Short of Throwing stones from your backyard what forms of Gathering The means to support your nutrition have you stockpiled? There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to obtain Game and I have been wondering if having just a Firearm is enough. When Ammunition Runs out What do you have left?

When I think long and hard about the subject a long long list of items obtainable in stores comes up but then I start thinking of more basic methods such as a Throwing stick. When Going out On a camping trip or hike I understand that its impractical to bring Things such as the throwing stick with you when you can make one easily but when surviving out of your own house would it be such a bad idea to have say a Five gallon bucket filled with prepared methods? Rat Traps, Slingshot, Marbles, Snares, Arrows/Arrow making supplies, Fishing Spears, Rod and tackle, Live Pest Traps, Ball barrings, Nets,.....Uhh...Ball-peen Hammers?...Well you get the point.

When modern Ammunition Runs out what will you have on hand to replace it? Would it be crazy to go as far as say, Purchase a Muzzle loading riffle and learning how to Make Lead Ball's and Gunpowder? I find people tend to forget that without modern factory equipment many of the things we rely on will run out quick in the worst case Emergencies. Modern Ammunition cannot be made without Modern machinery yet a ball of lead can be made with a home made smelter and a mold even a more accurate miniball.

I can't imagine a scenario nor is it on my radar where modern ammo would run out and seems beyond the scope of ETS forums. That said, there are plenty of other methods of catching game which may or may not be legal depending on your countries or jurisdictional law and may also violate the ETS terms of rules by discussing here.

I'm a rebel. I have no firearm. If we end up moving to a rural area, we'll likely get one for protection. My DH grew up going to the range, and that is in the future family plan. I've been toying with giving bow hunting a try but that's anothe topic.

For now, for food, we'd be looking at our very small urban garden, fish, small game and birds. We'd also have a very small selection of wild edibles that we recognize well enough to safely eat.

In terms of equipment, we've got:

-fishing gear
-slingshot and materials for slings
-rope and snare wire
-mouse traps (thank you Cody Lundin!)
-a homemade bow and arrow set (thank you Scouts!)
-rocks perfect for deadfalls
-about 2 dozen old metal and wood broom/mop handles, that are currently waiting for a Scouting project
-bags of bird seed and squirrel feed

We've also got knives, hammers, axes, shovels, etc. but i'm not sure how practical they'd be as hunting tools.

This weekend we watched Bear make a fish trap and go fish herding by throwing rocks. It looked like a kind of viable option.

Some things not to overlook:

-2 huge pine trees, on our property, that are adored by squirrels and birds
-lots of ongoing practice tracking and stalking
-a few pairs of good binocculars
-one pair of nightvision googles

Teslinhiker, maybe we can change the reference. I'm not comfortable with firearms, so what could a non-hunter use (not "do") to try to get food in a long-term scenario?

I think any realistic assessment would conclude that you run out of large game before you run out of cartridges. And that assumes some world-wide event that precludes anyone making cartridges, and/or the components used in reloading. Hard to imagine such an event. Local, mostly short term, shortages are not impossible but widespread and long term shortages seem unlikely.

If it comes down to it not much beats the brutal efficiency of gathering a community, tying crude nets, and using the majority of people as beaters to drive game into the nets where they are clubbed to death.

There are also snares, bows, spring and dead-fall traps, and endurance hunting where you run down and club the game to death. People have been killing game for a very long time and it is only the methods favored in the last few hundred years that would disappear, even in a worse-case scenario.

I realize debilitating shortages of ammunition and people living for years on large game hunting is a fixture in survivalist literature, and is often a working assumption, a 'given', in survivalist culture and boards, but I don't think that these assumptions are realistic.

Art has already replied with my same sentiments and I'll leave it at that.

The world's (and the United States') current population and population distribution cannot be supported by a hunting/gathering lifestyle.

If a disaster of sufficient magnitute were to occur that disabled our current agricultural and distribution system, there would be unsustainable hunting -- we would rapidly overhunt game animals leading to their virtual or actual extinction. This would happen much more quickly than most of us will deplete our ammunition supplies. Here's a way to visualize what will happen should such a disater ever occur -- imagine a floor map of the United States. Place a tube filled with 100 ball bearings on top of NYC, L.A., S.F., Chicago, Miami, Dallas, etc. Now, imagine what would happen if you lifted up each of the tubes simultaneously. The only meat animals left will be domesticated animals on farms and humans.

Accordingly, I do not recommend worrying too much about how to hunt for food once you run out of ammunition. Instead, you should plan on how to produce sufficient food to feed you and those for whom you are responsible.

Unfortunately, if you successfully implement your plan to produce food, you will become a target for others who are unable to produce sufficient food for themselves.

Thus, you will need a plan to protect yourself and your food production capabilities. The bad news is -- no amount of preparation will allow you to protect yourself if you act by yourself. You will need a self-sufficient community that is capable of defending itself.

If you manage to survive long enough to become part of a self-sufficient community, CONGRATULATIONS! Now the hard part begins, rebuilding civilization.

"TEOTWAWKI- The End Of The World As We Know It"
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=182658#Post182658

I suggest thinking the unthinkable from time to time is exactly what this ETS forum is all about. In the case of this thread, I would suggest that it points to seeking experience securing food without firearms - surely a useful skill in many conceivable situations - and perhaps widening your palate to include foods new to you.

Even here in California, which bans most trapping and netting of game animals, some study of the Fish & Game regulations suggests many other legal means of "thumping chow."

"Gathering" is an elastic term that might cover many food acquisition techniques. With a California hunting and fishing license, for example, you can both trap and hand gather coastal foods like crab, abalone [special regs and report required], bivalves [including but not limited to clams, mussels, and oysters], seaweed, and algae. On land, mushrooms, edible plants, and plant products do not move fast enough to elude the wily forager. Rattlesnakes may be taken anywhere, any time, and by any method without limit; while there is a two-a-day limit on other snakes.

Hook and line fishing techniques allow seeking saltwater and freshwater fish, turtles, and frogs with certain legal requirements. In some cases throw nets and bow-and-arrow may be used.

Then there are things like snails and insects.

No ammo required.

"Please note that this is not a "survivalist site" Where is this stated? I'll give you three guesses....

Pretty fanciful stuff. If I need to gather food on an emergency basis, I would look to vegetal sources and to non firearm techniques for efficient and effective good gathering. If your ammo should be running low,remember an old military maxim from the 19th century -"Save the last bullet for yourself."

C.H.U.D. & Soylent Green,Doesn't sound so far fetched afterall,Does it?:)