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Quoted By:
Been feeling the call of the wild. Going to tell my story tonight.
This is the story of how I lived my teen years, how I taught myself to hunt and forage, where I gained my love of the wild, and how I kept my belly full. Settle in with a cup of tea, or better yet, a cup of hot buttered rum, and I'll recount my experiences.
I lived in southern British Columbia, where the mountains were tall and the lakes were big. I lived in a rural area, with an hour bus ride in to school every day, which was a three hour walk otherwise, making working in town impossible. My father slowly slipped away from caring about me and my brother a couple years after the divorce, and spent more time and money on his girlfriend, which unfortunately left the shelves and fridge bare. I'd go to school on an empty stomach every day, and come home to a single meal a day. Most of the time.
I started with exploring the foothills of the mountains - I lived in a river valley. The river was hard to fish and the water was tainted through industrial processes, meaning fishing from it wasn't a good idea. I started on fishing a small creek, where I'd catch trout about the length of my hand. Exploration led me to find some good places to find crayfish as well. Since it was a small creek, I couldn't fish extensively without damaging the fish population, so I used different creeks occasionally. Obviously, a three hour hike for three or four fish wasn't a viable, sustainable option.
Continued.
This is the story of how I lived my teen years, how I taught myself to hunt and forage, where I gained my love of the wild, and how I kept my belly full. Settle in with a cup of tea, or better yet, a cup of hot buttered rum, and I'll recount my experiences.
I lived in southern British Columbia, where the mountains were tall and the lakes were big. I lived in a rural area, with an hour bus ride in to school every day, which was a three hour walk otherwise, making working in town impossible. My father slowly slipped away from caring about me and my brother a couple years after the divorce, and spent more time and money on his girlfriend, which unfortunately left the shelves and fridge bare. I'd go to school on an empty stomach every day, and come home to a single meal a day. Most of the time.
I started with exploring the foothills of the mountains - I lived in a river valley. The river was hard to fish and the water was tainted through industrial processes, meaning fishing from it wasn't a good idea. I started on fishing a small creek, where I'd catch trout about the length of my hand. Exploration led me to find some good places to find crayfish as well. Since it was a small creek, I couldn't fish extensively without damaging the fish population, so I used different creeks occasionally. Obviously, a three hour hike for three or four fish wasn't a viable, sustainable option.
Continued.
