Fish And Animal Traps

When trying to build a life and survive in a post-apocalyptic world there will be a lot of work to be done. Many survivalists romanticize this new existence with visions of hunting for deer and other big game, triumphantly bringing home the animal to be feasted upon. Envisioning a return to hunter gatherer lifestyle where they venture forth and return the victor, while other less skilled woodsmen succumb to the harsh reality of a post-SHTF existence.

Trust me when I tell you this vision is far far away from that reality will likely happen. Yes you will be required to provide food for you and your family/clan, but it will not be pretty and it will not be exciting and glamorous.

Why? It all boils down to availability of a resource and how fast that resource can reproduce. Big game animals such as deer and turkey are not very prolific breeders. Even today game managers, whether it is at the state level or at the local level where you are managing a deer lease are faced with the struggle of managing the harvest so as to not deplete the game population.

If you think that deer and turkey and even small game will not be decimated in this situation you are sadly mistaken. Everybody with a gun is going to be shooting any animal they see on sight. Like it or not subsisting on local big game and small game will not be possible for quite some time. And deer herds will likely be totally eradicated from much of their current range.

Even if you do not accept my premise you must at least acknowledge that the deer population will shrink considerably. So how many days of hunting is it going to take to down a deer in a low deer population situation? And if it takes a week, do you think that you have a week to do almost nothing else, but hunt?

Primitive living will require you to work on surviving constantly. It is unlikely you will have the option to just take off from other needed chores for days on end, such as collecting firewood, making a shelter, clothing, gathering wild foods, maybe a garden, getting clean drinking water, etc. will all demand your time and energy. You simply are not going to have the time to roam the woods endlessly searching for that last hoofed animal whose tracks you found in the creek bottom.

The Argument For Traps.
Fortunately, there are a lot of different animals to eat other than just deer and rabbits and there are a lot of ways to get them without wasting a very valuable bullet on a meal or two. Using modern and primitive traps can help bridge the available time gap that will exist between hunting time and your time doing other chores.

Traps are like time machines. They allow you to do multiple things at one time. You can set out traps and while you sleep, cook or build a shelter the trap can be patiently hunting for you. This fact alone will make the skill of trapping much more important than any traditional hunting skill you have.

Think Small
For a long time big game populations will be decimated. You will need to focus on other food sources. Bugs and insects are probably one of the most dependable food sources that aren't likely to be as hard hit by people's need for food as other more traditional food animals. However, while that is true, who wants to eat insects as their main food source? So let's try to find something available that isn't so disgusting.

This is where fish, birds, snakes, mice, squirrels, turtles and other less favored species come in to save the day... literally! 30-06 and .223 ammo will not be of much use on a sparrow. Traps for these animals that work for you 24/7 are what you will need to concentrate on if you want to survive. Knowing weeds you can eat is all fine and dandy, but the amount of calories you will be burning to survive demands protein and you aren't going to get that solely from eating leaves and berries. Although needed, vegetable matter will need to be supplemented with meat or you will become weak and likely die.

We all know you can't live without water and we all know that ancient civilizations always sprang up around a water source. There is a reason for that! It isn't by chance or for scenery. Rivers will provide a nearly endless supply of fish that is not so easily depleted.

So think small, small mammals, birds and fish. These will be your meal ticket when the SHTF.