Rock tripe is the only other fungus I would eat on a bet, and it also is unmistakable. Growing on most rocks in the woods you will note a quantity of black ears, round as pennies and curled up off the rock. Pick these and dry thoroughly over the fire, for they will physic you otherwise, and then boil in the log bowl for half an hour. Resulting dish tastes like tapioca and is edible and nourishing.
Of course, the most sustaining of all raw forest foods are nuts. No flour in the world can com- pare with them, as you can easily prove by taking along a pocketful of them and munching them during your hunting trip whenever you feel faint and in need of sustenance. Chestnut has the most meat for the least work, and after him comes shag- bark hickory, black walnut, butternut and hazel nut. The most sustaining fruit of all is the persimmon; its only rival is the date of the Orient, both of them having almost as much protein as meat.
I might digress here for a few observations on woodcraft in hunting. Do not stick to forest roads, nor yet just tramp along; neither way will net you much game compared to real intelligent hunting. Put yourself in the animal's place; what would he naturally be doing at this hour, and what is he feeding on? These are the two great questions. Grouse love dried huckleberries, though they will not touch them when they are plump and juicy; they love dried wild grapes that have fallen to the ground, weed seeds, beech nuts, and, oh dear — how they love cranberries! Therefore open the crop and stomach of the first grouse you kill that day and see what he has been eating. Thereafter search those spots and let the other fellow just tramp along. When you come to a spot where one is likely to be, rest assured that he is watching you and will jump the instant he catches you off guard. If you whistle a little low tune, he will linger a trifle longer than usual, but whatever you do, do not make a single move without being ready at all times to shoot. Before putting your foot forward, look for a likely spot for it, and then feel for that spot without ever taking your eyes off the thicket or bramble or grape vine just ahead of you that looks grousey. In the same way, be on the watch for woodcock in swamp bottoms, and for quail along the timber edge in the weeds and brambles bordering farm fields. Here they feed, and they are all crouched down and watching you as you move along. Kick every clump and briar patch for rabbits, and when you kick be sure to be in position to shoot. Haunt the oak ridges and dogwood thickets for squirrels. Their favorite food is acorns and nuts, with an occasional berry diet — it is wasting time to look for them in a maple or birch thicket. That is real hunting, not just blundering along.
Put yourself in the animal's place;
what would he naturally be doing at this hour,
and what is he feeding on?
And be always on the lookout for tracks and sign. Pass no sand patch or mud bank without examination. Muskrat leaves his little claw marks with no palm; mink, all five claws and a faint palm; '****, a tiny baby hand; squirrel, four tracks in a group with hind tracks in front of fore; rabbit, another larger group, usually with the front paw tracks set very close together making a three-track group of it; fox leaves the trail of a small dog, but it always registers, that is a single line of tracks like a two-legged animal, while the front and hind paws of a dog seldom register cleanly. Wildcat leaves a round four-toed-and-palm track larger than any cat and showing no claws. Quail tracks are three-toed like small chickens, and grouse the same but larger. Watch roads, trails and stream banks for these tracks, and, if entirely fresh, stick around a bit and see what you can see. That means maybe half an hour of still hunting, but it will get you more game in that spot than just pushing right on, strong as is the temptation to do so.
When camped in a good game country in the trapping season, a good deal of game and fur can be added to the bag by setting a few simple woodsman's traps. Two woods-made traps suffice, one a springle for birds and one a deadfall for animals. The former is just a springy withe, bent into a bow by a string tied at the small end and held in a cleft in the large end by a short twig with a knife edge cut on it. The rest of the string is a slip noose lying on both sides of the twig. The bait is put at the end of the twig, firmly tied, and when the bird alights on it his weight bends down the twig, releases the string from its cleft, and the withe snaps straight, drawing the noose tight about the bird's feet. To make a deadfall, cut off a four-inch sapling about a foot above the ground, level off its top, and, with your axe make three clefts in it, forming three sides of a square. Into these are driven flat shooks, making three sides to your box. The rest of the sapling is squared off with the axe and cut about eight feet long. The squared end rests in your box and the other on the ground. The end of the log comes in the box and is held up as shown in the drawing by two triggers, the short one upright holding the log up and resting on the long one to which the bait is attached. There is no way for a little animal to touch the bait except by climbing up on the stump, with his head in the box, and when he pulls the bait, down comes the log on his head, much more humane than any steel spring trap and any boy can make it in an hour or so with axe and knife. |
|