Vegetarians in the Wild

[rik_uk3]

We should all consider ourselves lucky to be able to indulge in our preferences of what we want to eat, to have the choice to hand when so many people in this world eat only what they can find or are given by charities.

The greatest 'indulgence' for me... a whole isle in Tesco devoted to water, plain, flavoured, fizzy, big bottle, small bottle.

 

[Fat Rog]

Good thread this one. I'm a newbie too and the last thing I want to do is offend anyone, so I'll apologise ahead of time for any offence caused to anyone by my reply . The OP asked if there was cruelty in bushcraft. I think it's difficult (nigh on impossible) to trap/ snare an animal without causing it some degree of distress. This can be seen as cruelty by many, yet to the person who is trapping to survive it is seen as unavoidable. Unpleasant, but unavoidable. If the animal is despatched immediately then any stress or suffering is minimised. However, it can conceivably be several hours before you check your snare. Nobody sets a trap and then sits by it all day waiting for it go off. We leave them because if we stayed too close there's a good chance the prey would sense our presence and flee. So we go off and do other things and come back later to check if we've been successful or not. How long has fluffy been dangling there, kicking and struggling? 5mins? An hour? Most of the day? How long is too long? This is something we all have wrestle with our own consciences about, and try not to make judgements upon others who do things differently for whatever reason.

To me though whatever side you take, the ability to make an effective snare is a nescesary skill for bushcraft, even if it's just a case of making one and then taking it straight down once you've tested it. Your life may depend upon your ability to catch another creature and eat it. Not likely if you're off for an overnighter in the local woods, but on Dartmoor or in the Highlands for example it's easy to get lost, and the rations you brought with you won't sustain you forever.

The best advice I can give is to practice making a variety of different snares and learn where best to place them. Once you're sure it will work, take it down. Then build another. Practice practice practice. But don't rely on trapping alone to provide food, foraging is an equally vital skill for survival in the wild, and often foraged foodstuff might be all that is on offer.

THT

 

[Fat Rog]

Lol, that last bit should have been HTH not THT, sometimes my keyboard skills are lacking. But it's not an essential skill for survival, so I'll live with the fact

 

[Toddy]

There's a caveat to that FR...........I won't eat the meat, so there's no point me practicing snaring anything. It's not even of interest to me how to do it.
Strange that really, since virtually every other bush 'craft' fascinates me

cheers,
M

 

[Fat Rog]

There's a caveat to that FR...........I won't eat the meat, so there's no point me practicing snaring anything. It's not even of interest to me how to do it.
Strange that really, since virtually every other bush 'craft' fascinates me

cheers,
M

I can dig that, especially if your foraging skills are good enough that you don't need to trap to survive in the wild .

The human animal can survive - thrive even - without meat. But most peoples knowledge of edible wild plants/ fungi is limited to say the least. You could say "all the more reason to educate yourself" and that's what I intend to do over the winter months. But I do worry - how sure am I that the berries I've picked won't land me in A&E? You can't go far wrong with a squirrel or a rabbit, get it wrong with mushrooms and your next stop could be the mortuary. I'm not that confident in my abilities to identify plants that are safe to eat, so for me learning to trap food IS an essential skill. Again, trapping isn't something I do to obtain my meat - it's why we have butchers . Just nice to know that if the sh*t hits the fan and I find myself stranded in an unfamiliar environment I would have enough knowledge to be able to catch my next meal.