Is it still possible to "live off the land" in the USA?

Question

Can anyone still live in the wilderness, where water is free, wood can heat your house, and you can plant a garden for vegetables, trees for fruit, and shoot wild life for meat?

Answer 1

The Amish community in Pennsylvania come quite close to this. They dont use electricity, ride in horse drawn buggies, and make a living farming and making furniture.

They are one of the few classes of US citizens who dont pay social security tax or some other equivalent.

PS - Since there are so few of them, the community suffers from many congenital diseases because of inbreeding. Up until a few years ago, perhaps even today, they used to offer a fee for men from outside their community to father their children, and I dont mean artificial insemination. You may want to visit Smicksburg PA to check them out.

Answer 2

Knowing that Australia is one of those British Empire nations that does not trust it subjects, I would not worry about the citizens having guns and fighting tooth and nail. So all an invader would have to worry about is the armed forces, such as they are. First an invader would have to take out the Australian Navy, a whole 60 ships with no aircraft carriers. The only ships that I would worry about are the six diesel-electric subs. Everything else is a surface ship and would be relatively easy to take out with Harpoons or Exocets. Second, the Air Force. They have 20 or so Vietnam era F111s that could be used for long range recon and as a medium bomber. They are due to retire in 2010 so if I was worried about them I would wait two years. They have about 110 F18 fighters. Those are not air superiority fighters like the F15 or F14 so if I got a plane specifically designed for air superiority, I would not worry about them either. Third, having taken out the Navy and the Air Force, I would have air superiority. All that would be left to deal with is the Army. 45,000 total, including Reservists. Hardly a force to worry about. When you consider how big Australia is and how poor the roads are, it would be unlikely they could mass forces if one area was invaded. If several invasion points were used, they could maybe meet an invasion with 10,000 at most. Lacking air cover, they could easily be taken out with a neutron bomb or chemical attack. The ONLY thing Australia has going for them is distance from their enemies, large size of their nation and the ability to burn their northern cities and to flee to the other side of the desert. That was their plan in WW II until MacArthur told them it was a bad plan. Now that you have an idea of how easy it would be, why do it? Just exactly does Australia have that would make someone spend the time and effort to invade? They have no major oil fields, they are not a "bread basket" of food and in fact they are having drought problems, they are not an industrial power house, etc. It would cost more to invade than what benefit you could get doing it. In fact, it is not worth the trouble as you would probably have the entire British Empire coming after you if you tried it. While the Armed forces of Australia are not much, you add in all that of the Commonwealth and you might have a problem. Specially since Britain is a nuclear power.

Answer 3

Most of the wilderness remaining the U.S. is under Federal Law and hunting is prohibited. If you wanted to buy enough land to support a person or family and could pick a spot where enough wild animals would be on your own property to hunt (or trap) year around and grow bushes (trees take too long to produce and take too much care) for fruit and maintain a big enough garden to permit carrying the working people through the cold of winter or the dry of summer, then you would probably be so concentrated on making money to buy the land that you would not be interested in living off it. Alaska and some parts of Idaho and Montana are wild enough to have hunting enough to live off the land but both all have short growing seasons. Get your hands on the PBS shows about living in Alaska and "Frontier House" and listen carefully to the limitations (the guy is bitter he wasn't allowed to hunt) the scores people were given - especially on collecting winter hay for the animals.

Answer 4

I'd love to be a mountain woman who heated the hose and cooked by fireplace and grew veggies and shot animals for meat and lived totally off the land---a real Daniel Boone.... IF it could be done like that ---it would be GREAT.... unfortunately, progress has destroyed a LOT of what USED to be sacrade and it is not so easy to live off the land independently from EVERYTHING else...(if you have children anyway) HOWEVER, being single, it would be SOOOO much easier and I think I would appreciate the solititude now that I am sick and have so many people getting in touch with me every day--- I guess I could use the break.

Answer 5

You would still need to keep your job for money to be new seeds for vegetables, new hoes and digging or garden tools such as weed eradication formulas and so on. Also bullets and trap making materials to trap rabbits and so on, a new gun if it jams and cannot be repaired. You would need to somehow boil or purify the water, would still need to make regular trips to the dentists, and may perhaps need medicine for illnesses. You would either need a ton of money saved up or to continue working to flip the bill for a living off the land lifestyle, though it is possible if you know what not to eat and how to obtain adequate food off the land hunting and foraging.

Answer 6

It is entirly possible. Growing up here in Alaska when I am in the bush I look around and its like a grocery store to me. Squatting is not only illegal it might get you shot and you still have to adhere to fish and game regs. Short of being a caveman/woman you still have to have some sort of income to subsist for hunting,fishing,trapping permits and ammo,tackle and traps it all wears out or gets used. Very few have the ability nor desire to go without contact with other humans for extended periods and after a winter of -70 below zero you will travel hundreds of miles by foot with vigor to a spring Rondy. I grew up a 100 miles South of Fairbanks at the base of the Alaska range by Mt. Hayes and I will never leave Alaska. Catch ya later

Answer 7

Dude, I'm with you! There are still $20/acre traces of land available in the West, and North West. There are water purification devices on the market that can supply potable water from just about any origin. Look in the classified sections of Popular Mechanics, or similar magazines for phone numbers, and address's of reality offers. There also is cheap land available in the South, however, I am afraid of poisonous snakes, and have never researched this area for the same reason.
Mother Earth news (magazine), can give you an idea of what others are doing. Not only is it possible, but preferable, to me. Good luck to you, I've been trying to make this happen for myself for a decade. There are a lot of little things to anticipate prior to living in this manner. Annual taxes being one, some of states with cheap land for sale have no state tax, a big plus. Considerations of annual rain fall, annual sunny days, minimal winter temperature, water table, soil type, available timber, ZONING LAWS, all things to consider.

Answer 8

in most cases no you can't go out and squat on forest land
and live off the land the guv'r mnt has made sure to make
anything illegal if it means you can live free like a real human...

of course....

if YOU think YOU can remain undetected you could try....

except for alaska there arent alot of large open areas
in the CONUS that someone might not see you and
turn you in....

Answer 9

yes in alaska you can still have squatters right and they live off the land for free

Answer 10

millions of people do .
In Oregon ,Washinton state ,north California ,and i am sure many more places

But they all live on their own land