I'll offer some thoughts as a city dweller. I'm not sure exactly how I ever came to be a resident of a really large city (Los Angeles), since I prefer the countryside and the mountains. It must have something to do with all the women in my family - who like to be closer to malls. Anyway, these days I focus on "urban survival". This is a non-trivial challenge if your city turns into a disaster zone.

I do AGREE with an earlier point made that the USA can no longer sustain itself by hunting and foraging. Some people definitely can - esp. those lucky enough to live in very rural areas, and places like Missouri, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Montana etc. But we've got a much larger population now than we had back in the days of WW2 and the Great Depression. Another problem is that our supply line for supermarkets is very efficient, but the stocks are not big. We have "speed but not depth". This means that in any major national emergency, supplies of food on shelves could disappear in 2-3 days.

Probably my two best "weapons" for foraging would be the slingshot and fishing line. No need to explain the value of fishing if you live neat the coast - except that a LOT of other people would be trying the same thing (so chances of success are reduced). A slingshot is an excellent tool for small game, which may include squirrels in the local park and various birds (seagulls, pigeons, ravens). I have to admit that I would really NOT like the idea of eating cooked seagull or raven, since both birds are scavengers. But if you are desperate, you do what you have to do. I doubt the rest of my family would eat them, although my wife grew up in Missouri and probably would eat squirrel. But a couple of squirrels won't go far when you are feeding a family.

If things get rough in American cities (really desperate), I would not be surprised to see people go after pets. Stray dogs and cats are a potential meat source. I don't think a lot of people would really do this ... but some might.

Perhaps more practical is the ability to eat leaves from trees and large bushes. I would avoid small edible plants because you don't know what greenery has been sprayed with bad chemicals (this is a real problem). I was planning to start a separate thread on edible tree leaves in the future on this forum.

Pretty soon, if you go down the list of options for urban survival, you realize that the choices in a big city are not good. Which leads back to the idea that storing an adequate food supply is a really GOOD idea. My wife and I just stored up 3 weeks worth of food for our family this last weekend. I will try to supplement this with some long-term grain storage.

It strikes me that a really good survival project for anyone on this forum, esp. including Boy Scout groups (!), would be to take a slingshot, kill a squirrel, skin it and gut it, and boil the meat up in a soup. I bet this activity would generate a huge volume of complaints from some parents - but it's a very practical survival exercise. If I do it with my own family, I may post the results on the forum. Mostly for amusement. I'm sure some people here have done it in the past.

cheers,
Pete #2