Living off the land in the wild places and mountains of Andalusia, Spain.

Living off the land in the wild places and mountains of Andalusia

Started  14 January 2020

Living off the land in the wild places and mountains of Andalusia is quite easy, especially if you know the best places to go . Personally I would say for me the very best places are in the forests and pine woods alongside  the many large reservoirs in this part of Spain . Failing that find woodlands next to rivers .

Fishing:

If you are a reasonable fisherman and forager then you should have more than enough food to keep you well fed at least most of the year , only in the very cold spells you might find catching fish a little more difficult.

At night I am able to catch many decent size Bleak (Alburno in Spanish) in my favorite  reservoir just using a small child's fishing net like the ones you use for shrimping in rock-pools . I collected waste bread  from the bins outside a restaurant ( the waste bread edible in itself  or some of it ). Then at night the bleak congregate in great shoals near the dam of this lake. Throwing in small chunks of bread bring the shoals of bleak right up to the bank , they feel safe at night , and i was able to scoop up decent sardine size bleak with the net and using  a head torch. The light from the torch doesnt put them off coming close to the bank. I think i could probably scoop up the bleak using an improvised framework "net" of thin interwoven twigs if i didn't have a net .

If you have fishing  equipment , rod and reel you really are laughing as using bread as hookbait you can catch, as i do , Bleak, Carp and Barbel which are plentiful in the lakes and rivers of andalucia  , if you have lures then there are Largemouth Bass , Pumpkinseed sunfish / Percasol (in Spanish) (use  small lures eg artificial maggots for sunfish ) ,Pike and in colder upland rivers there are  trout.

Also in the lakes are Signal Crayfish and i designed a simple crayfish trap using a carrierbag suspended on fishing line kept open with twigs . The open bag is baited with a dead fish and a stone to make the trap sink  .

I can go into more on all the methods for fishing and crayfishing later.

Hunting

I am not experienced in hunting having never killed a single bird or mammal for food ..yet. But I have observed that  the woods and countryside have a good amount of reliable species of common warm blooded animals  . I think it guaranteed that a licence is needed to hunt in Spain and its probably a lot easier to obtain if you are native Spanish  . Common prey items i have observed are Wood pigeons, Red LeggedPartridges , Common species of Duck and Geese, Rabbits , Squirrels, Rodents,  Deer and Wild Boar. 
Ibex are protected and therefore illegal to hunt. Other species to hunt should be avoided as they are likely to be protected . Various common  species of songbirds might be considered to hunt  in a life and death survival situation but should be avoided otherwise as they would be likely protected and it would be frowned upon by many  im sure even if the species were not protected.  As well as hunting with guns and bows there are many types of traps that can be made from materials around ... eg snares made from tree roots, deadfall traps using flat heavy rocks.

Eating Insects and other Invertebrates

As i have wandered  through the forest in all times of the year ,even in the mid winter insects can be found . For example In December  I have seen grasshoppers in the sunny glades of the Pine forests of Ardales Park , basking in the winter sun. Sunshine  is a regular occurence in Andalucia even in mid winter.   

Most species of insects are edible and its virtually impossible to starve if insects are about . Last year in Gloucestershire UK I tried woodlice for the first time ( woodlice are actually crustaceans not insects ) . They were very tasty and tasted of prawns just as i had previously read  online!

Foraging 

The woodlands, waterways , hedgerows ,surrounding orchards and fields are full of edible plants, fruits seeds and fungi. I am only a relative beginner in this areariousmrer a