Is it still posible?

Dick had supplies delivered at specific times. All pre-planned and paid for with cash from his bank account.

The traveling and flying was more dangerous than the daily living.
 
I think not.

You would either have to depend on technology to preserve the food,
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Salting, drying, canning...

or take game out of season.
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Might depend on where you live. There are like 50 different hunting seasons here. Rabbits are year 'round, and you don't even need a license. Squirrel season lasts two entire months. Turkey has two seasons. And I think it would be difficult to eat an entire antelope before the start of elk season...
 
Yes you could salt and smoke meat.

But you would also have to pay for every liscense and permit and lottery known to man to hunt every season, which means you would have to fund and go to civilization to apply, then back to receive each one.

Fishing liscense, hunting liscense, permits, stamps etc.

Hardly what Proenneke did.
 
As a kid, I wished I'd been born 200 years ago. A couple of days ago, I was at the dentist, and I can emphatically say that I am glad I live in the days of Novocain. :)
 
I can't say whether Pronneke was a poacher or not. He probably did have money for licenses though; he was retired. He also restocked staple supplies regularly.

And I think his cabin was on private property where it's perfectly legal, even today, to build your own cabin and live. Or perhaps he used a homestead law? Maybe someone who's read his books can clarify.
 
The fantasy of 19th century living and the reality of 21st century living are far apart. I guess that's why we go camping.

A guy could get a couple, three hundred acres in the north woods and pretty much have at it. I doubt many people would bother you.
 
I think its possible to simplify...I can only speak for myself when I say I don't need 90 percent of the crap I've accumulated... I live in the city and everyday I feel like I die a little more..Like I'm constantly a slave to the whim of others.. would it be possible to get or build a cabin with a few acres to hunt on, and have a well planned garden? maybe raise some chickens, goats and rabbits? sell homemade jams at farmers markets and such... maybe hold down some mindless job stocking a shelf some where so my kids don't have to go to school in buckskin? I'd sure like to believe so... at times I feel it's one of the only dreams that keeps me going.
 
A guy could get a couple, three hundred acres in the north woods and pretty much have at it. I doubt many people would bother you
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I lived alone on a 240-acre cattle farm in the Ozarks. It was less than an hour's drive to town, but I was never bothered by anyone - couldn't see another house from anywhere on the property. I had as much or as little outside contact as I wanted. Electricity is nice, but I can sincerely do without people.

And I lived for a while on a much smaller 40-acre property in Arkansas - not even the Jehovah's Witnesses found me. :) It had electricity, but no phone and no running water. When it rained, the creek would flood and I couldn't leave... Interesting place, to say the least.

I also lived for several summers in the Philmont backcountry. Not alone, but rugged, remote, and usually with no outside utilities. One summer was in a location not even accessible by vehicle.
 
I think its possible to simplify...I can only speak for myself when I say I don't need 90 percent of the crap I've accumulated... I live in the city and everyday I feel like I die a little more..Like I'm constantly a slave to the whim of others.. would it be possible to get or build a cabin with a few acres to hunt on, and have a well planned garden? maybe raise some chickens, goats and rabbits? sell homemade jams at farmers markets and such... maybe hold down some mindless job stocking a shelf some where so my kids don't have to go to school in buckskin? I'd sure like to believe so... at times I feel it's one of the only dreams that keeps me going.
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There are plenty of people who live like that. They have varying degrees of success and varying degrees of solitude. It also helps if you're a hippy trust-fund baby. :)
 
I had another think about this thread and I don't think we're legally allowed to over here unless your aborigine or living on private property :confused:
 
Someone from Australia told me they built a 'cabin' in an uninhabited area of Australia, and after a certain amount of time they could claim title to it. I don't know the loopholes or legalities involved, or even if the story was true or not - the person who told me was a short-time co-worker. He was definitely from Australia though.

There are also occasionally places in the United States that give away land to new residents - I usually hear of these as offers to trained professionals or retirees though. No bums wanted... ;)

The last one I remember was somewhere in the South encouraging new residents of a certain religious persuasion (Jewish, as I recall), to move to their town. A Google search might turn up that news story.
 
Mmmm ... squatters rights? Dont know if you can still do that? We've got quite a few alternative communities of various levels of reliance. I know of one particular community where a guy lived in the bush with 7 wives ... untill he got locked up for social security fraud and sexually abusing a couple of his many kids.

Do we have the right to deny society from our kids? Do we end up creating rebels?
 
People go through life too scared to do something different in case they 'fail' and not realising that to not make the attempt is also a form of failure.

My advise is do it! If you find out it doesn't work for you that's OK too. It doesn't mean you've failed - only that it's not right for you. At least you'll have learnt something about yourself and not spend the rest of your life regretting not doing it.
 
As a kid I used to dream about being in a Plains Indian tribe and getting to ride a horses and hunt buffalo. Man, was that the life and I wished that I had been born during that era!

Then I joined the Boy Scouts I got to go camping (finally) and loved it, but was glad to have some of the amenities my Indian heroes did not have.

The same was true when I was in the Army on field exercises during miserable weather. Being warm and dry looked to be rather difficult at times for the American forefathers.

I lease a ranch with some other guys for hunting and sometimes I am there by myself for a few days and that is all I can take before I need some socialization.

I am recovering from the flu right now and thought about how tough it would have ben to be in a teepee going through this right now. No way Jose!

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence...
 
You may not be able to do it exactly as it was done in frontier days, but you can come damn close.

Pick up some issues of Backwoodsman magazine. There's plenty of stories through the years of people who live in various states of primitive.

Property taxes can be remarkably low on "unimproved land" -- i.e. no power, septic, etc tot he land. Even better if it's off a dirt road. You might not be able to live in a cabin without power or running water if you have kids, but if it's consenting adults. . .

Also how much you can live off the land depends on where you are. In a state like, FL it's very doable. Common squirrels, rabbits and hogs are huntable year-round. There's always "in season" fish, and there's a reason people back then raised animals. You can also raise crops down here year 'round. Things slow down in winter, but the farms around me are still planting and harvesting right now.
 
The only thing that might keep me from this is my family because i dont want to abandon them and have the worry about me. And if i did i would have to find a wife with same wish/dream. Because this would get old:jerkit:. And i wouldnt be able to have, Children because who knows if they like i would want them to have options.
 
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