Survival Hunting – Lessons Learned by O.V. for Survival Blog
I’ve hunted since the late 1970s and I thought I’d pass along some knowledge I’ve accumulated albeit not in a polished format, but more of a “if you just want the answer to the test format.” It will probably come across a little bit choppy reading, but I want to hit the high points and mention the low hanging fruit. And by the way the SurvivalBlog readership wants TEOTWAWKI usefulness, so that’s the slant of this article.
First off are a couple of things to get out of the way — number one being equipment. Good stuff is a help and it isn’t cheap. It isn’t necessary, but for example a guy with a repeating firearm may shoot several squirrels; a guy with a wool coat and a pair of warm boots can hunt longer in the cold; a guy with a topo map and compass or a smart phone with a map/GPS app that can show hunting opportunities or obstacles is a lot more efficient; and so on.
Another piece of equipment is a dog. They are so useful in hunting that they are almost mandatory in some sports or at certain times of year or in certain environments. Can you do without one? Of course. Just like the guy with the single shot .410 and the cotton tube sox in tennis shoes in the snow……
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Another thing to realize is when you are hungry, sport hunting, challenging methods, and moral and ethical compasses written into law by city folks won’t work. For example, I might hunt with a .22 rifle for sport, but a 12 ga shotgun might put more meat on the table. Baiting is extremely helpful especially with younger animals, and we aren’t worried about the horns in TEOTWAWKI.
Another problem is planning on big game versus small game. Apparently, we shot out the deer herd between food and market hunting in the last century. Stock your ammo locker for food largely with .22 and shotgun to compensate for this. Moreover, in many places where it is hot and humid, killing a large animal may be somewhat futile unless you have a way to keep the flies and heat from spoiling it. But you do have one exception to the big game eradication problem and that is the feral hog infesting much of North America lately. He is smart enough and prolific enough that we might be better off than they were in the Depression. Of course, there are a lot more people than there were 100 years ago, and our weapons are much better, so we may do it again.
And let me not forget to mention the other two types of “hunting” – a farm pond can provide a lot of protein with a lot less effort given trot lines and yo-yo reels, as can trapping. Both methods work without you being present every minute. These methods may also work if you are in an area where game is scarce and nocturnal. There is no skill that will produce game that doesn’t live where you hunt. Don’t be in denial. Do rabbits or chickens or something. Just because you saw deer tracks one time, or have like 3 squirrels in the only 3 trees in the neighborhood doesn’t make hunting viable.
So small game first: you name it – bird, squirrel, rabbit, duck, quail, etc….get a dog. Yes we all hunt a lot of these animals without dogs, but for a collapse this is the most productive way. You have to consistently locate the game under any terrain/weather conditions, and then retrieve the animal so that healthy red-blooded American males like me (read fat guys) don’t miss any meals. Are you really going to find all the birds in the un-mowed field? Are you going to swim out to retrieve the duck?
The second animal is the turkey. I don’t hunt turkeys. But I see the sport method is to call to them in the evening, put them to bed, and be on location in the morning with call in hand. So let me tell you what I see from hunting deer and feral hogs over corn – a lot of turkeys. If I was survival hunting turkeys, I’d hunt them like deer and hogs.
