I can't hunt animals, but I need to

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Most people who have learned to hunt did so with a close relative - father, brother, uncle, etc.
Rarely do people learn hunting by themselves.
You need a mentor in the area.
My suggestion is get your license and find someone that will show you the ropes.

Probably the best answer so far, in my opinion.
I don't know anyone who has learned to hunt by themselves. Myself included.
When I first went hunting, I was a child and paired with my father...
I couldn't pull the trigger. Don't ask me why. I just couldn't do it.
But, as I got older, I learned the response has to be fairly quick, or you might lose the chance.
Now, as an adult, I am an avid hunter/fisher.
When I don't use all the meat, I give it to a local food bank or the needy.

Originally posted by MonteroReal
Go to a forest with a gun and no food, when you get hungry enough then you will hunt.

Although short and sweet, this statement is probably my favorite.
Because when your survival instincts kick in, via hunger or famine, you will kill to survive.
It's an animal instinct I believe all humans possess.

To your first statement, saying you need to hunt.
I don't think you need to hunt, unless you feel the need to.
Then you must ask yourself, "Why do I feel compelled to hunt?".
Don't let this world scare you into doing things you wouldn't normally do.
Even though we have lost alot of hunting traditions and skills in the past 100 years (80% of households hunted in the 1900's down to less than 25% now), humans are very resilient and can survive unimaginable situations.
Unless you plan on traversing the wilderness alone, you will probably be in a group of people that will provide things according to those that need.
I.E., more than likely you won't need to hunt.
This, is in a SHTF scenario.

I, for one, do not feel the need to rely on others.
Personally, I'd like to provide for others.
If it was me, I'd learn every possible thing to keep myself alive no matter what I was feeling at the time, because when you are hungry, a deer steak goes a long way!
Believe me, an animal (bear, wolf, etc) will not think twice to kill you first.

Either way, there's alot of good posts here.

reply to post by Misoir


First off I would suggest that you find some one to go out with and learn from. Second off before you go out to hunt you need to be able to hit what your are shooting at be it with a bow or a gun.
Third you have to make up your mind what you need to do. If you need to not hunt then do not. If you need to hunt then you owe it to the prey you are seeking to have the skills in place to do it cleanly.
Forth you need to know how to take care of the game once you have taken it, gut, skin, cut and wrap. I have an article on another web site that shows the whole thing from start to finish. If you are interested PM me and I will give you the link.

Originally posted by Misoir

Well in about one month it will be hunting season again and as I was telling one of my older neighbors about my plans he told me that the most important part of self sufficiency is hunting. Now remember I have never killed any animal in my life, I have five Chihuahua

Do you know how many Americans are counting on their hunting prowess to get them through any SHTF scenario? A lot. Enough to destroy our deer populations in pretty short order, I would be willing to bet. Because many of those who will be going out for food will just take what they can get, doe, fawn, it wont matter one bit. It will be very, very different than your sport hunters who actually know the rules, and who are limited in what you can and cannot shoot, when you can do it, etc.

Hunting is going to be a sweet but very short lived way to survive here in the US. You would be better off brushing up on your gathering skills. Find out what all the wild plants in your area that are edible are. You will last a lot longer than those who are banking on hunting.

Originally posted by Misoir


Do you hunt? What is it like to kill an animal? What do you think I should do?

you know not many hunters actualy catch anything, majority go home without after the hunt, unless they break the law and make it easier or shell out money for some special deal.

what i think you should do is get the license and go hunting, as often as possible to hone the ability, just don't pull the trigger until your hungry and without food.

pulling the trigger will be easier when your hungry and have no food or means to get.

actual hunting as in finding the animal will not be easier though


reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


that crossed my mind, so i had thought if it were to come to this, the hunter would be better off migrating to much wider country land, personaly i have it in my head one could go north into canada/alaska.

lots of wilderness out there, and lots more food then just deer.

besides farming in some regard will be more important than hunting. but hunting will be more immediate

[edit on 29-8-2010 by pryingopen3rdeye]

Mod Edit: Removed large quote of the post above.

Mod Note: Big Quote – Please Review This Link.


[edit on 2010/8/29 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by Misoir


If you can fish no problem live off the fish, you can also crab, but it takes skill to open and remove their backs and clean them...also how do you feel about alligator? They make good food. IDK but I think they're protected here in Florida, however if they're on your property and there's reasonable fear, then this is the way around the law. How about trapping, would you feel better trapping? If you trap and have a neighbor or someone else who will do the gruesome deed and barter for portions of the kill, then that's also another possibility. I mean you do eat meat you buy right? So tehre are my suggestions. Also, thank the animal for it's sacrifice, sort of like a prayer for them when and if you do actually decide to hunt.

[edit on 29-8-2010 by ldyserenity]

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander



This is so true, I know the rules as well, because my father is a hunter, but you're absolutely right a lot of people won't or won't even care, This is why a thread should be started to inform them. And ONE Deer (BUCK) should feed a family of five the entire winter, and that's not even a 10 pter!!! This I literally know as fact, as I have done this myself, a friend only gave me half of their stock and four people lived off it the entire winter I think it was a six pointer, but of course that is because the children were still on baby food as well, too but mind you that was a half of their stock, because they used every part possible and made ground venison out of it etc... also it can be made jerky as well and last even longer especially in a case of no refrigeration available. Yes people need to be informed of these techniques as well, so as they do not go Overkill on the world, also there are plenty of wild turkey and other good tasting fowl as well. And some parts have wild boar. And as I mentioned, alligator. And crawfish, and there is plenty of rodents...nasty sounding but I hear it actually doesn't taste all that bad.

Mod Edit: Big Quote – Please Review This Link.


[edit on 2010/8/29 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by pryingopen3rdeye


The more inhospitable the land you go to, the less competition from other humans you will find. No doubt. But for most domesticated humans, going that far north under those circumstances would be a death sentence.


Absolutely. And I dont think it will take long at all for us to blow through the wild stocks of most decent sized animals. Especially since bad hunters will be out there wounding many, hunting indiscriminately, etc. We have some idea how quickly animals can be driven extinct by unregulated hunting thanks to the Hawaiians, the Maori, and what happened on Madagascar. It doesnt take long at all, even in pristine wilderness, with a small group of hunters using stone age technology.

In America, with a big population, guns, and very little pristine wilderness left, it wont take long at all.

Farming will be great. For people who farm in well organized groups and for raiders.

The bad thing about farming is that you are a sitting target for predators. Roving bands who just want to steal the fruits of your labor. Some people will group up to combat this, but others who do not will be sitting ducks for those who figure out the best way to farm is to farm the farmers. You know, like the elite has for centuries.

If you really anticipate societal break down, you would be better served by focusing on sharpening your gathering skills. There are lots of edible foods that very few people recognize as such. And, gathering/small game hunting is much more efficient in terms of calorie expenditure vs calorie acquisition than farming is. And that statement assumes you get to keep the fruits of your labor. In a SHTF scenario, you likely wouldnt.

Mod Edit: Big Quote – Please Review This Link.


[edit on 2010/8/29 by GradyPhilpott]

If the economy does implode and hunting is a necessity then you will need to do so or die, you cannot live without meat under such conditions. Being vegetarian is a luxury that will need to go out the window if an extremely dire economic implosion does happen...which i don't think it will btw. Most people who say they could not kill an animal will at the end of the day though, again...you just have the luxury of saying no right now...when you start getting hungry that will change.

[edit on 29-8-2010 by Solomons]

Originally posted by ldyserenity
And ONE Deer (BUCK) should feed a family of five the entire winter, and that's not even a 10 pter!!!

Another problem is going to be that people who dont know how to preserve meat, (drying, other curing) are going to waste most of what they kill. Especially if there is no refrigeration. Which means they are going to have to kill more frequently. And waste more frequently. Which just means we will go through the wild stocks even more quickly.

It wont take long for the live off the land fantasy many have to crumble completely.

Gathering provides some 80% of the calories most hunter gatherers consume.

www.mesacc.edu...

In most circumstances, the activity of gathering of resources is very important providing 75 to 80% of the total calories consumed. We often think that hunting provides the major portion of the diet but it tends to only provide the balance.

So focusing on learning to hunt rather than gather is not your best strategy. 1) you will be competing with many who are making the same mistake 2) its not the tried and true method of surviving for humans.

We have mythologized the hunter, in our society, and even in early anthropology and archeology. We wanted to believe it was hunting that was most valuable, but generally speaking, its not. If you really wanted to survive, you would be better served learning to forage. There would likely be plenty of under utilized carcasses lying about in the initial stages of any SHTF scenario for you to scavenge for meat.

All good points here. Lots of bad hunters, most game agencies figure that 10% of the hunters take 90% of the game.

In the event of things going to perdition in a hand basket there are cattle and horses that will give you more protein per bullet than a deer.

Carrying capacity of the land is much lower than we would like to think, a hunter gatherer will have a better chance than most until things sort themselves out.

Protein has 2 calories per gram. Deer and elk are pretty lean and do not have much fat. So a person is going to have to eat about two to three pounds of meat a day just to break even if they do not have any carbs. An average deer here will give about 50 pounds of boned out meat. Add in the organs and the marrow in the bones and a deer would last two people about a week. Organs will go bad first so eat them first, then the marrow and the meat last.

reply to post by Misoir


If you are going to learn to hunt .

1. Go to the target range and practice shooting till you are proficient. The last thing you want to do is shoot an animal with a bad shot that it will run off and die slowly !
2 .Learn the kill shots for the animal you are hunting for large game like deer elk the shot placement is from the side view is behind the elbow lower mid chest heart lung shot . And the neck or head but unless close they are risky for a non killing shot .
3 Learn to track ! sometimes you will have to track down what you shot you want to find the prey and finish it off rather than let die a slow death .
4 learn about field dressing it out spilling the urine or the bile will taint the meat .

Find a friend or relative who is a hunter . Go with them to learn.

On a personal level I never kill does and wont kill fawns they are the future . I have hunted for 4 decades until the last few years I ate more venison and elk than beef . Yet even with the many kills I have done I still can sit in the evening and watch a deer herd and smile at the fawns playing or the bucks fighting for the herd and just enjoy the wonder of nature. Hunting is part of our nature respect the life you take by doing it quickly .

I was taught when i was young 8 yo when you have killed a animal softly under your breath thank it for the food it is providing for your family that was for any living creature fish or mammal . When you do kill a game animal for the first time remember that you took its life for a reason food and use every part you can waste nothing that is usable .

Originally posted by hadriana
How can eating eggs be like baby killer?
I don't even have a rooster. My hens' eggs are not fertilized!

Well, like I said in the sentence after "baby killer" I did say I was just kidding.

reply to post by Misoir

Get better at fishing.

Unless you have a large group of people it's not realistic to go hunting deer or something like that.

I grew up hunting and fishing and we needed the meat for our family and those around us. I can't speak for other families, but our taking of animal life was done with respect. I was cautioned at an early age to not take shots that were unlikely to result in a quick kill, and I became aware that an animal that dies in distress often also results in ruined meat. My first kill was at the age of six, and I shot a sparrow. I had been told to not kill anything that wasn't for food, and my father made me pluck, roast and eat the wee bird. It was a good lesson.

I haven't been hunting in 20 years or more, as having left the boonies, the need to hunt in order to eat hasn't been there. I still fish, and take lobster, conch, whelks, etc. and just enough to feed the two of us, or occasionally a friend/neighbor.

Agree with Asktheanimals in that a person needs to know how to preserve large game before it is taken. Also agree with S-Dog, who points out that the consumption of meat doesn't exclude a person from the responsibility of the animal having been killed.

If you are concerned with the economy (and it's easy for me to see why), you might want to devote some effort into container gardening, seed preservation, canning, pickeling, dehydrating, etc. All methods of preserving food when you have an excess of it for a time when you may not.

Wouldn't be a bad idea to stock up a bit, rotate your stocks. Worst case of that is that you save money, and if the 'net doomsayers are correct about the trends, that bit of stored food (and water) could give you time to make important decisions. Might also give you a little piece of mind.

Like a few others have suggested, get you some chickens. Several hens and one rooster. The rooster to make more chickens as needed. I know this doesn't cure your desire not to kill them but as you grow hungry your dignity fades. You'll beat one to death after a week of no food. Your animal will come out and it will not matter anymore.
Not to attack your nature, your probably a very loving person, but your dogs wouldn't be safe either. Remember the plane crash in the Andes? They made a movie call "Alive" based on it. That's the animal I'm talking about.

Alive

[edit on 29-8-2010 by TheLieWeLive]

There is nothing wrong with not using everything from a kill. A forest has many scavenger animals that also need to eat. Care for the local ecosystem or you can decimate it. You also need to keep others off your own huting grounds so its not destroyed. look at it like having a game preserve, with both animals and poachers. You will kill both.

Its the dead of winter and you are trapped in a state forest that is snowlocked,and there isn't a salad bar in sight.

What do you do?

[edit on 29-8-2010 by Cygnus_Hunter]

reply to post by Misoir


Well when your life is on the line you will be surprised what you are capable of.My advise is this first off get a gun preferably a small caliber gun like a .22 and go to a gun range and learn how to shoot.Then when you have learned how to shoot a small caliber rifle upgrade to a larger caliber and learn how to shoot that gun.Meanwhile stockpile ammo,if you dont have ammo no food,unless you intend to become a gardener.Learning how to skin,gut and clean animals is pretty simple,since you dont know how i recommend buying a book about it or watching a instructional video on the subject.Also you might want to consider moving further inland from what i hear Florida is going to be a war zone and completely uninhabitable.Thats my advice.Good luck.

I've never hunted a mammal (as I am from London) , but I have killed fish for food a few times.

The first time I went to a Trout farm with my dad and I have to say that I hated it, the Trout were just jumping onto the hook and I barely had the heart to club the thing over the head, I felt terrible about it for a long time.

The second time I did it was totally different, I was camping in Greece on the beach and me and a friend would go and put octopus traps into the ocean, most of the time we checked them they would come up empty, but when we did get one I killed it without any feeling of remorse at all (they are not that easy to kill and will try there best to get away from you) and we had barbecued octopus on many occasions.

I'm not sure why my feelings about the two incidents were different, but I think it was to do with feeling that the Octopus had a "fair" chance of getting away, and that we ate what we caught and really appreciated it (the only other things we had to eat were vegetables that the local farmers would give us).

I think your feelings of not being able to kill would maybe go away if you were in a situation where you actually needed to do it to survive

[edit on 30-8-2010 by davespanners]

reply to post by Misoir


Ok, I am not a hunter myself. But oddly, I heard a statment on Survivor of all things. Someone said, if you can't kill your own food, why should you be so cowardly to let someone do it for you.

If you eat meat, you are one of the cowards. But I am too!

I see it one of two ways: I am thinking of getting my own chickens. Actually for insect control in the yard if anything. (we have lots of tics and ants) But what if I wanted to kill one to eat it? I can ensure a safe, chemical hormone free food for my family.

That, and I can insure a humane death. Chicken plants are some of the most inhumane places. Cutting off beaks of chickens with nothing but a pair of pliars so they don't peck each other. IN gallon sized cages. Some chickens are so unable to move that their feet grow around the bars on the bottom of the cage.

Cows are another story, as are pigs. And the slaughter houses are horrible. Cows are stunned, but they dont' bother to make sure it worked before swinging them up by their back legs and gutting them. Wretched.

So how is that life compared to a deer who has been running free and has a good life, who will also have a good death?

Deer are pretty and sweet. I like the herd that lives in my yard. Seeing them in the evening.

But there is an overpopulation of deer, to the point where it is a hazard. Urban living and lack of predators has made them boom to the point of urban pesthood.

There are four times more whitetails alone now in the US then when the settlers came here. So they are not exactly on the endangered species list.

I have been having the same debate as you. We need to learn to hunt. But I hate the thought of killing a creature.

As long as you hunt for food, use the animal, and give it a thanks and a prayer, I think you can be a respectable hunter. I think the movie Avatar has this right, respect the animal, hope Gaia keeps it safe in deerland, and thank it for its life.

But my final resolve to evenutally go out and do this( I am thinking of learning on archery) is that if my family is hungry, and we need food, I will not think twice about killing the animal.

So you don't want to be in a survival situation, and then starve because you are trying to learn to fend for yourself when it is a do or die moment, and worst case scenario.And you end up starving becuase you don't even know where to find it, much less how to kill it.

If you watch the movie into the wild about the guy who thought he could make it on his own living in a bus in ALASKA, it gives you a pretty good idea that survival, if one thing, is not easy.

If you are truley interested in survival, y ou will not only learn aobut the animals in your area, but other areas as well, whatever your location may be. If you have to head south for whatever reason, say the northeast gets laid out. You need to know how to catch a gator.