I was re-reading Mors Kochanski's Northern Bushcraft the other day and came across something that had niggled me at the first reading of the book. In Chapter 11, 'The Moose', Kochanski states that amongst Northern peoples "A family of four may consume 80 moose a year, compared to about three times as many caribou."
Now the moose (Alces alces) has an adult live and entire weight ranging from about 600lb to over 1,300lb. The average fall (autumn) weight of a moose cow is around 880lb. There are various established formulae for calculating field dressed weight (gralloched + head removed); carcass weight (hide removed) and boneless venison weight for various deer species. I am no expert, and my maths may be a little rusty, but my calculations seem to indicate a monster meat diet, if Kochanski's assertion is correct.
Here's my question: How much moose venison does 80 moose per year equate to, expressed as pounds of boneless meat, per person (equally divided amongst the four in the family), per week?
Burnt Ash
Now the moose (Alces alces) has an adult live and entire weight ranging from about 600lb to over 1,300lb. The average fall (autumn) weight of a moose cow is around 880lb. There are various established formulae for calculating field dressed weight (gralloched + head removed); carcass weight (hide removed) and boneless venison weight for various deer species. I am no expert, and my maths may be a little rusty, but my calculations seem to indicate a monster meat diet, if Kochanski's assertion is correct.
Here's my question: How much moose venison does 80 moose per year equate to, expressed as pounds of boneless meat, per person (equally divided amongst the four in the family), per week?
Burnt Ash