Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Could you live on deer in a major crisis?

GONE in two weeks....

I’d have to stay home and guard the freezer! If the power goes out I’ll be canning a bunch and having one heck of a cookout!

I for one will Pray it doesn't happen.

In 1970 I accompanied my mother on a trip from N.KY to Lake Charles, LA to visit her brother and his family. Somewhere between here and there we went through some type of estate that had a connection to Audubon. In one of the rooms was a drawing of a Robin. The annotation under the drawing was that Robin was Audubon’s favorite bird meat.

Gone in a week,

Goodnight Kaywoodie

I should try eating robin....pound for pound compared to the number cherries and apricots they ruin. I wouldn't mind if they just ate their fill. However, they go down a limb and peck every cherry once, ruining them all and eating almost nothing.

You can eat robins and black birds but how many to put on the table

Four and twenty, if baked in a pie. 😉

We have a 5 gallon bucket of powdered Calcium Hypochlorite …..if my math is correct, enough to treat 5000,000 gallons of water, or make a lot of bleach! memtb

As a kid I killed a lot of Robins, about a dozen make for a good Gumbo! memtb

The initial population reduction will make it doable. But you would want a very diverse source of calories. Any type of red meat would be a rare meal.

Indigenous people lived just fine in North America. Life expectancy won’t be the same but the human race will go on.

The answer to the OPs question is yes, but not for very long at all. It would be brutal world. Doubt most would last long.

Not being funny, but I swear the deer population where I hunt has been down since covid. The local butcher said he had never given away more fat scraps than during that period. A ton of people were killing deer out of season to put in the freezer.

It will not take long to get to the 'solo, mountain man style of survival' IMHO.

Most (the population) have not given a single thought to the dependance we have on others.... they think 'it works, always has worked, and always will work'

Gas, electricity, medicine, peanut butter and jelly( I know of several families that eat little to none 'real food' and live off junk food), WATER - how many people in those supply chains??? All you need to do is lose ONE of them and it gets tough.... shut down just one and it accelerates the shut down of another.

For the northern climes how long do you suppose it will be before you can't find a single stick, or pine cone laying on the ground, to heat you water, food, body???? And now you're cutting wood by hand, no Steel or Husqvarna..........

People depend on people. If and when it starts 'to go', it will soon decline like falling off a cliff.......

Coyotes, rats and bugs will fare very well........ it will not take long for the wildlife to ponder ' damn, it sure is quiet'..........

Personally, I don't want to see it..........

For heating in the norther climates, as with any type of prepping…….prepare before it happens. The following suggestions are for those staying put…….not nomads!


A semi load or two of wood will last a while. In my area a few truck loads of coal, once very cheap, will last for decades ……without fear of rot. Though, with coal I would recommend separating into smaller lots and bury it. Sometimes coal had been known to spontaneously combust……best to lose only one stock pile. Also when buried, it will slow the breakdown into a powder. It also removes your heat/cooking supply from prying eyes!

For those with a supply of timber……now is the time to invest in battery powered chain saws, ect. and use the solar (which you already have) to maintain your batteries. For longterm use…..having several quality 2 man crosscut saws and a few quality one man crosscut or bow saws should be available!


Also, you will being trying to grow food……use your food plot for another use as well. It will attract a variety of small animals wanting to eat your garden…….purchase about a half dozen good leg traps. Small, inexpensive, functional…….use them to protect your garden as well as a source of “red meat” while never having to go out and hunt, further exposing yourself to nomads moving through! memtb

Hmmmm....I would have to go kiss an Army Special Forces friends ass and become part of his community. Those guys are trained to excel in these conditions. They do it all the time. They create groups from the savages and set up infrastructure to sustain a population. It pains me to admit this but it is what I would do.

Otherwise, I would probably reduce the population in my immediate area by removing anyone who tried to possess what was mine? I don't know, I am a selfish [bleep] that thinks the world could do better with a lot less people.

Not for long

What percentage of the humans in each state are hunters?

In the early 1900' s robins and blackbirds made up a whole lot of the market gunners profits