Five weeks in the woods. By any measure, this is a long time to stay out amongst nature but, to me at the time, it felt perfectly normal, natural. I had thought I would begin to miss certain aspects of the less-wild world, but that had not materialised. Instead, I only wished more of my friends and family—and even total strangers—could experience the changes which went along with life in the woods.
This particular week, the weather was noticeably more autumnal. Sharp and heavy hail storms lashed my shelter, and the temperature began to inch its way downward. The deer were in full rut, the sound at times tremendous, waking me. They did not seem to care about my presence, there were far more important things to be doing.
Here is a rather bad video of that soundtrack of my nights, and parts of my days. Filmed on a Canon SX20IS camera, it is not the best quality, especially by today’s standards, but it might give you an idea of the clashing of antler and roaring of stag. Not to mention the changing colours of the oak woods. Taken at dawn on the 16th of October, 2010.
Read more at the introduction, and see Week One, Week Two, Week Three, and Week Four if you wish to catch up.
You can click on each of these Notes to read the full text and view any attached photographs. You might also have to open this email in a browser, as it is probably too long for some clients.
I also posted this brief musing, which is more or less on topic!
If you have anything you wish to ask, or add, please feel free to comment below, or use Notes to do so. I really appreciate the dialogue!
And if you enjoy this series, please do share it with a friend or family member, that would be wonderful—the more, the merrier. Or restack on Notes!
I have a few ideas of what to do with this project once it is complete, but I am still working on them (would you like to read an expanded version of this in book form? Perhaps with some practical skill descriptions mixed in?).
For now, there are still plenty more weeks of adventure to come.
Many thanks for reading.
The audio of the roaring in that clip in the beginning is amazing! I've never heard anything like that!
I am really excited about hearing your tentative plans to expand and publish this - this definitely needs to be done! The audio is great to hear, as well. I've really enjoyed how, in recent years, people are starting to share audio more (rather than just 'active' videos). Craig Mod incorporates ambient binaural recordings into his walks (see here, for example: https://craigmod.com/ridgeline/034/). Technology has advanced so much in the last ten or so years, too, so it's not like you need to carry around a whole heap of additional tech, either.