Waste not, want not

[MacHete]

In another thread, a forumite cast doubt on the feasability and practicality of one man making use of a whole deer in a survival situation. I freely admit that I have not done this myself. But, I have performed enough of the component tasks seperately (see below) that I am convinced it is both possible and realistic.

I have:
*Brain tanned hide.
*Harvested sinew for cordage. -I did a crappy job, but learned a lot and am sure subsequent attempts will be increasingly successful.
*Fashioned and used bone tools.
*Eaten and enjoyed sun-dried pemmican made by a friend with stripped steaks, rock salt and wild fruit. I have the recipe somewhere.

I have not:
*Boiled hooves down to glue.
*Made anything but dogfood out of the gut pile.
*Drank the blood as an after-hunt refresher.

I am sure others out there have done more than I, so, without framing the question too tightly; Have you made full use of a large animal in the wild without access to refrigeration, a kitchen with spice cabinet and food processor, or a garage workshop?

 

[psy-ops]

what kind of tools out of bone?

were they useful?



next hunting I will really make as much as possible!

jerky, sinew cordage, brain tan hide maybe some bone tools?

 

[Spydie Man]

I apolagize if i came off like a cynic.
You have no idea how many times I have heard a guy tell me "Ill just head for the hills and live off the land , hunt deer and fish." If anything ever happened the citys would be empty and there wouldnt be anymore deer. I don't see anything wrong with taking a deer I just think it is a bit excessive unless you are talking about feeding about 4or more people.
I agree there are alot of other things that can be done with the remains other than eating. However I may have lost the spirit of this forum. So for the sake of the proliforation of knowlage. Here are a couple of suggestions.
Intesines can be turned inside out and scraped clean then boiled. A concave rock and a bone tool or another rock can be used as a crude meat grinder a little stuffing and viola sausage. also bone marrow with some boiled thistle or lambsqurater "the smaller the better" pretty good soup.

 

[Powderburn]

In "Naked into the Widerness: Primitive Wilderness Living and Suvival Skills" John and Jeri McPherson go into great detail explaining how to make use of every bit of a deer without any modern conveniences.

* You brain tan the hide.
* Use the sinew for thread and/or cordage.
* Bladder, stomach, intestines, etc are used for storage/stuffing.
* Bones and antlers are made into needles, fish hooks, knives, scrapers, billets for pressure flaking flint and many other uses.
* Some of the meat is eaten fresh. The rest is jerked. Smoking the jerkey keeps the bugs off while drying. You can find natural sources of salt for curing.

Most people are deceived by the size of a deer. Once you bone out a doe or small buck you realize how little meat they provide. If you were in a survival situation and eating it for every meal, that meat won't last long.

 

[scotjute]

When my father was growing up they would smoke hogs and
other meat. They had a smoke house where the meat was
hung and a smoky fire was kept going on a dirt floor.
Apparently they would smoke it for several days in the
fall and it kept for quite a while. He also told me
about salting meat in a barrel which kept for quite a
while. the smoke house was still standing when I was
a teenager. Apparently the smoking process worked ok
for preserving meat. They would leave it hanging there
till needed and then cut off some for daily consumption.
Granted that is probably beyond the scope of someone
temporarily living off the land, but if you're going
to be doing
it for a while, you will eventually go from tents and
lean-to's to more permanent structures, unless you're
constantly on the run.
The other problem that I can see developing is keeping
one's stache of meat/food safe from other predators/
rodents.

 

[psy-ops]

I don't think of it as running off into the hills cliche.

but more like you killed animal and taken a life so instead of tossing out everything but the meat and "rack" you try use it all.

I just think of it as a more respectful type of hunting.
plus it is also learning new skills and/or keeping alive old ones which is challenging and fun at least for me.

 

[MacHete]

Chris, in answer to your bone tool question, I made (or attempted to make)a scapula scraper; a drill bow; a stone axe; sewing needles; fish hooks.

The scraper worked best because it required the least modification. No esoteric, long-lost skill involved, I just sharpened the edge. I didn't try to make any kind of handle for it. In a long-term scenario I probably would tinker with it.

The drill bow suffered from my lousy sinew job. It also lacked sufficient arc to be very useful. I had to use a longer line to wrap the drill without banging against it. The result was very poor energy transfer. My spliced sinew wouldn't stand up to the rigorous use, so I tried rawhide. This held together better, but the shape and length of my bone bow was still "ergonomically challenged". There is likely some way to temporarily soften a long bone so that it can be bent to shape, but I am not aware of it.

The stone axe was attempted only as a mock-up to practise wrapping with the sinew. I had no real hopes of hard use from it. At best, I thought it would make a neat decor item. I didn't dry the sinew enough, and it shrank and broke. I have made stone axes with wood handles and paracord with good success, but there is a reason most people use steel.

Sewing needles and fish hooks were pretty easy to "whittle". The trickiest part was boring a hole through the bone. I used squirrel humeral and femur bones for these. The needles were fine for sewing hide and leather, but no amount of polishing would make them smooth enough to keep from snagging on woven fabrics. I never caught anything with the fish hooks, but I didn't really try very hard. I need to do that some day. I made them by simply splitting the bone from the middle toward an end, trying to get the biggest "barb" possible without cutting the bone too thin. You don't need a hole in the fish hook, just notch the top so it will hold a small wrap that can be attached to your line.

I am far from achieving "Grizzly Adams" status. All of the above were attempted in a leisurely atmosphere and a recreational situation, not in a high-risk, high pressure, do-or-die scenario. I had a college friend who was big-time into the whole "mountain-man" primitive, black powder thing. Whenever we'd go hunting, he would want to try something he'd read about. I was studying outdoor recreation programming at the time and was happy to try anything out. I began to get into it also and started taking survival classes.

 

[psy-ops]

the way I see it at least trying it gives you an understanding of the process and what is successful.

 

[Michael Bennett]

A few years back, in the tropics, I watched two men kill, dehair, gut and butcher a pig. The blood was saved in the process. The bulk of the meat was barbequed. The internal organs, including the intestines were washed, diced and cooked with the blood as a side dish. I don't remember the bones being used for anything.

It was interesting to watch. I wish I'd have paid more attention. It was a very clean kill, a deep plunge from the base of the neck toward (into?) the heart, with the pig on its back and feet tied. The knives they used would be ignored by most on this forum even if they were in the bargain bin, but they took and kept an excellent edge.

We ate the pig for at least three days with temps in the nineties F and high humidity. It was quite tasty. Refrigeration was minimal - salt and vinegar were used mainly as preservatives.

Mike