Permies Poll: Do you Hunt/Fish for Food?

Good Morning Permies!

I was musing over the Permaculture approach to life and found myself wondering about how wildlife plays into food security. A lot of the food security work seen in Permaculture circles tends to be around the growies. I want to ask you, do you hunt or fish for food?



If you feel so inclined, please comment and explain how much you rely on this towards your own nutritional goals.

For myself,

I casually hunt for meat. I do not rely on it due to the prevalence of local farms that can supply quality meat for a solid price. I will go out and hunt big/small game but I'm not out there chasing horns. Maybe 5% of my meat consumption comes from it.

I don't hunt or fish, but I do forage for significant amounts of stinging nettle, oyster mushrooms, etc.

I occasionally hunt, will be doing a lot more of that when the smokehouse is done.

I fish or shellfish quite a bit, and we do a lot of foraging for mushrooms, berries, etc.

I am going to black powder and bowhunt in 2024, and probably hunt feral pigs on a trip I am taking in the spring. I want to use a my spear on the pigs, but I might not have the time to set that up.

I'll be using a kit gun for the muzzle-loading, really looking forward to putting the kit together.

I hunt for Mule Deer every fall and usually harvest a buck. I use a shotgun with buckshot or a slug when hunting private land near town. I hunted on public land in the mountains using a 270 caliber rifle this year. The buck provided a little over 80 lbs of boneless venison and 18 lbs of ribs. The deer also provided about 20 lbs of hard fat which I hung in a tree in the yard. The birds and squirrels have used it all up. All the birds from Chickadees to Magpies and especially Woodpeckers really go after it.
I fish public waters mostly for enjoyment. I have permission to fish private water for Tilapia which I take home.

Our place is by the coast, and next to a quite big lake. Keeping domestic animals isn't really practical in our circumstances, and a lot of work besides. In time, we want to be as self sufficient as we can, and we most certainly don't feel like going vegan. So yeah, we fish. Not yet as much as we'd like, but hopefully more this coming year. We might also start hunting some day, but that's for the future.

First post! I do a bunch of fur trapping, mostly raccoons and beaver. I don't eat many raccoons, but I eat a lot of beaver (seriously). They're delicious, you wouldn't know the difference if I can old you it was beef. With having a whole lot of kids, I don't have time to sit around and hope some critter passes by. Much easier for me to set some traps, to home and do some chores, and check the next day. Plus it provides a meager income.
Similarly, we run banklines for catfish in the river. It's like trapping for fish.

I fished as a boy and have never hunted land-game. (I gave up meat at the start of 1992 so...) I might kill marauding deer and raccoons and feed them to my flock of chickens, but I haven't yet (and don't really know how). I wouldn't do this proactively, but because they're harming my garden. So I marked neither on the poll.

Hunting is a deep part of our shared human heritage.

Prior to acquiring our homestead, hunting was a major focus and interest. I spent a good portion of my disposable income and free time in the pursuit of big game. As a bowhunter, a considerable amount of time was spent honing those skills roving the woods, foraging berries and mushrooms, shooting grouse and rabbits, reading sign and tracking. Countless hours sitting still, simply observing. I've taken more elk and deer than I have digits.

Hunting is not just a passion but a visceral connection to the mutualistic essence of the great biotic collective.

As we developed more and more capability to feed ourselves with food produced either right here on the farm, or by a neighbor, hunting has become less important as a method of obtaining clean, organic protein.  Perhaps age has tempered the bloodlust of youth, or maybe I just don't have as much time for it anymore.
As we bear witness to the sixth mass extinction, participation in the diminishment of biodiversity, evolution's greatest accomplishment, has become somewhat of a moral dilemma for me.  My response has been to increase the difficulty and challenge by ditching the fancy compound bow with sliding sight and adopting primitive gear and tackle. My success rate has greatly diminished.

Hunting is not a viable preparedness strategy.  

Ralph

Christopher Weeks wrote:I fished as a boy and have never hunted land-game. (I gave up meat at the start of 1992 so...) I might kill marauding deer and raccoons and feed them to my flock of chickens, but I haven't yet (and don't really know how). I wouldn't do this proactively, but because they're harming my garden. So I marked neither on the poll.

That reminds me....I feed the fleshing scraps to my chickens. They love it. Tons of meat and fat for them. They fight over it too

We're trying to get more into fishing.  Hopefully we get better at catching haha.  Its something I did when I was younger, my husband too, that we both want to do more of now and we've begun, but still aren't succeding as well as we each used to seperately in our younger years haha, maybe there are just less fish?  Maybe they're getting smarter?

We do hunt quite a bit of our food. Between hunting and raising meat we do not buy any at all. Last year two deer and one elk supplied all the red meat we needed. This year one deer and one elk is what we put away and should suffice.  

We do fish lots but that's more for fun and less to survive on even though we put quite a bit in the freezer.

I trap animals, but don't hunt. Nothing against hunters, but the whole getting up before dawn, and sitting motionlessly in the freezing cold just doesn't appeal to me.

I know others think of this way being a sacrifice, or a bunch of sacrifices, but it isn't that way. We adjust with having things we really like still and tastes change, even quickly.

We do both. For years I was catch and release on the fish but my tastes have changed a bit and my sons likes to eat them. In fact in about 5min I’m going to help him clean two ducks he got from this morning.

We took one deer this year but we still like beef so we do plenty of domestic meat as well. I do not buy fish so only what we catch is what we eat. Mostly bass or crappie. Sometimes catfish.

John Wolfram wrote: Nothing against hunters, but the whole getting up before dawn, and sitting motionlessly in the freezing cold just doesn't appeal to me.

I'd turn into an icicle to the point that I would trust my hands to do the job reliably. I feel strongly that if an animal is going to die to feed me, I want it done as humanly as possible.

I would love a friend of mine to hunt on our land to keep the deer population a bit more manageable, but we're close enough to neighbors, he's said he'd want a good bow to do the job. His bow-hunting friend is living too far away to come and help. He definitely confirms it's often a boom or bust situation!

No good place to fish without a significant boat, however, some years I've gotten a license that includes crabbing. I'd do more of that if my family liked it better!

I raise 2 kinds of ducks, geese and chickens, so wild harvesting protein would be more for variety at this time. There are plenty of rabbits around, but we generally leave them for the owls and eagles. The domestic rabbit population is getting out of control along the local highway, but too many people consider them "wild pets" or "cute" to try to mess with them in such a public spot. I figure since they're surviving in the wild, they'd make a good core for a breeding program if it came to needing that, but the geese provide a useful fat source and bunnies don't.

Our family subsists on venison. No store-bought meat. We also process it all ourselves. This weekend is actually burger weekend! 200lbs getting ground on Saturday! We will do 300 more pounds of sausage in March.
We would like to do the same with fish, we absolutely suck at it. Just went out last weekend and didn't catch anything over 4 inches. Whenever we do get lucky we eat it, but it's mainly a treat.
Once a year we spend a week in the Boundary Waters, and we are able to live off fish for a week then. That is a good week!

I know people who passionately hunt and fish. When I am retired with time on my hands I will tap into their wisdom.

Meanwhile, I open the door to a casual trade relationship. I grow a ton of food, some seasonal and a lot that is well-stored through a long Canadian winter.

Hey neighbour, let's talk swap!

I shellfish and pick mushrooms for food.  Quite a bit...150lbs of flesh per year?  (Mostly mushroom : )

I purchased the deer tag for the first time this year, and had a big beautiful buck sleeping about 20ft away from me. Bow drawn, arrow nocked, ready to kill

nature, red in tooth and claw. I decided...

no.  Only if I must in order to not starve.   However, I will mercilessly execute dungeness crab by the dozen.  They are basically, cold-blooded bone-headed spiders XD

John Hutter, the decision to kill for food is not an easy one. I respect your choice.

In hungrier times, the choice to shoot might be different -- assuming you had the option. Game animals become remarkably scarce when they realize they are being actively hunted.

For me “hunting” is a tricky word.  If sticking my shotgun out the kitchen window and shooting a deer in my garden is hunting …then I hunt (yes,  with a license).  Now I see it as shooting in self-defense rather than hunting for food.  But, it does require a hunting license here in Illinois.  In MN the local DNR didn’t mind.

I'm a city girl so all I can "hunt" are mice and slugs :D
But sometimes I buy wild meat, it is considered high quality meat here (and less frowned upon than buying directly from local farmer, which was a norm long, long ago when shop shelves were empty...).
I'm now reading about ancient Aztecs and how they, despite being very sophisticated architects, sculptors, astronomers etc, haven't figured out the concept of keeping farm animals (like they domesticated corn already). So they just hunted for meat, which made them eat not so much of it. Meanwhile, Montezuma had his own aviary, where he collected all the birds! That is what Spaniards haven't thought of back then.
But I digress! Anyway, I voted "neither".

As a Kid, I went fishing and camping with my dad.

When I married, dear hubby soon became a bass fisherman.

When both of my kids were born it was deer season so as soon as they were born, dear hubby took off to go deer hunting.

He and his dad took up mule deer hunting when we bought our property out in West Texas.

All my freezer are full of deer meat though my kids are the ones that fill it up.

We enjoy watching the wildlife more than hunting it now.

And most of the lakes are catch-and-release.

Dear hubby buys a combination hunting/fishing licence every year even though he doesn't use it.

With the approaching cool weather, I am tempted to break out my grandfathers ice fishing equipment and prep for some winter perch. I have been consuming more fish recently and really want to localize my consumption.

Just have to get out there and do it.

I didn't vote.

Years ago the vote would have been both, hunt and fish (if a family vote counts).

When our kids were young, dear hubby was an avid fisher person. Because he and his Dad this together.  

When our son was age three we bought our property out in West Texas so dear hubby and his Dad could go hunting there.

I fished when I was around 10 because my Dad took me fishing. I don't remember eating the fish though I am sure we did.

I was on a lot of those fishing trips though I have never hunted, I am the person who cook all the fish and deer.

Now that we do wildlife management we are not interesting in hunting the deer as we enjoy their company more.

I am a self-taught solo hunter, (huntress, more accurately). I started at 39, and my only motivation was to feed myself and my family, to take responsibility for my place in the food chain. I scoured books and the internet, I talked to anyone who would engage, and I wandered the woods with shotgun and rifle. I made every mistake in the book and came up with a few new ones. If survival were truly at stake, I would have starved long ago.

I am 45 now, and while far from a veteran, I am no longer a novice. I have learned valuable skills and am feeding my family with far more wild meat than domestic. If anything, hunting for my own food has increased my respect and love for all earth’s creatures. My consumption is far less wasteful than it once was, when my meat was sourced in plastic packages under artificial lights. I go to great pains to use the entire animal, and to feast and celebrate when I do. It is a truly humbling and empowering journey, both at once.

Last vote in apple poll was on January 5, 2025