When mankind fell asleep, they left a lot of canned beans behind.
They hadn’t left many deer.
Deer are native to the Manhattan area, though, and after a decade without lawnmowers, returned in droves. Another decade and they lived in and around the boroughs by the ten-thousands.
Right about when we ran out of canned beans, we started to remember how to hunt. How to build stoves. How to tan hide. How to use all the pieces of an animal.
And best of all – how to make deer jerky.
While beef is a treat if you can get it, deer is the primary source of meat in the boroughs. In the underground, citizens wear deerskin moccasins, tunics, and breeches. The leather pouches we carry our belongings in are made from deer skin. The deer is one of the bounties that was returned to mankind when we lost everything else we had. Part of the trade. Just don’t ask us if we’d trade back…
-Jerky Joe’s Oral Memoirs