How many acres would a person need to go feral?

[Rain Man]

I was thinking the other day about cattle, and what a pasture must look like to them. When you're a rancher and you open the gate for your cattle, they're essentially walking into a field of pizza, right? Their food is just lying there on the ground for them to take, and it's food that they really like. I guess more accurately, they're walking into a field that's mixed with pizza and broccoli and the occasional cookie, but that's fine.

So that got me thinking about how cool it would be as a human to experience this, and I suddenly realized - wow! That's how it was for humans for 99 percent of our history. We got our food by walking around and finding it. Sometimes it was on a bush or in a root and sometimes we had to kill it, but the truth is that for most of our history, the world was a big buffet and we wandered through it with a fork, a spear, and an atlatl.

So that got me thinking again. Could a person do that now? We talk about living "off the grid", but that's kind of a fiction. People living off the grid are still importing goods from civilization. They're buying canned goods and shotgun shells and Netflix videos. They're using agricultural techniques that were developed in Mesopotamia and optimized in Kansas.

So instead of that corrupt modern version of "living off the grid", let's go with a purist approach. You've got XX acres of land, and after a polite ramp up period to get it ready, you're going to be a hunter/gatherer. No growing crops allowed. You're going to wander the woods and valleys and plains, and you're going to hunt creatures and pick berries from wild bushes, and drink from streams. You'll only make clothing and tools and cups and netflix videos using local sources and materials. Nothing enters or leaves your property, ever.

How many acres of land would a person need to do this? I'm considering it as my next career.

[wheeler08]

Buying up land with all those diamonds?

[Abba-Dabba]

Hobo on the range

[Iowanian]

It very much matters where you're located. Some areas like desert or western mountain ranges would require much more land that other woodland areas with abundant rivers and wildlife.

[eDave]

I work from home and I've gone feral within a space of 2270 sq. ft. And it feels like it's getting smaller every day.

Send help.

[threebag]

10 square miles for a lifetime

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by wheeler08

Buying up land with all those diamonds?

[EPodolak]

Ever watch "Live Below Zero"? A few of those folks in Alaska are quite far off the grid.

[KS Smitty]

Depends on how long your ramp up period is and what is allowed within that period. If you have time to plant fruit/nut trees, berries etc., establish native species of birds, fish, bees and mammals and have a beginning seed source it should be an acheiveable goal.

If you don't have a reliable fresh water supply you will die no matter your acreage.

[TinyEvel]

Interesting fact: the term "caveman" is actually a misnomer. They didn't live in caves. Well, not for extended periods of time. They were actually migrant and followed the seasons and the food. So, you may need quite a long stretch from North to South. The no planting/farming is quite a restriction. So you'd have to leave to go follow herd of buffalo/cattle etc. I imagine.

40,000 acres? I'm an "ask for your desired outcome" type person.

[Chief Pagan]

If set up camp next to a feedlot, I think you need about a hundred square feet.

[TimeForWasp]

You will need to rob and pillage your neighbors.

[Buehler445]

Probably a moot point because we are soft bitches compared to the hard assed bastards that could live that way, and even then life span was like 30 years.

Even back then they relied on a pack of compadres to stay alive. So if you’re talking about living alone by yourself that’s a tough ask.

Maybe it would be possible on like an island of Hawaii or a massive land base of some super prime fruit bearing area.

Side question, you ever thought how Hard it is to klll anything with your bear hands? It’s a tough out man. Especially without shoes. Think about trying to face or cat in a death match. Cat weighs what? 4 pounds you outweigh it by a factor of 40 and it’s going to be a hell of a long row to hoe to kill that little bastard.

Life is hard man.

[Red Beans]

I know some apartment dwellers that are feral...

[ChiefGator]

Limited agriculture with orchards and berries has probably been happening for a very long time.. either purposefully, or by accident, by bringing back fruits and nuts to where the group was at that time.

Also, land was teeming with food before it was stripped clean by humans over the last centuries. Even the US was described as rich in animal life and birds when it was first colonized by Europeans. They described bird migrations that would fill the entire sky for days and huge numbers of wild turkeys, deer, etc..

Doing that on today's land is much more difficult.