Hello, my friend and welcome back! In today’s post, we are going to discuss finding meat to eat in a post SHTF world. In truth, it’s not going to nearly as easy as you might think, no matter how good of a hunter you are. Grab a cup of coffee and have a seat while we visit.
While talking to a friend of mine at work the other day, he was getting everything ready for deer hunting, the conversation got me to thinking. He made the remark that he hunts a lot and when SHTF hit, he would have no problem stalking and killing game. As he put it “I’ll stay fat on the meat that I kill!”
I can’t help but think that many Hunters who are Preppers think that way and that’s bad. Everyone is a hunter when they’re hungry. When times get bad, everyone and his brother will be in the woods hunting for something to eat. Most will have had no formal training or experience in hunting. This will make them extremely dangerous. They will be shooting at anything that moves, even if it is you.
It won’t take long for what game there is in the forest to either move along or be killed by lucky shots. Then you will have the fools that will go out at night with a flashlight and start trying to spotlight animals to kill them. Just imagine… You wake up on a cold night and stumble out of bed to answer nature’s call. As you look for a good place to drop your pants, one of these idiots hears you and thinks you are a deer. The next thing you know, you’re on the ground, the cold ground, with a bullet in you. Not good!
So what’s a Prepper to do? First off you add enough canned or dried meat to your stores to last 6 Months. Why in 6 Months you ask? That is how long it will take for “The Hunters” to die off from starvation and the animals to start moving back into the area. When they do come back, they will very timid and hard to find.
But you need to eat right? This is where many Preppers will make their mistake. They will go back out into the woods with their guns and start shooting again. Big mistake, almost all of the animals that have come back will turn around and leave. They may never come back to your area, which would be really bad.
I know what you are thinking: “OK smart ass, how do you prevent this and still get meat for your table?” The answer is “snares“. Those wire loop looking things you hopefully have in your stores of supplies. Why snare? Because they don’t make any noise and if set right, are invisible to most people.
You can go out and set snare traps early in the evening and then return for them the next day. While you are doing other things, they silently catch and kill meat for you. Did you know that you can catch deer with a snare trap? You can! All you need is a snare trap that is big enough and place on trails they travel.
Snares come in all different sizes, from the small ones used for trapping rabbit and raccoon to the large ones that can be used to catch deer and Wild Boar with. They even come in sizes in between. What is even better is that they are pretty inexpensive, so you can afford to add several of each size to your preps.
At this point, I think it’s important to point out that not all snares are created equal. Do your homework and check out these on Amazon.com. If you have never trapped with snares, then you will want to get a good book on how to do it and learn now, not later. You need to know how and where to set them for the best results. They also need to be “Seasoned” and you will want to read up on how to do that as well. The “Trapper’s Bible” is a good place to start learning.
There are also several other types of traps that can be used and you really need to learn as much as you can. This way you will be able to trap and farm at the same time if you are just looking at feeding your family. Without the sound of gunshots to draw the attention of others, you are much less likely to run into trouble. Just remember that hungry people will do crazy things, so avoid them till the danger passes or at least the majority of it anyway.
Well, that is it for today and I hope you have enjoyed today’s post. Until next time, stay safe, stay strong, and stay prepared. God Bless America!
-Sarge-
I agree with Jim (above), however, I must add that not all snares are created equal (I know, you said that already). What needs to be added is that, depending on what you snare, that snare may be useless after that first catch. Cables get kinked from the animal thrashing around and then the snare won’t operate as needed. Learned this the hard way. Better to learn trapping using body grips and leg-hold traps for the long haul. Reserve snares for when you’re bugging out or transitioning from one place to another for meat while traveling.
Great commentary Sarge. Historical fact backs up what you write. During the communist
revolution in China meat became so scarce people ate rats. First day of deer season bang!
The deer get much harder to locate and green hunters largely go home disappointed. That is where true hunter skills produce results. SHTF reality-every word you write true. Reality from
the Pacific NW mountains………..
Thanks, Jim, I appreciate that! 🙂