Many researchers believe we first hunted with persistence hunting.  There's still an African tribe or two that hunts this way.  They run it to death, then when it drops they stab it.  I agree that it's going to be essentially impossible to get close enough to stab a deer with a spear.  As ForTheHunt mentioned, getting 100 years away from a deer can be tough.  A wild guess of mine would be that early man hunted in packs similar to wolves/wild dogs, go after a large herd, try to single one out and force it to run in a certain direction, that direction being towards your buddies with spears or whatnot.  I've also seen an interesting contraption for throwing spears.  Essentially it's a 3-4 foot long straight pole with a sort of "barb" at one end.  The butt of your spear will have a concave surface, so that barb will fit in there.  Hold the spear thrower at the other end, with the spear flat against it.  Make sure the spear is front-heavy, and you can actually chunk a spear pretty far and forcefully this way (i tried it with some sticks when I was a kid).

I just use a Brita filter.  Bottled water is a huge ripoff and produces tons of waste.  What's the consensus here on Brita filters?

Well, that equation isn't taken one very very important thing into account:  the fact that the foot itself flexes and absorbs shock when you avoid heel-striking.  There's slow-motion videos on youtube of a guy jogging on a treadmill both heel striking and not.  In the heel striking videos you can literally see waves of shock travelling up beyond his knees, but when he's on the balls of his feet, there is much much less shock.  Running on the balls of the feet fully utilizes the flexible nature of the foot.  Flat footed, I dunno, I'd have to try it I guess.  But I definitely do not believe in any way that there is a time to ever run heel-first.

Barefoot Ken Bob has really good guidelines for running barefoot: small, quick steps, upright posture, landing on the balls of your feet.  Running with small fast steps makes it a lot easier and more natural feeling.

Sorry to hear about your weak tissues.  Unfortunately, modern shoes have weakened all of our feet (though not necessarily to the point of yours) because they support our feet, instead of letting the foot grow strong and support itself.

And my main interest in pemmican is it's well-known benefits, being infinitely better than the processed cafeteria food I'll be served in Afghanistan, and stable for long periods of time.  I wouldn't be putting "artificial flavors", as anything I added would be as natural as possible, like some dried garlic, maybe some basil.  Although from a sense I guess even the most natural spice would still be an artificial flavor. 

It still transmits a surprising amount of shock to the body though.  The middle of the foot is basically a big joint, that absorbs a ton of impact.  Running on the balls of your feet allows your feet to work as they evolved to work, to absorb all that shock and prevent it from harming your body.  It takes a bit to re-learn running form, both the form itself and for the muscles/tendons/ligaments/bones to strengthen, but it's well worth it.  I'm in the Army and we do a lot of running on pavement, and I used to get shin splints pretty badly at times.  Once I got my vibrams (which, due to Army regulations on allowable PT clothing/shoes, are the closest I can get to barefoot while exercising at work) and started running on the balls of my feet, with a shorter, faster stride, my shin splints instantly went away.  Ahh, I'm rambling.

My butcher uses brown paper to wrap it.
For further reading:
http://slowdeathbyrubberduck.com/
I stumbled onto it at the library. The authors are from the province I live in in Canada.

I'm actually reading this book right now.  Really a great book, although slightly disturbing.  The extent to which we are surrounded by harmful chemicals in modern life is pretty mind-blowing. 

I picked up a pair of vibram FFs a couple months ago and I absolutely love them, especially since I started running with proper form, not heel-striking.  I think this weekend I may start running fully barefoot.  It's such an incredible lower-leg workout!  Sprinting up hills in vibrams (or barefoot) is a ridiculous calf workout for those of us who have worn "regular" shoes all our lives.

I'm the same way with lamb, I definitely prefer that cooked to raw.  I'm still getting used to raw meat, but I do like beef, as long as it's a decently tender cut.

As for the food processor, it's just a small one that I picked up on sale for 10 bucks.  I figure I'll crush the jerky by hand into relatively small pieces and then see if the little processor can improve on that.  I think it will, but worst case scenario I'm only out 10 bucks.  I may have to wait until mid-month to buy supplies for my next batch, but I'm definitely going to make multiple small batches of various recipes.

It's not so much that I don't want to take the time, but I come from a sort of culinary background, so going from gordon ramsay's beef wellington recipe to suet pemmican is pretty difficult.  I think I also may have mixed it with a little more fat than meat.  I'm going to pick up some better fat hopefully today, and another chunk of cow.  Is beef the best-tasting meat to use?  How is bison, or lamb pemmican?  Sorry for inundating everyone with questions, but I have a ton of them, and I've got to learn somehow!  I figure better to learn as much as I can now before I waste more money on ass-flavored pemmican.  I really really really really really really want to make good tasting pemmican and eat it regularly, with me being in the Army this would be one of the best (only) paths to me eating as raw paleo as possible when I'm in the field.  Okay, lemme sum up my rants in a few questions:

1.  Best source/price for great tasting fat?  Bison back fat seems to taste fantastic, and I haven't checked the price yet personally, but I'm worried it may be too expensive for me to use on a regular basis.  Being in the Army, I don't have a ton of money, although I do try to make food one of my top financial priorities.

2.  Is beef the best tasting meat to use?  Is there another meat that tastes maybe better, that's available for a similar price?

3.  Has anyone ever done this with wild game?  In about 3 months I'll be moving to Texas and I'm going to start hunting regularly, and I was thinking with it's leanness, venison would be a great meat to use.  Mayhap venison and bison back fat?

4.  None of my pemmican will have to last very long, a week or two at the most.  It's basically a simple way for me to bring paleo food with me to work for lunch.  So I really want to place an emphasis on taste, with natural herbs and spices.  I have a small rosemary and basil plant, and I just started growing my own garlic.  I'd really like to try to make some form of "gourmet" pemmican without loading it up with sodium, just natural herbs and spices.  has anyone else done this, any tips?  I'm thinking some dried garlic could really taste nice, with some basil.

I also just picked up a small food processor, I think if I can really grind it up like a powder it'll help also, my first batch was a little coarse and gave it a dirt-like texture.  Thanks for the help, tips, and sifting through my novels of questions, guys hahaha.

Does anyone on here do any strongman exercises?

I think the tallow is the problem.  It's like hard candle wax.  I remember reading other people scoop their rendered fat with an ice cream scoop, but I had to use a knife with this one and practically hammer and chisel it out, literally.  I'm going to try picking up some muscle fat from slankers, and some good meat.  I'll try a small batch with some bacon fat, if nothing else it'll be a fun little experiment, bacon pemmican.

I read this article on Mark Sisson's site, he's not raw but whatever, he likes meat and fat ( http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-make-pemmican/ )...anyway in that article he says that his first batch of pemmican also came out very bland. Interesting.

I was considering to make pemmican myself but I fear it will also taste bland...so I don't just want to waste time.
If the dried meat doesn't taste good by itself...and the fat you use doesn't taste good by itself, I don't think combining them would produce anything with superior taste, how would it 

Unless you use a super tasty fat and meat and grind the meat super fine, then maybe it could be good.
But I see in most commercially sold pemmicans they add lots of spices, like ground berry, garlic powder and others, and the recipes I looked at add dry spices with the dry meat....so maybe it just isn't supposed to taste good without the spices 

I don't think I will make it unless I need to "survive" somewhere where I won't be able to get food. I'd rather enjoy my tasty liver 

I think the fat I used is part of the reason it tastes like ass.  Now I'm kicking myself for having bought 3 tubs of it.  From now on I'll just get the chunks of fat from slankers, and maybe I'll try to get my hands on a little bison back fat.  I'm definitely going to try making pemmican with some bacon fat.  In fact, I think I'll make about 5 different batches, in very small amounts each, to get the best flavor.  The meat by itself tasted nice, but the fat made it bland and since I couldn't grind it into a powder, it has a dirt-like texture.  I know it's survival food and not a culinary special, but I'm sure I can get it tasting nice.  For my next batch I'll try drying out some fresh garlic cloves and tossing them in there, also.  And of course, some real fat, not this bland US Wellness lard.  My only concern is that I need to keep the cost down.  Pemmican isn't exactly the cheapest food, considering how much grass-fed ingredients cost and how much we lose from dehydrating.  I am definitely going to try the garlic though, and some bacon fat also.