Wilderness Survival Guide: Practical Skills for the Outdoor Adventurer by Jason Marsteiner

Author:Jason Marsteiner [Marsteiner, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, pdf
Publisher: Rockridge Press
Published: 2021-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

ESSENTIAL KNOTS

Clove hitch

Square knot

Lashing knot

Siberian hitch (Evenk hitch)

Arbor knot (Canadian jam knot)

Bowline knot

Poacher’s knot

Cow hitch (lark’s head)

CHAPTER FIVE

LIVING OFF THE LAND

Whether you’re in the wilderness for a short overnight hike or testing your skills on an extended adventure, you’ll need to master some basic skills to live off the land. Foraging for food and creating tools using natural resources has become all but a lost art. In this chapter, I hope to inspire you to continue learning about all that can be found and utilized in the natural environment.

Bird and Small Animal Traps

Hunting and trapping are highly regulated. Know your local laws before you attempt either. Hunting—actively pursuing an animal with a projectile weapon—can be rewarding but takes a lot of energy, so trapping is a better alternative for procuring food for survival. If you opt to hunt, do so in the early morning and just before sundown.

When trapping, set and check your traps during the day; animals will most likely be trapped at night. Do not take setting traps lightly. Traps are indiscriminate and will harm anything that triggers them, including domestic and endangered animals as well as humans.

Two main types of traps are the passive trap , a snare wire or pit with no moving parts, and an active trap like a spring pole or counterweight, which has moving parts.

Most active traps consist of a support structure, a trigger or bait stick, a toggle, and a killing device. The support structure holds everything in place, the toggle moves in some direction to activate the killing device, and the trigger stick keeps the toggle from moving until it’s supposed to move. The following section outlines five trap types for different environments and prey.

TRAP TIPS

• Trapping is a numbers game. If you are trapping food to survive, build as many traps as you can and set new traps every day until you are constantly catching prey.

• Build a variety of traps to find out what works best. If a trap stops working, change it up or move traps around.

• Check your traps often. You will be competing with scavengers, so check your traps with caution. Check them first thing every morning and every night before the sun goes down.

• Trapping takes practice. The first time you build and set a trap will take a considerable amount of time. You’ll get better; don’t give up.

• Mark or map your traps so that you can easily find them.

• Bait your traps accordingly. Pay attention to what animals are eating and use their food as bait. Manmade bait, such as peanut butter, is not always your best option.

• Use entrails as bait for your next trap. Entrails will attract birds, larger scavengers, or predators (which are edible, too), and most rodents are cannibalistic and omnivorous.

• Set your traps to the side of game trails. Setting your traps directly on a large game trail is usually not productive.

• Set your traps near water sources, especially on small trails that lead to water sources.

• Take a smoke bath before setting or checking your traps to mask your human scent.

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