Archery Hunting for Sustenance

[Winston Smith]

Just curious as to people's thoughts on this, as I have a new compound in the mail and am anxious to get started. It seems to me that the reusability and stealth of arrows might be useful in a survival situation, and switching small game and broad heads provides versatility. The challenges seem to be the difficulty of archery hunting possibly making it a calorie negative activity, and preserving meat without electricity. Any thoughts?

[nes999]

To me it doesnt sound like you have hunted with a bow before. My best advice is to shoot shoot shoot. After you get comfortable shooting your new bow go hunting. You will pick it up fast. It is not as calorie intesive as one would think. I personally do both stand hunting and non stand hunting with mine.

[Ad'lan]

To be sustainable, you'd need quite a large "range" or territory that was yours to hunt in, with a large enough, healthy enough supply of game. You'd have to stay on the move, or range pretty far out from a central location to prevent driving off all the game from over hunting. This would then complicate the probelms of storing and preserving your kills.

In addition, no matter how tough your arrows and compound, they will fail at some point, your arrow nails the squirrel to a tree, but breaks when it hits an old screw left in the bark, or your bow gets knocked and the timing on your Cam's break. Modern compounds are great, but they need support equipment to keep going.

What I envisage as my ideal future home is a small farm on which I grow food, and then owning more land which I maintain as good habitat for the wild game, and harvesting a sustainable amount from the local deer population every autumn.

That's my best case hunting with a bow for sustenance, In reality, most of the calories from a Hunter-Gatherer people comes from the gathering side of things. Meat provides essential nutrients, but in a one man alone in the woods scenario, while I'd love to spend all day sitting over deer trails, my time and calories would probably be better spent digging up roots, or making small game snares.

However, in the right circumstances, hunting for sustenance is entirely plausible. Spot and stalk is probably worst for calorie spent vs earned, while waiting for the deer over a good trail will allow you to rest, until you get a shot. Of course, getting that shot isn't guaranteed.

Come join our latest archery thread http://www.zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=85289.


PS: Preserving meat without electricity requires smoking, salting, desiccating or sharing with friends who will then pay you back with meat at a later date (hopefully).

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Can you actually hunt somethign smaller than a cat with a bow? I'm genuinely curious now.

[Ad'lan]

Can you actually hunt somethign smaller than a cat with a bow? I'm genuinely curious now.

Small game and bird points allow you to take lots of small game, squirrels are popular. Pigeon and in places where they are a pest, starling.

However, there isn't really a limit:

[MikeM]

Can you actually hunt somethign smaller than a cat with a bow? I'm genuinely curious now.

Rabbits are the smallest animal I can think of that is commonly hunted. Hunting rabbits typically calls for setting up and adapting the lanes that they normally use and then sitting on your ass and waiting, but since the "sitting on your ass and waiting" is 99% of bow hunting it isn't that different.

The uber hunt with the bow (in my corner of the country anyway) is the turkey. If you can take one of those with a bow you've proved your skills.

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Can you actually hunt somethign smaller than a cat with a bow? I'm genuinely curious now.

Rabbits are the smallest animal I can think of that is commonly hunted. Hunting rabbits typically calls for setting up and adapting the lanes that they normally use and then sitting on your ass and waiting, but since the "sitting on your ass and waiting" is 99% of bow hunting it isn't that different.

The uber hunt with the bow (in my corner of the country anyway) is the turkey. If you can take one of those with a bow you've proved your skills.

I spot and stalk when I gun-hunt. Bows are starting to attract me because I've been lead to understand that stalking plays a larger part in bow-hunting. I can't sit still in a stand, it's too much like standing post.

[Anomic1]

Hunt for fun, trap for survival.

Instead of watching one trail with your bow where you may or may not see a deer, and may or may not make a sucessful shot. You can have traps set on a dozen trails... Id set for squirrel/ranbitts unless you have a lot of people to feed. A brace of small game is plenty to feed a man for a day or two

[huntingohio]

I think its been hit on the head already but ill restate in redneck terminology.
Bow hunting for small game is no easy feet, even using traps and snares your gonna go hungry a lot of the time. Youd need a combo of fishing, trapping, hunting, gathering, and farming to feed yourself. Farming and fishing would be most reliable of those, in my opinon your experence may differ.

Now as far as prerving meat research salting and smoking, also making pemmican. The pemmican is greasy stuff but a log of it a loaf of hardtack and gathered greens would have been the original mre, and can be quite tasty.

[Brotherbadger]

Hunt for fun, trap for survival.

Instead of watching one trail with your bow where you may or may not see a deer, and may or may not make a sucessful shot. You can have traps set on a dozen trails... Id set for squirrel/ranbitts unless you have a lot of people to feed. A brace of small game is plenty to feed a man for a day or two

Trapping is a great idea, as long as you make sure to remember where you put the traps(those things HURT!). I'd personally do both if i had the time(never hurts to increase your odds, especially because animals might go days between using certain trails, and it's not a guarantee they will get stuck in the trap).

[sherlockbonez]

Many arrows and broadheads are not really reusable as old arrows can be potentially very dangerous. Strings and cables will stretch overtime needs to be tuned up and replaced with a new string every few years. Anyone who have shot a few rounds of 3D will tell you that once you shoot the arrow, depending on the terrain, will be difficult to find.

Even tho small game and broadheads are of equal weight, they will have different point of impact. I think a trad bow has some merit for long term use, but compound bow is like well tuned machine and would perform poorly the long term.

[FlintLock]

I'm exploring this too. I used to take archery lessons when I was a teenager. It was so damn fun. I'll be buying a recurve (easier to maintain and you dont need a bow press to restring it) and take some archery classes again. My uncle and I are going to set up an archery range on his yard (8 acre land) and I'll take this year to practice as well as take some archery courses. I want to bring confidence to the field with me so I'll spend time building up my skill before I hunt with it. There's an avid bow hunter in my family so I'm sure I can draw on his experiences too. To top it off, my ol' pops is going to give me his compound too so that's a bonus.

[Ad'lan]

I'm exploring this too. I used to take archery lessons when I was a teenager. It was so damn fun. I'll be buying a recurve (easier to maintain and you dont need a bow press to restring it) and take some archery classes again. My uncle and I are going to set up an archery range on his yard (8 acre land) and I'll take this year to practice as well as take some archery courses. I want to bring confidence to the field with me so I'll spend time building up my skill before I hunt with it. There's an avid bow hunter in my family so I'm sure I can draw on his experiences too. To top it off, my ol' pops is going to give me his compound too so that's a bonus.

Welcome to the Forum. Sounds like a plan. Why not head over to Introductions and .... er introduce yourself?

Looks like you've got a plan that's pretty solid. If you practice solidly all summer, you may find yourself able too start hunting this season. I'd be sure to look into what ever hunter education programs there are around you, you may need a bowhunter qualification to get your licences, and you'll learn a lot from them.

Don't just rely on your archer skills either, as a bowhunter you'll want to walk on your animal knowledge and your ability to move silently (even if it's just within a stand).

[Marxist]

"Hunt for fun, trap for survival."

I agree, trapping is more effective for survival because you can do something else while leaving your traps out. And please, eat the animals you hunt. If you don't than it's just killing for no particular reason.

[Blacksmith]

In the same volume of space as 50 arrows and hunting tips I can store 5000+ rounds of .22rf or 500+ rounds of .308. The safe money is on the .308 for large game, a suppressed .22 for small game.

I know a guy who hit a squirrel with an arrow once. We both agree it was more luck than anything.

[jor-el]

Just curious as to people's thoughts on this, as I have a new compound in the mail and am anxious to get started. It seems to me that the reusability and stealth of arrows might be useful in a survival situation, and switching small game and broad heads provides versatility. The challenges seem to be the difficulty of archery hunting possibly making it a calorie negative activity, and preserving meat without electricity. Any thoughts?

Before you do anything else, hunting permits?

In NY, south of the Catskills I think most of the counties are shotgun only, with a short one-two week archery season before and after the main season. Does CT have similar time frames and firearm restrictions?

ETA: Apparently during the archery season CT forbids possession of firearms, so no carrying a pistol with your bow, unless you can claim LEOSA.

[imrcly]

When I first picked up a bow after nearly a decade I could barely draw back a 35# recurve. It took a couple of months of almost daily shooting to be able to do it reliably. I still struggle with a 55# recurve. I haven't tried it yet but there is also bow fishing, it can be a fast and kinda reliable method of acquiring food depending on your local waters.

[Doctorr Fabulous]

In the same volume of space as 50 arrows and hunting tips I can store 5000+ rounds of .22rf or 500+ rounds of .308. The safe money is on the .308 for large game, a suppressed .22 for small game.

I know a guy who hit a squirrel with an arrow once. We both agree it was more luck than anything.

But if you have a rifle, then you can't do this:

[Blacksmith]

In the same volume of space as 50 arrows and hunting tips I can store 5000+ rounds of .22rf or 500+ rounds of .308. The safe money is on the .308 for large game, a suppressed .22 for small game.

I know a guy who hit a squirrel with an arrow once. We both agree it was more luck than anything.

But if you have a rifle, then you can't do this:

If explosive war head arrows were legal I would so go with a bow for homestead defense. But they are not.

We have three compound bows and a cross bow here. The kids love to shoot them more than the guns. It is not any cheaper at the rate they go through arrows though.

[JFlagg]

With proper practice, shooting rabbits and squirrels is possible. I've shot more than I can count over the years... I've even tagged several grouse in CO. In HS I even got in trouble for shooting the songbirds out of the birdfeeder(stupid kid stuff) I've also taken elk, muledeer, dozens of whitetail and even several turkeys. The turkeys are by far the hardest to archery hunt. But I have no doubt I could survive, and even feed my family with my bow alone.

I also grew up shooting archery competitively my whole childhood till I graduated HS and joined the Army. So my skills may be above average, but with enough practice, anyone could feed themselves I think.

[charadeur]

Hunt for fun, trap for survival.

Instead of watching one trail with your bow where you may or may not see a deer, and may or may not make a sucessful shot. You can have traps set on a dozen trails... Id set for squirrel/ranbitts unless you have a lot of people to feed. A brace of small game is plenty to feed a man for a day or two

+1 This is 100% accurate. I am planing on having a firearm and bow for targets of opportunity but most food will come from trapping.


Edited to say I guess plus one gets changed in this forum. LOL I love it.

[madwolf]

Indubitably, my good sir this is 100% wrong.

I don't mean to be a dick here, but, this is how us poor folks that fed ourselves with our bows did it.

Small game permit, deer permit.

Find the right land, in our case, a farmer's field we had permission to hunt that was 50% corn, 50% apples and surrounded by hardwood forest.

Plop down in a good spot, shoot squirrels and rabbits until a deer comes along. If no deer, squirrel and rabbit stew with a side of corn and apples. We could routinely set our table with a good two hours of hunting whether we got a deer or not.

On the subject of small game, if you can't hit a squirrel with a bow, you can't hit the heart of a deer beyond 10 yards and probably have no business shooting at one in the first place.

There is no replacement for practice.

[Impus]

What Wolf said. I've gone a few months with my main source of protein/only meat being squirrel taken with a .177 pistol. Practice, hunger, perhaps skill.

Trapping expends less calories than stalking, but most critters are creatures of habit. Not hard to take if you pay attention. YMMV from the experience of others.

[bonanacrom]

When you study the critters they will come to you, no running around. Next, expect to loose a crap-ton of arrows, reusable ? I laugh. As to small stuff, I know a guy that finds it amusing to rid the chipmunks at his cabin using the bow, fucker is way better than I ever was.