How many times in the last week have you heard someone ask: “Cold enough for you?” While I didn’t get out during the peak, or shall I say the valley, of the temperature cold snap, I did get out for a few hours ahead of the system.

The first thing I did was retrieve all my traps. I do enjoy running traps, but I prefer to find them full of something other than ice. I literally had to chop every single trap out of solid water. For that reason, I have suspended trapping and I will resume once we get back to some normal temperatures.  

The second thing I did was make a loop through some shed antler hunting grounds. It was a quick trip as the temperature was already on the decline, so my time was limited. Though it might sound a little strange that I was on shed antler scouting trip, I was curious to see if deer were still using the same areas as they had in Fall. There’s no sense looking for shed antlers if there are no deer in the area. I always say that the best place to find a deer antler is in a deer track. If there’s no deer track, there won’t be any deer antlers.  

As I walked the usual spots I noticed the powerful sound of silence. The lack of noise in the woods at this time of year, and especially during the cold, is deafening. If that makes sense to you, I know that you spend time in the woods during the winter. 

The evening sounds of the tree frogs are so loud during the spring that there isn’t much space left in your ears for any other noise. In the summer the trees are leafed out to soak up the songbirds but a natural song that can’t ever be replicated by anything other than a chirping oriole or the twitching of a goldfinch finds a way to escape. If Fall has an official sound, it’s the honking of Canadian geese in a flying V looking for greener pastures or secure waters to rest and regroup before journeying further south.  

I continued my walk through the snow-covered woods and happened across an old deer hunting tree stand.  It looked lonely, tired and not used for years.

I couldn’t help but think what the old stand could tell me if it had the ability. How big was biggest buck ever taken from it? Who was the first person to hunt from the stand? Who was the last person to use it? How long before it decays and becomes part of the woods, leaving behind no signs that it ever existed?

My quiet shed hunt concluded at the old tree stand. Stopping to admire it might just be the reason why I noticed the deafening silence of the woods.

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