I'm just 'thinking out loud' here with regard to the possibility to take small prey such as rodents, rabbits or birds with electricity?

The idea is that you take several dozen plastic takeaway forks and drive them a couple of inches deep handle-first into the ground so the tines of the forks are a couple of inches above ground level and arranged so you can criss-cross fine copper wire (such as unravelled household appliance wiring) in a close pattern without the wires touching and creating a short, and food-bait for your prey placed in the middle of your wire grid and having both ends of the wire trail back to your hide ready to wire to a power source.

The power source would come from a vehicle battery, or two wired in series, with one end of the wire already connected to one of the terminals and making sure your hand is insulated from the other remaining wire by using one of the plastic forks as an insulated cable holder with wire wrapped round the tines leaving the handle insulated and free to grip.

When you spot a tasty looking varmint wander into your wire-netting to take the bait, complete the circuit with the other free end of the wire on the battery terminal and *zap* dinner is served

Workable? or just daft?

Think of the work you'd save having to build a fire to cook it. Seriously, I doubt you'd get enough power from a battery or two. Maybe 8 or 10 would do it. If you had 1 wire pos and the other wire neg and they didn't touch each other the critter would complete the circuit. You wouldn't need to. Something would have to kill the circuit once the deed was done though. Have to think on that one. Squirrels do it all the time but it usually kills the power over a fairly large area when they do.

Originally posted by SemperParatus
Seriously, I doubt you'd get enough power from a battery or two. Maybe 8 or 10 would do it.

1 car battery alone packs a very painful punch if you accidentally zap yourself on one (not that I'd recommend sticking one on your tongue to find out) so what it would do to an animal 1/10th my size would be more than a minor shock! 2-3 batteries wired in series are powerful enough to arc-weld steel with!

I always learn new ideas when I read your posts but just a gentle reminder that this is a *beginner* thread.
What you guys are talking about is a bit more advanced than what my family and I are anywhere close to attempting. Baby steps!
Please and absolutely keep posting as I look forward to your contributions everytime I see your logins.
Please be patient with us newbies. Now, who wants brownies?

My philosophy is to Hope for the Best and Prepare for the Worst.

Stock as much non-pareshable foods and canned goods as you can, don't stop at 4 months worth if you don't have to.

Stock up on ammo, and maybe learn how to reload or make your own (Arrows). Take a camping trip to the closest State Land and put up a lean-too shelter, Remember to take it down when you are done, and try to leave no trace when you leave.

As always Practice, practice, practice --- Turn the power off for a weekend and see how you do --- Guarentee the kids will want to spend that weekend with friends --- don't let them, or invite the friends over to stay with you for that weekend LOL.

Don't forget entertainment -- Books, Board Games, Dice, in most situations there will be alot of down time eventually.

Human Waste
If you lose the water supply to your toilet, you can use your waste water (from cooking or bathing) to flush the toilet once or twice a day (only as needed). Keeping the lid closed between flushings will help avoid odors and germs.

To use the toilet without any flushing, you can line the toilet with a medium size trash bag for easy disposal. These bags will need to be tied tightly and stored as far from the home as possible.

You can also make a "toilet" outdoors with a bucket or by digging a hole or trench. Lime or powdered bleach can be used to cover the waste to keep odors down. Or, you can use RV-Trine Bacterial Formula, which eliminates odor and digests waste with good bacteria (and is all natural and biodegradable) from toilets of all kinds or from holes. Your toilet hole could be very deep, and you could throw a layer of dirt in after each use in place of or addition to lime, bleach, or bacterial additive. A good precaution is to dig the hole at least two feet deep and to cover it completely when the waste is one foot from the top. A bucket toilet could be sealed with its own lid. They also make self-contained camping toilets, or folding toilets that hold bags.

Laundry
Obviously, you can hang clothes on the line to dry in the sun. Washing them is a different story.
Purchase a washboard while you can.
1.) It is okay to wash laundry in cold water, its the modern dryer that shrinks cloths.
2.) Put water in a tub until ¾ full, this does not have to be drinking quality water.
3.) Put underwear into the water to soak
4.) Rest a bar of soap at the top of the board
5.) Rub underwear (garment), over soap and then rub item vigorously on the metal rub surface
Repeat until item is clean
Put shirts in water and repeat until clean
Wash pants the same way
Last item to wash would be your socks. Allow them to soak and then use step 5 many times.
Hint --- Do not discard water. Soak your feet for 20 minutes; it will feel sooo good!
Dry your feet; apply foot powder, clean socks and boots.
Discard dirty water, or save to flush the toilet with, refill bucket and rinse rinse until no soap remainsthis is a key point.
Wring out clothing items and pin on clothesline to dry
The washboard could be replaced by a large rock in the river or creek.

I spent 8 years in the Marine Corps, there wasn't always a port-a-potty (lol) available, let alone a bath room. Whan it comes right down to it, scrape out a hole do you thing and cover it up, and be carefull what you wipe with (don't need poison ivy in that area).
It might be worth your time to learn what poison ivy and poison oak look like in the wild.