The key to immortality is not having a life worth living, but living a life worth remembering.
- St. Augustine
A government big enough to give you everything you want,
is strong enough to take everything you have.
- Thomas Jefferson
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I believe Native Americans in the lower 48 as well as my home state- Alaska would exclusively dry their meat and fish in the warm summer months sometimes smoking it before drying. Some of the peoples who lived up above the Arctic Circle would make stink fish (fermented fish) in barrels or in cave caches for preservation. Later, come fall, it isn't too hard to hang whole quarters of your game meat on the bone in a sheltered area that gets good air circulation. We don't have a refrigerator (only a root cellar) nor freezer (until the whole outdoors becomes a freezer in early Oct), so hanging our late September moose- whole pieces in quarters- to crust up and age and it is the way we keep our meat in good condition until the deep freeze sets in.
I do have a pressure canner and can/jar up lots of veggies, pickles of all types of vegetables, and also summer meat and fish (bear, beaver, smoked salmon, and smoked grayling). Also, I can up the moose liver, heart, kidneys, tongue and much of the ribs as well as the thick, hearty head soup I make from tidbits off the head since there is just not way to keep that stuff for very long without freezing it. I really try not to waste anything of the what i grow and the critters I harvest from the land. Canning is a wonderful way to preserve your harvest and bounty and it's not that hard once you get the hang of it. Plenty of info on where to get canning supplies and recipes on the web.
Grandma Lori
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit
~Ed Abbey
Lori - When you hang something like a moose quarter how do you keep other animals away from it. NE Alaska isn't known for it's tall timber so tree hanging probably isn't the solution. Have you erected something to hang the meat from?
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
Can't you salt meat too to help dry it for preservation?
Salting meat is a touchy concept...not being readily available to most survival scenerio.
Salt draws moisture to and/or from...depending on the scenerio and the variables within.
History shows that salt is a tool of barter, therefore the presence of others would be
known...to answer, "yes" you can salt meat to aid the preservation of meat, but, is it
practical?...not likely given the incomplete scenerio post #1 as I interpreted it............
In a modern day Home preservation?....still not likely practical...As freezing, canning and
dehydrating are the prefered methods today....
.........I think Ben's original post was intended the concept of an individual survivalist..
Tho he did make mention of early Indians, numbers would certainly of been a factor in
determining the method...likely smoke/drying large amounts for a number of people for
an important length of time and rationed equally...and since Ben is from NY I would
assume that geographical region would be the area of interest...
.........I think it important to point out that survival in any respect relies on ones
ability to live off the land without killing ones self by way of ingesting rancid meat..and
(if) faced with the fortune of securing meat in quantity requiring preservation I would
quickly smoke/dry fish and/or other in thin strip like jerky especially in the warmer
seasons...and even then, roast and consume it quickly................................BH51
NE Alaska still has plenty of White spruce riparian forests right along the river and creek edges, but your right Rick back from the river and on to the flats and high mountains all you is have is the black spruce and dwarf birch on the tundra.
We built a meat shed out of logs kinda cabin style, but lots of open space between the rounds of logs, and an open front. It lets plenty of air to circulate right in the yard. Rarely do I have to keep our moose out in the field more than a day or two before I can get it home. We really have no problem with critters getting into the shed. Other than a curious weasel, the big predators around these parts are not habituated to humans and for the most part keep a good distance from the cabin. In other words while they may cruise the river and the willow thicket out front, they don't come right into the yard. I have 7 sled dogs who keep me alerted for unwanted visitors hanging too! Sometimes the jay birds can get in there a peck on the meat a bit, but now i have a kitty!
I would not leave meat unattended for very long out in woods. After a day or two something is gonna find it and eat your meat. Even the ravens can take a big bite outta your meat in a short time. If I had to leave/keep meat out in the field for more than a day, I would make a couple tripods out of driftwood with a center pole in between then hang the meat from the center pole making sure the pieces do not touch. Better to do this in the shade of the woods, or cover the works with the hide like a fly in a tent or perhaps cover with a tarp to keep the sun off. Starting a little smudge fire under it helps to keep the bugs at bay until the meat gets a nice crust, then usually the bugs are not too much. You can dry a lot of meat in a similar way, if you slice it thin enough and the weather is dry it usually dried up fairly fast.
Grandma Lori
Couple of images from the net
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...1t:429,r:0,s:0
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...w=1264&bih=538
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit
~Ed Abbey
Hmm you folks forgot pemmican.
“There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
(I think) pemmican requires salt and a source of rendered fat to prepare
properly, tho the concept of pulverizing meat to a powder may prove
worthy given time in the field...However, one would have to have already
dryed the meat to a state of preservation...but again, the salt question
would be a factor....Where would it come from?........................BH51....
Here's a thread all about Pemmican. I have it bookmarked!
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...light=pemmican
Recession; A period when you go without something your Grandparents never heard of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biltong
Smoked biltong is the sh*t...course I don't use coriander or the trad. biltong recipe..keep it simple vinegar/salt/pepper thats it.
Wifey and I are gettin the mother in law to bring us up on the canning and smoking , have tried many canned meats , and bear is good if done right , moose and deer are great canned .
Where do you find cans big enough?
(snort, giggle). See? First you have this big ole bear. Then you have to find a can big enough for the bear to fit in. That Crash is a regular jokester deluxe. He slays me. He really does.
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
“There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
If it was nasty you did it wrong
Are you still talkin' canned meat? Cause....never mind.Originally Posted by Shftyer1
Tracks Across the High Plains...Death on the Bombay Line...A Touch of Death and Mayhem...Dead Rock...The Griswald Mine Boys...All On Amazon Books.
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