Urban living

[bowdrill]

I have noticed there are a few city dwellers on here I was just wondering your tinned food etc is nt going to last forever have you made plans for this ie can you fish hunt trap grow stuff etc in fact not just city dwellers can us country bumpkins do the a these things as well


Bd

[Tigs]

not a problem for me i live on a farm!!!!

[Metroyeti]

Live near the sea and a large river so plenty of things to catch/forage. If I head towards the city,theres wasteland and cycle paths with foxes and rabbits. Depends on whats going on if I bug in or out.

[HunterNurturer]

As one of those city dwellers who plans to bug in (out of necessity due to family disability), this is stuff I put a lot of focus on.
I can hunt, been learning and practising various traps (harder than they look!), storing seeds and learning about growing (post SHTF, I won't be confined to my garden - I would be planting in abandoned neighbours homes, nearby fields etc. The average Brit wouldn't recognise a potato plant to save their lives), have a couple of books on foraging and have been learning to recognise wild food sources most people wouldn't think twice about. Never been fishing in my life though, so been trawling the local carboot for cheap fishing gear to get me started.

When SHTF the bird feeders that attract birds and squirrels into my garden will come in handy - as I'm sat at the window with an air rifle. I plan to supplement my food storage with wild foods from day 1 to stretch the stores out as long as possible. I'm also looking into breeding rabbits.

Water would be mostly relying on storage and rainwater/hale/snow, but there's a reasonably large stagnant source 100 yards away from my home through light woodland (I live at the very edge of a small city) that the few locals that know about it probably wouldn't touch, but should be fine after filtering and boiling. Then I can reach an out-of-the-way section of a canal a mile from my home with a route mostly along the hedges on the edges of fields, but that's naturally a last resort.

Still early days, but I feel like I'm on the right track. With enough food storage combined with the above, the main issue left would be security, and I'm thinking hard about the practicalities of turning my home into a greyman urban fortress

[Skean Dhude]

Except for the really big cities most urban dwellers are not to far from the country. Myself I can be there on foot in 5 mins.

However, my plans involve abandoned back gardens.

[HunterNurturer]

(22 September 2012, 13:48)Skean Dhude Wrote: However, my plans involve abandoned back gardens.

Would like to hear more about this if possible. Just growing food or...?

[NorthernRaider]

Well I've got the Tees to the south, Wear to the north and north sea to my east none more than 20 minutes drive, plus some big streams and loads of angling lakes, and as I mentioned previously this area is loaded with rabbit, pigeon, deer, partridge, pheasants, even buffalo, alpacas, wild pigs etc.

[bigpaul]

you want living in the countryside i've got it. some of the most remote, wild, isolated land this side of Scotland. Rivers, streams, Springs and Wells all over the place, plenty of growing timber, Pheasants by the bucket full, Rabbits, Wood pigeons, Rabbits, Squirrels, Deer and Wild Boar. far enough from any large town not to be bothered by the plebs. a bit too far from the coast(27 miles) to do any sea fishing but plenty of cray fish in the rivers. no serious roads to be worried about, yes some well used A roads but plenty of back country roads to lose your self in and no where near a Motorway!

[Scythe13]

I think it's a very good point what Bow is saying. Also, I agree with HN about how traps are much harder than they seem. It's one of those skills that needs to be practiced time and time again. It's nice saying you have such an animal nearby, and how the 'wilderness' is just outside. But it's like starting fires and those kinds of things. Unless it's a practiced skill that has become second nature, then all you really have is some wonderful knowledge of geography and natural wildlife.

Fishing is easy enough. Especially when you only have fishing line, the wrong size hooks, no weights, and no bait.....oh, and no rod or pole. So how exactly is that 35lb carp going to be landed? how will you grip the line? I've sliced through my own skin (which is not that easy to do) trying to snap fishing line. So trying to fight a hefty fish (haha, imagine fighting a barbel!!!) with your bare hands will blatantly cut straight though!!!!

[Metroyeti]

Speaking of traps,can anyone recomend any snares?