Byrd Hunter makes a good point about the chub.
I believe a lot of people think of sport species when they think of survival fishing when your most likely targets will be the more common and smaller coarse fish.
So I favour small hooks, split shot sinkers, light fishing line, and locally found natural baits with twigs for floats.
I would be much happier with a good meal of little ugly fish than no meal at all of big pretty fish.
But then again, I wouldn't refuse to club a salmon if it ran up a small stream to spawn and I really needed a meal.
Somebody mentioned snares.
Snares and simple traps can be very effective.
You can catch anything from squirrels and birds up to moose in a snare.
The problem for most people in trapping and snaring is they lack familiarity with the animals. To trap effectively requires a lot of knowledge about the habits of your prey.
(HINT: You will need slightly thicker snares for moose than for mice)
If you assume 1 snare in 10 producing every day you need to get twenty snares out if you are going to eat 2 rabbits a day.
You also need to count how soon you will deplete the area of wildlife. In some areas you might only have 1 rabbit on an acre of land, so catching 10 rabbits would mean you cleared 10 acres of rabbits.
The reason why rabbit snare is carried is that it is the lightest snare material that is reasonable and also it is good emergency repair material.
Deadfalls are another effective small game killer.
But like snares you need to know where to set them. Knowing where to set is more important than knowing the method of setting a trap, and it is all about knowing the animal's behaviours.
I recommend taking a trapper's course for anybody thinking about it. Most Provinces and States offer them at very reasonable prices even if you don't intend to make a career out of it.
Edited by scafool (02/26/10 05:43 AM)
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