Being 100% self sufficient through hunting and gathering

How realistic is it to provide oneself with all nutritional needs through hunting and gathering alone? If so how much land would be needed to support one person just through hunting and gathering. Where in the world is the best place to do this?

Do you mean the land "as-is" or after establishing a permacultural food forest?

Hi Sean,

Very hard to state a good reply to this...too many (way too many) variables.

Biome choice.

Your skill levels.

You comfort zone and dietary needs.

Duration and goal sets....


Short answer...yes...very doable. We have lived that way for a very long time as a species and I as well as many indigenous people have live this way....

Hope that helps?

j

Certainly possible, but it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for earning money to pay for indoor plumbing, electricity, canning jars, storebought clothes, and other basics.


Sam Thayer, if I remember right, estimates it would take around 6 hours/day. He's an expert, but hey, you'd be an expert in a couple months, too.

The only place that people do what you are describing, living from unmanaged or lightly managed natural forest systems in the modern day is the tropics. Tribes still live in Africa, South America and Polynesia with little or no assistance from outside. It certainly can be done although these peoples are also quite experienced at it, there may be a bit of a learning curve to hunting and gathering all of your food successfully. Especially in more degraded ecosystems like you will find on most of the planet.

Like for example where I live, between the fact that most of the productive species are all dead or diminished and the general loss of forest productivity here I couldn't survive on less than at least a hundred or so acres. Even still my diet would be almost all mushrooms, hickory nuts, a few kinds of wild greens, berries and whatever meat I could scrape together.

It would be much easier and just as friendly to the land to establish some managed (at least at first) food forest and gather from that and hunt the animals that gather food from it as well. It would certainly reduce acreage needs and be more realistic unless you want to live like a polynesian tribesman.