Has anyone in the group ever done a subsistence hunt/ trek? Me and some ALRA buddies are planing a 3 day 2 night outing where we live off the land here in the south east in November. Any suggestions?

Decide what you mean! No food whatsoever? Well that was sometimes the case, but longhunters who did that defaulted into that situation, as their corn had run out. BUT they had been in the area hunting for many months prior, so knew where the deer would be, AND could range over a large area to find deer.

Otherwise, carry 1.5 of a cups of rock-a-hominy (crushed parched corn), or steel cut oats or corn meal, per man. Your morning ration is 1/2 cup of dry stuff, boiled for 45 minutes to an hour. 1/2 cup x 3 days = 1.5 cups. That's it.

You'll be plenty hungry enough, especially in colder weather, AND make sure somebody packs and emergency ration of bag of brown sugar if the weather goes bad and wet, you will need the calories to walk out without hypothermia.

I'd also carry tea, salt, tobacco, and red pepper. If the weather gets you, hot sweet tea, and lots of it will get you out. Brown sugar was mentioned on purpose..., it has some additional carbs and nutrients, plus many folks going into hypothermia also suffer from dehydration, and liquid calories get into the blood faster, so again, hot sweet tea.

LD

woods looper , up here in the north lands we as kids growing up would alway`s go on what we called a salt & pepper hunt/fishing trip.
takeing only salt and pepper maybe garlic powder no food at all.

not advizable to do that ! never fails you take no food along mostlikely you`ll find no food.
but it seems if you take some you`ll find plenty !

at least thats the way it worked out for us.

and like dave say`s take a little something along it dont have to be much.

I, and the Mo ALRA boys completed that requirement several years ago. The requirement allows a days ration for each man, for a three day trek, for the first "survival" requirement.

We obeyed the game laws of MO, with the result that we shared one days meal of a small, real small, handful of peas, a real small handful of barley, and two squirrels, for four rather big boys.

We couldn't get the the river, so limb lines and trot lines weren't used. We probably would have eaten better if the river had been accessible.

The best advise I can give is to limit your activities to gathering food. Hunt while foraging. Forage while hunting.

And focus on the good time y'all are having.

God bless

For a week or less, food is a silly luxury, a lacy frill on the front of a work shirt. All you really need is water.

Three Hawks

Thanks for the advise. It is an ALRA requirement that we are doing. We are allowed one days ration at the start. We will be going to a member's 110 acre farm in Northern GA. There is a pond available to hopefully pull a fish or two from and I have seen numerous squirrels as well as a deer or two. It could get uncomfortable but I think I could survive three days if it all goes to crap.

I went to a survival school once where as a "final" we had to live off the land AND travel about 30 miles from point A to point B over 5 days.
It's awfully hard to travel and look for/gather food at the same time.
We set a lot of small game snares/deadfalls over night (rabbits were not a protected species) and setlines in the creeks. The traps/setlines actually were more productive than our hunting efforts.
We were in teams of 3. We would each set 4 snares/deadfalls. Of the 12 traps, usually 2 would have something in them.
Ate a big ol diamondback rattler too....

When I was in ranger school we were give one ration per day I ate all mine in a day and a half on a 5 day patrol (no chow dissiplan) and went 3 days with out food did that a couple of times it the 58 day school it sucks but can be done and I lost 40lbs so a 3 day trek with one day of rations is a cake walk

I usually treat all my hunting trips as "survival" treks. Since I'm now older than 99% of the original Longhunters,I do take some emergency stuff with me,haven't had to use any of it yet,but it does make for a mentally more comfortable trip and hunt. Remember,we are doing this for fun,and dying P.C. is NOT fun!

quote:

Originally posted by woods loper:
Thanks for the advise. It is an ALRA requirement that we are doing. We are allowed one days ration at the start. We will be going to a member's 110 acre farm in Northern GA. There is a pond available to hopefully pull a fish or two from and I have seen numerous squirrels as well as a deer or two. It could get uncomfortable but I think I could survive three days if it all goes to crap.

IMHO, three days without food is't all that big of a deal. It is uncomfortable, but, in the long run, discomfort is all you will experience, unless it is an appreciation for the good life we currently have, here in the good Ol' U.S.

Gotta have good water though.

Deercrop is right on. Most of the time, trapping will give more food per time/effort expended than hunting. We didn't trap, but should have. If I were to do it again, I would practice setting snares and dead-falls, in addition to set lines in any available body of water.

Good luck and God bless

that area should be a borg-a-schmord in the fall. Possum, Raccoon, Deer, Limb Bacon, Fish.
Mmmmmmmmmmm, good!
That is about the only thing(s) I miss about moving to Idaho from S Illinois. Bass ponds and all the small game shooting.

Rich