3 Sounds That Made Old Loggers Drop Their Saws and Run. Number 2 Sounds Like a Deer

It's an hour before light and you're up in a deer stand. Behind you, something is walking through the dry leaves. Step. Step. Pause. You turn toward it, because that's a deer. Every old logger I ever worked with would have been looking up. There are three sounds in the woods that made the men I cut timber with drop their saws and move. The rifle crack when nobody is shooting. The footsteps that aren't a deer. And the roar on the ridge that gives you ten seconds of warning, if you know what it is. For each one, you'll know exactly what to do in the first ten seconds after you hear it, in camp, on the trail, or up in a stand. Harlan Sawyer. Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Forty-two years in the timber, 1969 to 2011. Look up before you sit down, friend. A note before anybody writes in: I'm not an arborist and I'm not a ranger. If a tree like these is over your house, call an ISA certified arborist. If it's over a campsite in a park or national forest, tell the ranger. In a real storm, no spot under trees is safe: get to open ground or get in the car. Never try to bring down a hung limb yourself. Sources: OSHA logging standard 29 CFR 1910.266 (work stops when strong winds may affect the fall of a tree), NIOSH Alert 95-101 on logging deaths, extension and arborist guidance on frost cracking.