My Plan for Creating a Wild Game Meadow on My Property

Creating and maintaining a food plot should not be something that requires a lot of work. If left to mother nature a disturbed area will eventually transition into a meadow. So in theory if we can design a meadow made up of highly palatable and nutritious perennial and self-sowing grasses and forbs that mimic a natural meadow and that are adapted to the planting site then it should be possible to simply choose the right seed mix, plant it, possibly do some minimal maintenance and then reap the benefits with healthier wild game and an awesome hunting spot.

I think the key here will be in choosing the right seed mix. We will need to figure out species that fill all the niches that exist in a natural meadow. You'll likely need both grasses and broadleaf forbs, both perennial and self sowing annuals, as well as cool and warm season species. The plot will need to have as much dense growth on it as possible to prevent spaces for weeds to take hold. This is because weeds need sunlight and soil contact to germinate. If you can create shade with living plants and mulch with dead vegetation then weeds should not become a huge problem. And with less weeds means less weed seed and you will greatly reduce the seed source for weeds in the future. This also means we will most likely be using a pretty dense planting of desirable species. A lot of the seeds we plant will likely not make it, but it will also ensure that weeds will have a harder time as well.

So for my plot this is how I will go about setting it up. I will be starting it in an area which is mostly covered in dense perennial forage grass. This area was once an old cattle pasture and possibly a hay field as well so it is already in a meadow like state. I will need to get rid of as much of the grass as possible and try to prevent most of it from coming back. This gives me a few options. My first option would be to simply hoe or rip up the grass in order to til it under which would likely get rid of the vast majority of it. This however would expose a lot of the soil to sunlight and potentially create a perfect environment for weeds to germinate.  My other option would be to cut the grass to soil level several times during the growing season in spring and early summer to suppress it and that way the cut grass would act as a mulch in a way to somewhat cover the soil surface, keeping it shaded and allowing less weed seeds to germinate. This, however, would likely not kill all the grass which I'm not too worried about since this grass type is a preferred forage grass for wild game especially in the springtime, but I would just need to make sure it didn't take over the rest of the species I plant. So after I take care of the grass with either method my next step would be to start spreading seed. If there was a light mulch of dead grass left over I could likely just broadcast the seed and it would fall in between the mulch and make contact with the soil surface while also being somewhat shaded and protected from seed predators such as birds. If not then I would either lightly rake the seeds into the soil or add a thin layer of dead grass over the top of them. Depending on the species I would either plant in late summer, fall or early spring. I may even do multiple planting on the same plot in different seasons to make sure it is well seeded. After that I would monitor the plantings during the growing season and remove any weeds or grass that was too dominant. And that would likely be it for this initial planting.

I would probably start on a fairly small plot not much bigger than a large garden and if I saw it was a success then I could expand the area out every year until it was of the desired size. In the meantime my previous plantings would likely be maturing and ideally would be growing well enough and dense enough so that I wouldn't really need to worry about weeds.

This method if successful would likely be able to be replicated in practically any environment as long as the seed was well adapted to the property. Over time it is likely that this type of planting would mature into a mostly perennial dominated meadow, but if any small disturbance happened such as a mole hill etc then the seed bank would contain seeds from some of the self-sowing annuals that were originally planted. Also if enough disturbance was created at the edges of the plot then it is likely that it could gradually spread out across the property intermingling with the vegetation already established on the property creating even more food for wild game.

As I've stated several times doing your research and choosing plant species that are adapted to your site would be one of the most important aspects determining the success of your plot. After a lot of research I think I have a good base of possible species I could plant on my property. My property is a temperate dry summer climate with somewhat cold snowy winters, wet springs, and hot dry summers.  Some of the species I think might do well on my property are Alfalfa, Sanfoin, Red and White clover, Small burnet, Lamb's Quarters, Common Ragweed, Chickory, Prickliy Lettuce, Salsify, Aster's, Goldenrod's and Sunchokes. These are just a few of the species I'd like to create a mix of. One thing to notice is that I have both native and nonative species as well as some people would consider weeds. However, many species people consider weeds are actually excellent wild game forage, a good example being ragweed as a deer forage. That's why it's important to keep an open mind and let the research show what are the best forage species for your area.

So this is my basic plan for my experimental test plot on my property. As you can see it is extremely simple in terms of the type of work and maintenance I will do. I think this is important because if I can make this work than it will show that you don't need expensive equipment and loads of fertilizers and herbicides ect to make a productive food plot. This is the way nature does it. All it needs is a seed source, a disturbance and the right climate and soil conditions and a meadow will naturally form. We're just tweaking this natural process a little bit by choosing species that are attractive to wild game and will create an awesome food plot, or "wild game meadow".

In the future I will document and keep you updated on the establishment and progress of this plot. There's a chance it might not work the way I think it will and I might experience problems I didn't foresee, but even then I will be able to learn from my mistakes and come up with a better plan. Then on the other hand it might work out better than I expect and could become my best idea yet for creating awesome wild game habitat. I'm hoping I can share my successes and failures with everyone who is interested in creating better habitat for game animals on their property that way they too can be better set up to enjoy nature's bounty.

Managing Invasive and Unwanted Plants

One of the most important parts of managing a property for wild game is being able to produce a diverse amount of food sources. The more plant species your property has on it, especially highly palatable species, the more game animals you will be able to support. With a diverse amount of food sources the game animals on your property will be able to meet all their nutritional requirements through the seasons and allow them to grow and reproduce more effectively. However managing for a high amount of plant diversity can be somewhat complicated and there are many different factors that could come into play one of the major ones being how to manage invasive and overabundant plants.

Managing invasive woody plant species is somewhat straightforward. Basically you need to selectively cut anything that is outcompeting other tree and shrub species especially if it is not producing any real food source. For example if your property is covered in Tree-of-Heaven trees which are a pretty useless tree for wildlife as well as highly invasive, than you should continuously cut them back and plant other species until they either die out or are shaded out by other species. On the contrary if your property is covered in apple trees and nothing else then you should likely keep a large percentage of them, but still cut some out to allow room for other species as well. We want to aim away from any type of monoculture even if it is a productive one that provides a good food source for wild game. While apples are a great food, they are available only seasonally and will not give wild game their full nutritional requirements leading to fewer game over time.

Dealing with invasive trees and shrubs is relatively simple, however when it comes to grass and forb dominated habitats it can become quite difficult to manage them for a high diversity especially if it is already being overtaken by aggressive weedy species. There are both native and nonnative grasses and forbs that can completely take over open meadow type areas and can prevent plant species diversity. Many people know the common "weeds" in their areas. Out west a very common one and one that I am faced with on my property is yellow star thistle. This annual forb can completely take over some areas, especially in disturbed and degraded soils, preventing the establishment of any other plants as well as providing practically no food value to wild game. This is a type of plant I would like to be without, however it has essentially become naturalized in my area so it is best to learn how to manage it. Without using herbicides, which would also kill the plants I want, I will need to learn more about the plant and it's life cycle to determine the best way to manage it. After doing some research I figured out that if you can prevent it from going to seed then you can control it long enough to establish more desirable plants that will prevent it from taking over. To do this you need to cut it back to the ground such as with a weedeater right around the time it is beginning to flower which is usually around late spring and early summer. Once the first flowers start opening I will aggressively cut it back with the weedeater once and then again a few weeks later as new sprouts come back. This will essentially kill that years seed and help prevent future infestations. This will need to be done several years in a row due to seed stored in the soil, but eventually it will greatly reduce this plant almost to the point of elimination.  During this time it will also be necessary to spread desirable seed to establish and help provide a barrier to possible future infestations. This type of management is labor intensive for a few years, but once the right plants are growing, ideally a diverse mix of palatable forage species, then anymore starthistle that invades that area will have a hard time reestablishing itself to those high levels. Every plant will have it's weaknesses, whether it be frequent mowing, targeted seasonal weedeating, grazing patterns of livestock, plowing, shading out etc. But it will be up to you to research and figure out how to remove the invasive plants on your property.

One of the best things to prevent invasive species from taking over your property is to already have a healthy diverse amount of species established. This means you will need to plant and spread seed of many different plant species to not only give more food options to wild game, but to also provide that healthy barrier against aggressive monoculture forming plant species. There are many factors that will determine how successful you will be at establishing desirable forage plants, but it will likely take lots of trial and error to find something that works specifically for your property. Like always research is key and knowing the biology and ecology of your chosen plants will be important to figuring out the best method of establishment and management once established.  

One more point I'd like to make is that just because a plant is not native does not mean it will be bad for your property. A good example of this is the bienneal forb Salsify. This is a nonnative "invasive" weed that has become common in the west. In some instances on disturbed and degraded soils it can take over and become an unwanted weed. However in much of the west it has naturalized and become a part of the balanced ecosystem of the open grassland regions. This plant also happens to be excellent deer and elk forage and some studies have shown that some deer and elk preferred to eat this forb in spring and summer more than any other plant in that particular region. So I just wanted to point out that not all nonnative "weeds" are necessarily bad for your property and there are in fact many that are an excellent food source for wild game. And at the same time many natives are practically useless for wild game habitat and some will need to be managed so they don't take the real estate of more desirable species.

Many species of plants that have come from other countries are here to stay. Some of them are bad for wild game habitat and some are good. It is practically impossible to get rid of them at this point. But if one is able to manage their property carefully then they can make sure to have a wide variety of both natives and nonnatives that will lead to better habitat for the game on their property.

Forget Food Plots. Create a Wild Game Meadow.

Almost everyone in the deer hunting community has heard of a food plot. A food plot when it comes to managing a property for whitetail deer generally consists of a plot of land tilled, planted with forage crops, such as clover or radish, and then maintained through irrigation, fertilizing, herbicide application and eventually reseeding.  This concept is actually pretty brilliant when you consider how productive and beneficial to the deer they can be. And they can also greatly improve your chances at a giant buck if you hunt the travel corridor to a plot. However, food plots, at least as they are conventionally maintained, have some major problems, especially when trying to design a long term sustainable wild game property.

The main problem is how much time, effort and money that goes into maintaining a food plot. It simply is a lot of work to maintain these over any amount of time. There are a ton of inputs needed to maintain a conventional food plot. You need to buy the seeds which seems reasonable, but many are brand name varieties that probably come at a much higher price than one would think for the amount of seed that you get. Then you need to purchase the equipment to till the land and plant, fertilize, irrigate and apply herbicide. This additionally costs gas with all the passes you have to do with the tractor. Some people will put more time and effort into a food plot then they will a large garden which to me seems ridiculous. Regardless, to me a conventionally done food plot seems like the wrong way to create better game habitat. But what if you could create a similar system, but with practically zero work past the establishment of the plot. What if you instead created a wild game meadow that would be self sustaining much in the same way woody browse is largely self sustaining. To me this would be a much more reasonable idea and fit perfectly into my wild game management system.

This is something I've been thinking about for awhile and I have considered doing something similar on my own property. However, this is not my area of expertise and it is going to take a good amount of research to even know a good place to start. The main issue would be to figure out the right seed mix to start the plot. You would have to find a great mix of species likely containing both annual and perennial grasses and forbs that would one, be productive, highly palatable and nutritious game forage. Two, it would have to be adapted to the climate and geography of the property to which it was being planted so that it would reproduce on its own naturally with no need to be reseeded. Three, it would have to be able to withstand the pressure of being grazed by game animals. And lastly it would have to be able to compete with the existing vegetation on the property well enough to need very little extra care. At most, maybe the occasional mowing,  brushhogging, or prescribed fire could be used to get rid of competing vegetation, especially the encroachment of woody species.

These are pretty strict conditions, but I believe that if enough research is done most properties would be able to come up with a suitable mix that would meet all these requirements. It would likely require a ton of trial and error to see what would work best in certain conditions and climates, but over time some recommendations I think could be developed.

I believe if done correctly these “food plots” would resemble a natural meadow with many different species all coexisting together.  Diversity would be very important. Especially when starting out. If a few species die out from the original planting over time then that would be ok, because ideally you would still have a good amount of different species that would still be doing well. Having a high diversity would also help give the game a more nutritious varied diet.

This is something I will continue researching as I admittedly do not really have as good of an understanding of possible forage species for wild game as I do for woody browse species. Nonetheless I think it is a very valuable idea to explore and I will likely write more on the topic later after more research has been done. So stay tuned!

Managing Disturbance on Your Property

A disturbance is any kind of event that kills or gets rid of existing vegetation in an ecosystem. A classic example of a disturbance is a forest fire. A forest fire will kill trees and other vegetation by burning through the bark which prevents nutrients and water from reaching new growth. There are however many types of disturbances. Some natural types include blowdowns from windstorms, volcanic eruptions, overbrowsing by wildlife, insect infestation, disease, flooding and severe drought. There are also man made disturbances such as plowing the soil, logging, brush clearing and mowing. Managing disturbances is an important part of maintaining a property for wild game and the specific techniques you use will depend on many factors such as climate, local wildlife species, types of existing vegetation and management goals.

Climate is one of the most important things to consider when managing disturbance. In general when managing a property for wild game it is best aim for a mosaic of savanna and shrubland habitat. This will consist of open meadow type areas, and scattered trees and shrubs, the exact configuration depending on the game species you're managing for. To create this type of habitat you will have to use certain disturbances such as clearing brush, coppice, and possibly mowing. But this will largely depend on your local climates. On one extreme you have very wet areas that generally succeed to dense climax forests. In these areas you will generally have to create new disturbances quite often due to the fast establishment and growth of trees. This is especially true if your region is already covered in dense forest which will provide an abundant source of new seeds. In these types of areas a clearcut forest can reestablish and start it's growth very quickly turning into a dense brushy stand of new growth in just a few years. On the other extreme is a dry barren desert type area where you will want to almost eliminate any disturbances due to the very slow growth of new trees. On these types of sites you will have to baby your plantings by watering them regularly and providing mulch at least until they are more established. Creating a disturbance in this environment would be counterproductive and set you back too far in succession. In this type of climate you will lean towards more inputs. More seeds, more watering, more mulch, more earthworks, and more work in general just to get your plants established. Where as in very wet areas you will be aiming more for taking away vegetation because of frequent vigorous growth. Another consequence of this is that you will have to closely manage browsing pressure. So for drier properties you would want lower browsing pressure due to the fragility of the habitat so in general this would mean lower game populations especially with browsing species such as deer. On very wet sites you could get away with higher populations and more browsing pressure due to the more vigorous regrowth rate of the vegetation. If you want the least amount of work i would aim towards a middle ground for a climate that is only moderately wet, but also may have occasional dry spells. These types usually will also resemble the habitat your trying to create generally supporting a savanna and/or open woodland/ shrubland type environment.  Although for the highest game densities a wetter environment may be better.

Most properties will not be homogeneous, but will instead consist of several microclimates. These include dry uplands, wet bottoms, cooler and wetter north facing slopes and warmer drier south facing slopes. Your management of disturbance on your property will be different for these different microclimates. In general for drier upland areas and drier south facing slopes I would recommend creating less disturbance than on other areas of your property. This is because these areas are generally harder to get vegetation established. If you create too much disturbance in this area it might take a long time before you can reestablish a significant amount of vegetation. On wetter areas however such as bottoms and on north facing slopes you can generally get away with more disturbances and if you do too much it is more likely to grow back quickly.

The way you manage disturbance will also be dependent on the game species you are managing on your property. For browsing species such as deer you will want a majority of the vegetation to be within their reach so they can make use of the food on your property. This will mean you will have to periodically cut trees and shrubs that have grown too high above the browse line. Most browse species will be able to be cut just above the ground level and should resprout from the root crown. This technique is called coppicing and is a way to manage most hardwood trees and shrubs. Conifers will generally be killed if this is used unless there is still a growing tip left on the foliage, but I would not recommend coppicing conifers as they will most likely die. Other trees I would not coppice are nut and fruit trees, especially large healthy specimens that are producing a large amount of food. Other possible techniques such pollarding and hinge cutting may also be used depending on the existing vegetation and your overall management goals.

For species more adapted to grazing such as elk you will want to have a larger proportion of open meadow type habitats with grass and forbs. For these areas you may need to clear brush or mow occasionally if woody shrubs and trees start to encroach. Another possible option in these areas, especially on larger properties might be to do a controlled burn. This if done right and in a safe manner could drastically improve large open areas with relatively little work. But again make sure you do a ton of research and use professional help because of the dangerous potential for the fire to get out of control.

The way you manage disturbance on your property is very important to developing good wild game habitat. Too much disturbance can destroy too much of the vegetation that is used for food and cover, but not enough could shade out plants at browse height because of shade from tall trees. You will want to study and observe your property to find the right balance so you can create the optimum habitat for the game animals on your property.

The Case for Hunting and Gathering (And Trapping and Fishing)

I strongly believe that humans are hardwired to be hunter gatherers. Whether you believe we evolved on the African savanna or were created in the garden of eden people were designed to acquire their sustenance from nature's abundance.

In ancient times the majority of people's lives revolved around acquiring food. Yes we still needed to build shelters and find water but these were relatively simple and straightforward tasks that didn't require too much time or effort. Hunting on the other hand led us to create the first tools, spears and knives to take down and process game. It also gave us an important reason to speak so that we could coordinate a hunt and express a strategy to take down large and dangerous game like mammoths. Watch any documentary about modern hunter gatherers and you'll realize that most of what they talk about is food.

In modern times even people in industrialized countries show signs of being hunter gatherers. Look at the concept of shopping. People go to grocery stores and malls to “forage” for food and goods and many find this a very pleasurable experience even to the point where they would call it a hobby. For many people this is the closest thing we have to actually foraging in the wild for our food. Then there are people who like to go hiking and exploring the backcountry, which helps fill this need to see new territory and find out what's over the next ridge. In ancient times this wanderlust helped us scout for game and find new hunting territory as well as productive fruit and nut areas to forage.

Then there are people who just love to hunt like myself. There is a huge industry around hunting in America today.  It makes you wonder why would people want to spend so much time, money and effort wanting to go out and kill something, drag it out of the woods and butcher it themselves when they could much more easily just go buy meat at the store? I think the answer is that there is something innate in people that gives them an immense amount of pleasure for pursuing and harvesting wild game. I believe it's just what we're meant to do. This feeling is somewhat hard to explain to somebody who's never hunted before, but it is commonly expressed by first time hunters how they feel this deep connection with the hunt that they never realized they could experience before.

Like hunting, practically everyone who has ever gone out and picked wild berries would describe it as an all around great experience. You get to be out in nature and there are these sweet little treats just growing wild without any human intervention. It's hard not to smile when picking an eating wild berries. Even people who plant berry bushes or an apple tree in their yard will tell you how cool and fun it is to get food right off the branch. It's just an experience we are designed to enjoy because for centuries it helped keep us alive.

Another huge reason I advocate harvesting wild foods is because they are simply healthier than modern foods. Wild foods generally have much higher nutrient contents than their domestic counterparts. For plants a big part of this is because in nature there are no pesticides or fertilizers applied to them so they are forced to create their own in the plants themselves. Also the fact they generally grow in healthier undisturbed soils with all the soil organisms that help distribute nutrients throughout the entire plant. Then you have the wild game that is generally eating mostly wild foods unlike many domestic animals which eat mostly processed feed. Since the wild game are eating mostly a variety of nutrient dense wild plants then their meat becomes more nutrient dense as well.

Many now argue that the modern diet is so deficient in nutrients that it is actually a huge reason why things like cancer, heart disease and many other ailments are becoming so common. People are essentially becoming malnourished because the foods they eat are so nutrient poor causing our bodies to become weaker and less resilient. To me this makes sense and I believe if everyone ate wild food then at the very least many of the common diseases we see today would be less prevalent.  

Another huge reason I advocate hunting and gathering is because it helps us place a real value on nature. There is this common mindset today that is shared by people who claim to be environmentalists that we should completely leave nature alone and just take ourselves out of the picture. They might advocate that hunting and fishing and any kind of human development be banned in our wild spaces because they think that it is better for nature if humans are completely out of the picture. I think this is hugely misguided. While I do agree that human activity has done some major harm to the natural world, that doesn't mean humans are fundamentally bad for nature. In fact it is hunters and other outdoorsman that help fund the vast majority of wildlife conservation. That is because we are able to place an actual value on nature because it is able to produce things for us that we need and want. Hunters give money to fund wildlife conservation because they actually will get a return on their investment by having a better hunting experience with more plentiful game. If we get to the point where we ban hunting then we will have no real reason to value nature. Yeah it will be pretty to look at and the fresh air is always nice, but it doesn't have any real tangible benefit for people and  nobody will really see value in conserving it.

The reality of the situation is that people are meant to interact with and be a part of nature, not to look at it like this foreign separate thing. It's true we have degraded lots of ecosystems, cut down vast forests and desertified once fertile areas, but I believe we have the ability to heal the land as well by working with nature to make it possibly even more productive than it had been previous to human intervention. By using techniques like permaculture we can establish healthy and productive ecosystems in areas that were once barren and lacked hardly any wildlife. And if we did this to the world's degraded lands then we could once again rely on nature to help us meet our needs especially when it comes to getting healthy nutritious food and we would have a better reason to then preserve it's bounty.

Some people say we cannot feed the world on a diet of wild foods, because these wild ecosystems are just not productive enough. I think this is true for now, but if we started turning places like the midwest back into fertile prairie and savanna, instead of the industrialized monocultures of corn, soybeans and wheat, then we could turn them into productive hunting and foraging meccas that could potentially feed even more people than what is currently produced there. I'd advocate planting fruit trees, berry bushes, edible meadow plants, and nut trees. I'd bring back the elk and the bison and encourage current populations of deer, bears and turkeys to expand. I'd create ponds, swamps and wetlands to create habitat for fish and waterfowl. It would become a paradise for us to feed ourselves from the land and it would be more productive, sustainable and resilient than any kind of modern agriculture going on right now. At least that is my vision. So if we were able to create a paradise like this then yes I believe we would be able to feed the world off wild foods.

So that is my case for hunting and gathering (and trapping and fishing). To me, almost any way you look it, it seems like it would be a better way for people to feed themselves. It would be better for us, better for the environment and more productive and sustainable.  I'm not saying we'd have to live primitively like ancient hunter gatherers, on the contrary I think we still could benefit from all our modern technology and economy, but the main difference is we would be healthier, happier and just better off just because that's what harvesting and eating wild foods can do for you.

How to Live the Almost-No-Money Lifestyle

One of the major benefits of managing a property for wild game in the way I talk about is that you can create a sustainable food source that over time will be practically free. This fact is a huge contributing factor for why I endorse this land management strategy. However, there are many other things you can do to live a lifestyle that approaches $0. While this post will be a little off topic compared to my other posts I think it can tie in nicely to the lifestyle I talk about.

One of my major goals in life is to reduce my expenses as much as possible, especially recurring expenses. Things like a mortgage, student debt, rent, power bills, gas, food etc. are all recurring expenses that most people have to pay. But each one can be reduced, and most can be done away with completely.

Let's look at housing.  The vast majority of people either rent or have a mortgage. This is usually a huge chunk of a person's annual costs. The solution to this is to use cash to purchase a house or bare land and park a trailer or build your own home. Now most people can't afford to do this which is why you need to plan very carefully on how to save up money first. This takes a lot of discipline and hard work, but I believe practically everyone can do it no matter how bad their current financial situation is. It just takes a lot of sacrifice and a minimalist lifestyle.

Once you have your own home most other things become easier because that's the largest chunk of money in most people's annual expenses. Now obviously I’d recommend you buy a property with at least 5 acres to hunt and grow food on so your annual cost of food could be brought down to near zero. Some other things I'd recommend are avoiding any other kind of debt like student loans and a car payment. This is essential in getting rid of recurring expenses. If, for example, you have to go to college, which I would discourage the vast majority of people from doing, then I would definitely find a way to do it without taking on any debt. Like buying a house with cash though, it is hard to do and takes hard work and sacrifice.  

Here are some ways to get rid of monthly utility bills. For electricity I highly recommend getting solar panels. This is a one time expense and once you have them they will give you free energy for a long time. You just need to maintain them well. I also recommend doing things to conserve energy in general that way you don't need as much and there are a million different things you can do for that.

For water the best solutions are digging a well, developing a spring and collecting rainfall from your roof. Again these are all 1 time expenses that once they're paid for will last you a long time.

While getting rid of your phone and internet bill is impossible unless you just want to completely cut them out, you can get bare minimum plans that will help save you a lot of money. And it's not impossible to live without phone and internet, but it would be a pretty big sacrifice.

For gas for your car the best solution is to get a very efficient vehicle. Maybe consider getting a scooter or small motorcycle that has really good gas mileage. Another thing you can do is try to not drive a lot. If you have to commute to work then live really close by so your gas bills will be reduced. Another exciting new alternative would be to get an electric vehicle and charge it with solar power. Most electric cars are still very expensive but this new technology is improving fast and it's likely there will be more affordable options fairly soon.

Lastly there is food. This one is what my blog focuses on the most. I think hunting and foraging for food instead of buying it at the store has huge benefits. And if you set up your property like I talk about in my blog then I think this way of acquiring food could be completely sustainable in the long run. The only costs would be hunting license/tags which are very cheap compared to buying food at the grocery store. Then there is all the hunting equipment you need such as weapons and ammo etc. But most of it is a small one time buy except maybe ammo. But nonetheless this way of getting food would be much less expensive than the grocery store. Also some other ways of getting free food are scavenging roadkill which sounds gross but as long as it's fresh there's really nothing to worry about. Also foraging for wild plants and mushrooms on public lands can be done for free. In some areas where there are nuisance animals like feral pigs and beavers people will actually pay you to remove them, so there's a way to get food and get paid at the same time.

So what would an almost no-money lifestyle look like? Well let's say you graduate high school and instead of going to college you decide to get 2 dead end jobs and work your ass off for a few years while still living with your parents (I did this for 1 year and saved over $20,000). Alternatively, if your parents aren't as generous you can live out of a van to save money on rent only paying for gas and food (I also did this for a year). But anyways you save up a good chunk of cash and buy a cheap bare land property. Next you can buy a cheap used camper trailer and park it on your property while you save money to build a cabin. You build a cabin, collect the rainwater off the roof, install solar panels and manage your property to attract game animals to hunt. Many of the trees you plant to attract game will also produce food for you such as fruits and nuts. You shoot some game animals fill your freezer, pick some fruit and nuts, maybe grow a small garden for some veggies and you are pretty set.

You can do all this while at the same time working and saving most of it in order to finance the establishment of the lifestyle. But once all of this is established your only annual expenses might be property taxes, a phone/internet bill, hunting liscences/tags, health and car insurance, maybe a little bit of gas if you don't have an electric vehicle, and that's pretty much it. And if done right all of these expenses can be greatly minimized too so that you will have extremely low annual expenses. So much so that you can work much less than the vast majority of people and retire very early. Or you could keep working and save a ton of money for international vacations , “toys” like a boat or 4 wheelers, starting a business or give it to charity. If you minimize your cost of living to this super low point then the biggest gain is freedom.

So here are some of the main takeaways. Don't get into debt. If you already have debt get rid of it as quickly as possible. Work hard for a few years and save up money for your biggest expense which will be your property. Try to reduce all your other expenses as much as possible. If something seems too extreme do it anyways as you can always adjust later on.

So while a lot of this does seem extreme I have personally done a lot of these things in order to save money and the ones I haven't done I've researched enough to know they could be easily done. So if your dream is to live free knowing that your lifestyle costs practically nothing while at the same time owning property that you can hunt on and feed yourself from then I recommend trying a few of the things I've talked about so you can live free too.

The Shotgun Method for planting quickly and cheaply

Creating habitat for wild game can seem like a daunting task. Especially on larger properties where you are planning to plant many new species for forage and browse. On many properties a lot of the existing vegetation will need to be replaced with higher quality species that will provide better food and cover for wildlife. This may seem like an expensive and time consuming task even on smaller properties, but it doesn't have to be. One way to cut down on costs for new plants and the time spent on planting them is by using what I call the Shotgun Method.

The shotgun method is basically acquiring a very large amount of desired tree and shrub seeds and then spreading them across your property by digging small holes and planting the seed directly into the ground where you want them to become established. I call this the Shotgun Method because like a shotgun you're using a large quantity, in this case seeds instead of bullets, knowing that at least a few trees will survive similarly to knowing at least a few pellets from a shotgun shell will hit the target.This method if done properly will speed up the process of establishing tree and shrub species and do it in a way that is much cheaper and less time consuming.

In order to do this method properly you need to start with certain conditions. Most seedlings are going to need a certain environment in order to sprout and grow on your property. One major factor will be how much sun the seedlings are getting. While some will do well under shaded conditions most will need mostly to fully sunny conditions. This means you'll have to make sure there is not too much overhead cover from existing trees and shrubs. So basically you'll need a mostly open area such as a meadow or field.

The next factor will be competition from other low growing plants such as thick grass and weeds for water and soil nutrients. Using a tool as simple as a shovel it is best to till a small area of soil about a foot in circumference where you will plant your seed. This will kill the roots of the plants in the immediate vicinity and as they start to decompose in the soil this will add extra nutrients into the soil that your seedling can use. Once this is done then you can plant your seed.

When planting a seed a good general rule is to plant it at a depth 1 to 2 times the size of your seed. For example if you have a chestnut that is 2 inches wide then you will want to plant it 2 to 4 inches deep. Depending on the species, spring or fall will usually be the best times to plant, but do your research to figure out what is best for your selection.

Once your seed is planted I recommend pulling up some grass or weeds near your  planted seed and spreading it across the disturbed soil covering your seed to use as a mulch. This will help keep the soil moisture high and protect it from extreme temperatures. If the soil moisture is already fairly high at the time of planting then watering will usually not be necessary at the time of planting, but if you find the soil to be fairly dry then a quick watering will help the seed break dormancy and start to grow. Then your seed will be ready to start growing.

Once you get the hang of this process then you can plant a seed every 1 to 2 minutes and really cover a large area in a relatively small amount of time. This method will also save money because you will not need to buy expensive plants from nurseries. When it comes to acquiring your seeds I recommend getting them for free by locating a property with the right types of plants and with permission collecting the seeds yourself. In my area I put an ad on Facebook looking for anyone with an English Walnut tree that would like me to clean up all the nuts in their yard. To my surprise this worked very quickly and somebody contacted me and let me collect as much as I wanted mainly because the nuts were more of a nuisance for them because it made it hard to mow. I was able to collect 2 large grocery bags full of nuts and will be using them to plant on my property this spring. Another possible option would be to find public land with your species and collect them there. Usually this will not require any permission. I've collected many types of oak and hickory seeds this way. As you can see it is not hard to find free or cheap seed sources to use for your property.

Once you've collected your seeds and planted them then it's time to let nature take over. While it's true many might not make it, it is likely that only the seeds with genetics able to grow in your specific environment will do well and thus ensuring that they would be hardy enough to self propagate on your property. That's why it's also important to use species that are adapted to your climate. However, I'll also say that it doesn't hurt to use species that are supposedly borderline for your area that way you can add to the diversity and figure out what really will do well despite what other people may say.

As your seeds sprout and grow into seedlings it may be helpful to walk your property and see which seeds have survived. You can do some minimal care as these plants grow such as adding mulch and watering during droughts in order to give them that extra nudge. But other then that there will likely not be much else you need to do.

One exception to this will be if you have an overpopulation of game species in your area. If this is the case then your tree will likely be browsed on by deer or other game and if the browsing is bad enough then it could potentially kill them. Other than caging these trees until they can grow above the browsing height, which can be very expensive on large properties with a lot of trees, you could also try what I've done on my property and use the existing vegetation as a nurse plant in order to keep deer from reaching them. This basically consists of planting your trees next to or slightly underneath a shrub, especially a thorny species like rose or bramble, that will act as a natural tree cage by preventing browsing by using thorns as a deterrent. I have seen many feral apples and plums growing up through rose bushes and out the top on my property. By mimicking the natural way these plants are escaping browse pressure I can save a lot of money by not having to buy cages.

Other ways to decrease browse pressure include building an exclusion fence, using dogs to chase deer off your property (Done properly to avoid problems), and by increasing hunting to lower the population.

Planting a lot of trees and shrubs doesn't have to be an expensive or time consuming process. If you use the Shotgun method like I do then it can be relatively simple and cheap. And once you start to see your property begin to turn into a game magnet then you will be glad you put in the effort early on, because once established these plants will self propagate and do all the work for you and provide abundant wildlife habitat for generations to come.