Hunting techniques, foraging information and tracking

First thing you need to understand when putting together a hunting gathering party, always use the buddy system. Should you get injured, sick or worse, its best to have someone accompanying you to assist you and vice verse.

Now first is foraging, did you know that 70% of all plants are toxic to humans. Its important to know which plants are good for you and which plants will make you ill or even kill you. Poison hemlock has killed people who mistook it for its relatives, wild carrots and wild parsnips so be careful!

There are many plants throughout the world. Tasting or swallowing even a small portion of some can cause severe discomfort, extreme internal disorders, and even death. Therefore, if you have the slightest doubt about a plant's edibility, apply the Universal Edibility Test before eating any portion of it.

1. Separate - Because only some parts of the plant may be edible, separate it into its five basic parts. These are the leaves, roots, stems, buds and flowers. There may not be buds or flowers. Check out the parts for worms or insects -- you want a clean and fresh plant. Evidence of parasites or worms is a good sign that it's rotting. If you find them, discard the plant and get another of the same variety or choose a different one.

2. Contact - First you need to perform a contact test. If it's not good for your skin, it's not good for your belly. Crush only one of the plant parts and rub it on the inside of your wrist or elbow for 15 minutes. Now wait for eight hours. If you have a reaction at the point of contact, then you don't want to continue with this part of the plant. A burning sensation, redness, welts and bumps are all bad signs. While you wait, you can drink water, but don't eat anything. If there is no topical reaction after eight hours, move along to the next step.

3. Cook - Some toxic plants become edible after they're boiled, so get out your apron and start cooking. Your goal is to test it how you would eat it, so if you don't have any means to boil the plant part, test it raw. Once you've boiled it, or if you're going raw, take the plant part and hold it to your lip for three minutes. If you feel any kind of burning or tingling sensation, remove the piece from your lip and start over with a new part. If there's no reaction, press on.

4. Taste - Pop the same part in your mouth and hold it on your tongue for another 15 minutes. If you experience anything unpleasant, spit it out and wash your mouth with water. You're looking for a similar burning or tingling as you did on your lip. It may not taste great, but that doesn't mean it's toxic.

If there's no adverse reaction in step four, keep on truckin' to the the next steps.

5. Chew - After you've held the piece of plant on your tongue for 15 minutes with no adverse reaction, chew it thoroughly and hold it in your mouth for another 15 minutes. Don't swallow. Once again, if you feel any kind of burning, tingling or numbness spit it out and rinse with water.

6. Swallow - If you make it through step five, you'll have a pretty soggy piece of plant in your mouth. At the end of the 15 minutes, you need to swallow that soggy piece. Now comes more waiting. Don't eat anything for eight hours. You can drink water, but no more plant or any other kind of food. If you feel nauseous, you need to induce vomiting and drink a lot of water. If you feel fine during the eight-hour waiting period, proceed to the next step.

7. Chow - Now you get to chow down a little. Gather roughly one quarter cup of the exact same part of the same plant and prepare it in the same way you did in step three. Eat the plant and wait another eight hours. If you feel sick, follow the same steps as above. You can drink water during the waiting period, but as always, refrain from eating anything else.

If you make it through this final waiting period and you feel fine, then congratulations, you just aced the universal edibility test. You can now assume that this one part of this one plant is safe to eat if prepared in the same way. In order to determine if the other parts of the plant are safe to eat, you need to perform the same test on those parts. It's a time-consuming process, but if you're in a survival situation, it might just save your life. Try to multi-task during the waiting periods -- gather wood, build your shelter, hunt or fish for food, find water.

Plant Warning Signs

Aside from the universal edibility test, there are a few other tips on what kinds of plants you should avoid. These tips may rule out some plants that are edible, but it's better to do that than to risk getting poisoned.

+ Never eat plants with thorns.
+ Steer clear of plants with shiny leaves.
+ Don't eat mushrooms. Many are safe to eat, but many are highly toxic and even deadly, so it's not worth the risk.
+ Umbrella-shaped flowers are a bad sign. Stay away from these plants.
+ Don't eat plants with white or yellow berries.
+ If the plant's sap is milky or discolored, leave it alone.
+ Avoid beans or plants with seeds inside a pod.
+ If it tastes bitter or soapy, spit it out.
+ Avoid anything that smells like almonds.
+ Same as poison ivy, stay away from plants with leaves in groups of three.

Follow this guide and you'll be having a salad of wild greens in no time.

If you have White Pines in your vicinity they will save your life. The pine needles are packed with vitamin C and other essential nutrients and pair very well with wild foul or small game, as I speak from experience.

We are now gonna cover fishing, there is the traditional way of a pole, hook and bait, the fishing net, the harpoon, and the explosive.

I'm gonna cover the most moronic way to fish first as its also the most effective and dangerous too. You simply find a stick of dynamite, light it, place it into a container that floats, use a grenade or homemade pipe bomb, even cherry bombs will work and send it into the middle of a river or lake and wait for it to explode. The explosion or shockwave pretty much kills fish in a rather large radius. Big or small the fish will sit on the surface and you simply just pick them up and fill up the stores. Why is this highly effective way the moron's way? Well for starters you can blow yourself up, it will kill more fish than you need in a high population lake or river, you can render yourself deaf if your too close and its honestly like the idiots who hunt duck with an AK-47.

Harpoon Fishing or spearfishing - First you need to make your own spear, you will need a knife and string or cord.
1. Cut a tree sapling to use as the spear shaft. Try to find a sapling that is as straight and long as possible, and sufficiently strong to hold a fish pinned to the bottom.
2.Remove any branches from the sapling using the knife.
3.Split the heavy end of the sapling into two pieces, 6 inches in length.
4.Insert a small piece of wood between the two split sections to hold them apart.
5.Use string or cord to lash the wedge in place and prevent further splitting of the sapling.
6.Sharpen each split section to a point. One or more barbs can be carved into the points, if desired.
7.If possible, fire-harden the spear tips by placing them in a fire just long enough to char and harden, without catching on fire.

When spearfishing, having a pair a goggles will make things much easier as you will be able to see clearly in the water even if its a bit murky. Simply find your prey and launch the spear at it. It should skewer the prey and you can easily grab the spear out of the water and put the kill in your bucket or forage basket.
A fish spear can also be used to capture aquatic vertebrates such as frogs and salamanders. It's also excellent for salmon and trout in rivers.

Edited by Xavier Atreides, 5 month(s) ago