Good versatile traps

[Cathode]

Apart from the Duke #11 traps, the most versatile is #110 conibears.

These things can be waterset for fish, turtles, birds and landset every critter, and produce a tonnage of meat. They really pay for themselves fast.
As a kill trap they don’t attract predators for squealing and carry on, but you do have to be out early before the thermals rise, otherwise the eagles will still get to your traps.

You can buy them cheap by the dozen.

Just be careful with them, they can break fingers. The big #220, and especially #330 can break arms.

But between the Duke #11 long spring and the #110 , you can feed a lot of people for many years. Some of my old traps have caught tonnages of meat over 25 years. So outside of hunting seasons, you can still get all the meat you need.

 

[Cathode]

When you are processing meat, have the 2kg to 4 kg reusable freezer bags and lay the meat flat for freezing so that you can snap off smaller amounts of meat later if you need to.
You can also store more meat in your chest freezer if the bags are frozen flat.

Harvesting wild meat can be very cost effective if you can get a decent amount each time. Same with fishing, cast nets and dragnets help bring in enough to make it cost effective.
It’s also about being prepared to process a surplus, whether you are hunting, trapping or fishing.

Goose stew you can leave the bones in the meat for extra flavour, you don’t have to process meat to the last detail?
Fish, you don’t have to scale, skin, and fillet. You can freeze simply gutted, then later bake in foil whole, peel the skin and scales off and eat the meat underneath, then lift the bones by the tail and eat the meat under that.

You can make things much easier for yourself as well as cost effective.