Survival harvest of birds

Assuming you have no firearms or archery equipment, how would you harvest birds in a survival situation beyond trying the old pull-string-to-jerk-stick-supporting-container trick?

It depends on a few things. So a few methods.
Note that almost all of these would be considered poaching under any conditions except dire necessity.
1: Snares, there are several types that can be set. Most survival texts give 2 types.

2: Box or deadfall traps set with triggers like the Figure 4 or the Paiute

3: Walk in funnel and ladder traps. It is possible to create traps which birds can enter but are unable to figure out how to get out of. Usually they are baited mazes with the tops closed.
The ladder trap is an old trick for catching crows or magpies.
The funnel trap is even easier to make. The entry could be a vertical offset V instead of a funnel too.
They show some on this page.
http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/Magpies.asp
It seems they would be a lot of work to weave out of sticks (wicker?) but I suppose if you had nothing better to spend your time on it would at least keep your mind occupied.

4: Nets, if you have netting you can set it as a trap, as a net you can chase birds into and if you are in a place the birds fly through as a net to tangle them out of the air. Sometimes you can set up netting and herd or bait a flock of birds underneath it.

5: Run them down, if it is molting season the birds can't fly and you might be able to chase them down. Of course with ducks and geese you have to cut them off from the water because they can easily out swim you.

6: Hit them with a rock. Kids in the north often hunt spruce hens and ptarmigan with sticks and stones. (how good is your aim?)

7: Pluck them off low roosts at night. Some birds like spruce hens roost up in trees but usually not very high and sometimes let you get within reach. You might want to make a capture noose with some string and a pole.

8: Raid nests. You are not actually getting the bird but eggs and nestlings. If you are in a hatchery or someplace where a lot of birds nest this can be very effective.

9: Use a bolo. This works for low flying birds. The idea is to tangle them up so they fall to the ground. It takes a bit of practice to know how to use one.
....
Bird lime has been used as a method of catching small birds, but I don't think it would pay to spend the time to make the bird lime. Usually it is made by boiling linseed oil down to very tacky goo or fermenting and boiling down holly bark and mixing it with oil.

Rabbit stick, or bola.

sling shoot

sling shot, rabbit stick.

Although, I am hoping that I learn something by watching "Men who stare at goats" with George Clooney and Ewan McGregor next month.

Crocodile Dundee could stare down and water buffalo so it could work.

but seriously, I train with a slingshot in my backyard.

check out page 264 of Richard Graves "bushcraft".it show's how to make a bird snare by putting many small loops of fine line,he said horse hair,on a stick and putting it in a tree.it's so effective that it's illegal.

Slingshot gets my vote.

Many birds eat fruit. Others (like crows) are scavengers, you could use leftover guts. Set your fishhook (with line anchored to something) in that.

Or sticky traps.

Sue

You could use an airgun. Pretty quiet, can be very accurate, and the ammo is cheap.

Does your BOB include makings of snares, a slingshot, or an air gun?

don't forget the plain old method of pissing off the bird and going hand-to-beak with it. I'm thinking specifically of Canadian geese, which seem to be pretty territorial. I've been charged a few times, and it seems it'd be easy enough to let it come at me and just break it's neck or choke it out.

That is what I thought also, until the first and only time I went goose hunting. I shot one that fell, but was not dead. I went out and wrung its neck until I thought it was dead. About 15 min. later the darn thing woke up and proceeded to kick the crap out of my father and me. Repeated the neck treatment with much more vigor, and it only napped 10 min. before being resurrected to pass pain and suffering on me again. (keep in mind this bird has also been shot already with a 12 Ga.)

Third time being the charm, I threw the emissary of satan out of the blind and gave it both barrels of 12 Ga. from 3 feet directly to the head/neck.

Just what the doctor ordered.......

The inside of a 5 foot by 15 foot goose blind is no place for one to share with a HIGHLY irritated representative of satan to the avian community. That bird kicked my @$$!

I hope that bird went directly to Valhalla.

And not as part of the menu!

If that bird was still alive, I would have entered it into a Mixed Martial Arts fight, and let it work up through the rankings. As its agent, I would have made a fortune!

LOL, just one more reason why I carry a good old Kabar out in the woods.

How about a net? It would take some work and know how to make one, as well as the materials. But one might be able to find good enough materials, and through some trial and error make a net that worked well enough.

One thing a net allows that some other forms may not, you might be able to capture your prey without killing it. Depending on the situation you are in, the animals could be worth more dead or alive. If you are starving, then food may be of the highest priority. If you are in a long term scenario, then the capture of live animals could allow you to have livestock, of a sort. IIRC, Geese are the animals that were first domesticated, so wild geese might be a good animal to try and raise.

You sir, are directly responsible for the coffee that just now spewed all over my monitor.

Up until now, I thought they were just there to tick me off by blocking the road. I never realized something more diabolical was at work.

Thanks for the laugh .....

LW

I don't think I'd enjoy tackling a P.O.'d Canada goose with my bare hands. They'll give most dogs a serious whuppin' with those wings.

They only times they're really vulnerable to close contact is when they're molting and can't fly. But they'll defend a nest or goslings with surprising vigour.

If you want one that badly, better have a plan. A good one.

I have been told that in desert regions "hunters" make a basket large enough to sit inside, cover it with brush, and sit inside waiting for birds and other critters to enter the basket seeking shade, at which time they are grabbed and, well, you know.

Re: bird cleaning methods to get only breast and leg meat.

I think in a survival situation you might want to pluck and gut birds to cook them whole, primarily for the fat associated with skin. The fat is high energy food. For the same reson you might want to cook by stewing or by indirect heat to allow fat drippings to be collected, rather than direct roasting over heat.

Also, the liver and other organs of some birds may be sources of mineral and other trace elements beneficial to long-term health.

Not to mention the survival uses of feathers, quills, bones, and other portions of the bird carcass.

I seem to remember a news article a few years ago when some trekkers had to be helicopter rescued by the emergency services in the Orkney Islands after being attacked by Great Skua's.


http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-home...;m=8&y=2008

1. How do Great Skua's taste.

2. Is this a survival use of bird story, or a survival use of trekkers story?

Mr Hitchcock's Lecture on mans relationship with birds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uELFbRBEvw

munch,munch - ahh. The gourmet licking his chops, leans back reflectively, closes his eyes, and says, "Not bad at all. A good Skua, but not a Great Skua."

Sorry, couldn't help myself

I've heard of putting glue, resin or birdlime onto branches to catch birds as they come in to roost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdlime

If you have a Gill net or fishing throw net can bait a area and catch many alive for food for many days.
baited hook on a rock or stump in water with the line In the water fastened to the bottom.

http://huntergathercook.typepad.com/huntergathering_wild_fres/2008/04/snare-me-a-meal.html

Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 Coffee Proof. It is what I use for business in my truck.

Two methods I have heard of or seen demonstrated:

I believe one is from a Ragnar Benson book. Stake a net or open hardware/chicken coop-type wire with openings large enough for a bird to poke it's head through about bird-shoulder height from the ground and seed the area. The birds will duck under the netting to get at the seed, stand up and get their head stuck in the net/wire and will be found awaiting your return.

The other method uses different devices, but all of these have the same idea. For small birds, a styrofoam coffee cup-sized cup will work, up to a 5 gallon bucket for larger birds; equivalent sized smooth-sided holes dug in the ground may work. Put seeds/feed in the cup/hole. The bird jumps in and feeds, but can't spread it's wings to fly out.

Native American methods:

http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/Curriculum/Units/birdslesson6.html

Bird and other bolas:

http://www.flight-toys.com/bolas.htm

That sounds like a good way to enter into a CQB fight with a snake.....

If you want to do and down and dirty lay out you area bait it have a swatch stick cover yourself [pit =trench] and wack away!

LOL! I didn't say it wasn't possible, I said it wasn't enjoyable.

Canada Geese don't flap around like a hapless chicken. They beat you with their wings, with focused and considerable force. There is definitely a risk-vs-reward calculation involved when you get up close and personal with one. They have earned their success as a species.

I suppose a good, stout hiking staff could shield you from some of the blows, and let you pin them down. The trick would be to pin the wings somehow, as quickly as possible. But have no illusions: you would have to seriously want that goose to get it.

If you need a demonstration, they will certainly oblige. (Good eating if you win, though.)

Kukuri.

"About 15 min. later the darn thing woke up and proceeded to kick the crap out of my father and me."

Sooooo..... what's the point of catching something if you can't kill it long enough to cook it and eat it?

OTOH, maybe geese don't cook their prey...

Sue

"...you might want to pluck and gut birds to cook them whole..."

Put them in a pot and scald them, should be easier to pluck. After gutting, put them back in the pot and cook them = meat + fat + broth.

Be sure to change the water between jobs.

Sue

There are many sets for snares and traps to catch birds. Gores have been used with great success on birds, and other animals and fish. Probably the easiest way is to snatch them off the roost or nest at night. My favorite is to use a minnow seine or other fishing net stretched between trees to catch them as they fly through the opening.

"Gores"?

A gore is a device used similar to a fishhook. It's a straight sharp-pointed piece of wood, bone, metal or whatever with a string tied through a hole located near center. The gore can be placed in a piece of bait so the animal will swallow it. After it's swallowed, the string pulls it cross-ways in the animals throat, and the animal is caught.
Hope that helps.

Ah! I learned those as "gorges," the first "hooks" used for fishing and other harvesting of animals.

http://www.ssrsi.org/Onsite/survfish.htm

Thanks.

I learned that with very small fish or with the parts of large fish you might otherwise discard, the most effective survival use is to dry them, pulverize everything, fins, bones, head, guts and all, into powder, and add the powder into whatever "stew" or "soup" you are cooking.

The idea is that nutrients, minerals, etcetera, are in all parts of a critter and, having invested the time and energy to harvest the critter, you want to consume them to get maximum benefit [and to honor the spirit of the critter, etcetera, if that is part of your belief system.]

Does this same practice, feathers aside, apply to birds?

Asian and other cultures routinely eat bird feet, wattles, brains, and perhaps other parts that we do not. I remember reading that some bird bones are used for tools, musical instruments, etcetera by various native peoples.

How would we make full use of the resources provided by a harvested bird in a survival situation?

Some hints from Alaska:

http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/Curriculum/Units/birdslesson7.html

I'd say there is a substantial amount of waste from most of the animals we consume that could be so processed into nutritious edible material. A lot of it goes into pet food now. It might be repugnant to our palates for now, but starvation would change attitudes pretty quickly I reckon.

I suspect you could so process most birds as you describe with fish and yield a lot more nutrition from them than we currently make use of.

You can even process the feathers into a highly nutritious protien goo. Soylent Bird, anyone?

-Blast

Many of the carcass parts that are incorporated into pet food don't even make decent pet food. Many food-poor cultures eat things because they are available, not because they are nutritious.

For instance: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080130-AP-haiti-eatin.html

Sue

Boomerang. Or stick.