Instead of killing game for food

When heeling a Florida Wild Bore for castration, it is recommended that you have a stump or tree to tie them off on.
When I was young we hunted Hogs with a dog and a knife. The dog is long gone, so now it's time for the lariat.

 

I have seen wild turkey's, Canadian geese, pheasants, pigeons, rabbits, wild ducks, deer, fox, raccoons, raised ok in my life. If you start with the young and raise them, they are at least as easy to raise as most so called tame animals and able to forage much better than the tame ones. I have also seen pigs, horses, cattle, burro's etc that were as wild and as difficult to handle as any wild animals.

 

Speaking only for myself, yes.

When I can, I look for ways to make things easier while maintaining a good level of control...what I will do if I must is a whole 'nuther book.

 

Umm I just thought of the chiricahua meat farms they had in Mexico decades ago. Sorry just popped in. We raise chickens and turkeys for meat for now. We had raised yaks and beef but next yr we will need to do another beef.

 

In the movie THE ROAD (horrible movie and barely watchable at best) they had a scene where the "hero" (aka: the idiot dad) stumbles on just this idea with the food supply being kept in a basement.

 

Although the basic premise has merit, one must also consider that once captured, you must provide food, water, shelter and protection for your game. That may or may not be feasible, depending on the nature of the event, weather, season, etc.
Too many variables...but the oak trees around here certainly provide well for local squirrels, and I'm not bringing gators home...alive, that is. I don't care if my wife's grandma did have one for a pet...

 

All depends. Best results would come with getting the wild critter when it was very young, and raising it. Most wild animals don't do well in captivity. Some refuse to eat. Some beat themselves up trying to escape. Not at all like raising domesticated animals or birds. Best case would take a lot more work, preparation and care with minimal results.

 

CHAOS doesn't favor folks that like to control things. Eat today to fuel tomorrows hunt, for no-one ever knows for whom the bell tolls.

 

I guess I don't get it. So, you have time to prepare and farm, but you choose to try and domesticate wild critters rather than simply choosing to raise tried and true farm animals. I suppose this makes sense in a fraction of situations if there is no time to prepare, but as a practice it seems sub optimal.

 

Thanks for the advice.

Being I am young and know little about how the world works, I will take it to heart. I am also sorta new at this prep thing, but I'll get the hang of it eventually.

Arrogant younguns...

 

I agree with you.

I guess there's a reason why some critters are undomesticated....simply because they are undomesticatable. There are animal species that offer much better produce for inputs, than many wild species....they are called domesticated animals. Trapping and hunting are probably the best options for wild animals, which are better harvested as required by baiting, or developing habitat that attracts them to stay about locally. It makes better sense to keep animals that have the benefit of hundreds and thousands of years of selective breeding, than start that process from scratch.

 

So you've killed off all the rabbits and other creatures and the human population is reduced to a few , what animals are left ??
During the 29 crash several species went extinct and European counter parts brought in to reintroduce them.
If there is a world pandemic or such and most all animals are consumed for food there will be no where to bring other animals from to have for the future.
In Ghana west Africa things are so poor, that they fish the ocean and lake, with no disciplines, so that "even the fry are taken, and there is nothing left to reproduce."
The die offs of wild life around the world are getting worse.
And having only the plan of "Hunting to extinction" is just plain STUPID, IMO .

 

Hunting, fishing and trapping, should be seen more as a stop gap until sustainable cropping and animal husbandry can be achieved. As has been pointed out before...domesticated animals are far more productive, and require fewer inputs than beginning a breeding program of species that are sub-optimal for farming.

Hunting, fishing, and trapping, are means of augmenting other sources of food (more for variety and novelty) ...not substitutes for farming and cropping domesticated varieties of plant and animal production.

 

That's very true, my grandpa had a dairy farm, orchard and a big azzed truck garden. Really, it was big enough to grow trucks! He would manage his land for the maximum wild animal and bird habitat as well as his domestic animals and crops! He paid me a bounty on varmints and predators! And, harvested cotton tails, rock chucks, pheasant, grouse, quail and deer etc. Now, like duane says, some of the domestic animals were more problematic than the wild ones ever were! The old fellow kept burros as pets and they can sure be mean, willful and obstinate! Especially the jacks! Only my gramps, dad and me (when I was older) could handle them, and dad nor I ever turned our back on the jacks!

 

don't forget the rope on the flatlander for easy harvest

 

If it weren't for conservationists we would have no deer. and the buffalo almost went completely extinct .

 

A good argument for conserving conservationists.

 

I'm told by the old folks that even a possum was hard to come by during the depression years, I believe them.

 

Ayup. Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may all be dead! This preparation fad, here today, gone tomorrow. Or maybe not.

 

Chellovec has this one covered. Hunting and fishing are only short term answers until farming and raising livestock are once again up and running. We not only raise rabbits and chickens but also the food to feed them here. W e can last a solid 5 years here on what we store, grow and raise. add in hunting and fishing and we thrive.