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I can't
tell you the numbers of times I have heard that one! People in the cities
are used to grocery store plastic and foam with their meat. Some don't
even know where the meat comes from in the grocery stores. From that crowd
I can understand that statement. But from hunters? I have seen people look
down their nose at suggesting eating wild game but mention other animals
and they freak out. Mention eating muskrats and people look at you like
you are from Mars with 2 heads. They have that stay away from my children
look. I find it amusing. But really Muskrat? (Marsh Rabbits) They have a
rat tail. No way I could eat that? A true rat tail is round where as a
Marsh Rabbit is flat on the sides.) Reminds me of old western movie I saw
with Paul Newman. A lady says I could never eat a dog. Paul Newman
replies, "Lady if you were really hungry you would eat it. I mean real
hunger not just missing a meal but not having a meal in 3 days. You would
gladly eat it and fight over the bones to suck the marrow out." In a lot
of ways I feel like Paul Newman. If you were really hungry you would
gladly eat it.
Muskrat for years in Louisiana were called "Marsh Rabbits." Think about
it. You are hunting rabbits miles from anywhere around a small farm pond.
You shoot a rabbit. I bet that rabbit would be good eating, right? Now
take it one more step. In the pond are muskrats. They live and feed on
almost the same kind of food, plant life. How come the rabbit is a prize
and the muskrat is scorned? It is a Programmed response because people
have been lead to believe that anything with the word "Rat" in it is unfit
for human consumption. This reminds me of a time when I was single and
sharing an apartment with 2 other guys. I spent a day making jerky. They
came home and the kitchen table was covered with done jerky cooling before
packing. They asked if they could try some. I said sure why not. They were
eating and raving about how great it was. After both had eaten 3 or more
pieces they asked what kind of meat it was. I smiled and said guess?
Tasted like farm raise beef kind of lean. Maybe an old bull that was why
it was chewy. Nope, snapping turtle, I reply. One guy immediately ran to
bathroom to puke. The other guy grabbed another piece and said that it was
great. You see it was all physiological for the guy who puked. He was
seconds before raving about how good it was until he found out what it
was.
Muskrat (Marsh Rabbit) is the same way. Sometimes when a person becomes
brave enough to try it they will gut a muskrat inside the house. This I
will warn is a big mistake. Muskrat live a long time underwater and for
some reason they really smell when you open their guts up. Make sure you
clean them outside. Or if you just want to try it, skin it and leave the
guts in and cut off the back legs. I did this last year on the back legs
of m'rats and we BBQ them on the grill. I can say with all honestly it was
the best Marsh Rabbit I have ever cooked. How does this fit into a
survival plan. Well, you can easily trap them with
#110 Conibears Traps as seen in
Water Trapping DVD or if you
are heading to a retreat you can make a multiple catch trap. Yes, this
trap can catch up to 10 in one night but most customers report back they
get between 3-5 a night. How to build this trap?
10 Homemade Traps DVD. Yes,
this is a blatant plug for my products but as one survivor of the Russian
Gulag stated a starving man would pay a handful of diamonds for an extra
slice of bread.
But what other animals can you get? Learn to snare small deer. What the
heck is small deer raccoons, ground hogs, beaver, etc.. Even in most
suburban area there is plenty of animals running around like raccoons,
ground hogs (woodchucks) squirrels, rabbits, marsh rabbits, etc. How to
snare them is covered in
Survival
Snaring DVD. Raccoons are easy to snare once you learn how. Now
raccoon are a very important survival food because 2 lbs of roasted coon
meat equals 2500 calories. As U.S. ROG stated. 1 raccoon can provide a
soldier 4 days worth of food. How you cook raccoons is very important they
are very greasy but if you grill or roast them over a fire so the fat can
drip off they are truly excellent. Another way is to par boil. Allow to
cool and strip the meat off and then make a stew.
Beaver another excellent food source. In fact they are one of my favorite
wild game I like it better then venison. They tasted real close to beef.
Survival
Snaring DVD and Water Trapping
DVD both cover catching these animals in detail. As one customer told
me. "I took the back legs off and decide to roast it at work one day.
Place two back legs in roasting pan pour over the meat 1 cup of Lipton
onion soup and baked for 1 hour. Guys at work were at first real hesitant
to tried it. But finally they did and before I knew it almost all of it
was gone. Afterwards everyone was asking when I was bring more in."
I always hear all the animals will be wiped out. I smile when I hear this
one. Please keep believing this. More food for the rest of us. I have read
100's of accounts of trappers who made it through the Great Depression.
You can't hunt all the animals out like beaver and marsh rabbits. You need
traps for that. You still should have store food but what if you can add
25-100 animals each year. Sure would stretch your food supply won't it. By
the way I trapped in Michigan back in the late 70's, early 80 some
counties had unemployment rate at 25% (same as the Great Depression) I
caught plenty of animals.
One last thing Pre Y2K I was working a show selling conibears traps and
snares. Two Air Force enlisted guys in uniform walked by and I asked if
they want any traps they said, "No I could never do that to an animal." I
just smiled. The conibear trap was rated as one of the most humane traps
for quick kills on the market. Just a different kind of mouse trap. But
when these folks come back day, after day, after day, after day with no
game from hunting they will wish to God they would have bought some
supplies.
In a True TEOTWAWKI happens with no resupply possible and you are hungry
for 3 days straight sure would be nice to whip out some traps or snares
and go catch dinner. If you can get over your programming of, "I could
never eat that."
Buckshot
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