The Economics of Hunting vs. Gathering...

We live near a creek, albeit a small one, and something struck me as I was watching various species of ducks and geese coming and going. The small, hobby farms, with fences, that are around mean that any migratory mammals are blocked from being in the area. Therefore, the most we see are birds - in small flocks.

Watching them come and go, it struck me that the small numbers in each flock mean that, were I to start hunting them, I would probably only get a couple of birds, and the migratory group are more likely to avoid the area - particularly when I'm around a lot.

If there were large groups, and I wasn't living right next to the creek, hunting might be worth doing - there would likely be more chance of a good catch. The short answer is not fouling one's own backyard. If I wanted to successfully hunt, I'd better go hiking to somewhere I do not live...

It's a question of short-term versus long-term. Short-term, hunting would be okay, but not so much in the long term. If I want the long term, I'd be better taking the time to do the slow gathering that is finding eggs, not getting much in the short-term, but more dependable, and less hassle.

There is a national park near here, and apparently there are wild deer populations around. I don't know enough about deer husbandry, but it might be worth at least learning something.

More opinions

There's something else that I dislike in most people's PSHTF plans - most people plan to take an active approach to protecting what's theirs.

For the most part, that means being really obvious about announcing their presence. Generators running...

Like it or not, if you aren't sitting on top of an oil field, or have made massive investments in a geothermal power system, you're going to have limits to power. Or, rather, be very obvious that you have an energy harvesting system - especially if you want power. And, you might have to spend a lot of time gathering fuel if you want a lot of power.... If have to spend time gathering fuel, the less time you have to deal with everything else that comes along.... And you'd better home you're living next to a national park or tree plantation.... And THEN, you should really keep track of how much wood is growing, versus how much you're burning. The amount of deforestation that happens when a few people start cutting down trees for themselves.

Did the Easter Islanders give any thought to conservation, as the number of big trees diminished, then the number of small trees diminished, until there were no more trees?