This topic contains 22 replies, has 11 voices, and was last updated by 
Crow Bar 1 year, 7 months ago.
-
Posts
-
We left the house early this past Monday morning headed to the gym and happened upon four black bears underneath one of our pear trees. Deer here abound, and I live in the best wild turkey hunting county in the state. I can basically just walk out on the deck and begin hunting. But if a real SHTF event occurs, all that wildlife would quickly disappear, and it wouldn’t be because they are hiding. They will be hunted to zero by hungry land owners and poachers. Whenever I hear someone or read where someone wrote that they wouldn’t go hungry because they have plenty of deer I just smile to myself.
In a real event as is most often discussed on forum after forum, I think we can realistically plan on Bambi and all his cousins disappearing much as they did in the Great Depression, but quicker. Our palettes will have to make an adjustment to the more lowly creatures that most would gag on today – opossum, coon, groundhog, squirrel, frogs, turtles, even birds that might now peck around in your yard. And actual hunting may not be the best means of adding wild meat to your diet. Hunting takes valuable time. Uses up ammo. I will draw the attention of others when you pull that trigger. Trapping will. It works 24/7, 365 days per year. I prefer snares. I have snares for everything from squirrel to wild hogs… just in case. There is a learning curve to trapping, so it would be beneficial to acquire some equipment and begin practice setting and/or experimenting with it now, just as you should become familiar with any survival or prep equipment.
-
I have debated this one on several occasions.
Fact is, the hunting public is diminishing. There are less and less real hunters out there. Even those who do hunt, how many of them actually process their own game? There is two locals who offer processing station services within a few miles of me.
And for some reason, unless it is jerky, they know even less of how to preserve meat.I have been hunting. Get up early, sit in a tree stand waiting for that deer to come across, and see not a dang thing. I have friends who sit in their stands for days and get nothing. Go an entire season without bagging a deer.
As for ammo, if it takes more than 2 shots, you probably should not own a firearm.
Shooting in the country: A single shot, can you say where it came from (not counting if you are within a 100yrds of the shot taken)? I cannot. And I hear them all the time. The shot came from that general direction over there. You are not going to pin-point it to a given house.
Traps are good. Minimal input for the output.
Better is having a known quantity. Chickens, rabbits, or even medium livestock.
Then you know you have so many lbs of meat.-
I just sit up on a tree limb and jump on their backs when they walk underneath and us my survival knife! *ROFL*
Good points, CB. But I do think we would see more people bumbling around in the woods, and not necessarily their woods, either.If I am inside and someone shoots, I do have a difficult time with which side of the house the shot came from. Outside, however, I can put it in the ballpark. It may not pin point a position when we shoot, but it will alert others, (maybe not too nice others), that someone is hunting over there, lets go see.
You are dead on regarding the chickens and such. A few eggs a day can keep us going.
-
-
AnonymousI grew up in a hunting family. They did all from hunting to cleaning to cooking. That cleaning though. They let me watch knowing my daddy would have a fit. Strong lesson for a 9yo girl, but it gave me an amazing amount of respect for the process.
The ones who talk all the big talk probably couldn’t get through one season having to do it all if they work big game. Better hope they get lots of rabbits.
Or they could run across and away from a wild and very ticked off boar lol.
-
Hey, I like rabbit! Browned and then braised in a dutch oven with lots of gravy.
I think that cattle ranchers/farmers best keep a close eye on their stock, too.
-
-
During the Great Depression , animal populations drastically dwindled ……we didn’t have near the population of people then as we do now .
-
Wait, people aren’t eating frog, turtle, and squirrel now!?! That boggles my mind! 😉
-
You so funny!
-
-
James, I posted you some recipes!
-
Anonymous@JM You are so right. Pasture animals will disappear, i.e. cows, horses, sheep, etc. In fact they may go extinct, at least in some areas. In fact, you might have to mount a 24/7 guard on them even if you keep them in a barn for a year. If you can finish that first year with a breeding pair, you will be rich!
-
… eating frog, turtle, Bambi and squirrel …
The less talked about meat sources like dogs, donkeys, horses … rats, all will be on the menu when people get desperate enough and there are no other sources of food around.
As I type this, no, I won’t eat a dog … but then I have not been that desperate ever in my life.
-
Around here we call “Hunters” Dog chasers. They sit around in their trucks on the side of the road waiting for their tracking collared dogs to chase a deer in front of them. Not complaining because they usually get many more deer than they want and then they drop a couple off here for us.
Another thing that I notice is as soon as hunting season starts, the deer that have been all over the road, that I nearly hit sometimes seem to disappear!
-
Well, if SHTF, and the logistical train supplying all the milk plants fails, those who live in and around dairy country might be eating steak for awhile as those farmers will have to reduce herd size.
Around here, you buy a steer calf for $50 from a dairy farm.How many chicken operators would just let the birds go?
-
Whoever said there are a lack of hunters is spot on. As many I have been hunting all my life. I don’t sit where deer do not show, because after a lifetime of learning, one understands in this example whitetail deer habits.
During a SHTF event and one of these city boys actually shoots a deer and does not (as in the past) ask me to track it for them……there will be four other city boys that could not find their own ass with a GPS, waiting for the other city boy to drag out his deer. They would quickly shoot him and take his game.
-
Couple of things that come to mind.
First, all these hunters who plan to just go whack a deer, do so the first week. How many can go beyond processing and cooking the large amount of meat they suddenly have?
So how much will spoil before they can eat it all?
Out they go again for another, pretty soon theres few to be found, and decades to rebuild the herd.
Soon starvation begins,Two: How many people can actually find a deer within walking distance of their home? Depending on what actually happens cars may not work, be it EMP or just not being able to afford gas.
City folks especially can dream about heading to the hills and taking all the game they want, but the reality isn’t so bright.Third: Even small game have cycles, boom and bust. Those rabbits that one may depend on to fill the pot, may not be around either.
Then there’s rabbit starvation. Unless you have a means of adding fat to your diet, you can and will have issues even though you are eating.
As far as the rustling of various farm animals, theres a lot of ranchers that might take offense with that, and would likely treat anyone trying to do so as any other predator.
-
@whirlibird,
Good points.
The logistics involved to not only to hunt, but if the fuel is gone, how do you get that deer back to the house? I own nearly 200 acres. Without the ATV, that would be quite an effort. Even when I go to slaughter a hog with everything we have now, it is an effort.
Ironically enough, yesterday I found a set of deer tracks behind the barn. That is where I process the hogs. -
Deer, especially, will go nocturnal at almost the first shot of hunting season unless hormones make them stupid.
I’m lucky in that I have a piece of land to hunt on. Most do not. Should society come apart for whatever reason I intend on breaking out the snares. Locate the game trails. Set up, and check them twice a day.
-
I know the deer won’t last long around here, because I’m going to shoot everyone of them I see right away. I figure better me than some bloke trespassing. Plus I need to get rid of most of them so I can grow my garden. The last 3 years they wiped me out of everything growing above ground.
-
Hunting is not an option for me. If I have to stay put, after having done a stunt driving 22 wheelers for a large retailer, the reefers having solar panels, I saw an opportunity. (10 wheels on the tractor, 12 on the trailer if anyone wonders)
The massive distribution stores have a lot of food in them, food that can last a very long time. On this particular warehouse property there where even massive water tanks too, for fires. And the position, with help, is quite defendable. The prepper in me took note.
Then their are the originating container lots, as a lot of food was delivered in containers to the warehouse.
The potential, that could be just sitting there, priceless.
-
Early muzzle loader season for deer came in here last Saturday. Hunted most of the day Saturday and a few hours Monday until wet weather moved back in. Nothing. I have to practically kick deer out of the way most of the year. Just goes to show that having to hunt isn’t as easy as many believe. Interestingly enough is that I have them in the backyard and around the house most anytime of the day! I likely should just sit on the back patio.
-
James,
Our deer don’t go nocturnal they just come to town.
Wish I were kidding.-
Residents in the nearby city say the same thing. Â They pay a team to ride around at night and shoot them.
-
-
Been out in the fields with dogs half a dozen times now.
Seen one set of deer tracks.
One set of rabbit tracks.
2 or 3 sets of squirrel tracks.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.