This is an insightful article that bears reading. As I have been
posting an actively groomed forest is a healthy forest and along with
all that comes species management to produce ample nut and fruit
harvests. Now we discover just how critical predictor management
becomes also.
Predator control allows ample utilization of the habitat and even
supplies the remaining preditors with an ample supply of scavenged
game as well. As this item makes clear, the game density can be
sustained at a huge level provided predator behavior is tightly
managed.
A hundred fold increase in game availability would actually allow
higher levels of carnivore population as well. What this really tells
us is that predators attack the young who represent the future
breeding population. Old bucks and dfoes get left alone because they
are too tough to confront.
Human management might even look to taking over the hunting aspect of
feeding the local scavengers. This is obviously needed just to
maintain the preditor population at the correct levels and can be
readily extended to select and drop surplus herd anima.ls. Add in my
ideas of providing winter fodder as well to allow fattening and a
major annual harvest and we have established a human wild husbandry
system that is sustainable and capable of a huge output. It also
produces a steady stream of pelts as well.
Bruce
‘Buckshot’ Hemming – A Modern Mountain Man
by theSurvivalistBlog.net
Contributor on May 29, 2014
by
Bruce ‘Buckshot’ Hemming
Being
a Modern Mountain man I have traveled all over and have had some very
unique experiences in my lifetime. I snared a wild pig in Hawaii,
trapped arctic blue fox in Alaska, trapped monster sized mink in
North Dakota, and had some hair rising Spring beaver trapping in
Upper Michigan. Nothing gets the blood flowing like tracking a bear
down that stole your beaver, trap and all. While your only defense is
a single shot .22 rifle. Looking for adventure takes on a whole new
meaning when you see the trap, the beaver half eaten, and you are
wondering where Mr. Bear is?
Through
my many adventure and love of nature I have matured. Now I spend time
researching about the early Mountain Men and the Native Americans and
how they survived. The modern prepper I think will find these facts
very interesting. One journal I read talked about an 8 man group that
came down from Canada to the Wyoming territory to trap beaver and
other furs worth cash money.
They
become stuck in a valley when heavy snows sealed off the pass with 11
foot tall snow drifts. The other big game animals in the area had
already left. These men had to survive until the spring melt. How did
they survive to tell their harrowing tale of plight and misery? By
trapping beaver. The traps were able to feed them until the spring
melt came.
Please
remember these were far better woodsmen then compared to today’s
hunters. These men were hard, tough, and did not have the convenience
of running down to the local grocery store for supplies. Even with
all their hunting skills without the traps they would have starved.
Remember that lesson for it will tell a story worth knowing.
Knowledge
is power. I read a lot about Native Americans. Though interesting
enough we Americans tend to think of the movies as a real true source
of information and to give us insights into how they lived. But this
is not true. Historians perceived of how they lived and some
scientist believe the correct term might be used as Gatherers/Hunters
instead of the common Hunter/Gatherers.
This
means they spent more time collecting nuts and berries then they
hunted. History is a great teacher. For instance, in September of
1869, the Cook-Folsom-Person Expedition, met the Native Americans who
were gathering and drying large quantities of chokecherries, at the
mouth of Tom Miner Creek just North of present day Yellowstone park.
A strict diet of just meat I am sure would become old to everyone but
it is also important to realize they were also getting important
vitamin and minerals from the plants, fruits and nuts they gathered
also.
Wikipedia
defines a hunter-gatherer or forage society as one in which most or
all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to
agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. I
would also add modern farming methods. According to the definition
Hunter/Gatherer is appropriate as long as one remembers that it’s
not just hunting and hundreds of pounds of nuts and berries are also
collected and consumed.
I
remember reading a book about how the Native Americans would gather
cattail roots to dry them and grind them into flour. Their grinding
method was using stones which as you might know will produce stone
grit in the cattail flour. His theory was that is why most Native
Americans in the 1800′s didn’t have their teeth after the age of
40 due to the stone grit wearing their teeth down.
What
is often not explained or even talked about in survival manuals and
wild plant guides is how much is gathered? It was common among Native
Americans that 100 bushels of nuts was collected per household.
But
this is where nature has a cruel trick for you to understand why you
must be able to adapt and over come.
I
have spent decades in the woods in one thing you learn is some years
different things are plentiful. I have seen a couple of times in my
life unbelievable huge acorn crops covering the dirt roads. But that
only happened once a decade. Other years were a normal crop and still
another year was no acorns to be found. I bring this up as a lesson
you can’t depend on only one crop such as acorns to survive.
Are
you a well-rounded prepper? Do you want to learn modern methods for
gathering food quickly? This spring I taught a class using modern
snares for spring beaver trapping. Not only did they learn how to
make snares, set snares, catch beaver, clean beaver, cook beaver, but
also proper care of the fur. The guys had beaver ear muffs made for
their loved ones. Nothing better to keep the ears warm in the winter
than real fur.
How
many people preparing have thought about replacement hats and mittens
for cold weather? Nothing in the world is warmer than natural fur. I
know, I tested my muskrat hat and beaver mittens at 40 below in a
North Dakota winter. Nothing has ever been able to keep me as warm as
real fur.
Do
you know how to tan hides to make soft leather? Like anything in life
there is learning curve to learning the proper steps in making soft
useable leather? I have classes that I teach folks
hands on training so you can truly learn the whole process of how to
trap and snare but also how to clean and cook what you catch plus how
to tan the furs to make soft leather.
An
often overlooked area in preppering is how to increase the available
game animals. This valuable insight on how to increase game herds is
vital information for long-term survival. Many people tend to
over-look the importance of predator control to increase the
available good eating prey species for yourself and your family.
People are quite confused on this topic because of a bombardment of
the hug a predator crowd that preaches predators balance nature.
Really?
Let’s test that theory with real science, not fantasy from fiction
writers. How devastating are grizzly bears and wolves on the caribou
population in Alaska? Dr. Kay noted in a study in 1996 that
carnivore predation alone can reduce caribou population densities to
only 1 percent, or less, of what the habitat is capable of
supporting.
That
means for every 1 caribou there could have been 99 more! Further
to prove his theory Dr. Kay then studied caribou on an island with no
predators. The results are shocking. The island caribou had a
population density of 7.45 per km compared to non migratory eastern
herd with a startling 0.03 caribou per km that had wolves and grizzly
bears preying on the caribou. It is clear for herd health
predator control is very beneficial to increase available wild game.
This
was not surprising to me after reading other studies of ducks, where
the predators such as coons, red fox, coyotes, and skunks were
removed to greatly increase duck numbers. From low numbers of hatch
survival rate of 17% skyrocketing up to 80% success rate. Once you
start studying this you will quickly learn that controlling predators
greatly increases the available game in an area. Predators need to be
controlled. The more control on predators the more increase you will
see in available game animals for your survival. It’s really common
sense.
Once
you study this and understand it is clear as day. Trapping
experience over the decades I have learned how much of a given
species to take out but still leave enough for a healthy supply of
animals the following year. This is called management. With
proper management you can have sustainable wildlife year after year.
This is more of a guaranteed food supply. But of course, other people
can throw the balance off.
If
you are to live in harmony with nature you must understand the rules.
Nature can provide for you but it comes down to a few simple
guidelines. Do you have the understanding to take advantage of all
available resources? Like the Mountain Men stuck in the valley they
did not become depressed and just give up.
They
took the problem on, adapted, used the tools they had to ensure their
own survival. Survival of the fittest is a well-known statement.
Apply it to your survival strategy. Look at wild game and wild plants
as added food to your food storage system. Every meal you can supply
greatly increase your survivability.
From
a preppers stand point I think it is clear you need to be
well-rounded in the art of Hunter/gatherer. You should know the
native plants in your area, how to dry them, and preserved them. How
to trap and snare. How to tan fur to make soft leather. The very
important predator control to increase the available game species in
your area.
I
have written about it before but it bares repeating. Nature doesn’t
care if you are ignorant about survival, if you fail and starve, the
sun was still rise the next day without you. Think about it.
Bruce
‘Buckshot’ Hemming http://www.snare-trap-survive.com/
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