Exactly. I wonder how many people from the southwest desert would pass these up if they were lost and starving in the north woods?
If I'm ever dropped into the southwest desert somewhere I want to be with someone who grew up there.
“I never could figure out the starvation times of the early settlers.”
Same reason someone from the city could starve to death in an area full of wild game, fish, and vegetation.
Simple lack of knowledge.
If you don’t know how to hunt you wont get game.
If you don’t know how to fish you wont catch fish.
If you don’t know how to build a boat and make a net you wont net fish.
It was winter, even in the best time of spring finding enough vegetation to survive is almost impossible even for someone that knows what to look for. If you don’t know what to look for forget it, you can even poison yourself.
Don’t forget, Indians were also competing for the same food, areas could easily be hunted out.