Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

If those Stewart Island Whitetail eat seaweed, its possible they'll eat anything

I hate to sound like one of those tossers who starts and then spams a thread with self promotion. but....... I have just started a YouTube channel looking at self sufficiency, gardening, some hunting and fishing, cooking and interviews with interesting people in the rural sector and those living self sufficient lifestyles. I will also be embarking on a weight loss journey and documenting it. The channel will show the successes as well as the failures; warts and all.....

I am a qualified butcher and have worked as a freelance photojournalist since 2006. So there will be butchery tips as well as photography tips if viewers would like them. Anyway; that's the first and only time I'll spam this thread! And of course; feel free to subscribe!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4H...kFDd_koBfOOSdg

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

I hate to sound like one of those tossers who starts and then spams a thread with self promotion. but....... I have just started a YouTube channel looking at self sufficiency, gardening, some hunting and fishing, cooking and interviews with interesting people in the rural sector and those living self sufficient lifestyles. I will also be embarking on a weight loss journey and documenting it. The channel will show the successes as well as the failures; warts and all.....

I am a qualified butcher and have worked as a freelance photojournalist since 2006. So there will be butchery tips as well as photography tips if viewers would like them. Anyway; that's the first and only time I'll spam this thread! And of course; feel free to subscribe!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4H...kFDd_koBfOOSdg

Greetings Bumblefoot,
Ticks all the boxes for me, including the weight loss. My garden looks a bit like yours but without the livestock. There are Californian Quail and Hares though. Must give some of Phil's recipes a go.
Keep it up Grandpamac.

I've only got the 2 pigs to eat the grass at the moment. I dropped all the front perimeter fences to build new sheep-proof ones and a week later broke the ankle. I've only just getting back to getting posts in the ground; but can still only do a few hours work on the ankle per day. I did 4 days hard fencing; digging posts and strainers in, putting up rails and netting; and needed 3 days to recover. It's amazing how much fitness and muscle tone I've lost since doing the ankle. 7-weeks of sitting around and about 8-weeks of being able to do little on it! After the fencing I walked along as though I was the hunchback of Notre Dame impersonating Charlie Chaplin who had just peed his pants!

What a tosser...


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Good on you. Your useful and wholesome content will do a lot of good.

Well got put for my first hunt yesterday since breaking the ankle in late July. A decent pair of boots this time; no 4x4 gummies! It was just a practice run to see how it held up while I went out to get a goat. Only took a nanny as that's all I could comfortably carry out as balance (and confidence on it) still isn't great. Sure; it's not 12-point red stag, but it's the first step to getting back to living off the land





The goat hanging in the cool of the chestnut tree. It's hanging on the eastern side in the shade and the cooling breeze pretty much makes it a meat safe/chiller. It's now wrapped in a sheet to keep the flies off. I also kept the kidneys, liver and heart

Went out for a hunt last Friday; 4 days after my last hunt. The goal was to help a friend get her first goat. She eats meat and wanted to be able to harvest her own. She has shot rats and a rabbit with her scoped air rifle. I was going to take her out last year; but Covid and then the busted ankle put paid to that idea. So we finally got out and she got her goat with my 223.

It really surprised me how stressed I was! It wasn't until she'd dropped the goat that I noticed how relieved I was. I wanted it to go well; clinically and clean. And that was exactly how it happened. Her range of emotions was amazing. Really nervous about doing it right, the shakes before the shot, absolute calm taking the shot, and then shaking like a leaf and nearly crying from relief after pulling it off extremely well. Also the realisation of what she'd done; a tad sorry for the goat, proud that she'd done it, relief etc etc....

Now she can't wait to go again, she loved it! A couple of days later she came back to learn how to skin it and cut it up. She cooked heart and liver the day after the hunt. She first never thought she'd eat them, but decided to try it. The next evening I had a txt come through that said "Heart and liver are yum! Even the kids loved it"..... We are going to tan the skin too.

She triumphantly dragged it all the way to the car. She was absolutely determined to get it out; and was fuelled by adrenalin! It's the easiest carry I've ever done

I loved the entire experience and am still on a bit of a high over it.

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

Went out for a hunt last Friday; 4 days after my last hunt. The goal was to help a friend get her first goat. She eats meat and wanted to be able to harvest her own. She has shot rats and a rabbit with her scoped air rifle. I was going to take her out last year; but Covid and then the busted ankle put paid to that idea. So we finally got out and she got her goat with my 223.

It really surprised me how stressed I was! It wasn't until she'd dropped the goat that I noticed how relieved I was. I wanted it to go well; clinically and clean. And that was exactly how it happened. Her range of emotions was amazing. Really nervous about doing it right, the shakes before the shot, absolute calm taking the shot, and then shaking like a leaf and nearly crying from relief after pulling it off extremely well. Also the realisation of what she'd done; a tad sorry for the goat, proud that she'd done it, relief etc etc....

Now she can't wait to go again, she loved it! A couple of days later she came back to learn how to skin it and cut it up. She cooked heart and liver the day after the hunt. She first never thought she'd eat them, but decided to try it. The next evening I had a txt come through that said "Heart and liver are yum! Even the kids loved it"..... We are going to tan the skin too.

She triumphantly dragged it all the way to the car. She was absolutely determined to get it out; and was fuelled by adrenalin! It's the easiest carry I've ever done

I loved the entire experience and am still on a bit of a high over it.

Attachment 159139

That was great. You really captured the emotion and what its all about. Damn well done.

Well done. The more people that harvest their own meat the better. It is a natural activity.... something that our species has done for thousands of years.

The new pig shelter under the chestnut tree has just been finished. It's one of the first jobs I've been able to do since breaking the ankle. It’ll allow me to rotate the kune kune pics around the property. It may seem overbuilt but the video shows how much strain a scratching pig will put on a structure!

The open front (facing north for all day sun) allows plenty of ventilation. There’s an old farming saying that says “Animal houses need 3 things, ventilation, ventilation and more ventilation”…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbHJSZn_x0A

Went for a last minute goat hunt yesterday afternoon. Shot a little 'un, but will be tasty cos they sure are in good nick at the moment. Didn't leave home til 4. There were about a dozen goats in the clearing, but I only wanted one. Wanted to test what I could carry out on the old ankle. The goat only weighed about 12kg and fitted in the day pack. The ankle held up well. Hung it under the tree last night to cool overnight skinning it and breaking it into 3 to put in the fridge for a few days.



Free range, organic, sustainably harvested meat. �� The meat is all for human consumption, as is the liver. Rowdy; my cat, ate the heart last night. The bones will be used for stock. The feet and any offcuts will feed friend's dogs and the eels in the creek. I feed the eels once or twice a week. It's pretty cool seeing them cruise about after the meat. The skin has been put at the base of a "Ya" pear tree to supress the weeds and to provide fertiliser. ��



Tomorrow I'm off for my first deer hunt since breaking my ankle in late July. Looking forward to it. When I get back I'll be putting sleepers around my new kitchen vege garden. Life is slowly getting back to the way I want it to be

Nice clean-looking carcass.

I haven't seen any goats in my area for quite a while. I wonder if they go back further into the bush during the hotter weather. I never really noticed what happened last summer. I'm hoping to see one soon as the free meat supply has dwindled and I have a new .357 magnum load to try with a heavy, flat bullet.

I had to use 3-wheel drive a few times, but made the ridge top! And best of all the ankle held up really. Also managed to climb to the top of a damn steep Parapara ridge (trying to head off a buck) without any hassles. So another step towards getting back to living off the land!

Well done. Nice photo.