I would like to be able to eat the animals and plants I harvest without concern about heavy metal, biological, or chemical poisoning.

Where in the United States can you count on harvesting clean wild food?

Thanks.

What do people hunt in your area, I would guess this is the answer.


Here people fish lake Erie a lot and never seem to have a problem. Whitetail deer are also heavily hunted as are rabbits, waterfowl and to some extent squirrel.

Probably the exception to this is pest shooting & varmint hunters rarely eat their kills, they do it because it’s fun to shoot. I know a lot of woodchuck hunters in this area (I’m one of them) but not one of them eat woodchuck. I don’t think there is anything wrong with eating them, but is just doesn’t seem to happen.

Go to a gun shop that caters to hunters and ask questions. Almost all parts of the country have animals that are hunted and eaten.

Yup, I just love foie gras of pigeon. With a side of squirrel hash, you have a classic big city meal.

Lots of pigeons in downtown Toledo, you almost step on them in some areas when walking around. I would imagine with an air rifle a person could harvest a lot of them if you were so inclined. Heck they are so tame a hammer would work.

And then there are the rats. And cats. And..., well, the list could go on and on...

Rats? I'll pass on that.

Rats aren't bad, just be careful how you clean them.

Just as every place has it's STOBAR, Every place has it's ecological system in place. Most of that system is edible. It may be like Iguana, tastes like crap but it will fill your belly!

In most of California there is both naturally occuring asbestos and manmade that has spread by wind currents. Almost every river carries a load of heavy metals and biochemicals from mining, urban or agricultural runoff, or both. Everything downwind of a significant city receives daily "rain" of toxic soup that goes into the soil and groundwater.

Fish & Game warns the young, the old, and pregnant woment not to eat more than a few ounces a month of many wild caught fish. All the courses I have attended on wild edible plant use warn us not to consume any significant quantities of plants that are downwind of a city or roadway, or near a known-polluted watersource.

People still harvest and eat plants and animals, but that provides little guidance on whether such practices are safe long-term.

I'm not sure you can eat anything that isn't contaminated in some way these days.
Go humanity!

Uptake of environmental pollution through consuming contaminated food is concentrated in longer-lived organisms higher in the food chain. For example, killer whales and polar bears are considered some of the most contmainated animals on the planet.

Fewer studies seem to be done on purely terrestrial mammals but it is hard to believe the same principles do not apply. And, yes, there is plenty of evidence that human-cultivated foods can be as polluted as wild foods.

So, the challenge is to find a relatively pollution free place to live and relatively contaminant-free food sources.

How are things in your neck of the woods?