Birds
ALL SPECIES OF BIRDS ARE EDIBLE, but I do not consider them an important
part of my smallgame diet, for two reasons: birds are very difficult to
catch, and bird traps tend to be complex and hard to build.
If you hope to have any chance of catching birds, you must make
tracking them a significant part of your trip preparation and planning, and
have extremely good luck. When I was in the Cook Islands, for example,
I happened to be there during the one or two weeks when Brown Booby
hatchlings were trying to take flight. They were practically falling out of
their nests right at my feet! Had I been there a couple of weeks earlier or
later, however, I would not have seen them.
Believe it or not, the easiest birds to catch are songbirds, because you
might find several dozen of them together in a tree or bush. The throwing
stick (see page 203) is the best primitive hunting tool for nabbing song
birds.
If you have a net (or can make one), one method of hunting birds is
to string a net between trees near their nests. Birds tend to use the same
flyways, and you may snare one this way. If you find some nests, bird eggs
are also a good food source.
Tracks and Other Signs of Animal Activity
IS IT NECESSARY TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE between squirrel and mouse tracks?
No. You couldn’t care less whether the animal you’re after is a shrew or a
vole or a pika; all you want to do is eat it. All you need to know about tracks
is where they are, which indicates where the animals are, and consequently,
where you should set your traps and snares.
In addition to watching for tracks, you can determine where animals
spend their time by keeping an eye out for trails or runs, droppings, nests
or burrows, holes, and scratchings.
(^202) | Survive!