Wilderness Surviving and Primitive Living

Get an education or marketable skills, you will need them at some point.
I grew up in Detroit, went to college in the Upper Peninsula and never looked back. I graduated and married a local gal who is a nurse.
We bought 160 acres, built our own house and grow and harvest most of our own food.
Although we are not living the life of Proenneke, we are living simply and sanely in a troubled world.

-Yooperman
 
I'm kind of lucky in my area (Texas) since there is a lot of big game to hunt in texas, and a lot of fishing to be done. So there is a big demand for park rangers, biologists, geologists, Game Wardens, etc...Hey, Geology is something that you can go for that will keep you outside, and then you can easily identify flint :D. Two of my friends are about to graduate with Geology, and they love it. They are supposed to take a trip to yellowstone this coming year, and hopefully I'll get to tag along.
 
I'm with Rupestris. If you're that young and not tied down, hit the road. See the world. You don't need much money. Just the drive and resourcefulness to make it work. Sounds like you may benefit from some life experience. Earn a few bucks, put it away, and maybe after some years, you'll have a nice nest egg to hit the wilderness on your own terms.
 
Hall07, I don't know what your educational background is, but do you know who an old philosopher named Henry David Thoreau was? Hopefully you have had a class that gave at least a cursory overview of the man. His experiences living in a cabin he built with his own hands using borrowed tools beside Walden Pond became one of my favorite books when I was about your age. You would benefit from reading it I think. Since you are evidently computer literate (what 21-year-old isn't now?), you should have no trouble locating the book I mentioned. I think the title is simply Walden, but examine this author a bit. Remember one thing, though, when Henry got sick and tired of being hungry and living off of boiled wild greens he walked a few miles back home so he could partake of some of his mother's good home cooking. Having a backup plan like that is an excellent idea, too. Henry died too young of disease, but he was an interesting man worth knowing more about. I recommend him to you.
 
Hall07, I don't know what your educational background is, but do you know who an old philosopher named Henry David Thoreau was? Hopefully you have had a class that gave at least a cursory overview of the man. His experiences living in a cabin he built with his own hands using borrowed tools beside Walden Pond became one of my favorite books when I was about your age. You would benefit from reading it I think. Since you are evidently computer literate (What 21-year-old isn't now?), you should have no trouble locating the book I mentioned. I think the title is simply Walden, but examine this author a bit. Remember one thing, though, when Henry got sick and tired of being hungry and living off of boiled wild greens he walked a few miles back home so he could partake of some of his mother's good home cooking. Having a backup plan like that is an excellent idea, too. Henry died too young of disease, but he was an interesting man worth knowing more about. I recommend him to you.
 
Here ya go....

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/WALDEN/walden.html

He is who helped me get my username years ago after reading Walking:

He who sits still in a house all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all, but the Saunterer, in the good sense, is no more vagrant than the meandering river, which is all the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to the sea.
 
Just a couple of more things to add to all of the good advice already given. . . First, keep in mind that Dick Proenneke was 50 years old when he went off to build his cabin. He probably had quite a bit of experience in the wilderness, and you can see in the movie that he has some pretty incredible carpentry skills. The second thing to think about is the fact that he had occasional resupply of staple supplies.

I'd like to have a bit of land to escape to occasionally someday, and maybe retire to eventually, but I doubt that I'll ever go all out and try to live the way Dick did. I'll at least want to be within fairly easy driving distance of a town where I can maintain a bit more regular contact with civilization. Solar and/or wind generated electricity would be nice too. I'm not sure if I'll want to go totally off the grid. I'd like to find a balance somewhere between total wilderness solitude and modern conveniences and contact with the world. It's probably a pipe dream for me, but it's a nice pipe dream anyhow.
 
Might want to pick up a few back copies, and get a subscription to Backwoodsman and Wilderness Way magazines.
Backwoodsman has lots of articles on living the lifestyle, including how to keep interacting with modern society without becoming part of it. Wilderness way has great articles on primitive living.
Some good books are Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski
Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness and Primitive Wilderness Skills, Applied & Advanced by John and Geri McPherson

Those and some of the Hoods Woods DVDs will help you on your education on what you'll face in that lifestyle.
 
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