Dragon question

[Vyon]

There aren't very many dragonriders. We're a turn before the raid on Ruatha Hold. I'd have thought that once High Reaches was re-inhabited that would be a good idea. The beasts could be fed to the hatchlings anyway, even if the older dragons were too fussy.

[Schisty]

In an attempt to preserve herd beasts after a disaster, it seems to me (who has researched some primitive food storage means) that they'd want to rescue as many corpses as possible, bleed them, and hang them in a dry cave/dark room to dry out, and probably have them salted where possible. One can use the overabundance of water to leech the salt back out (and then preserve that water to resolidfy the salt...) when it's time to eat the beast. I think the issue comes with the guts, both stomach, and intestines, as well as musk sacks, that can cause a problem for leaving dead animals where they lay. Once those are pierced, I'm reliably told the meat becomes useless.

Dragons probably aren't that picky, preferring to hunt when they can, but if we assume they are like most carnivores, and are hunters of opportunity. Also take into account how much the average dragon eats per week(sevenday). I recall in White Dragon (as I'm reading it now) that at one point, Ruth manages 4 beasts, but he mentions being very hungry (it was right around the egg theft, so he'd used up a lot of energy). Ruth is the smallest dragon, so you're probably looking at 4 being an average for a dragon who's not working very hard.

I'm not in my home, and thus can't access my research materials for better info, but I certainly can, if you need more detail!

[Vyon]

You want primitive? http://www.coolantarctica.com/schools/a ... recipe.php That one's preserving the dried meat in its own fat. Somehow I'm not picturing the Pernese herdbeasts as being very fatty. But one of my sons has a book of historical Hungarian recipes and it mentions their plains cattle-herders drying meat then storing it as powder for future use as a soup base. I've also mentioned corning it as well, but that takes more forethought to have the ingredients and some kind of container big enough to brine an entire animal.

[Mausey]

The native people here had a food called pemmican that was said to be high in energy but not taste. Dry meat until it can be pounded into almost powder, mix it with dried berries, rendered fat and store in clean stomachs or bladders. Supposedly it would last several years as long as the container was kept tightly closed and dry.

As long as the animals were found shortly after death, the meat could always be dried. They had spices so jerky is a possibility.

[Vyon]

All the primitive methods of storing the meat except corning it seem to involve drying it first. That's going to be enough for my story I think, and I'll leave my characters to think out what they want to do with it from there.

[Brenda]

I was going through old files on my computer to back them up, and found a fanfic I had forgotten I wrote, about an enterprising dragonrider who wants to set up a business in ice!

[Vyon]

That was done on Earth, so I don't see any reason why it couldn't be done on Pern. I saw several episodes of George Clark's "Amazing Spaces" about a man converting an ice-house in the north of Scotland into a house. With everybody living in caves I'm sure one could be turned into an ice-house.

The northern regions of Pern is where all the villains live so it's a virtually unexplored region ripe for exploitation by fanfiction writers. There must be some glaciers in that icy northern wasteland and if there aren't then it's time someone invented one.

As for my original question, my own research showed that in ruminants the gut contents would start swelling within the hour and my characters would only have 6 - 8 hours to collect them. By next morning any that hadn't been gutted would be inedible. And my dragon had his own opinion about whether he was going to eat them. Also, herdbeasts swim very well. This summer we had a string of cyclones come south from the tropics. After one of them a lone heifer was found on an island two miles offshore in the Hauraki gulf. It took some time to track down her owner because she wasn't a coastal animal, she'd been swept down from the hinterland.

[Mausey]

Actually, selling ice would be a fantastic business for a dragon rider. Even if they don't have glaciers, there are many lakes in the north that would get ice several feet thick. Cut big blocks, store them in a deep cave with a way to seal the chamber and insulate them a bit and they should have ice until the next winter. Sawdust works very well or a couple layers of hides sandwiched so the hair/fur is facing out on both sides.

[BD1]

I'm confused about something. In Dragon Drums, when Menolly and Sebell are on the ship/boat, Kimi is in mating heat, Menolly says she'll send Beauty away. Beauty is older than Kimi. Why does Kimi rise to mate BEFORE Beauty??