The first firearm thread got me thing about other ways to procure food (meat) in the wilderness. For figure-4 and other "kill instantly" traps, how long after death can the animal safely be field dressed and eaten? Assume that it's a "smaller then a breadbox" critter.

I don't know why you would not dress and eat it immediately.

In fact, in warm environments, butchering it and cook it immediately would ensure it remains safe to eat because it would not have time to spoil.

If the deadfall trap is not checked regularly, and you're in a warm environment, the question of "Has this been dead too long?" seems to be a serious one. Now, BG will eat anything, but my GI tract is not up to that task.

Some might argue that the meat should be aged. If I'm collecting meat using deadfalls, then aging it is the last thing on my mind.

I've found that the dear family prefers squirrel that's NOT been toted around for a couple of hours marinating in it's own juices.

Once I started treating game -- deer, fish, squirrel -- as fine meat and not road kill, people started liking it a whole lot more.

Impossible to answer precisely, and this is one reason I prefer fishing, but here goes;

The organisms of decay are not the same as the organisms that cause food poisoning eg, Botulism, Salmonella, Lysteria, etc. The size and type of animal, how it was killed, the air temperature, exposure to the sun, and humidity are all important factors in how long meat will remain edible.

If I were in a serious survival situation, I would carefully examine the animal, and if it looked and smelled OK, I would skin, dress, cook well-done and eat the larger muscle meat and avoid internal organs. I would not eat small rodents unless I just killed them.

Incidently, better to forget the frustrating figure 4 traps and put a new wood-based rat trap in your backpack. Dirt cheap, lightweight, and will catch squirrels and small muskrats and rabbits. Drill a hole for a wire lanyard before you go. You can use the back as a cleaning board.

In reality, it doesn't matter, as long as you cook it well enough. Even rotting roadkill can be eaten if cooked long enough and to a high enough temperature. I guess it depends on how hungry you are, and if you need it to save your life.

If you limit the eating to intact, solid, meat that isn't blown or rotted the time you have depends on a number of factors.

Ambient temperature makes a difference. In sub-zero temperatures animals go from alive, to on-ice rapidly enough that you have a long time. At 98F meat will rot much more quickly.

It also depends on what sort of processing you undertake. A carcass that is carefully bled, gutted and skinned will cool off more rapidly and decompose more slowly. A lot depends on the details. A dirty knife, puncturing the bowel when gutting, getting dirt on the meat, and failure to bleed all speed or spread bacteria that will increase the rate of decomposition.

Larger animals should be gutted and bled early so they cool quickly. Small animals cool off much more quickly.

I've read that bleeding is not necessarily required but I'll stay old-school and respectfully disagree.

How cold is it out? If it's too cold, you have not much time at all to dress the critter - at least gut it - otherwise it's carving an ice block.

Be sure to evaluate the overall condition of the animal before deciding to eat it at all. If normal exterior and body weight and internal organs look okay, be sure to observe the internal organs and muscle meat closely. Beware of internal or external patches of discoloration, odd smells, the presence of lots of parasites, areas of putrifaction, strange colored fluids, etcetera.

Then on to the variables of meat spoilage versus acceptable aging: primarily temperature, humidity, and personal taste, as noted by others.

Finally, remember various forms of intentional and unintentional preservation. Intense dry heat may have turned a small animal into jerky, and intense dry cold may have created a corpsicle. You can freeze, cook and can, turn strips into jerky, smoke, salt, pickle, use in pemmican, make into wet or dry sausage / salami, or preserve in some other way for long-term storage before eating.

So, how long? In some cases a very long time. I believe they have enjjoyed eating some wooly mammoth meat found frozen in the tundra that was thousands of years old!

I just checked California DFG website. Apparently, body gripping traps are illegal for anything but pest control. A kill instantly trap could be interpreted as one since the criteria seems to be "held alive and unharmed" for anythig but pest control.



Maybe fishing is a better idea...

We're talking survival aren't we? Rat traps are specifically excluded in the California statute you quoted but that aside, in a survival situation, you do whatever you need to to live. No one is going to challenge that. Besides, if they did arrest you and take you to jail, three hots and a cot sure beats eating dead mice.

I have had 6 Mourning Doves,Gutted/Grassed in my vest bag for more than 4hrs. in aprox.80 degree Dry weather,& had No problems when I got back to base to de-feather them,No bad smells,No parasytes,Excellent flavor stick roasted over Alderwood!Notice I said "Gutted/Grassed?Immediately after hunting/taking the bird's which lasted for about 1 1/2 hrs.,I gutted them including the crop,& stuffed the body cavity with Dry grass/straw type grass,leaving the heads/feet on.For Squirrel,I've skinned,then gutted them,per each one taken,On the spot,with the head,forearms,feet,tail cut off,then stuffed the body with dry grass,& rolled them in newspaper,carried in a haversack for 2hrs.time aprox.in 95 degree humid weather,No Ill affect's,Ever!Rabbit & Possum are done in the same manner as squirrel,at least for me anyhow,I've seen people carry their quarry for hrs. on end,without gutting/airing,& Those people are still alive,as I know it!If you can "Stomach" getting thru the Politics,You just may have a chance to obtain the intestinal fortitude,to hunt! Good Luck!