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Rabbit starvation is only a problem if rabbits (which are extremely lean) are your only source of food, and if you are very scrawny. Add even a little fat to them, or eat anything else in your diet that has a little fat, and it doesn't happen. It used to happen to Native Americans when the only food they were able to catch in the late winter were rabbits or lean birds, and they had no bear or raccoon grease left to cook with it.
The same kind happen on an ultra lowfat diet, if it's high in protein and low in carbs. In general even less strict lowfat diets can make some people feel unsatisfied by any amount of eating (happens to me).
I don't believe it's a protein problem, as the explorer Stefansson noted there are many cultures with a very high intake of protein, often eating little else but meat and fish, and yet they are healthy and long lived. I believe that only people with kidney disease or poor kidney function need to restrict their intake of proteins.
As for tularemia, I don't believe that's a problem with properly raised rabbits because they wouldn't come in contact with the ticks that spread it. Some wild rabbits have it, and one is supposed to be careful about cleaning them (preferably I guess it would be with disposable gloves, though I've never seen a hunter use them! Maybe a good thing to stock up on for several reasons). You might also wish to stand downwind of the rabbit while cleaning out the guts so as not to inhale any bacteria. Of course thorough cooking is necessary.
Also one should use tick repellant when outdoors for that and for Lyme Disease. That's usually the standard high-potency DEET containing insect repellant. There are some nicer natural insect repellents coming onto the market, but I don't know if they are also effective against ticks.
don't know about squirrels,but...I know it takes 6 chipmunks to fill a skewer for b-b-q ing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hashford
didnt know there was any meat on a chipmunk.
There is meat on a mouse, but you just don't get much from a single one. And It would take me being pretty hard up to want to try meat sources that small, chipmunks and mice included! I did read something once where due to a mouse population explosion in the wilderness of somewhere or the other, this fellow cooked and ate them. I don't recall exactly why, but I think he saw coyotes eating them or something so gave it a try. I think he ate them whole to get the most nutrient value from them, the thought made me urk then and now!
When you think about it though, that might just be a cultural bias more than anything else. People eat all kinds of things in other countries that western world people would refuse. One of the small creatures I eat regularly is quail, but there is little meat on an individual quail. Same with other small creatures such as shrimp, squid, clams, scallops, mussels, etc. All are quite yummy, but eating just a single one wouldn't go very far in filling up a hungry tummy. But I digress from the original question...
While I have eaten squirrels before, and find them quite tasty, I would have a much more difficult time gathering enough chipmunks for a meal. Being so small and quick, they would be far harder to catch or trap. And shooting the little things dosent make any sense, as the ammo would be better spent on a more filling size prey. A fat squirrel would be worth a small bullet or pellet in terms of the food reward for the resource spent getting it.
Their skins are soft, the fur is quite nice particularly when they are in their prime coat. But there just isn't much of it, and you would need a LOT of squirrels for even the smallest clothing item made from them. If you were surviving in the wilderness, and the world had gone to hell, and had no access to modern clothing, I could see perhaps using them to make baby clothing or baby blankets. Or maybe used to make hats or hat/mitten/shoe liners for extra warmth, insulation, and softness. Rabbits are bigger though and just as numerous, with warmer and softer fur on a hide that's about 3-4 times the size of a squirrel.
I like the taste of squirrel, but they are a pain to clean because they are so tiny. A lot of effort for a little bit of meat. This is why I don't hunt quail or doves, either. You can 'bark' a squirrel - hit the tree next to it with a bullet or shot and it will concuss the squirrel. However, don't automatically assume they are dead, they are sometimes merely unconscious. And they will bite. Don't cook them whole if you are squeamish; they look like embryos in the pan.
that is grose, embryos? course we do eat eggs so...... not worried about them biting cause it will be dead before i get within 5 feet of it. now if i was in a city, they might shank me and steal my wallet and beat me.
Squirrels are tasty, and their pelts are soft (esp. in flush), water-resistant, and durable. How big your squirrels are will determine how many would be needed to make any article of clothing. Figure that you're only going to get about 60% of the pelt as a usable piece after you trim it up nicely for sewing. In our case, the squirrels are about the size of an avg house-cat... so 3-4 would probably result in a pair of gloves or a hat. Considering average proportions, a jacket would probably take 20-25 pelts; and long coat would be closer to 50-60.
Be advised skinning small game and tanning their pelts is time consuming and monotonous. Rabbits are definitely one of the easiest to skin, the virtually jump out of their fur with a couple strategic cuts. If that's all you have available, it's worth the time and effort rather than going nekkid; but if you have larger game around for hides and leathers, I'd save the small fuzzy furs for little, warm things like boot liners, gloves and hats.
Disgusting. Well, they say that liking foods is motivated heavily by culture. I guess I've been indoctrinated then. I'm also an extremely particular eater (especially when it comes to meat), so that doesn't help much.
Thinking about eating anything in the "rodent" category pretty much makes my stomach feel weird, even just thinking about it, nevermind actually eating it. Don't really care for most other small creatures either, regardless of whether they are rodents or in the 'other' category (rabbits, etc...), be it it land or waterborne. Oddly, I could probably eat some lizards or a turtle before I could eat rodents. Hmmm... weird.... no idea why.
I'd probably be one starving survivalist if my options were so limited that rodents and other types of small critters were the only food source practically available. I can't eat eggs anymore, either (which unfortunately could be a very good survival, as well as easily obtainable homesteading food). The very thought of it repulses me.
Last edited by FreedomThroughAnarchism; 09-03-2011 at 02:22 PM..
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FreedomThroughAnarchism
....... Thinking about eating anything in the "rodent" category pretty much makes my stomach feel weird, even just thinking about it, nevermind actually eating it. Don't really care for most other small creatures either, regardless of whether they are rodents (rabbits, etc...). .......
I remember my first introduction to a rabbit as a very young child was when my father to me to a farmer and asked him to kill and gut one in front of me. He figured it was time to introduce me to some of the nastier aspects of human food, so I would be at least a little hardened to it.
I watched with puzzlement as he killed the rabbit and mounted it up on something, then cut it open and began to remove the innards. What the hell was that stuff in there, what was happening? It didn't look like the insides of my toys. Later my mom cooked it, with a few choice words for my Dad about taking me to see that when I was so young (maybe 3 yo).
But pretty much any unappetizing looking meat tastes ok chopped up and put into a stew with herbs, vegetables and maybe a bit of wine.
Actually, the "six chipmunks to a skewer " is something my housemate figured out. He was living in the woods by himself for a while (before we met) and that's what he would do when he could catch enough of them to make a meal.
Me... no way. I don't even eat rabbit...I raised them as 4-H project when I was a kid, and refuse to eat them now. I also raised other farm livestock and don't have a problem eatting them now, just the rabbits.
There would have to be A LOT of wine involved and NOT for the cooking part...
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