Weapons and Hunting

[Tsufätu Ayioangä]

I'm not sure if this has been talked about yet so if it has, I appologize, but what are we going to be doing about food?  i realize that most of this knowedge will have to wait untill we know more about our suroundings, but as a whole, do we plan on still having meat in our diet?  And if we do, how do we plan on getting this meat?

My though, the mighty longbow of course!  The problem with this is that in order to actually be able to hunt with a longbow, you have to have some serious skill and accuracy so I think we should start learning now.  I am about to sit down and attempt my first fletching lesson and arrow making.  Hopefully it will turn out well.  I would liek to be able to do this well enough to actually be able to contribute and be usefull to the RLNT.

Anyway, mostly wanted your guys' comments on weather or not the bow will be used for actual hunting in the Tribe or if it will be more for sport.

[Tonbogiri]

Hmm, the old 'unting idea. We do plan on having game animals on location that we can hunt. Obviously control would have to be exercised to make sure we did not exterminate our quarry completely...
As for hunting methods, these were discussed a while back. The bow and arrow method got support, partly because it is still used today, and also because it is the primary method of those we are inspired by .
There are positives and negatives to the bow.
First is the amount of practice that would be required to hit anything - you are pretty right in saying that we need to get started now.
Second, the bow is far from subtle. The action of drawing the bow, as tribes today have shown us, is more than enough to spook wild animals and mess up your day... only by being totally invisible does the bow become silent but deadly(a point there - a good bow shouldn't make any noise anyhow).

On the plus side, the arrow is a pretty much one hit kill for any animal smaller than cattle. Fluffy Bunnies or game birds would stand no chance. If larger prey were available (kind of unlikely, but still - think monkeys!), then either poisoned arrows or multiple shots would have to do.

Other methods of hunting still done today are blowpipes - good when hunting with heavily poisoned darts - and traps - the most reliable method by far, as all we have to do is set up and wait.

Our eventual choice of method I think will depend on our location - which WE STILL HAVEN'T DECIDED ON!!!

[Teyl Maktoyu Ayfìwopxä]

Longbows and self-invented crossbows would be cool, we could also try to create a "test",
those who have not done this test yet,
will need a normal wood bow, those who have passed that test, will be bought a modern bow... No?
Offcourse not too many people who do this test at the same time, as that would be expensive. :p
And YES WE STILL NEED A LOCATION... :-S

[Tonbogiri]

I feel that we should try and make a "culture" for our tribe - and hunting could certainly be one of the core features. As part of an "initiation" for new members, a test involving our hunting method would probably be a good idea!

[Teyl Maktoyu Ayfìwopxä]

Lol we'll start by letting 3 people follow some lessons somewhere to learn the art of hunting by bow and arrows,
those people will then teach others slowly,
and if they think that person is ready for the test,
they'll hunt for eachother in the forest,
the one person must hunt down the others, but with blunt arrows
The 3 will stay on a fixed location untill the hunter found and shot them,
if the hunter is shot he must wait a few weeks to redo the test.

[Key'ìl Nekxetse]

I think you're not seeing all the problems.
You can set up traps and wait, but that's not it. You have to kill any-thing that is left alive, which is cruel and unpleasant. It's also illegal in many countries.
Killing something with poison or multiple arrows is also relatively cruel, although killing anything must be to some extent.
Bow hunting may not be legal, I don't know.
This is very negative, but I want to make sure that we know what we're talking about; killing animals for food. Not to mention skinning, butchering and cooking. I'm not sure how much of that I could do.
I think we should use as many methods of providing food as possible; hunting, gathering and agriculture.

[Tsufätu Ayioangä]

I deffinately wouldn't say no to farming and gathering as well but I know that humans cannot survive without some meat, which is the only reason I bring this up at all.

While the 'test' sounds cool, I'm not sure how many people would want to do it.  I know I, for one, would far rather shoot with a forest made bow then a store bought one.  I think this would be more of a fun activity then an actual test to hunter-hood.

I like the idea of poison because you don't have to necissarily do the killing after you shoot.  But we would have to think of where we would get the poison.

I like that you brought up the negatives Kay'íl.  We need to remember tat this is not for sprot but for survivle.

[Tsuksìm atsawl (KaPTan)]

poison is a messy business to deal with.  if you do not like the death of animals, then i suggest you make that blatantly clear to everyone else.  animals can be used so much more than just meat.  Farming and agriculture is great, but its long term, not good at counteracting immediate situations.

[Amaya]

Not that I'm a member of this part of the forum, but as someone who's spent a lot of time living "off the grid" and learning about living off the land even if I've not had the chance to put my skills into continuous use, there's one thing nobody seems to have mentioned here that just amazes me.  Maybe it's because I live on the coast, but...fish.  Fish can be a major source of "animal" protein, not to mention omega fatty acids, which help brain function.  Aykerusey is right.  Meat is a necessary, no, make that ESSENTIAL part of the human diet if you're going to be living away from modern conveniences.  Where do you think our big brains came from in the first place?  You certainly won't need to eat meat with the kind of regularity that we do here in North America, but some kind of meat at least twice a week will keep you from losing vital muscle mass and when living off the land, muscle mass really is vital.

Anyway...KEEP FISH IN MIND!

alright I'll shut up and disappear again now

[Emtokay]

It's all good people, I am capable of hunting with Bows and have experience as a butcher so that the end of this chapter (Homer Simpson reference)

[Tskoswizaw]

I can make a bow ive made about 22 in the past 4 years. And i can hunt and fish with both of those and I have the stomach for well butchering depending on how you want to put it. I might be able to make a video to show you guys how to make a bow. might be a month or so cause of school. But don't get me wrong gathering and farming help a ton as well.

[Tsufätu Ayioangä]

I hadn't thought of fish.  But we need to keep in mind that a lot of peaople are allregic to fish and don't realize it.  That and too much of anything is bad for you, so a deverse diet is a good thing.

Edit: I would love a video!

[Tskoswizaw]

OK will get working on it tomorrow!

[Key'ìl Nekxetse]

Anything you can teach the rest of us would be great!

[Emtokay]

well the butcher side of things is an entire apprenticeship bringing some outside equipment might be necessary

[Predict]

Previous consensus seems to have been fishing, otherwise bow hunting and traps. Poison does seem promising if a local source is available, I have no knowledge in that area. Also, an allergy to fish is surely extremely rare? Can't say I've heard otherwise.


I think we should be prepared to rely on more modern methods initially, again, not my area of expertise but as with everything we can't expect to make the transition all at once.

[Tonbogiri]

Heh, reminds me of my favourite survival rule: "when in doubt, bring lots of chocolate!"

Of course, I feel sorry for those with allergies...

[Tsufätu Ayioangä]

I was planning on looking into nature made poisons soon.

[Predict]

Excellent. At the moment, anything you can find across the tropics is useful. 

[TxepTaronyu]

Bear in mind that any poison used for hunting may find its way back into your system, and that many jurisdictions have laws that disallow people from fatally poisoning animals.