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.

[Amnorix]

Anyone else watch "Naked and Afraid"? It's eye-opening how much even somewhat reasonably trained humans suck at surviving without all the amenities of life.

Basically, two people (one male and one female) get dropped off somewhere, and get to bring ONE thing each (often a fire-starter, or a fishing net, or whatever) and a knife. That's it. No clothes, no blanket, NOTHING.

The challenge is to survive 21 days. The number of tap outs, due to injuries or the miserable conditions (cold, lack of food, whatever) is pretty high, but what is universally true is NOBODY truly thrives. EVERYONE loses alot of weight (usually 10% or more of total pre-challenge weight) and it's clear that if it was a, whatever, 50 days challenge, pretty much nobody would make it.

And sometimes the conditions are full of food -- at least in theory. People even complain -- we're in a RAIN FOREST. We can hear creatures everywhere. There's all kinds of plants. Why are we starving? Why can't we catch anything?

[gblowfish]

Ask Bob Dole. He's basically living in the woods outside Texarkana.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Anyone else watch "Naked and Afraid"? It's eye-opening how much even somewhat reasonably trained humans suck at surviving without all the amenities of life.

Basically, two people (one male and one female) get dropped off somewhere, and get to bring ONE thing each (often a fire-starter, or a fishing net, or whatever) and a knife. That's it. No clothes, no blanket, NOTHING.

The challenge is to survive 21 days. The number of tap outs, due to injuries or the miserable conditions (cold, lack of food, whatever) is pretty high, but what is universally true is NOBODY truly thrives. EVERYONE loses alot of weight (usually 10% or more of total pre-challenge weight) and it's clear that if it was a, whatever, 50 days challenge, pretty much nobody would make it.

And sometimes the conditions are full of food -- at least in theory. People even complain -- we're in a RAIN FOREST. We can hear creatures everywhere. There's all kinds of plants. Why are we starving? Why can't we catch anything?

I admit that I would need some training. I went camping once, but I'd probably need more than that.

[scho63]

The start of the NFL season can't come soon enough.....

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by scho63

The start of the NFL season can't come soon enough.....

If you were feral, you wouldn't even know when it started.

Speaking of seasons, I wonder if the required acreage would need to be large enough that a person could migrate to different areas that have different plants to harvest over the course of the year. That would mean a pretty big territory.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

If you were feral, you wouldn't even know when it started.

Speaking of seasons, I wonder if the required acreage would need to be large enough that a person could migrate to different areas that have different plants to harvest over the course of the year. That would mean a pretty big territory.

Are you saying coconuts migrate?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by ptlyon

Are you saying coconuts migrate?

I'm thinking tinyevel is right. You'd want a big north-south corridor, maybe with an ocean on one end to harvest crabs or other all-weather animals. And then you'd follow the blooms each year.

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by patteeu

This thread got me thinking... how do you buy netflix videos if you're off the grid?

Or how in the hell do you order pizza if your phone is dead.

[Nightfyre]

Originally Posted by 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.

I may be mistaken, but humans had to Migrate prior to developing agricultural cultivation, correct? It would need to be immense if agriculture were prohibited.

[OrtonsPiercedTaint]

Central Park

[JimNasium]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Anyone else watch "Naked and Afraid"? It's eye-opening how much even somewhat reasonably trained humans suck at surviving without all the amenities of life.

Basically, two people (one male and one female) get dropped off somewhere, and get to bring ONE thing each (often a fire-starter, or a fishing net, or whatever) and a knife. That's it. No clothes, no blanket, NOTHING.

The challenge is to survive 21 days. The number of tap outs, due to injuries or the miserable conditions (cold, lack of food, whatever) is pretty high, but what is universally true is NOBODY truly thrives. EVERYONE loses alot of weight (usually 10% or more of total pre-challenge weight) and it's clear that if it was a, whatever, 50 days challenge, pretty much nobody would make it.

And sometimes the conditions are full of food -- at least in theory. People even complain -- we're in a RAIN FOREST. We can hear creatures everywhere. There's all kinds of plants. Why are we starving? Why can't we catch anything?

Yeah, it’s eye opening how hard of a life that hunter-gatherer existence would be.

[T-post Tom]

A small room on a freighter to Vietnam has been known to make a man go feral.

[Easy 6]

Yeah I watch Naked and Afraid quite a bit, and here is the burning question about that show... why do we get to see the chicks ass, but not her boobies?

[Beef Supreme]

I'm trying to go feral on a more local level, but when I tried to shoot a turkey with a bow & arrow, they kicked me out of the grocery store.

[excessive]

Suppose you were to find a crop worthy plant or meat suitable critter already growing or living on said acreage. Would you be able to propagate native flora and raise native fauna?

I'm thinking a Robinson Crusoe scenario. Say you want to cage a few squirrels or bunnies, or plant a few apple trees? What if you came across, let's say, a medicinal plant (wink, wink, nod, nod), would it be okay to start a pharmacological grow? Asking for a friend.