I know I'd rather hunt my own meat than buy it, but where do I start?

[Ruthiemari]

Hi all,

I'm very into wild food, and growing my own food. I'm quite happy with my plant-based abilities. I've recently stopped being veggie after discovering a good wild game dealer that I can get nice meat from. The problem is it is soooooo expensive, and has come so many miles too. There are lots of small rivers and canals near us, and I used to work at a fishery so am quite happy with killing and processing fish, but I have no idea how to fish. There's also alot of rabbits near us. But I have no idea how to go about catching them or processing them, and I don't really know where to start.

I think from a squeamish/ethicalness point of view I'd want to hunt them in a way that death was as instant as possible, and I'd struggle with up close killing. Air rifle looks like a good option, but I have no idea how to learn to fire one, or anything past that really.

Can anyone tell me how to learn how to kill fluffy bunnies? Or where to start with hunting for meat or fish generally?

 

[mountainm]

Please don't catch and kill fish from your local river or canal - a lot of good people have paid a lot of money for those fish to be in there..... the odd rainbow trout is fine I guess, and Zander is an alien species. But anything else please don't kill...

 

[beenn]

I think reading up about the legal side of things is good, You will need a fishing licence to fish but no license is needed for an air rifle, not too hard to learn to shoot just takes practice.
When i fish in rivers i catch and release and with the rifle i've only shot a few duck and a few wood pigeon so i'm no expert, i'm sure you will receive alot of help though

 

[Retired Member southey]

You will need permission from the land owner to shoot anything though dude.

 

[Retired Member southey]

in fact have a read through the stickies at the top of this sub forum, and search through the posts, the answers are already here matey, and welcome to the forum too!

 

[nitrambur]

With regards to fishing the environment agency website is a good place to start. They've recently introduced new laws on taking fish

 

[beenn]

You will need permission from the land owner to shoot anything though dude.

Thats a must unless shooting on your own land! I only shoot on a farmers land as i have permission to do so

 

[Ruthiemari]

Thanks both, I'm really not into fishing as a sport, so wouldn't be interested in catching and releasing. Mike - I was assuming that in the tiny rivers near us (we're near the start of the Calder), there would be wild brown trout? Would those not be okay to catch? Obviously with a fishing licence. If not, where do you catch fish to eat without paying the exorbitant fees that the fishery I used to work at charged?

(When you say people have paid a lot of money for the fish to be there, are you meaning through fishing licences? Genuine question, it took me about five minutes of sitting here going 'who pays for fish to be in the river?' for me to come up with that possibility )

 

[Ruthiemari]

You will need permission from the land owner to shoot anything though dude.

I live in the countryside - there's lots of farmers here who I'm sure wouldn't mind. And a few horse owners too, who from the little I have read would probably welcome me once I could actually shoot bunnies.

I tried the stickies at the top, but the FAQ one just has a load of questions, it doesn't seem to actually have the answers to the questions?

(PS. Dude and matey? The username is a clue... )

 

[Samon]

If there is a local gun club you can join that'll be a great place to learn about the rifle and gun safety you could use to get the rabbits, then speak to a land owner if you can use his/her land to shoot the rabbits and get written permission to do so!

Learning to process your freshly and humanely killed bunnies is pretty easy as there is alot of information on the web to help you, but it will take some practice not to foul the rabbits by opening up their stomaches accidentally.

With the fishing part, go to a local fishing tackle shop (or online if there aren't any local) and ask for advice on a small starter rod to net edible sized fishies, aquiring a fishing licence isn't a difficult process but it costs a few quid and a bit of paper work I think.. sea fishing doesn't require a licence though!

Processing fish is infact very simple and with the abundance of information on the web you can get it right in a few tries!

If you aren't limiting yourself to just rabbits and fish there is a massive variety of shellfish and meaty snails you can eat that taste brilliant, and again the information on how to process those type of craetures is easily avialable online.

Hope that helps mate! welcome aboard! irate:

 

[Ruthiemari]

I wish I was near the coast - sea fishing and shellfish gathering would be fab and easy, and I know (more or less) how to do it all!

Sadly I am in the heart of the Pennines. At least a hundred miles from ANY coast, and probably more like 150 miles to any coast I'd like to eat stuff from.

I still have 'snails? eww' issues going on. Care to enlighten me?

Gun club is a good idea. (I just have to get over my isshoos about expecting it to be full of hooray henries, or people who like torturing animals, or loads of patronising men)

 

[treelore]

i would`nt bother shooting rabbits if your not able to dispatch them buy hand, you can be the best shot in the world but we are human and s*&%t happens. i shot 43 the other night and out of that amount 2 still had to be done by hand, it`s just one of those things...

all the best

treelore

 

[Retired Member southey]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, the easiest way might be to look for a local gun/sporting/fishing shop, and nip in to ask about local air gun clubs, they would be your best bet for local knowledge whilst also gaining the skills to hit and kill what your aiming at.Dude.

 

[treelore]

local air gun clubs normal shot targets and not live prey, but your right your local gun shop will point you in the right way or try going beating on a local shot, as you get a few birds at the end of the day and you`ll rub shoulders with peeps in the know ;0

 

[rik_uk3]

If your going to shoot bunnies then go with someone who has already done this and won't hesitate when you find a rabbit you have not killed (and you will find them) to kill it should you stand back for the task.

 

[Samon]

I wish I was near the coast - sea fishing and shellfish gathering would be fab and easy, and I know (more or less) how to do it all!

Sadly I am in the heart of the Pennines. At least a hundred miles from ANY coast, and probably more like 150 miles to any coast I'd like to eat stuff from.

I still have 'snails? eww' issues going on. Care to enlighten me?

Gun club is a good idea. (I just have to get over my isshoos about expecting it to be full of hooray henries, or people who like torturing animals, or loads of patronising men)

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74147&highlight=eating+snails <<< the otrher day this thread was started regarding eating snails!

They are full of proteins and low in fat and taste very nice once cooked and prepared properly. The preparation of snails consists of cleansing their tummies so you don't eat anything nasty that they have eating, then boiling with different changes of water to get rid of the slimeyness, then you've got great meat that goes well with all sorts or on their own if you are particularly fond of their natural taste.

I'm pretty sure all snails here are edible so there will be a large menu once you get over the idea of them!

Also, woodlice are great eating! they go pink like prawns when cooked (as they are crustacions!) and can be fried and added to dry and wet foods.

My experience of gun clubs is the people they are usually of mixed ages but generaly older men and the vibe is always calm and relaxed. Most of the guys I'd speak to were nice and polite and were professional about their approach to killing animals of any kind.

The rest were just paper shooters that only came for practice with their target rifles and didn't fancy talking much about outdoor shooting.

Check around for a gun club and try out a gun, you may really like just shooting targets but if you ever got the opportunity to shoot an animal you'd be a better shot and that will help you know you done your best to inflict a swift kill.

Do as much research into local clubs and places before you decide to shoot or hook anything for dinner though.

 

[Kepis]

(When you say people have paid a lot of money for the fish to be there, are you meaning through fishing licences? Genuine question, it took me about five minutes of sitting here going 'who pays for fish to be in the river?' for me to come up with that possibility )

As a Fishery Manager & Trustee for a angling club that owns it's own lakes, i have spent in excess of £25k in the past couple of years stocking fish into the lakes i look after, ive already spent £7k this year and expect to spend more later in the year when it becomes feasible to start stocking again (O2 content in water), the money came directly from club funds with no grants etc being given or indeed sought from local or central Govt, it's all paid for from a budget which is set by the committee and is generated by the income we gain from membership fees.

If anyone is found removing fish from our waters we will, subject to committee discussion, ban them and they are black listed for life not only at our club but all the surrounding clubs and day ticket waters, if they are not members, then i know some clubs have had the police involved and have pressed charges for theft, the only way to remove fish from the water for the pot, and im only talking about fresh water here as it's different for sea fish, is like bunny shooting, you must have permission from the land owner or in this case the riparian owner to remove fish, because basically if you remove fish without permission, it's poaching and therefore ultimately, theft.

As the riparian owner we have paid a lot of money in not only buying the fish in from a fish farm, but paying for Section 30 health checks and consents to move fish (£300.00 a time), so rightly so we and and all other riparian owners guard and protect our property, it's costs us and our members a lot of money to keep the stock levels up, so why should people have the right to come and help themselves for free?.

Btw even a river comes under riparian law, a land owner might own a 100 yard bit of river or stream, but under law, he also owns all the fish in that stretch of river and when they swim down stream to the next landowner, he then owns them, it's complicated beyond belief.

I should say i have only spent so much money on fish in the past few years as we have had a program in place to drain and enlarge the lakes which we completed not that long ago, so when the lakes are refilled with water the lake might be twice the size or in one case three-four times the size it was and therefore it needs a considerable amount of extra stocking and funding to get to the recommended Lb/acre, oh yes, we were also visited by the Black Death (Cormorants) who alos had their fair share of the fish last winter, hence the need to buy additional stock to replace what they took.

Hope this helps?

 

[mountainm]

As a Fishery Manager & Trustee for a angling club that owns it's own lakes, i have spent in excess of £25k in the past couple of years stocking fish

<<snip>>

Hope this helps?

What he said (brilliant breakdown of costs) - but, yes the money from the rod licence goes towards maintaining a rivers cleanliness and healthy wild fish stocks. It's worth asking your local trout waters if you can do a spot of piking for the pot in winter. Trout fisherman don't often look kindly on old Esox. Personally though I'd hate to see such a magnificent creature killed when you can buy a fish down the market for much less than it costs in bait to catch a pike.

 

[Kepis]

With the fishing part, go to a local fishing tackle shop (or online if there aren't any local) and ask for advice on a small starter rod to net edible sized fishies, aquiring a fishing licence isn't a difficult process but it costs a few quid and a bit of paper work I think.. sea fishing doesn't require a licence though!

Getting a rod licence is easy, you can buy one over the counter at any Post Office or via the EA website http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/fishing/31497.aspx, takes minutes to do, or as many people do these days, pay for it with a DD and it just arrives in the post every year

 

[Samon]

£27 a year? not bad!

I didn't want to give the wrong adive Kepis so thanks for the link mate.

I'm still in favour for the bug feast though had some woodlice yesterday during our BBQ..bit gritty but not bad!