Okay, I was in the car for about four hours today… I had some time to think… My mind start­ed to wan­der, and the gears were spin­ning.  I asked myself, if the S#!t has hit the fan while I was in Philadel­phia, and I knew no one.  If food sup­plies are low and I was in either the sub­urbs or in the city what would I do for food?  Trap squir­rels, well yeah, trap oth­er small game where I can, um, yeah, but then it hit me.  In EVERY city (maybe not every city) I am in, there are pigeons.  Squab.  It used to be a sta­ple food on the Amer­i­can table, and still is in coun­tries around the world.  They are every­where.  Every park, every street, every alley way.  Every­where.

Well, onto my Inter­net research now that I am home for the evening…  Hmmm…  First, how would I go about trap­ping a pigeon?  Well, I sup­pose I could try rat traps with seed on them (I sup­pose this would work for Squir­rels as well), home made box trap, milk crate box trap, card­board box trap, snare?  Here is what I have found:

• http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=291844
• http://www.ehow.com/way_5376784_homemade-pigeon-traps.html
• http://www.racingbirds.com/ptrap.html
• http://www.birdpestcontrol.net/bird-control/homemade-bird-traps-and-snares.html
• http://www.diychatroom.com/content/homemade-pigeon-traps_2955d336-f981-3132-e5ba-60ca5a68597c/

How to Make a Bird Trap

Pheas­ant Trap

Looks like box traps are the pre­ferred method… I am not sure if the SHTF, that a box trap is the best way to do this, because they are eas­i­ly spot­ted in busy sub­ur­ban areas as well as urban areas.  If any­one has any oth­er ideas, feel free to share them.

Once you have trapped and killed your pigeon, you should pluck the feath­ers while the body is still warm not unlike a chick­en or a turkey.  Here is a video I found illus­trat­ing it:

Partn1

Part 2

Nev­er done this with a pigeon, but the learn­ing process con­tin­ues…  Once plucked and gut­ted, and prepped to be cooked, clear­ly you are going to want to roast it over a fire or over a small stove.  I would sug­gest a small stove or makeshift stove if you are stuck some­where so that you do not draw as much atten­tion.  At least that is what I think.

If you are camp­ing and hap­pen to have a camp stove or oven, here are a cou­ple sim­ple recipes I found online:

• http://chestofbooks.com/food/recipes/Temperance-Cook-Book/How-To-Cook-Pigeons.html

And here is a video show­ing how to cook a pigeon in a tin can in the field:

So, this is what I could find, this evening, and fig­ured I would share it…  Hope you enjoy.  I learned some­thing.  Did you?