It was New Year’s Eve.
That might explain it. Since I was but a wee Lad back in Michigan, I have always heard news shows warning people not to shoot up in the air because it was New Years Eve. At the family home, we were ordered to stay away from windows at that hour, maybe even till sunrise on Jan. 1st.
Yet, there have always a few who used New Years Eve as a good excuse to go outside and make some noise. January is too late in the season to hunt Deer and too early in the season to fish for Smelt or Whitefish, so you have a lot of Sportsmen feeling a little bored.