Importance of Small Game After SHTF
Kevin Felts 01.14.19
Imagine if you would being a young person hunting wild game animals. When you were young there were plenty of animals to hunt. As decades passed, large animals became scarce. By the time you were old, the tribe was having to scavenge for whatever they could find.
However, while the tribe scavenged, rabbits ran here and there. For some reason nobody was able to catch the rabbits. Was it taboo to hunt small game? Or maybe nobody wanted to take the time to hunt rabbits?
The problem presented is something the Neanderthals faced towards their end. Archeological discoveries indicate humans (modern people) hunted small game, while Neanderthals did not.
Failure to Hunt Rabbits Part of Neanderthals’ Demise?
A new study suggests that an inability to shift from hunting large mammals to wild rabbits and other small game may have contributed to the downfall of European Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic period, about 30,000 years ago.
In the grand scheme of things, most medium sized game such as deer have a slow reproductive rate. Usually giving birth to a single or sometimes two offspring a year, increased hunting could decimate a local population in a matter of years. One exception is the wild pig, which continues to expand its population regardless of hunting pressure.
During the early 1900s, vast populations of southern whitetail deer and turkeys were driven to extinction level numbers. Here in Southeast Texas the turkey and whitetail deer both had to be reintroduced.
If a SHTF event were to happen again, chances are medium sized game would quickly disappear. Again, the one exception would probably be the wild pig. This leaves small game such as rabbits, which have a much higher reproduction rate than medium sized game.
