This video is a good guide if your wondering how to actually live off the land. It is only done in other countries now. This is how we lived in the usa not that many years ago. The past has a way of becoming the future.
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If 330 million and growing people all decided to live off of the land at once there would be nothing but people to eat in less than a year i think.
500 people lived in Jamestown in 1609 and had opportunity to live off of the land full of game and water full of fish. Opportunity to have gardens and grow whatever they wanted. By 1610 only 60 were alive… and 37 fled by ship to never return. They ate corpses and shoe leather and all of the dogs and horses.
I think those folks were much tougher and able than the average citizen today.
People today complain if the line at the drive thru takes too long… Or the pizza delivery guy took an an extra 5 minutes longer than expected.
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You have to have an intimate knowledge of the land (where you are located) to have a chance of actually living well off the land.
Your average citizen today would not have a chance… the english settlers in Jamestown did not do well because they did not have that intimate knowledge…
The various American indian tribes all accross the USA… lived and thrived here… they had that knowledge.
Mountain men… trappers, hunters, made their way across the USA from east to west… living off the land. It can sure be done… if you are the type required for that kind of life. The mountain men learned from the indians, traded with them, etc…
I have trapped 35 coons in a single night… took 17 deer and 5 wild turkeys in a single season… caught hundreds of fish from local streams rivers and lakes.
And that was while working a 40 hour a week job.
If I worked 40 more hours a week at simply providing food… growing food, foraging food, raising food, hunting fishing etc…
Combined with skills to clean and process all that, freeze it , can it, ferment it, dehydrate it, jerk it.
Well you would sure do a lot better than the average american citizsen now days…
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The skills required… to live off the land can still be learned… you would have to have that intimate knowkedge to do what this guy does.
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actually they spent very little time farming fishing or hunting… the men spent most of the time looking for things that would be profitable…they panned for gold and looked for things that they could sell or trade for profit.
The main driving force of the colonies for a long time was gold and silver.
Most of the settlers were lazy and did not do much work towards survival… the food was gotten by the men stealing from local natives and killing their women and children.
It wasnt until 1611 and the arrival of Sir Thomas Dale that he ordered the colonists to plant corn… and told them that those that do not work do not eat.
History is a thing to be learned from… as Clark stated…the past has a way of becoming the future.
I think today most people are concerned with wealth and rely on ‘supply ships’ to feed us other than think about growing things to eat.
I know some of you think that its easy to survive on meat and slaughter…but all civilizations that thrive seem to grow crops…those that do not grow crops seem to starve and are gone from history.
If not for the Indians growing corn for those early settlers to steal… they likely all would have starved to death.
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Watch the first 1.5 min of this vid.
Good thing that indian had a big string of corn ? squash ? pumpkins ? taters…
I expext what the indian actually had in the rocky mtn area of the US in the dead of winter… is much more realistic.
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It can be done if done right. I think Parkrose Permaculture YouTube channel has stated they grow over 1,000 pounds of food on 1/4 acre of land. The key is getting plants that thrive in your area for fruit and getting them established. Of course learning things like canning helps. Then you learn to hunt and fish and trap as others said.
In my family i was taught restraint to not consume my resources to quickly. We know exactly how to stay alive. It is not as easy as people think. The nice thing about eating dandelion or other wild plants is though they taste terrible they are very healthy. When i was a kid my mother said she never knew what i ate half the time which was true. Ate what was around me alot turning down what other people ate frequently. Remember a kid eating wild strawberries is like an adult eating big strawberries. Mulberries are much bigger to a small boy than they are to a man.
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I agree @elivings1 … to have the best chance of truly flourishing off the land… you would need that Intimate knowledge of your area… grow things that do well there, know as much as possible about foraging the bounty of the land in your area, hunt fish trap… and raise your own animal foods… chickens eggs rabbits goats lamb beef…
The average american now days… is Soooo far from that.
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Dandelion greens were always the first greens of the spring when I was a kid. Grandma would spend hours picking them and cleaning the grass off of them before cooking. We’d eat them with a bit of butter and a splash of apple cider vinegar. They were delicious.
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Perfect example for me…thank you! I loved this movie.
My family would be in our warm cabin enjoying our potatoes and carrots and corn and beans… My wife would be making nice soups and cornbread.
You should talk about the fur trade and how men lived like this to sell furs for profit.
I think we became more civilized and less mountain men and grew towns and communties by planting gardens and crops.
Those old ways are nice for movies but not realistic to further the human race.
Mountain Men and Cave Men are in our history…but they are extinct. Not a sustainable way to live.
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Maybe we had the same family thats how we ate them. Sometimes we got only vinegar or only oil of some type including melted butter. We liked it best if we got both.
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Another piece of history for you guys that wonder what the soldiers that killed all of the Native Americans ate…
They tried living on meat and rations but were starving to death and had scurvy… if not for vegetables they wouldnt have been able to kill so many Native Americans.
The soldiers tried to grow gardens but the grasshoppers ate most of it 
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My family mentioned that the native americans ate grasshoppers and their descendants still do in neighboring countries.
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Yes i think every American that tried to tame this country tried to do so by eating meat but most failed. The Native Americans that lived here lived with the land and ate lots of vegetables and fruits and insects…too many things to even write about. Sure they ate meat but they were too smart to think of being just carnivores… all of the cave men carnivores were killed by more evolved humans that ate vegetables and grew grains.
Lots of money was gained by killing things for furs and in the waters they killed for pelts and then eventually whales for oil.
Those profits were spent to buy vegetables and maybe a can of peaches. 
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Frequently i thought of how the native americans or any ancient people must have thought. Catch myself thinking that way at times now. Most people kill and eat the chicken but they could have lived years off the eggs. They could have lived years on the milk but they kill and eat the cow. Is it any wonder their end came as it did for so many of them. Perhaps that’s the raiding genetics of their forefathers. English are “West Germanic tribes , including the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians who settled in Southern Britain following the withdrawal of the Romans, and the partially Romanised Celtic Britons who already lived there”. Many still raided when they arrived in the new world Saxons - Wikipedia . Nearly everyone but not everyone alive today forefathers did that raiding in the old days.
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What is sustainable is very much location specific.
Veggie eaters… would not be flocking to the rocky mountains to grow and try to live off their preferred food. That would be foolish.
But a human being that prefers meat most of the time… and perhaps wild berries, fruit nuts, wild greens, ramps, shrooms, etc… could flourish there hunting fishing foraging. Yes even today.
What works great in one area simply will not work in another
Millions of acers of US land is suitable to growing forage for ruminant animals… but is not suitable for growing crops like fruit and veggies.
Feeding ruminent animals in areas like that is very sustainable and regenerative. It is the only thing that works well there.
There will always be meat eaters… even though some dream of the day that they can force everyone to eat how they choose.
It would simply be foolish for the human race … perhaps in the near future… when faced with serious food shortages… not to utilize millions of acres of land that is only good for growin grass and grass eaters… which are such delicious and nutritious food for us humans.
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Yes i agree the difference we are seeing now is how people would do things. If we have a herd of goats we would be sick of eating all our small male goats every year. The natives were the same selectively killing many buffalo. Older buffalo , buffalo with issues, etc should all be killed for food. Somethings like wolves or people who are stealing dont cull they try to get it all. A friend of mine once invited me over and gave me some vegetables. When i asked her why didnt she give vegetables to someone who needed them and not me she said i cant help them i tried. She said when you come over i give you cucumbers you go pick them. She said you are barefoot now. Apparently what happened was her guests didnt remove their boots and stomped her garden. I took my shoes off so i could put my feet under the vines while i picked. Asked her if she told them what they did wrong? She said if you looked back and saw all dead cucumber vines would you not know? The problem is i believe they didn’t know and we need to show people that. Another friend allowed another family to pick his garden while he was gone on vacation. They picked even green tomatoes and everything else edible. He was not happy when he returned. He asked me my opinion and i said we like green tomatoes but we would not raid your patch while you were gone like that. The invitation was to pick produce that was going to go bad which i would have observed. Not everyone is thankful for the little they want to feast today and worry about tomorrow then. This is a reality with my pond as well i cant allow most people to fish because rather than take what they need for a few good meals they would raid for a years supply and eat all my food so they could live care free. A fish in the freezer for 2 years is a fish that is 2 pounds lighter than the one i would eat. Why put fish in the freezer when they are in the pond which is just a big refrigerator that fills itself up for free?
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@clarkinks America has only 400 years of history… of our current residents.
There are continents where history was written on rocks they are so old…
All ancient civilizations became mighty and lots of people because of grains and fruits and vegetables…that much is known. The sad part is that once they became strong and mighty they fought wars. Because they needed more land to grow things to feed those people.
Every empire that has suffered famine done so because of the lack of grain, fruits and vegetables.
There is no sense in trying to educate anyone any different… its in history to be learned from and if someone wishes not to learn then that is their decision.
You can pick any culture whether it be Viking or Asian or European or Indian… every culture wanted land to farm… if the land wasnt good for farming they left and fought wars to gain ground that was suitable for farming.
Mountain Men only have a place in the history books for the foolish things they did to gain profit for the fur trade…
Furs are now considered barbaric and idiotic… but was once a status symbol.
Peoples that have been successful at living off of the land and created cultures and religions and society…are all agricultural based.
Rice/Wheat/Corn/Fruits/Vegetables are why there are 8 billion people on Earth.
Remove those things and people die and starve to death. Remove those things and all livestock dies.
The carnivore theory works for a small group of people with vast areas to hunt… those folks will have to live as nomads… moving with the seasons and further better hunting and fishing grounds. Likely the weak and the elderly will have to be pushed off of cliffs in order to sustain this type of life. This is how mountain men lived. This is how cave men lived. This is how nomadic tribes lived.
Every culture that rose to power with vast numbers also did so by the aid of slaves. It is in American history as well. The owners ate meat… the slaves grew crops and ate grains and vegetables. Slaves get the entrails and unwanted parts… and make stews. The owners likely were unable to do the labor of a slave… which is why they needed slaves in the first place.
but we may as well go against history and i guess as you say history repeats itself…
Perhaps we need to go back to eating meat… so that the populations will decrease exponentially… let the sickness and disease spread so that the Earth will be rid of so many humans…
By 2100 there is predicted to be 10 Billion humans. I do not want to live in that kind of world.
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I’m not saying eat meat only im an omnivore i eat everything including some meat. Greens , nuts, fruits etc are all great. I’m saying raiding never changes. A possum raids your chicken house and your angry. Thats how the natives felt when their herd of buffalo lay on the ground which were shot to starve them and for the pelts ofcourse. It would be like you having 50 cows and coming home and finding out your new neighbor killed them all. You can tell who owns an orchard or garden by how they pick it. There is an easy way to tell who owns livestock by how they cull the ones they eat. We tend to sell the best eat the rest of our own crops.
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