Hunting For Survival
 

 
 

 
 

 

 
 

The first things I will tell you, if you have never hunted before, either buy some books or talk to someone who has hunted.  Hunting for Survival is all about hunting for food to eat and if you have never hunted, waiting until you are in the situation of needing something to eat is not the time to learn. Read books and magazines and talk to experienced hunters.  Killing animals for food is not a walk in the park or easy to do. 

The second thing is choosing a weapon.  Now this is a survival situation not a hunting trip, so remember, I am going to try to tell you what I believe is the best all around weapon for you to take wild animals with.

My choice is a 12 gauge pump shotgun. My reasons are this. You can purchase a decent shotgun at a fairly inexpensive price.  I recommend either a Mossberg model 500 or a Remington model 870. Both of these can also be purchased in a 20 gauge for the smaller person. The ammo you should buy will be a variety for different circumstances. 

You will need to purchase shells with shot in them, and since we are trying to survive don’t worry about steel or lead shot. You only have to make sure you clean the shot out of the meat. If you are still worried then trim some of the meat away where you removed the shot.  I prefer #6 shot in regular loads.  This size shot is a good all around shot for taking small animals up to and including birds the size of Pheasants or Grouse.  

You will need larger shot, such as #4 buckshot for birds as big as Turkey. You will also need to have either rifled slugs or sabot slugs for big animals such as Deer.

Rifled slugs are an elongated lead ball with angled grooves to simulate the rifling in a rifle barrel. These grooves give better accuracy when shooting at an animal. Sabot slugs are smaller but made to give the same results, up to 100 yards.  Here is a website that will explain some of the differences with the wide range of shot sizes and info on trajectory and more:
 

 
 
 

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/ShotGun/  

I don’t agree on their choice of shotguns even though this site has some very good information.  My reasons for the choice of shotguns I made are these. A pump shotgun has a track record of being an extremely reliable gun.  Remember, you are trying to survive.  Semi-auto shotguns are generally heavier and you can waste shells by getting excited and pulling the trigger more than you may want. I really don’t know much about the dependability of semi-autos as I have never owned one myself. Pump shotguns have been around for over a century.

John Moses Browning, in 1893, produced the Model 1893 Pump Action Shotgun.  And in 1900, he patented the 
Browning Auto-5, the world's first semi-automatic shotgun.  This model was still made until 1998.  What you get will be up to you. 

Most of the people I have hunted with over the years used either double barrel or pump action shotguns.  Everybody has their own preference.

Buy a shotgun that fits you. You will be using this gun for survival.  That means protecting yourself or your loved ones from those that will try to take what you have for surviving.  Once we get into the situation of trying to survive in this country that will probably mean that it has hit the fan.  It will mean that you are either on your own or with a group of like minded people.  It will mean that there will be roving gangs that won’t bother to hunt or forage for food.  These gangs will be what they are and have been, animals themselves.  All they ever did was steal for a living anyhow.  Do you really think they will change when it will be easier for them to take what you or others have?

You have to be prepared for anything if you want to survive!! That may mean you will have to kill another human being.  I really hope it never comes to this.

Now comes the hardest part for someone who has never killed anything before.  And, for me, this was the hardest part of learning to hunt.  You will actually have to kill a living creature.  You will have to do this if you want to live.  Once you do it, it gets easier.

I never hunted for the sport, although many will tell you that is their reason for hunting.  I hunted for food to eat.  I never shot any animal I didn’t intend to eat, except for what are called varmints. Varmints are those nuisance animals that cause problems for farmers and livestock owners. Coyotes and some other animals that are considered varmints like to eat chickens and other small animals you have.  Raccoons are a varmint in my book.  They will eat your sweet corn when it is ready to be picked.  I had a family of Raccoons destroy my whole corn crop in my small garden one time.  How did I know it was Raccoons you ask?  By the tracks of the animals, which is something else you will need to learn. 

What do you do after you have shot an animal?  You have to field dress the animal until you get it back to your camp or where ever you are staying.  Again there are websites and books available that will explain what this is all about.  What field dressing means is the removal of the innards of the animal.  There are some things that are edible inside an animal such as: the heart, liver and kidneys. When properly prepared these are good and are good for you.  The rest of the innards have to be removed and discarded.  If you are in the middle of the woods somewhere you can just leave them lay.  There are wild things out there that will eat the entrails and whatever else you leave. 

As soon as possible, get the carcass back to where you are staying.  You will need to skin the animal and hang it to cool.  I recommend washing the inside to remove excess blood and in general clean it out.

Depending on what time of the year it is will depend on how fast you have to process the animal.  In the summer or when it gets warm it will mean getting it saved faster so you have meat for the future. In the winter, or when the temperature is around 45 degrees or colder, you will be able take more time processing the meat.

Here is a list of websites for processing meat.  Remember, you are in the middle of nowhere with no refrigerator or freezer.  You have just shot a deer weighing about 120 lbs.  You may get about 60 lbs of meat from this animal or more, and you can not eat that much at one sitting unless you are in a large community of people.  Even at that you may not consume all of the deer and will want to save some for the future.  These sites list different ways for preserving meat.

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-making/curing

http://sugarmountainhome.com/livestock/curingmeat.html

http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2055/ANSI-3994web.pdf

Of these three sites I think the last one is the best, especially for smoking meat. It gives some details on temperatures and times necessary for the proper curing. 

Here are some websites on how to build and use small smokehouses for curing meat: 

http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/smokehs.htm

http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-build-smoker

http://www.endtimesreport.com/smokehouse.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/853223/
how_to_build_a_small_smokehouse_for.html?cat=6

http://www.diy-guides.com/building-a-smoke-house/

http://www.smoking-meat.com/smokehouse-plans.html

Believe me, there are a lot of websites about making your own smoker.  Of course, there are small and large ones you can buy made from metal.  You shouldn’t be worried about an electric smoker.  There will be no electricity in the middle of nowhere when you are trying to survive.  If you can come up with something portable that will work, then that is what you should do.  If you do, then let all interested parties know how to make one, including me. 

If you get hungry enough you will learn to kill to eat.  This is not a statement meant to scare you, even though it should.  This is a statement of fact.  It should scare you because as I wrote before, if it gets to this point and it’s about survival, then it has already hit the fan!! 

Research the web while you can on everything you need to survive. Buy or make what you will need according to your circumstances.

There are a lot of Survival Books available that can tell you about almost anything for survival.  Remember, you also will need to know about what plants you can eat or use for cooking.  Buy books for this also that have color photos and get with someone that knows what is edible in your area.  Ask them if they will teach you what you can eat. There are many greens and roots out in the wild you can eat and there are those that will kill you or make you sick and/or cause damage to your system that will be permanent.  It always helps if you have someone with the knowledge who is willing to pass that knowledge on to you. 

Good Luck!!

Note:

The Gun Control Plot is more involved than meets the eye.  It is not about stopping crime.  As a matter of fact crime has been going down over several years, at least according to the FBI reports on crime.  It is part of the Agenda 21 conspiracy to depopulate the planet and starve us all.

I don't have the link or the article, but not long before I was forced to leave Missouri by my looser husband, there was an article in one of the local news sites that was asking for people to eliminate the deer population.  Now why would they do that when Missouri is the only state in the United States where the deer are free of wasting disease.  Many people in this state hunt for food and the deer meat is quite excellent.  We lived on it for three years, while we were there.  Also, I read that one of the government agencies is dropping vaccine pellets in the woods for the animals to eat.  VACCINES, yeah right! 

The bees, the birds and now the deer and who knows what else is being killed off by these so called vaccine pellets.   It looks to me like someone doesn't want anyone to be able to live off wild game if they have to.  It's part of the movement to force people who live in rural areas into the cities, so they can be controlled easier, which is also part of the Agenda 21 scenario.

Now the jerks in Congress are talking about banning shot guns.  Some states only allow hunting with a shot gun and not a rifle.  A coincidence, don't think so!  Pay attention and connect the dots.
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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