October 31, 2017
If you have ever been perplexed by the old adage: "If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?" Then you have never been camping in beaver country, because if you have ever heard a beaver fall a huge tree, then you know that it sounds just like the end of the world, especially if it happens in the middle of the night in or near where you have decided to make your camp.
The photo above was taken in Ohio about a month ago... Yes! Ohio! It was taken in a state park nonetheless, very near where the campground is and definitely in a place where one could easily have pitched his army surplus tent to partake in one of the many festivals that are held there over the course of a year.
As a matter of fact, this thing was within a short walk from the "Maple Sugar Camp" and if one would have been so unlucky as to have pitched ones tent near this huge walnut tree, (and it was a huge tree), then one could possibly have gotten away with not hearing it fall because if it fell on them they would be unceremoniously deader than hell.
So, the one thing that you must take into account, for safety sake, whenever you are camping is the presence of beavers in the area that you are camping in. In many places, (Ohio for instance), wildlife managers are making decisive efforts to re-introduce these rodents into the natural population after they had been decimated nearly across the country due to the fur trade of the 1800's. Make sure that there are no active beaver trees or you may be in for a surprise in the night that will leave you completely shell shocked and out of sorts... if you live through it that is.