Hunting and Foraging equipment

[Whyherro123 2283]

So, with the cutback of canned food, eventually our characters should have the ability to forage for different plants, as well as (already in-game) be able to hunt and fish for food. These plants and animals are used for food, for medicine, for fires, and for clothing/shelter. Here are some of the things I propose as a means to this end, for when we don't have a rifle or "modern" equipment, and desire to be self-sufficient:

 

• Wooden equipment: we can already make splints and fireplaces from sticks, but I propose two other items; a tripod and a tanning rack. The tripod (made from three sticks and cordage) can be used to suspend a pot over a fire, or to smoke-dry meat, fish, and plants. The tanning rack (made from 4 sticks and cordage) can be used to make leather (see below)
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• Cordage: cordage is a very important survival item, and almost anything can be made into cordage with a little know-how. I propose we get the ability to make cordage from natural materials, such as sinews, grasses, and the barks of trees. By wetting and twisting together these items, we can then use it to tie together a pack frame, sew together leather clothing, or to make a net.
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• Needles and awls: Needles and awls (for making holes in leather) are important tools for survival as well: I carry a sewing kit as part of my survival kit, and my multitool has an awl on it. You can make "primitive" needles and awls from bone, which could be used to make/repair leather clothing, as well as weave together a fishing/hunting net.
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• Clothing: We already have the ability to make leather clothing, but I propose a subtle change to the leather-making process. Right now, we are dependent on both Fertilizer and Leather Sewing Kits to make clothing, which is highly inefficient. If you take a look at the "Guts" item you get after skinning an animal, you can clearly see a brain in there. There is a process called "brain-tanning", where all you need is a brain-water slurry, sunlight, and time. Stretch the hide on a tanning rack (see above), apply the slurry, and leave for a while (rather like growing food in a garden). Come back after a few hours, and you have tanned leather.
  • Furs: Leather clothing by itself will keep you rather warm/cool as the situation requires, due to its properties as formerly-living skin, but for when it gets COLD, you will probably want something a little more insulating. Take, for instance, rabbit pelts (as well as squirrel and other small mammals), and sew them together into a mantle you throw over yourself. This would, of course, require Day Z to implement a "layering system" for clothing
• Projectile points: we can already make arrowheads from bone, but (in my opinion and experience), glass is almost as easy to work with (much easier than flint or other stones, anyways) and much more effective (glass is essentially man-made obsidian, which can have mono-molecular edges). You can take glass and chip away at the edges to make effective knives, spearheads, arrowhead, harpoon barbs, what-have-you. Like these:
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• Baskets: baskets can be made from bark (especially Birch) and various water-reeds (which can be found alongside almost any river/pond in Chernarus), and can be used for almost anything you can think of, from serving as a backpack, for use as a cooking pot when coupled with hot-rocks, to storing food, to carrying smouldering coals so you don't have to re-start a fire.
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• Nets: Nets can be used for fishing en-masse (a harpoon, like in the projectiles section, on the right of the spear, could be used to catch individual fish), by casting them out into a lake or into the ocean, or for use in traps (set up a snare to drop a net onto an animal), or in hunting (throw a net onto an animal, or player, to prevent them from running). Only thing is, they take a LOT of cordage material, and some time to make. However, a good net would be a great boon to survival.
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Edited April 9, 2015 by Whyherro123