by Jon E. Lewis
Improvising hook and line
In the wild, on your own, you may not be lucky enough to have any hooks or line. But you can improvise them from natural materials.
The simplest improvised hook is the “gorge” or “toggle” hook. For this you will need a piece of bone or fire-hardened hardwood. Sharpen this at both ends and secure your line to its middle. When this is baited and taken by the fish it toggles inside the fish’s throat, lodging tight. Thorns can also be turned into improvised hooks, and you might even carve a standing hook from a piece of bone.
Fishing line is far more difficult to improvise than a fish hook. The strongest line you are likely to be able to make is a very thin rawhide line. Although rawhide loses much of its strength when wet, it is still appreciably stronger than most of the plant fibres you will have available. Simply cut a piece of rawhide in a spiral until you have a long, thin fishing line. Soak the line before use and don’t leave it submerged for more than a day or two.
Of the plant fibres you can use, nettle fibres are among the best. But, as with all plant cordage, you will need to gather a lot of nettles, and the process of turning them into cord is slow and laborious. Gather the longest nettles you can find and lay them out to dry in the sun. Once dry, they will have lost their sting and can be handled more easily. Take a mallet and split the stems, remove the pith until only the fibres remain. These can then be rolled on your thigh to produce strong cordage.
MEAT, TRAPPING
Meat is the most nourishing food for man, and is certainly the most satisfying for the fugitive who is surviving for any length of time in the wild. Collecting and eating grubs may be an easier option than trapping larger animals, but you have to get through a lot of worms and caterpillars to beat a decent rabbit or duck. Here we describe how to set about catching whatever you find.
The first thing to know is that all animals are edible (but not necessary the whole of the beast). The second thing is that they’re nearly all very difficult to catch and you’ll have to use all your skills to be successful; and that means understanding the animal’s way of life.
Daily habits
They’re usually fairly regular in their habits, using the same paths and trails, drinking at the same places on the river bank and from pools, sleeping in the same sheltered places. They also have a timetable, and stick to it; if an animal went to a certain place to drink at dawn this morning, there’s a very good chance that it will do the same again tomorrow. Spend time looking for signs of animals.
If there’s a lot of animal activity going on, find a hiding place and stay in it until you recognize the local wildlife patterns. It will make trapping or hunting them a great deal easier. All you’ve got going for you is your intelligence; they’ve lived there all their lives!
Unless you have an accurate weapon, such as a rifle, shotgun or cross-bow, hunting will be a lot less likely to provide you with dinner than trapping. In a hostile environment, where there are enemy forces or natives, hunting is almost certain to be impossible anyway, but let’s look at some of the basic skills you’ll need to hunt game in the wild.
Always assume that any small animals in the area will be wary and quick to run away. If they spot you, hear you or smell you (remember that their sense of smell may be a thousand times better than yours), they will either go to ground or disappear off into the distance. Seeing them before they become aware of you greatly increases your chances of catching them.
They often use the same pathways and drinking places, and make permanent homes. Look for their signs – tracks, paths in grass, faeces, dens, feeding places – and use that intelligence to help you set up a plan to catch them.
DEADFALLS
The figure-four deadfall is simple to make and surprisingly sensitive. The props should be as thin as you can make them, the fall itself as heavy as possible. The one shown here is relatively small, but you can make larger ones too, to stun larger animals.
Cut two sticks of roughly equal length, and trim and notch them as shown. Sharpen one end of each stick, one to go into the ground and the other to take the bait.
Cut and notch a third, longer stick to form the third side of the triangle.
Pay careful attention to the notches. Cut them too shallow and they won’t hold for very long.
You may find it frustrating, trying to set the trap up. But remember, the harder it is to get it to stay together, the more sensitive it will be in use.
Camouflage and approach
Remember, the fieldcraft that makes you a good foot-soldier can also make you a good hunter. Always obey the rules of camouflage and approach. Never silhouette yourself against the skyline, even in woodland. Always move upwind or across wind. Approach streams, rivers and waterholes very carefully, especially around dawn and dusk. Find cover and get into it, and wait for the animals.
And stay still! Fidgeting may cost you a meal – and that may end up costing you your life.
Larger game, even if it sees you, may not take flight straight away. Stop and keep still until it loses interest, and then approach in a wide zigzag. In hills and mountains, always try to get above the animal you’re stalking.
Best target areas
If you are shooting game, the best targets are the head, neck and the spine just behind the shoulder. Take your time, and make the first shot count – because you’re not likely to get a second chance. If you hit and wound the animal and it runs off, follow the blood trail. A badly wounded creature won’t have the strength to run far. Give it the chance to go to ground before following it up. Approach slowly and then make the kill. Don’t waste ammunition if you can finish it off by clubbing it.
Take a pole, fix some wire snares to it and lean it up against a tree where you’ve seen squirrels. It may seem too simple to be true, but these inquisitive creatures are quite likely to get caught up before too long.
Hunting, however, should take second place to making and setting traps. Traps are much more likely to provide you with a lasting supply of meat. Simple ones are very easy to make and set: the simplest of all is a snare – a slip noose firmly pegged into the ground or anchored to a rock or tree. Make them from wire if it’s available, or use plastic fishing line, string or even line made up from natural fibres.
These snares are especially effective when you set them at the entrance to burrows and dens. Set them in trees to catch squirrels, or make a “squirrel pole”: an eight to 12 ft (2.5 to 3.5m) pole with perhaps half-a-dozen snares around it, leaned up against a tree used by squirrels. It may sound too easy, but squirrels are inquisitive creatures and will often investigate something new just for the fun of it.
You’re not likely to be able to kill anything larger than a rabbit or a small cat with a wire snare, though you may slow down larger animals so that you have a better chance of clubbing them to death.
Trapping, even more than hunting, depends on how well you can read the signs. There is no point in placing a trap just anywhere hoping that an animal will stumble into it by chance! Entrances to burrows and tunnels are the best place. Look for signs that they are occupied – fresh droppings, signs of feeding and movement in and out.
Hanging snares are a more secure way of holding on to the animal that you’ve caught. They use the creature’s own weight to keep it from wriggling out of the noose. Apart from the wire noose itself, to make a hanging snare you need a sapling close to the run you’ve chosen, and a forked stick, or one bent over into a hoop. The forked stick is used as part of the trigger, holding the wire noose down in the animal’s way and presenting the bait. The example here uses a half-hoop, for increased sensitivity.
You can even scare off large animals this way – cats and bears, for instance. Building a fire when you’ve frightened them off will often make them stay away long enough for them to forget you’ve robbed them of their meal. But unless you’re well armed, don’t be too ready to take on these large predators yourself.
Unless you’re using wire for the snare, which may st
and up on its own, you will have to make a stand to hold the noose open. Two twigs, one each side of the mouth of the burrow or the path will do, with another one perhaps placed across the top to support the trap.
Human scent
Don’t forget to cover your scent; both on the snare itself and on the surrounding ground: soaking the snare in a stream after you’ve made it and before setting it is one way. Or you can rub it with cold ashes, or disguise your own scent with something stronger – urine from the bladder of a dead animal, for example. Animals are usually attracted to urine from their own kind.
Improved noose
You can improve on the simple noose, and make it more difficult for the animal to escape from the trap, by intertwining two lengths of wire. Use the two strands that are left at the end to make up a double running loop. These two loops will naturally catch in the twists of the wire that makes the body of the line and noose, and will make it much more difficult for the animal to wriggle out of the noose.
SKINNING SMALL ANIMALS
1 Lay the animal down on its back, spread all four legs wide, and cut from the anus up to the breastbone, taking care not to rupture the intestine.
2 Cut the skin through around all four paws at the first joint. Remove the guts, starting from the throat and working downwards. Do not eat these innards.
3 Now you can peel the skin off. You may find it necessary to remove the tail first.
4 Take the skin off in one piece. A firm grip and a quick pull are all that is needed.
5 The last thing to do is to remove the head. Keep the skin for making clothing.
You can always let predators do your hunting for you. Watch until you can work out their pattern of activity, then wait for them to make a kill. If you rush them you’ll often cause them to drop their prey.
Obvious targets
Don’t go around chasing squirrels while ignoring more obvious targets such as cows, sheep and other domestic animals – including cats and dogs. They’re all food, and often they’re just standing around waiting to become somebody’s meal – it may as well be yours. Bats and mice make good eating, but do not eat any of their innards, and immediately discard their heads, skin, feet and tails.
PRESERVING FOOD IN THE WILD
To survive in the wilderness you have to become a predator – and that means you have to compete with other animal predators for the same prey. You can learn a lot about survival by watching the animals around you. Notice how the animal that makes the kill isn’t always the one who enjoys the meal.
You can turn this to your advantage, but you also have to protect your kill from being stolen by other animals – not all of them friendly. You need to protect your food from the hordes of bugs and flies that want to eat your food and, worse, lay their eggs in it.
With care and the right techniques you should be able to keep your kill at least for long enough to let you eat all of it safely. With practice, you can even preserve your food indefinitely.
PRESERVING MEAT
First decide whether or not you intend to hunt large game. Preserving a large animal such as a deer will require considerably greater effort than will preserving a rabbit. The deciding factor is how long you expect to be stranded. If it’s likely to be a long time, killing a large animal means less hunting and brings with it a large and useful skin. But it also involves hard work to preserve the meat. Until you become expert at preserving meat you will find it easier to rely on smaller game to stock your larder.
Because all wild meats can carry parasites harmful to man, they must be cooked thoroughly before consumption, regardless of how you preserve them. Efficient cooking destroys parasites and is therefore an essential part of field hygiene.
Drying
Drying or “jerking” is the easiest way to preserve meat under survival conditions. First slice the meat into strips, approximately 2 in(5 cm) wide and ¼ in (0.5 cm) thick. Then string them on a thin stick or drape them over a bar on your drying rack. Make sure they are not touching each other.
Smoke your meat over a wood fire using timber from a deciduous tree, ideally willow or birch. Do not use conifers like pine or fir trees because their smoke will impart a vile taste to the meat. You can hang meat high above a slow, smouldering fire, but a quicker method is to dig a hole about a metre (3 ft) deep and 50 cm wide. Get a fire going at the bottom and pile on green wood to create the smoke. Place the meat on an improvised grate over the hole. One night of heavy smoking will preserve meat for five to seven days; two nights and it will remain edible for two to four weeks. When properly smoked, the meat will look like a dark, curled stick. It is highly nutritious and, best of all, it tastes good.
Precautions against flies
Until the surface of the meat has dried you run the risk of flies laying their eggs in it. You can prevent this with two simple precautions. Either site your drying rack in a sunny and windy location or, the more effective method, lay a slow smouldering fire under the rack. This will speed up the drying process as well as keeping off insects. Make absolutely certain, however, that the fire is giving out only a low heat and not much smoke. Don’t use green vegetation to produce the smoke, or you will taint the meat. If you need to increase the smoke, use some damp wood chips or bark from a non-poisonous tree.
The smoking can be stopped once the surface of the meat is dry. Allow the meat to hang in the sun or a dry place until it is brittle. It can then be stored, wrapped in dry grass and bark, until you need it. To use dried meat you can rehydrate it for broiling or steaming or, better still, just add it to a stew.
Pemmican
Once you have a store of dried meat, you can consider making pemmican, the survivors’ home-made, high-energy, high-protein emergency ration. Pemmican is ideal for long hunting trips or if you intend to make a break from civilisation. Take your brittle dried meat and pound it between two rocks until it is a powder. You now have the equivalent of a survival stock cube. Next, mix the powdered meat with sun-dried berries and plenty of rendered fat. Form the resulting sticky mass into palm-sized pellets and place these in the cleaned large intestine of an animal. Seal the ends by tying and with fat. You now have a survival sausage which can be eaten as it is, or sliced and added to stews, or fried on a hot stone.
Freezing
In Arctic conditions you may be able to store your meat by letting it freeze. But remember – even when frozen, the scent of the meat will be detected by other hungry predators. Make certain it is out of their reach.
Be sure that you will be able to cope with the meat once it is frozen. The most common mistake made by survivors is to freeze large pieces of meat. Instead, butcher it into meal size portions – they don’t take a week to defrost. Make quite sure the meat is thoroughly defrosted before cooking.
PRESERVING FISH
Your fish can be preserved along with your meat. Treat fish in the same way as meat – dry it, or make it into pemmican. The only difference is that fish goes off far more quickly, so must be dried as fast as possible. In all but the sunniest weather, this will mean you have to use a smudge fire or a smoke house.
Smoking
You can also deliberately flavour fish by smoking it. To do this you will need to hang the fish in a smoke house. Score the flesh before hanging, so that the smoke permeates the flesh better. Smoking fish in a smoke house is a little different to operating a smudge fire. A slow trickle of woodsmoke does the trick. Once you have started smoking the fish, check it on a regular basis. There are two stages in smoking fish: half smoking and full smoking. Half-smoked fish is still soft and flavoured of wood, ready for eating. Fully smoked fish is dry and brittle. Treat it in the same way as dried meat.
Fish pemmican is certainly an acquired taste when eaten raw. But it is an excellent addition to soups and stews, and can be fried to make delicious fish cakes.
PRESERVING FUNGI
If you are lucky you may be stranded during a glut of edible fungi. To preserve them for future use, you can dry them.
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nbsp; First clean each individual fungus, cutting out any parts attacked by insects. Be particularly thorough with fungi that have gills or pores, as these are a favourite breeding ground for grubs. Then string the fungi together on a cord or stick, and hang them in your smoke house or shelter to dry. Some fungi such as the Horn of Plenty can be powdered to use as a stew flavouring, while others are best served whole as chewy stew ingredients.
PRESERVING PLANTS
In general, plant foods are best used fresh. But at the onset of winter you must certainly consider stockpiling your supplies.
The easiest parts of plants to preserve are the young green leaves used for teas. Don’t pick the leaves and store them in containers – simply dry the stalks of the plant itself. With plants such as nettles, use the fibres in the dried stem for cordage. Store bundles of useful herbs in your shelter or smoke house.
Dry and grind up roots to use as flour, or bury them in layers of dry sand. Cover this to keep it dry.
Nuts, fruits and seeds
Nuts are best stored either as a flour or in open containers, still in their shells. Keep them dry and stir them regularly to prevent mildew.
Dry fruits by laying them on warm stones in the sun, and store them in containers with lids. Above all keep them dry.
The best way to store seeds long-term is by parching them. Only make flour in small batches. Otherwise you risk losing your whole crop to weevils.
Storing food
Your food store must be safe from mammals, must be dry, and must have a constant temperature. A properly constructed smoke house will meet many of these criteria, but don’t use it to store all your food. “Never keep all your eggs in one basket” is the golden rule when storing your life-saving food.