A Life Wasted

Third Night

Hunger was becoming such a problem that I knew I had to get something to eat this day or I'd begin to make mistakes. I was in a large wooded area, but the experience of the previous night had made me realize I couldn't move through the woods as if I had them to myself. It was pretty clear at this point that I wasn't the only one out there. So I moved cautiously through the woods looking for something to eat. At the edge of the woods I found a large grape vine, but there was no fruit on the vine. I cursed the barren vine and moved on.

Throughout the day I spotted numerous isolated homes, all of which I stayed well clear of. However, one I came on so suddenly that I nearly walked out of the woods and into their backyard. When this happened I dropped to the ground and studied the house. It was a small cookie-cutter ranch style home with a barn and a rabbit pen. As I watched a horse stuck his head out the barn's stall and nodded at me. Every instinct I had told me no one was home so I made a quick decision and walked to the barn. The horse greeted me warmly so I stepped inside and rubbed her nose. I searched the barn for food, but there wasn't even a bag of horse feed, which I would have eaten. The horse had a water bucket but it was empty. This made me think of a water source, which I looked around for. All I found in the barn was an empty two litter coke bottle, but did spot a water hose at the house long enough to reach the barn.

I walked to the back of the house and looked through a window. I felt sure no one was home. No cars were present and the place just felt empty. I had no desire to go into the house so I never tried the door to see if it was locked. What I did do was to turn on the water faucet and carry the hose out to the barn. I drank about a gallon and spilled another over my head. Then I rinsed out the two litter Coke bottle and filled it. I then held the hose so that water would reach the horse. She drank greedily. It was too hot to leave the horse without water so I filled her water bucket. She was still drinking when I returned the water hose to the house. As I walked back into the woods my eyes fell on that rabbit pen. It held a single rabbit. A beautiful loop eared rabbit that was some kid's pet.

I've told this story before by saying, "I caught a rabbit." Of course that would imply that I used my survival skills to catch a wild rabbit in a snare. But that's not exactly what happened. I'm not real proud of how I caught that rabbit, but the truth is that I removed the screwdriver that held the lock clasp in place, reached in and grabbed the pet rabbit by its ears and picked it up. I left the cage door open and took the screw driver with me to make it look like someone had failed to secure it properly.

When I started this run I wore a good pair of hiking boots, blue jeans, shirt, and a green camouflage jacket. I didn't have a watch, but I did have a lighter in my jacket pocket. That turned out to be important to me. The jacket had large pockets so I wedged the big show rabbit into a pocket. His whole body didn't fit so I held the upper part of it as I walked, petting him as I did so to keep the guy calm. I carried the rabbit like that for several hours until it began to get dark. As dusk fell I had collected dry wood that would smoke little and had prepared a spot for the small fire where its light could not be seen from ten foot away. I started the fire as night began to fall to prevent any smoke from being seen.

I'd killed and butchered rabbits before, so knew what to do. As I've done before I killed the rabbit with a strike to the back of the head. Rabbits are easy to kill in this manner and I am told they don't feel anything. I do know they die immediately. It was hard to kill this rabbit because I knew it was some kid's pet and I'd spent too much time petting it. Several times during the day I nearly released it. But I was starving so it had to be done. I used the screwdriver to cut the skin off and butcher the rabbit. It wasn't pretty but it worked. Then I impelled the body on a stick and cooked it over the small open fire. As soon as the meat was cooked I put out the fire and covered all signs of it. It wasn't until I was walking away from the spot of the fire that I began to eat.

As much as the rabbit's meat helped me that two-liter Coke bottle helped more. I was able to locate water in the woods often enough that I wasn't in danger of dying of thirst, but adding the ability to carry water with me made a huge difference in my comfort level. That night went much better for me. I didn't see any more signs of pursuit and I covered a considerable distance. Early the next morning I managed to steal a car without being seen. A few hours after stealing the car I stopped at a store and bought food. I also bought a cheap backpack, a camouflage tarp, and an Ironman watch, and a compass I could wear around my neck. Things were looking up, but I would never be so unprepared again. Next time I had to run into the woods I would have a pack ready to help me survive. I called it my "Go Bag" and it always sat on the seat beside me.

Rabbit and Coke Bottle.