Arcticdude
Top Poster
Ok, just what do you mean by "too lazy or inept to hold a real job"? How do you define a real job? Have you ever run a long line trap line before? Do you have any idea how much work is involved? I personally don't dont like these "Mountain Men" TV shows, but I do know where a couple of these guys live and where they trap at. In fact I used to trap in some of the same areas as them and there's nothing easy about it.I pan to stockpile food. I cannot possibly raise enough food for my needs. Just count calories and see how much you can raise vs. how much you will need. Someone said once if you can't raise an acre of potatoes, you have no chance raising food. Maybe sweet potatoes in the South, I don't know. Anyone who has ever grown corn or wheat knows how much land, water, labor all that takes. Long term or long, long term you are going to have to be on a real farm or in a farming community like Amish Heart.
I have never bought the whole Mountain Man thing as survival or real prepping. Those guys trap and hunt because they want to do so or are to lazy or inept to hold real jobs. All those TV Mountain Men get scale or contract fees for their episodes and most likely social security or government aid on top of that. There may be guys like Arcticdude that can make a go of this or maybe the guys in some of those set in Alaska TV series' living off the land but these are rare people, not the rank an file citizens of Alaska or anywhere else.
The best I can ever hope for is relatively short term survival and hope for better conditions. Probably a year is max.
Most of my career was rotational, which meant that I'd get at least 6 months vacation per year. With that much time off it allowed me to do the things that I really liked to do, like trapping, hunting and fishing.