Part V: Hunting & Traps

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Tom Brown, Jr. was brought up in the ways of the woods by a displaced Apache named Stalking Wolf. Today, he is one of our country's leading outdoor authorities, author of The Tracker and The Search, and head of the largest tracking and wilderness survival school in the U.S. (for information, write Tom Brown, Jr., Dept. TMEN, Box 173, Asbury, New Jersey 08802). And that's not all! Tom has agreed to do a series of special features for MOTHER, articles that will help all of us learn how to survive—in comfort!—in the wilds. With the tracker's guidance, we can all become more . . .

Most people, when trying to imagine how they might react if faced with a survival situation, immediately focus their attention on the problem of obtaining food. However (as those of you who've read the earlier installments in this series of articles already know), filling one's belly rates pretty low in the list of wilderness survival priorities . . . following shelter, water, and—especially in cold climates—fire.

The fact is that almost any reasonably healthy human being can get along for quite a few days with no food at all . . . and would suffer only hunger, and perhaps attendant stomach cramps, as a result of doing so. Therefore, the time for the survivalist to begin foraging for edibles is only after his or 'her more urgent needs have been taken care of. Now in most parts of North America, the most easily collected survival foods are wild plants. However, since many native vegetables aren't available in the winter months (and because most regular MOTHER-readers already have a pretty fair grounding in edible plant indentification), I've decided to discuss methods of gathering animal foods here. And the techniques that I'll focus on are hunting (with a simple throwing stick) and trapping.

HUNGER IS THE BEST APPETIZER

Naturally, when eating is a matter of life or death (as it could be if you were stranded for an extended period of time), an individual can't allow his or her dietary preferences to get in the way. You should know, then, that virtually all mammals are edible (in fact, when skinned and cleaned, very few animals can't be safely used as food). It's important, however, to avoid eating any creatures that show signs of sickness . . . and, if possible, to cook all meat (usually either on a spit or in a crude stew) until it's well done. Remember, too, that such protein sources as grubs, grasshoppers, cicadas, katydids, and crickets shouldn't be passed up!

THE MOST PRIMITIVE WEAPON

A basic throwing stick is, quite simply, a sturdy hunk of branch. The optimum size and shape will vary somewhat, depending upon personal preference, but I like a stick about 2-1/2 feet long and approximately half as thick as my wrist. Of course, some primitive peoples have turned the making of throwing sticks into an art form (consider the Australian kylie, or hunting boomerang, which is carved to an aerodynamic profile that actually allows it to fly farther than an unshaped stick of similar size and weight could be thrown). But for our purposes, we'll be discussing the handling of a weapon that requires nothing more, perhaps, than being broken to a comfortable length before it's put to use.