Making A Living In The Woods?

[BASIC]

I watched a couple of TV shows about harvesting Ginseng and Morels,apparently both are worth a bit of money,how feasible a way to make money is this?What other ways of making a living in the woods are there?Thanks.

 

[mete]

Wildlife biologist, logger ,forester, conservation officer.

 

[rzwieg]

Wlidlife control tech, hunting and fishing guide.

Most folks who make a living in the woods diversify. They may trap for fur and/or damage control, dig ginseng and other medicinal plants, make rustic craft items, keep bees, raise hunting dogs, rabbits, mink, foxes, collect maple syrup, or guide, as demand or seasons require.

It's not always easy, but as they will tell you it beats 9 to 5.

 

[choubbi]

what about being a... LUMBERJACK!

 

[akennedy73]

I think being a hunting guide is probably the most feasible. Or growing the top cash crop in 12 states http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Story?id=2735017&page=1

 

[flnder]

seismic retard

 

[boness]

Wildlife biologist!! My Dream job!!

 

[mckrob]

I make my living in the woods (and tundra and mountains and jungle) in minerals exploration (geophysicist); I am basically a modern day prospector. I'm currently looking for gold in Peru. This job comes with lots of of opportunity to travel and spend time in the remotest of remote wilderness.

-2001 at a fly-in exploration camp several hundred
kilometres NE of Pickel Lake, Ontario. Base metals
exploration (nickel, copper, zinc)

-2005 near Paxson, Alaska, nickel exploration

-Cessna Caravan bringing fuel into camp, Central Labrador, nickel exploration

 

[hollowdweller]

It depends on what you consider a living and what sort of standard of living you want to enjoy.

I know people who make a living but they live on $5000 a year.

 

[mtnfolk mike]

my wife does vegetation managment... for a local water distrist... she isn't always in the woods, but she is outside everyday.... rain or shine... she makes lots of $$$ too.....

 

[lmalterna]

MM,
I used to keep a few Mountain Kinsgnakes bred from stock caught in your AO. Do you run into many?

Nothing like finding a good ginseng holler only to come back a month later and it looks like the woods of Bastogne- complete with craters. & I thought raising tobacco was risky money.

2Door

 

[rzwieg]

At $700 a pound I see why.

 

[lmalterna]

RZ,
That is also dried, cleaned and graded price. It might take 10lbs of fresh dug to get a pound of marketable seng. If you just enjoying stomping the woods, it is a great way to pick up a little cash but I would not want to count on it for a mortage payment... There are as many ways to make extra cash off the land as your interests will allow. & many are eco friendly.
2Door

 

[Darbyfett]

what about being a... LUMBERJACK!

leaping from tree to tree, as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia?

 

[pitdog]

How about collecting Fat Wood ?

Cutting burls and making them into lamps ?

Making walking staffs ?

Basket weaving ?

Rustic garden/house furniture ?

Gather pine cones then dip them in parafin wax and sell as fire starters ?

 

[lmalterna]

We used to make a few dollars in the fall collecting walnuts form old orchards now in National Forest and making wreaths from running cedar.

We picked and sold wild blueberries and blackberries(when we had extra). Just tough to live off of that alone. We made a few dollars rehandling old rusted antique tool scrounged out of outbuildings that had fallen or stuff we were given for cleaning out attics and cellars(not woodsy but farmy).


2Door

 

[Lawlor69]

Move to either Canada's west coast or east coast--or numerous places in Quebec and Ontario--and work in the lumber industry. I've got some friends that do that. They like it.

A 'softer' version of lumbering involves working for electric companies--either directly or as a sub-contracted company--clearing the brush and trees from power lines and rights-of-way.

Either way, you better like chain saws.

 

[longbow50]

I make my living in the woods (and tundra and mountains and jungle) in minerals exploration (geophysicist); I am basically a modern day prospector. I'm currently looking for gold in Peru. This job comes with lots of of opportunity to travel and spend time in the remotest of remote wilderness.

-2001 at a fly-in exploration camp several hundred
kilometres NE of Pickel Lake, Ontario. Base metals
exploration (nickel, copper, zinc)

-2005 near Paxson, Alaska, nickel exploration

-Cessna Caravan bringing fuel into camp, Central Labrador, nickel exploration

Kind of a bittersweet job.

 

[CanDo]

Is there really no way to grow ginseng?! Maybe I'll had to the bio lab, tweak the DNA a bit, and turn it into a cash crop

longbow,

Good point.

 

[choubbi]

leaping from tree to tree, as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia?

exactly. but it is very time consuming, you sleep all night and work all day. But I assume you'll be OK.