Low-buck Foraging Kit-- .22lr Revolver, 20ga single shot?

[John in WI]

A trick I learned from my grandfather, who was a young pre-WWII German immigrant, was using modified rat traps to catch squirrels. I thought he was nuts (grandpa used to tell a lot of suspect stories, if you know what I mean). But as I kid, I tried it, and it worked amazingly well. I recently picked several of the traps up--with the number of squirrels around where I live, I could zap quite a few of them before the supply was diminished. I also dug out my worn out copy of "Deadfalls and Snares" that I got out of the back of Fur Fish and Game probably 30 years ago. I think prepping is all about taking whatever opportunity comes along. If it's trapping, if it's popping a goose, if it's cleaning out whatever is in fruit at the time.... Better to not keep all your eggs in one basket.

[GhostHawk]

There is a reason I have a dozen steel rat traps buried in my closet!

Plenty of material for snares also.

[vonfilm]

I always thought I could survive in the city by taking pigeons with an air rifle.

[Chena]

Returning to the topic of foraging weapons, back about 2000 I traded an American Arms 10 gauge SxS for a Baikal IZH-94 combination gun in 12 gauge over .308 and set about upgrading it. I tuned the triggers and a Fairbanks gunsmith fabricated an improved extractor. He also installed a flat base Weaver scope mount. Topped it off with a Pentax 0 to 4 power extended eye relief scope. With an extended Carlson Modified choke it will handle both lead and steel shot pretty well out to 35 - 40 yards and the rifle and shotgun barrels shoot close enough to the same point of aim out to that distance. With hand loads it will drop five rounds of 165 grain .308 into two inches at 100 yards. I stripped the God-awful Russian finish, which looked like used motor oil, and refinished with thinned epoxy under spar varnish. All told, I must have about $1k in the gun. Not cheap, but it will fill the pot with whatever wanders by in North American and is a constant companion on casual walks in the woods and long drives here in Alaska. It’s faults are being fairly heavy at about eight pounds and dropping 12 gauge slugs too low to regulate with the rifle barrel.

[barnetmill]

I always thought I could survive in the city by taking pigeons with an air rifle.

During the great depression I am told that there were not a lot of pigeons in some chicago neighborhoods. Stories of a child waiting by pigeon trap hoping to catch one is a story I remember.

[GhostHawk]

vonfilm Pigeon makes good eating. You could be right. But like anything else, once its open season it gets harder.

[barnetmill]

SHTF should not play into this. Like GhostHawk posted, people who think they will live off the land if that happens are living in a fool's paradise. Not only will there be little or no game to hunt, but you will be murdered by the locals. You will be taking food off their table. During SHTF, game laws are not the only laws suspended. If you forage, you will be at best be driven off and possibly murdered by the locals. You are taking food off their table, and they will be in organized groups.

Preppers have been sold lies and fantasies. Bugging out is almost certain death. If citidots want to bug out, they will need to be organized into armed gangs to take what they need from others. Those of us who live in the boonies, and have what they want, know that and what to do about it.

Shooting squirrels, rabbits and grouse to survive is never going to happen.

Think about this. How many of you been confronted by locals when hunting on public land? You have every right to hunt there but some "hick" will say, "This is my spot and I have hunted year for 20 years". Now, think about a SHTF event. No DNR, no LEO's, no "laws", just you and him and he may have a couple of friends with him. Are you going to tell him/them about your "rights"?

Consuming what comes to my land that I own can supplement what I can not get from empty stores shelves or if it is in the stores would be very expensive. one can live more or less off corn and beans that are not hard to grow supplemented by certain tree leaves and what ever else I can grow for vitamins. The occasional dove, stray dog or cat, rat, squirrel, raccoon, etc will be appreciated.
Many people will starve rather than eat the unfamiliar. US POWs in Korea that suffered from malnutrition were fed what the red chinese soldiers were getting. But, many would not eat it all. You would not put on wt and likely lose some, but it would keep you alive.
I doubt that I will have a gun battle over a squirrel or crow.

I am positive that most of my neighbors would not be eating song birds and snakes no matter how hungry.

For small furtive or least fast moving prey, the equivalent of what the europeans call garden/rook guns. I am talking about the loads that one could put into say a .44 pistol. Problem is pistols have rifling that is not good for groups. One could load the .410 down or even better maybe use a smooth bore flint lock horse pistol with shot for close range critters.

The ammo below is way too expensive, but its is the concept of value. A 1/4 oz of shot of say #6 at 600 fps. A 410 say with 3/8 of shot at 600 fps to take down small things.

[John in WI]

I read stories about the Siege of Leningrad--in addition to not having pigeons, there were also no feral dogs or cats. And rumors floated around, you also didn't see young children. Desperate times, desperate measures, I guess. I could get my head past eating a cat if need be (I've eaten iguana in south America. I've eaten racoon. I've eaten woodchuck...) Definitely, I'd be drawing the line at human children. In that case, I would literally starve to death if it came to it.

[John in WI]

I had an old depression era cookbook (unfortunately the book, it's authors and publishers are all lost to history) that had a number of recipes for pigeons (I remember "pigeon pot pie", which probably is prepared exactly like chicken pot pie). Throw in some veggies, a little corn starch to thicken it. Wouldn't be the worst food in the world. Maybe heap it over some rice or noodles. Here in WI, the parks are freaking LOADED with Canadian geese, in the fall, with mallards. Also, we are the "Sheephead Fishing Capitol of the World". Sheephead isn't my favorite fish by any stretch. But smoked it's not bad. Or breaded with an extra dose of pepper on it. Certainly better than starving--it would be a good role for kids. Drown some worms, see what kind of fish you can bring back. I also thought, should SHTF, there are some dams that are 3' thick with carp. I don't eat carp--but my chickens LOVE them. And the rest would be great potassium for the garden. Anyway, my little 10 hen backyard flock provides 5 eggs a day, even in the middle of winter. They can collect most of their own food. With a little protein supplement they could provide a ton of eggs. High quality food, which would be worth it's weight in gold for trade.

[Kestrel4k]

Beaver, muskrat, lynx, porcupine.
Was fortunate to grow up in the AK bush.

[vonfilm]

Back in the 1970’s a friend of mine who lived in a gulf coast city lived mostly on crabs and fish that he caught from the shore or wade fishing. He called it the best time of his life.