Survival Meat
Dr. John Woods 03.27.17
One of the more complex problems with an extended bug out scenario is how to implement a plan of food resource sustainability. Regardless of how many MRE’s you stocked up, or cans of tuna, chicken, or other foods, they are going to eventually run out. Unlike television shows depicting after the apocalypse existence, the likelihood of running into food supplies sitting around in homes or stores is remote. So, how do you keep eating?
Foraging for protein foods during a long term SHTF event is going to be tough, unless you take up hunting. In fact, deer hunting is a virtual survival existence must do. Why? A couple of easy reasons has to do with the prolific population of white-tailed deer in America with a range that exists in nearly every corner of the country. It is a readily available food source.
Even so, that does not automatically make this very edible quarry super simple to harvest. Deer are cunning, sensitive to their surroundings, and keenly aware of human presence. But obviously proven by the large numbers of deer harvested every hunting season in this country there are multiple ways to gather this food resource to supplement other foods during a protracted bug out, or in.
Deer like to gather in woodland areas where their own security finds a comfort zone. Forested areas that border open farm fields, pastures, and other native browse grazing opportunities will likely find the white-tailed deer in good numbers. These types of habitats provide the essential foods that deer seek out for their own survival. Find their food, and thus find them.
Deer can be hunted in numerous ways including archery or with bow and arrow, crossbows, black powder muzzleloading weapons, conventional smokeless powder firearms including rifles, shotgun, and handguns. Deer are considered soft-skinned animals, thus it does not require a substantial amount of weapon power to dispatch one. Precise shots to a deer’s kill zone is more critical than the magnum energy of a high powered rifle per se.
Deer are relatively easy to clean and process and a fair sized female doe or male buck deer can yield 50-75 pounds of deboned meat. Venison is high in quality proteins, low in cholesterol and fats, but a tremendous source of a satisfying food. Venison cooks easy like beef or pork in endless ways of roasting, grilling, stir frying, or stewing. If you want a long term solution to bug out foods, learn to hunt both small and large game as well as upland birds and waterfowl.
