Last week my buddy and I were talking about stockpiling ammo for a survival situation – this is when something happens to cause society to break down.  Examples are civil unrest, some new disease, climate change,,,,,, something that causes the fabric of mankind to unravel.  In general we talked about stockpiling 308, 223, 7.62×39, 22 long rifle and shotgun shells.

My buddy stockpiles 2 different types of  ammo for his 308 rifle – ball and hunting ammo.

Ball ammo – is your target round and urban defense round.  When my buddy goes to the shooting range, he will shoot ball and most of his magazines are loaded with ball ammo.  The plus side of ball ammo, its cheap when compared to the more expensive hunting ammo.

Hunting ammo – this is the ammo your going to be using to hunt deer, moose, elk, wild hogs,,,,, whatever goes in your neck of the woods.  Currently my buddy stocks some kind of expensive Hornady ammo that cost something like $35 – $40 for a box of 20.

Instead of stockpiling 2 different types of ammo for my DS Arms FAL, I’am thinking of stockpiling 1 type.  This would be something good for hunting, but does not cost a small fortune.  My current deer hunting round is a Remington Core-Lokt in either 30-30 or 7mm express / 280 Remington.  Over the years I dont know how many deer I have taken with the Remington Core-Lokt.  On thin skinned game like the whitetail deer, its very effective.

This deer season my son took a nice East Texas Whitetail 8 point that weighed in at 156 pounds.

Last year my dad took a nice 6 pound that weighed around 125 – 130 pounds.

2 years ago my son harvested a doe.  She dropped where she stood when that 15 grain 30-30 Remington Core-Lokt hit her.

3 years ago my son harvested a 6 point.  He ran about 20 feet after that Remington Core-Lokt hit him.

4 and 5 years ago I harvested 2 – 8 points.

3 years ago I got a nice 9 point East Texas Whitetail.

The list goes on and on.

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During the great depression of the 1930s, whitetail deer and wild turkey were almost hunted to extinction in certain areas around the USA.  From what I understand, the East Texas wild turkey was hunted to extinction levels, and birds had to be imported from other parts of the nation to restore the population.  The same thing happened to the whitetail deer population in East Texas.  The one animal that does not seem to be affected from hunting is the wild hog.  Even though the majority of the 50 states has an open season on wild hogs, their population is still thriving.

One of the big differences between wild turkeys, whitetail deer and wild hogs – is the amount of off spring that can be produced.  Deer and turkeys reproduce once a year.  Wild hogs are like rats, they reproduce all the time.

Wild Turkeys – If you harvest 3 wild turkeys out of a flock, they will not be replaced until the following year.  Female wild turkeys can lay about 12 eggs at a time.  Survival rate of the turkey poults (chicks) is determined by a lot of factors – such as, if there are fire ants close to the nest, and the raccoon population. Fire ants will attack, kill and eat the turkey chicks. Studies have shown that the higher the raccoon the population in a given area, the lower the survival rate of egg laying animals. Whether its ducks or turkeys, raccoons will raid the nest and steal the eggs.

Whitetail Deer – Whitetail deer reproduce once a year, and the doe may only drop 2 fawns at a time. Out of those 2 fawns, only 1 may survive into adulthood. Several factors help determine yawn survival rate – fire ants (yet again), wild hog population, coyote population, wolf population, bears,,,,,,. If a wild hog finds a newborn fawn, they may kill and eat the fawn. Hogs are omnivores, meaning they eat just about anything and that includes yawns. Does will not start reproducing until they are 1.5 – 2.5 years of age

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Yesterday evening while heading to the woods for a hog hunting trip, an interesting conversation came up between everyone in the truck – “where will you be hunting at this deer season?”  My son and I are on a deer lase, so we have a place to hunt.  But the other 2 people in the truck do not have a place where they can not.  They have to rely on the kindness of other people to give them permission to hunt on their land.

This got me to thinking, where would you hunt in a post long term SHTF / TEOTWAWKI situation? If you do not have a place to hunt now, what makes you think your going to have one after the fact?

A lot of survivalist plan on “bugging out to the wilderness in a long term SHTF / TEOTWAWKI situation. So having a place to go and a place to hunt might go hand in hand.

If you do not own land, not on a deer lease (which grants you a legal right to be on the land), don’t have friends with benefits, or know where the public hunting land is, where will you hunt at?

Survivalist camp bug out location

Private Property – Owing land in a rural area might the ideal situation for most survivalist, but for a lot of people, is just not realistic. The majority of the people live and work in the city. So if they own property in a rural area, they have to maintain the house they live in, and maintain a remote camp.

There are a lot of considerations for having rural private property – what kind of disasters is the area prone to, how far from your home is the location, is the land farmable, what is the source of drinking water, is the area secure, what types of wild animals are in the area, how easy is it to access the land,,,,,,, just to name a few.

Once the land is obtained, is it close enough to your home to maintain a workable farm, how much gear and supplies are going to be stored there,,,,,.

For hunting considerations, oak trees, maybe a field for crops, and some kind of water source would be nice to have.  Der do not need a “lot” of land to live.  Their related to the goat, as in deer are grazers – they just walk along and “graze” off foliage.  Deer, squirrels and wild hogs love acorns.  So having oak trees on the property is a prime consideration.

One of the benefits of having private property, permanent structures can be built and supplies can be stockpiled.  But anytime supplies are stockpiled, then comes the question of security.

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