Food Survival - Food is all around us

a reply to: CraftBuilder

thats correct, I should have given more detail for sure. However, those are only a tiny percentage out of the larger percentage which are actually edible. I was giving the general info for people who had never thought of the concept.

a reply to: Lumenari

That's some great stuff

Some of the things I've learned may not go over well here.

Salt lick deer trap. If you have access to a salt block used for livestock, you can place it on a game trail with a razor blade embedded in it. Sounds cruel, but if you are starving maybe not. They slowly bleed to death after shredding their tongue on the razor blade. You can also urinate on top of a stump and embed a razor blade in it.

For wild pigs the old hole in the ground with stakes at the bottom works. Any tuber for bait to get them to walk over it.

Snares are really easy but you need to set up a lot of them on game trials, including small game.

Moose is often called the perfect survival meat. When you take a moose you can survive exclusively on the meat without suffering any health issues. The fat is also healthy for you.

Rabbits are OK for protein, but you can't survive on them. Protein poisoning is a real thing. Good eating but better to go after grouse or other game birds.

Leopard Frogs or Bull Frogs are really easy to get. I prefer a net to a gig that others use. I always was able to get more, faster just using a homemade net to scoop them up.

Same for crayfish. A net works really well for gathering a few of them up. Just attach a wire loop to a broom handle or stick and use anything like old curtains for the net part.

Dig a hole about a foot around and deep enough for a bird to get in. Put sharpened stakes facing down at the top. Put a shiny metal object in the bottom. The birds get in and can't get out. Some don't taste so good, but they are edible.

Dead falls are a mainstay. Day one a person should start setting up dead falls and snares around the area and keep expanding it to increase the odds.

Rodents like field mice are safe to eat away from buildings in the wild.

You can get Beaver with a snare on a stick placed in the water, but a person needs to know how to place it and where. Also a heavy dead fall on the path they use to get in and out of their dam.

Fish using a simple homemade spear. Anyone wanting to survive should have fishing gear at home and in their vehicles. Fish is very important when trying to survive off the land. Fish traps are easy to create and there are a few kinds that work very well.

First and foremost though is have hunting rifles and shotguns with a supply of ammunition and know how to hunt and what to do with the animal after you have it. A .22/.410 over and under would be invaluable to have. I prefer a 30ott6 for large game and a 12 gauge for ducks and geese. Leave your mock military weapons at home if you go hunting. You need a purpose built hunting rifle with the best scope you can afford and know how to use it.

Wild edibles you need to know the area you are in. Knowing what to eat in one location won't help you in another. I used to carry books in my vehicle to use to identify edibles, I need to start doing that again. I still have basics but somewhere along the line I misplaced the books which was dumb on my part. Old age complacency.

a reply to: Blaine91555


You know what I really think will do most people in (right after getting clean water)

Exhaustion! Most folks don't know how much energy is expended just collecting wood and stuff like that.
Proper footwear, sounds silly but a lot of people don't even have waterproof shoes/boots.

a reply to: Lumenari

Learn how to make and maintain your own sourdough starter.

Thanks for the reminder. I haven't made one in years, and I don't know why because I love sourdough!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Yes calories expended is a huge thing. Doing heavy labor requires 4 or 5 thousand calories a day and that's not always easy to get.

I've only met a couple of people in my life that I think could thrive without any issue if you dropped them off in the wild with nothing but basic camping gear.

Water is certainly number one and shelter near the water source. Expending calories just hauling water is foolish.

Also where to build a shelter. I shudder every time I watch one of those survival shows and they build a shelter inside the flood zone.

a reply to: Blaine91555

You guys should go on Naked and Afraid.

Modest? I swear the first thing I would do would be to make myself some leaf-clothes.

I hadn't read Field & Stream in a long time; but I picked up an issue while I was getting a haircut last year.

There was an editorial by a guy who was a cyclist, and was riding his bike through an urban park by a river in his major city. The writer spots a giant blackberry patch, and so he dismounts and gleefully proceeds to fill his helmet with berries. A kid comes up and asks what he's doing. Writer says something to the effect that these are blackberries, just like the ones from the grocery, only no pesticides or E. coli. The kid starts filling the hem of his shirt, all excited at the free food.

Soon, the boy's father comes around the bend in the path. And calls the boy to him in fear. The boy explains that these are blackberries, and a great find. The father responds with something like. "We don't know that man! He cold be crazy! These berries may be poison, and he doesn't know what he's talking about. Get rid of those and wash your hands!"

There is a lot of that in today's America.


When I lived in the suburbs I was working on edible landscaping, which is becoming a thing. I was doing it for survival prep. I was worried about putting my garden in the frond yard, in view of the street. A neighbor prepper laughed at me and said, "the kids in this street wouldn't know a carrot unless is was pulled and washed and French-cut in front of their eyes. As long as there aren't any visible ripe tomatoes, the locals would starve before they thought of eating your 'yarden' ".

thought for food.


.

Ramps in a shady damp spot in the Appalachia.