in the forest, but this isn't conclusive either.

How is it intended for Cooper to have actually figured out the meaning of the second riddle in the show?

Answer 1

It has been years since I was watching this, but I believe that the answer came to Cooper in his dream, where he sees BOB's face slowly turning into an owl:

From there, he understands that owls are connected to the spirit world, probably used as either carriers of the spirits or merely as an observers.