By Jim Dickson
(Photos courtesy USFWS)
Every creature in the woods is an accomplished listener except man.
The average human has forgotten this essential survival skill. To a human being a good listener means paying attention to other humans talking. To an animal it is much more. It is a skill that their very lives depend upon mastering.
If you have any doubts about how important listening is to animals just look at their highly developed ears. The big ears of the deer and the long ears of the rabbit are not there just for looks. They are there to pick up the slightest minute sound that an incoming predator might make. Those ears aren’t stationary either. They turn to the direction of the sound if it bears further listening too without having to swivel the neck to turn the head like humans have to do to position their ears. Even when feeding or resting those ears are always turning to better hear any sounds out there.
The ears are equally important to the predators.
For example, a cat hunting his dinner listens for the slight rustling in the leaves and grass that betrays the presence of a mouse. The ears quickly perk up and turn in the direction of the noise pinpointing its location. A quick pounce and the unseen prey finds itself in the cat’s mouth. The ears are the cat’s primary hunting tool in total darkness. A cat may scent its prey and its whiskers can help detect obstacles but it is the ears that locate and pinpoint the prey in total darkness. A cat hunting in total darkness moves slowly and carefully as it feels it’s way along.
The slow approach is terrifying to the mouse. While the cat is feeling it’s way along with its paws and whiskers the prey is aware of a huge monster slowly and inexorably drawing closer like the Frankenstein monster or the mummy in an old horror movie. Some can hold still as the unseen terror closes with them following their scent. If they do the cat’s keen nose will soon be above them and they will be in the cat’s paws and jaws. Most cannot take the suspense as their nemesis creeps up on them and they either twitch or break and run. NOISE! The cat pounces and it is suppertime!
If you are going to learn to be a good hunter, you need to learn from nature’s master predators.
Animals also do a lot of vocal communication. Most folks know what a deer’s warning snort sounds like but the more you learn about what the different calls mean the more you know about what is going on around you.
Unidentified noise is not useless background clutter. People are so used to all the background noise of the city having little importance to them that they pay far too little time identifying those sounds.
A classic example is the terrified city boy left on a deer stand. As dusk came all the woodlands came alive as the diurnal animals turned in for the night and the nocturnal ones came out. Every tiny rustle in the leaves was King Kong or Godzilla coming to get him in his over civilized imagination. When picked up on schedule after dark he was in a state of total panic. Unless you believe in man eating chipmunks and rabbits he was as safe as if he was home in bed but you could not convince him of that. Every strange noise was a holy terror to that man as darkness fell.
As a lifelong woodsman who likes to go to sleep listening to those sounds all I can say is they sound like a lullaby to me but he was panicked by them. I also remember a Canadian Indian getting spooked deep in the bush when he heard the sound of a man walking and no man appeared. He remembered every scary Indian legend and tale, got frightened, and ran away. Don’t let your imagination run away with you.
In my part of the North Georgia mountains there have been reports of both Bigfoot and Velociraptor dinosaurs. As a woodsman that is out in the woods day and night I am here to tell you that’s a lot of bull. We ain’t got none. Period. People with overactive imaginations can think our little brown bats are Dracula coming for them. These are fantasies for children that should be left in the nursery. Concentrate on the real world when you are out in the woods.
You have to be able to identify each sound you hear. A lizard in the leaves makes one sound and a mouse another. A snake slithering along makes its own sound. A deer walking sounds distinctly different from a bear going through the woods. Anybody should be able to recognize the noise a dog makes plowing through the brush. Birds flitting about make their own sound which is absolutely different from that of a squirrel. One thing that betrays human presence to animals is their readily identifiable noise patterns.
The difference between the sound of feet on the ground and bodies moving through the brush should be duly noted as this can be important in judging the size of the unseen animal.
If you ever think you hear a Sherman tank crashing through the palmetto bushes brace yourself for a letdown when you see a little armadillo pop out instead. Honestly, those things can make more noise going through the palmettos than anything in the woods.
Not all sounds are made by animals. The sound of a falling leaf making its way to the forest floor or a limb falling should be readily recognizable. A dead tree falling should be unmistakable. The myriad sounds of a waterway can catch your attention. They don’t call them “Babbling brooks” for nothing.
The wind rustles everything and since this masks other sounds it makes all the animals nervous and wary. Deer will hunker down with their backs to a slope and watch for predators coming towards them until the wind dies down and they can hear good again.
You won’t find the prey animals drinking from noisy rivers. They hunt up the side streams and springs where there is not so much noise to mask the presence of a predator stalking them.
One of the first things a cat teaches its kittens is not to turn your head to a sound unless it might be important. You are supposed to know what each sound is without turning your head. You’ll wear yourself out as well as giving your position away to the prey by moving your head unnecessarily. You have to keep still when waiting for the prey to move and if you are stalking you have to freeze when the prey looks up. Move the head and you risk losing your next meal. Of course the cat will move its head if a sound requires that attention but most sounds do not. They are just the background noise of the woods. Sometimes there is a noise that might be danger and there is no time to look just time to head up a tree. You have to know what each sound means or might mean and you have to learn to be still and quiet so you don’t betray your presence to your prey.
In a combat zone the sound an enemy soldier made has betrayed many an ambush to a sly country boy on the other side. Knowing the distinctly human noise as opposed to the regular jungle noise may have been lost on the rest of his outfit but it just takes one savvy listener to sound the alarm. That’s why prey animals gather in herds and lions hunt in prides. More eyes, ears, and noses. Don’t discount the nose. Many a troop movement has been betrayed by aftershave smell wafting through the breeze ahead of them. Not everyone ignores their sense of smell.
I have had men with normal hearing tell me that you can never hear a deer going through the woods. Well that’s news to me. I am a veteran deer hunter and I have always heard deer coming long before they came into view. When they broke through the cover I was all ready to shoot.
Another man with normal hearing told me you can’t hear a bear coming and a black bear came right up behind him without him knowing it. It must have just been curious as it didn’t bite him. Like deer I have always heard bear long before I saw them when they were moving about.
It just goes to show how little some people use their ears and how good they are at ignoring their surroundings. That’s no way to be out in the wilds.
A basic difference between men and women is that women are more easily awakened by strange sounds at night. This goes back to the cave men days. The man spends the day out hunting while the woman tends the camp and looks after the children just as many Canadian Cree Indians do today in the bush. He comes home exhausted and needs to sleep deeply if he is going to get up at dawn to try to put food on the table so the woman sleeps more lightly and more attuned to danger. It is her place to wake him so he can defend them. It is his place to get up, arm himself and check it out. Don’t just listen. The sound she heard may not repeat itself especially if it represents danger.
From the cave men to the Indians to the pioneers all woodsmen had to use their ears like the animals if they wanted to survive their enemy’s attacks. There are a few tricks here. If the birds stop chirping that means they feel threatened by something nearby. This often means other men. While squirrels and jays may sound the alarm they also will shut up if they feel threatened. When a section of the woods goes quiet you know something is afoot there. As the quiet spot moves you know that what’s scaring the birds is moving that way.
Native Americans paid attention if a bird call was off key because they often signaled by imitating bird calls. The sound of metal is unmistakable in the woods and it is not going to happen without a man behind it. It all comes back to paying attention to the sounds you hear and being able to identify them. No one can tell you how to do this, you have to practice for yourself. Sounds cannot be effectively translated to the printed word. Like learning to walk you have to do this for yourself. Pay attention, concentrate, and practice and you can be as good as any Indian or pioneer at this life saving game getting skill.
