Fear The Light

And the hunt begins!

~~ One week later ~~
So far all has been well. I had found another passageway inside the cave where it led me to a small clearing surrounded by trees. The air was fresher, and the animals were calmer here. Food was abundant outside of the cave, fish, cave crabs, grass snakes, wild berries, wild mushrooms, rabbits and edible plants; that were easy to find in the forested area. The cave mouth was much smaller as well so it wasn't as noticeable.

I had become quite proud of myself. I had survived for so long on my own and now, I think, I'm ready to trap larger game. Time to bag me a deer!
The thought of trapping a deer gave me a wave of mixed emotions; emotions of excitement, terror, and hunger. Wait...I don't know how to trap large game!
My brain imagined a giant deadfall rabbit trap, a deer pancake didn't seem so great any more.

List of hunting techniques I've seen in living in the wilderness TV shows:
Axe throwing
Ground snare
Swing trap
Bow and Arrows
Drop net
Camouflage hole
Camouflaged spear hole

Clapping my hands together I prepared myself for my VICTORY!

~~ 18 hours later ~~

Kicking the ground I clutched my hair trying to keep from screaming. It was not easy. Traps are not easy. And even with my extensive binge watching of the Lost in the Wilderness series, it couldn't have prepared me for my utter failure. Deep breath in....out...in...out...in...and now I'm calm.
The fact of having little to no upper body strength did nothing to help the axe throwing, not to mention I never hit the target once. After three hours I had given up on the axes but still I had hope for the next trap, which was the ground snare. The ground snare took four hours to make, not including my breaks to to pull out the slivers. When finally finished I had waited in a bush for a deer. After just twenty minutes a hefty dark horned buck came by; it was a good size to start out with. And with such nice wide antlers. I was excited. It's dark large eyes cautious. Anticipation raising as I watched it trot around.

I facepalmed the dirt with my head. I had watched it step right OVER the trap. Figures. But! A rabbit, short and grey came shortly after hopping right into the trap...the trap didn't budge. Another fail!

To the next one !

My knee hurts. Rubbing my knee at the partial failure; the swing trap had taken only two hours to make but was too touchy. Because as soon as I stood upright from my crouched position the wooden stick released and the knife that I had tied on the end stabbed my inner left pant leg just barely grazing the hair on my leg but the wooden pole did gave me a black, purplish bruise on my knee. Although thankfully that was the only damage. Tossing that away, I steeled my resolve.
Don't give up! You can do this! You made a fire and even survived in the wilderness alone!
My pep talk did nothing to ease my continuous failures. But alas I must carry on. The bow and arrows didn't make it to the testing phase, who knew that making your own bow and arrows was so difficult? The drop net had taken the most time a total of 5 hours. Which did yet again not work. On the way up a tree the net had snagged pulling me out of the tree hitting two branches on the way down before crashing to the ground. Only then realizing I was caught in my own net. That cocoon netting mishap took an hour to get out of. At my last attempt I had decided on the very last option the camouflage spear hole. Even I couldn't get caught in that trap...or so I hoped.

My hands were numb, feet throbbing, axe nearly dull, sweat drenched but it was finally finished. I had made the spears from my previous failures and placed them standing tall in the bottom of my 5 foot deep hole which I camouflaged with leaves and pine branches.
I marked three trees by my trap just in case before grabbing my climbing rope, handmade net, mini axe, and sweater off the ground; trudging back into the cave in desperate need of a bath and food.