i suppose either in normal camping or hunting trips or in emergency cases, it is essential to have hunting and skinning skills, i am trying to begin gaining this skill,any useful tips?

There are books that will explain the process and give you a place to start. I always skin, clean and process what I kill. It is an ongoing process of learning that you improve on as you go. I have messed some up, and I have done great on some. Trial and error will improve your skills.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

I grew up with a gradpa that thought everyone should know how to hunt, fish, and prepare the game for eating. He even taught us how to find fat grubs at the edges of brownish patches of grass and to cook them (Yes, I've eaten two grubs in my life, cooked over a small fire, they taste like charred, unsalted, snails).

He taught us how to make a short hand bow, how to hunt with a slingshot (which he considered survival equipment), how to make and set a snare for rabbits/squrrels, and ground birds. He also taught us how to fish with a short tag line. We ALL had to "clean our own" too. These are methods I could use as an 8 year old, no super strengthe required.


If the rabbit was hit with a stone from a slingshot or was on a snare, you may have to break its neck--easiest way is to take hold of the head and hold it down turned to the side hard to the ground, take hold of the feet and pull in a sharp twisting motion upward. Think "separating" and bending back the head, rather than twisting it.

How to dress a rabbit, squirrel, or small mammal. Note: Step 1 is done immdediately upon the kill, Step 2 is done immediately upon the kill if the kill involves a puncture.
Now for dressing your rabbit:
1) When you pick it up, first off, hold it by its front legs with its belly away from you and press in a rolling motion downward from the ribcage to the tail. This will empty the bladder and the rectum (which is the sack just behind the anus). This will minimize the likelihood of contamination.
2) get the entrails out quick because unless you got it with a rock in the head, there's likely to be some internal leakage. You don't have to pull the lungs and kidneys out till later, but the entrails and the heart should be left behind AWAY from your camp spot. This is actually pretty easy. make a small incision just upward of the pelvic bone and with the knife blade away from the animal, slit the skin up to middle ribcage. Then do the same with the flesh underneath. You don't want to puncture the enrails. Just dump them out, reach up into the ribcage and pull "it" loose, then do the same at the other end.
3) on the subject of skinning, I'm a woman and my hands aren't as strong as most men's so I use an "easier" way. Just flip the rabbit over and make a hole in the skin in the middle of the back (across the spine). Now, get the fingers of both hands in that hole, crook your fingers, and pull your hands away from one another. Ease the skin down to and off the back feet. Pull the skin up over the head and sever the neck, then pull the skin off the front feet. Finally, flip it back over and there will be a little patch of skin down on the pelvic bone that didn't come off. Just cut downward on either side of the center of the pelvic bone, then take hold and pul it out. Now the rabbit is open "stem to stern."
4) Check for kidneys (pull them out, they are stuck fast to the back), Pull out the lungs and anything else left up under the ribs. Trim off the "silverskin" that was the thin skin over the belly.
5) Rinse the rabbit out good if you can, you have just dressed your first rabbit.

Note: My grandad always carried a can of black pepper to dust the inside of the body cavity. He said it would keep bugs away. But, of course if this is "survival" mode, you're going to make a fire and eat it quickly.

This is the same procedure for any small mammal.

It's also basically the same for a deer too except that you have to cut around the anus to release the lower entrails. You also have to cut the diaphragm and release the upper chest cavity contents It's just heavier and the skinning is much more work.

I'm sure this is probably more info than the squeamish can handle, but it's the real deal. If I could do it at 8 years old . . . anyone can. BTW, a good slingshot is a VERY handy thing to have in your survival pack. Snares are okay, but squirrels will sit still for you to get them and there are almost ALWAYS squirrels.

Another notes, if you are "unsure" about the anatomy, always assume there are scent glands. These are located by the anus and can taint the meat. Be careful when pulling the lower entrails loose. You can always address the scent glands after you cut out the pelvic (or aitch) bone when you can get a better view.

I was cruising the web and thought I'd do a search. Here's a fellow that does it just the way I do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Ljr0bg-ss

Hunting animals is wrong

Hunting is about animals as well as people. And people are also animals. We need to amend our attitudes and practice towards other animals to become compassionate and caring.

I am an omnivore. My jaw, my teeth, and my anatomy are proof.

I have no argument with those that wish to be vegetarians.

I DO think that animals should be treated with respect and should be allowed to live good healthy lives. I believe quite strongly, that caring for the land means caring for the animals.

By our very existence, we disturb the natural balance. We protect ourselves and take over habitat in such ways that we need to become caretakers of the natural habitats that we have. Our land has a small 20 acre wood, a natural navigable waterway, 2 small spring fed creeks and 2 natural virgin meadows, as well as our hedge and fence bordered fields.

We have varied wildlife.

I disagree with Andy.

I disagree with Andy about hunting also. Man has been hunting animals for food, shelter and clothing for as long as we have been on the Earth. I see nothing wrong with killing an animal for food, as long as it is not wasted. If the SHTF I will hunt animals for food, and I will make sure I always have plenty of meat for the table.

I do not advocate hunting for sport alone. Yes, I do enjoy hunting, but I will not kill what I will not eat. IMO professional hunting is wrong. These people kill for trophy's and much of what they kill is wasted.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Hunting is good if you can eat, but remember they too have a right to live in this earth peacefully, whatever way animals are slaughtered and many are facing extinctions.

I agree. This is why you do not kill more than you need to survive. Remember, there are animals (such as bears), who would be happy to kill and eat you as well. They do not care if we go extinct.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

I hate to be obstinate, but this forum is about being prepared to survive.
Essentially, having the skills, mindset, and wherewithal, to survive in times of hardship.

Frankly . . . unless you are some kind of serious expert, wild plants will generally make you sick. On the other hand, virtually every small furred mammal is edible. I don't know of any birds that are inedible either. Even most snakes are edible.

I was raised by my grandparents. My grandparents believed there were certain things that everyone should know how to do. Being able to hunt and fish was in the skill set that they made sure I had. Frankly, I'm not a squeamish woman, most farm girls aren't, but most women would have absolutely no problem killing small animals to feed themselves and their families . . . if they knew how.

Honestly, once you've eaten squirrel, wild rabbit, quail, pigeon, dove, etc., it's not that you do it all the time, it's that you KNOW that you can do it if you need to.

That's why my grandad taught us to find grubs, what kind of stick to put them on, how to make a fire, and had us eat a couple of them. He did it so that we know that we can do it if we have to. That is valuable. It could save my life, or my child's life.

I've had lots of people turn up their noses at me because I raise chickens and . . . OMG, EAT them! We have a Cow, and when she has a calf, we raise it till we . . . butcher it and we EAT the meat. We used to even have pigs, but we don't right now. But I might go to the stockyard and buy a couple in a week or two.

Yep, we have a farm and we grow almost all of what we eat. And if we had to leave the house and go overland for some reason . . . I can feed my kids, THAT is what this is about.