It wasn't that there wasn't enough food as much as the type. A lot of times the only meat available was venison or antelope. These meats are very low fat, so there was a constant need for more sources of fat. When they were in Fort Clatsop dog was an important source of protein. Dog is very low in fat.
The idea that they ate 9 lbs of meat per day is not correct. They ate as much as that when meat was plentiful. There were many days when meat was not plentiful. The 9 lb figure is the high end of what they consumed when meat was plentiful. They did consume huge amounts of meat this is undeniable.
Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts
"God did it" is not an argument. It is an excuse for intellectual laziness.