Wilderness Eating/Living Week

Watching Youtube this week I was drawn to a series of videos by The Wooded Beardsman that got me wanting to try it. Basically what he's been doing is using regular modern tools and weapons to procure and consume only what he can gather from the wilderness. I believe he was in Maine and has gathered/eaten clams, lobsters, a porcupine, a possum, a turkey, dozens of alewife, some pigeons and a trout. The challenge is to see if he can maintain or increase his body weight by the end of the week. As far as I can tell the only thing he is eating that isn't a wild edible or something he killed is a spice blend that he sells.

I'm tossing around the idea of doing something similar this fall at our hunting camp in northern Wisconsin. I'm thinking I would want to do it mid-October to take advantage of most of the open hunting seasons. Our beaver season wouldn't be open yet, but that can be circumvented with nuisance trapping permission from the landowner (my dad).

I don't think I would have a problem finding protein, the area has a fair amount of wild game including grouse, squirrels, deer, the occasional turkey, and some beavers, as well as less desirable protein such as frogs, raccoons and coyotes. There are some wetlands that hold some cattails that could be harvested as a source of fiber, but I'm a little worried there won't be much for wild edibles in the woods by mid-October. Our property is lacking in mast trees and is mostly higher maple hills or cedar/tag alder swamps. I will have to do some research on that topic before venturing out.

I'm still trying to work out some of the specifics, and I'm open to suggestions. If I go through with the idea, I would be documenting it with video and writing about it online for work.

So here's where you come in. What are some things I could do that would make this interesting to follow and make you want to check back in the next day to see how I'm doing? I don't have the survival skills to do a Survivorman sort of deal where I hit the woods with nothing but the clothes on my back and a multi-tool. Here's kind of what I'm thinking. I could frame it as I got lost in the woods and came upon a cabin and can only use what's there (cooking utensils, ATV, firewood, weapons and traps) but the food was cleaned out when the cabin was closed down for the year. I could also take it a step further and camp in a tent/hammock rather than sleeping in the cabin.

I'm open to ideas and I have a few months to hammer out the details as this plan takes shape. What do you think?

He’s also eaten, fiddleheads, cattail root, and that flour stuff he took with him everyday.

You're right Pasadena, I forgot about the fiddleheads and his corn flour. Did you see that possum soup he ate? It looked awful!

Most of the stews he makes are gross looking. I have to turn the sound down when he eats. He slurps everything I can’t remember what the outcome was when he went to Texas. They ate a lot of food but it’s so lean.

Yeah the lean meat doesn't help much, I'd hope to catch a beaver or two early in the week for all the fat they could provide.

How you going to keep food when you boom for when you bust. Where will get your water. You going to take any meds you may already be on as well as prevention for the unknown belly ache, ear ache, open wounds. I've always thought about what your doing only on a longer term maybe 6 months or so, but now realize that its a struggle with all the things I take for granted and I'm sure there is many more that dreams it and know they can't. But if you can get your experience on film then maybe those who can't can at least live part of their dream thru your experiences.
Maybe if there is any neighboring corn fields that's picked you could glean some for corn meal. When you get older you'll know more about mixing fiber and bulk with that meat, lol. I've did the cattails before but have never been all that hungry for them since. Hope you the best and I await your trial.

Mid-October in northern Wisconsin typically has temps cool enough to store meats overnight. Otherwise I could improvise a cellar by digging a hole in a shaded area for short-term storage. I dont take any daily meds. There is a water source nearby, both a small river and a couple springs I know of, but rather than risk getting sick I would probably bring in 5 or 10 gallons in water jugs. No agriculture nearby but I may plant some stuff in our food plots that could be eaten in a pinch.

Anyone have any books/field guides for wild edibles they like that would cover things found in the midwest? I'm not going to gamble with mushrooms, but figure there have got to be some plants that will still be green in October that could be edible. Or maybe not?

Get Sam Thayer's books.

I can't see how you would lose weight eating raccoon and beaver meat. If catching a couple beaver or coon a day. There are many people who are full bore carnivores, and eat no plants whatsoever.

A week doesn't seem like a very long time. Two medium beaver will keep you in enough calories for the week no problem unless you are doing some rigorous work. Like PAskinner said many people today and historically have lived off meat for the majority of their diet.

Check out Dave Canterbury books. Also the food plot idea I'd do carrots, radishes and turnip.

From my experience, even if you are getting plenty of calories, the sudden elimination of sugar from your diet will cause you to lose energy for the first few days. I think the complete elimination of sugar would also cause you to quickly lose weight but I don't know if you would see it in the first week. It's amazing how much sugar is in the American diet.

I wish I could go longer, but with family and work, a week is all I can swing.

Any suggestions on what I could do to make it more entertaining? Sleeping outside in a hammock instead of staying in the cabin? Walking instead of using the ATV? Old single shot 20 gauge instead of my Remington 870?

There isn't a huge population of beaver or coon on this particular property. I would like to catch a beaver early on to render the fat and have it for cooking the rest of the week, but I may only catch one, maybe two during the whole week. And I would be setting the traps the first day, so wouldn't have any trapped animals until day 2 at the earliest.

Sounds very interesting to me. One thing I would consider, is eating what you catch or hunt the same day as the kill. It would be a lot of meat to finish a coon etc. so I would stick to upland game, waterfowl and fish for meat, so you can eat it up in one sitting.

Do you have partridge, grouse, ducks, pheasants and or fishing in this area?? Is there a hunting (legal) season while you are there for that week?

We have grouse and squirrels, ducks sometimes land on the beaver ponds, and there are a couple lakes not too far away where I could either take my 16' Sea Nymph fishing boat or my 10' jon boat. The waterway that holds the beaver likely has some chubs, but no game fish.

I would definitely try to mix is up if I was just doing it for fun and not running a fulltime trapline at the same time. Having a variety of meat and fish would make it more enjoyable. And I would try eating some beaver or coon beforehand if you don't regularly. I had some beaver meat on a trapping trip last winter and it didn't make me sick, but had stomach issues for some reason. A change in diet affects different people in different ways, that's the part you can't really know until you try it.

Somewhere I read an article of kids that moved to South America on a mission trip of some kind. They wanted to try to live like the locals. Kinda the same thing. Long story short they grew radishes or something for money. They couldn't figure out why they could go to town and buy beans and whatever, cook them up, and eat what the locals were but they were losing weight like crazy. One of the elders helped them out. Turns out they would buy bricks of lard in town to go with their beans. By adding that to their beans they created the calories they needed. I thought that was interesting. Not sure how it applies here. Sorry for my ramblings. lol.

you might also consider perpetual pot.

you start a pot generally a large pot and you keep it on heat and bring it to a boil after adding fresh meat , potato , carrots ect...

wild parsnip if you can harvest it without getting the sap on you would be a root crop to add to your stew.

did the perpetual pot last fall for a month , always hot food ready to eat , always warm. same pot all month just kept adding , it develops a lot of flavor , it was nearly all venison with some occasional pork

this is sometimes called hunters pot also adding things from the trap line or small game as you get it if you have a day without protein you add more potatoes and carrots and it carries you through.


as I understand it there are some cultures where they do something like this and the pot is passed from generation to generation it may go years without ever having been fully emptied

OhioBoy, that sounds familiar. There is a video series on YouTube called Living on One where 4 young adults attempt to live on a dollar a day in in a village in rural Guatemala for 2 months. I've watched bits and pieces of it.

That's an interesting concept GCP, and something I hadn't considered. I'll do some more research on the concept, thanks for the idea.

Don't fake it, just say you are challenging yourself to survive for a week in the woods with a few basic tools of survival. Leave the cabin and tent out of it and build your own shelter. Locate any nut trees such as walnut and chestnut in the area for a food source and a wild life attractant. Look at setting up some squirrel run poles, maybe some through lines for turtles along with your small game snares. See if you have any types of edible tubers in your area like groundnuts. You will have more fun with this if you document the real challenges you encounter and how you overcome them during the week. After you're done you can challenge others to post their week in the woods and show the different problems that they encountered and post them with
video so that we can all learn from it.

Interesting take Sumrow. I want to stay within the bounds of our game/fish laws in Wisconsin. Unfortunately that means no squirrel snares and no trot lines. But I can hunt squirrels and fish with hook and line. Only not trees in the area are red oaks.

Sleeping outside in a shelter vs using the cabin will likely increase my calorie usage as my body struggles to stay warm during the nights. I don't think I want to stay in the cabin, so I could use my hammock, but not sure I want to go so far as to stay in a shelter. But maybe?!

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming!

Organs boys, organs. If you gonna live like old timers eat kidneys livers and hearts. Plains Indians lived for weeks and weeks on just game. But you gotta eat the organs.

The Wooded Beardsman finally posted the weigh out video. He was working with a partner who started the week at around 212 pounds and lost 12 pounds and the Wooded Beardsman started at about 148 and lost 6. These guys seemed to have quite a bit of food to eat, but it was mostly lean wild meats. They used vehicles a lot to get places, but did plenty of physical labor like sawing firewood.

So, we will see how it goes. I've been cultivating a "dad bod" lately, so I actually wouldn't mind losing some weight, but this is going to be a weight retention challenge, not a weight loss challenge. But I guess that raises the question, the native Americans who lived off wild foods 24/7 typically didnt have dad bods, at least not in the depictions I've seen. In the last video they mentioned another guy who's doing a year-long wilderness eating challenge who has already lost 40 pounds or something like that.

i've done long weekends and on a few occassions whole weeks.

mostly on rivers, which makes finding food (fish) very easy.

some in the mountains - once in October I went 4 days with nothing but some nuts and a small hen of the woods mushroom - when i finally got a small trout and squirrel, it was the best trout and squirrel I've ever eaten. (including hearts)

I do take some spices, even top notch game like venison and trout can use a little spice.

mushrooms are tough, but there are a few that are fairly easy to identify with some practice that are available in the fall.

i carry a large water filter as a precaution - similar to this Water Filter

its hard not to lose some weight, unless you are already very lean
rabbit snaring is a good way to get some food too, if its legal where you are

i fast intermittenly as part of my nutrition plan, usually 24 hours - and also stay away from processed foods and carbs - which makes the "transition" to this type of adventure a little easier when food gathering is slow.

Hey guys, thought I would revive this post once more. I will be heading out on my wilderness living week on October 11th, coming home on the 17th. I went in for a wellness check for insurance last week and I'm right around 200 pounds, heaviest I've been in my life. You could say I've got a "dad bod."

I'm looking forward to taking on the challenge of finding food. While I would like to bag a deer, I can't count on it. Sure would be cool to eat some heart, liver, tongue, bone marrow, and of course some venison. There's also a 3.5 mile section of river I'm going to float for ducks in my canoe, and miles of logging roads to hunt for grouse, squirrels and turkeys. I'll also have some traps out for beaver, as well as some predators. I hope it doesn't come down to having to eat coyote or coon, but I guess we'll see how hungry I get. However I don't usually get to dedicate a whole week to trapping this property, so I'm going to take advantage of that. I'll also have my fishing boat along to go after some pike/walleye/panfish.

It will be interesting to taste the different meats unchanged by spices. Staying true to only consuming calories I can get from nature, I won't be using any spice, including salt and pepper. The weather looks good, 40s and 50s during the day and 30s and 40s at night and relatively dry.

The plan is to make daily posts online at www.grandviewoutdoors.com chronicling my successes and failures, sprinkled with a bit of the history of our little section of woods. I'm the 5th generation to hunt those woods, I think that's pretty special. If you care to follow along, I'll add the link to the first post on here once it's up, and you can follow from there.

Thanks again for all the ideas. If you have any more ideas on stuff you might be interested in seeing me try, I'm open to ideas. Anything that might make for a better read.

You might want to take salt with you unless you have a natural source in the area. Hypnoatremia effects millions of Americans a year. Even in cool weather, you're going to sweat a fair amount, while you're exerting yourself and you don't want to throw off your body chemistry.

I hope you have a great time and find out a lot about yourself.

Keith

Good luck to ya tlguy! It is cooling off and hopefully the rain backs off a bit for you.
Let us know how you did.
A week does not seem long until you find yourself with no beer or frozen pizza.
I would sure take a little salt with me but I suppose you could get by without.
There was a reason folks sailed around the world in search of spices.

Zim

I take potassium pills over the counter to help with electrolyte loss.

Shizo is a purplish greenish pasture weed that is edible. The Japanese eat it with their sushi and beef.

What will you do for carbs?

Nuts have carbs.

be sure to catch on video you eatting the beaver fat

Zim, I think I'll miss the beer the most. It doesn't seem right to be at deer camp and not have a case on the back porch.

Since salt doesn't have any calories, I guess I could use it. Plus it will probably make some of the foods go down easier.

Diggerman, my plan is to eat cattail roots as my main source of carbs.

I like your idea and this sounds great . Except for one thing- sleeping in a hammock sounds miserable and hard to stay warm. Good luck

Hey tlguy are you on your wilderness eating week.

I wasn't going to bring it up, bit since you asked...

I'm at home with a belly full of food from the store. The weather threw me for a loop and I overestimated my food gathering abilities. I started Friday morning at 12:01 am, but my last calories were a beer I slammed at 7:30pm before taking my wife to a show in Appleton Thursday night.

I moved a deer stand and did a little grouse/squirrel hunting midday, then sat in the moved deer stand over a food plot Friday evening as the temps dropped and the wind whipped. No luck on deer/grouse/squirrel so I picked a few turnips, boiled em up and ate em with some salt for dinner.

Saturday I did some more grouse/squirrel hunting in the morning and bagged a single grouse. At that for lunch then set some traps in the snow and sat over a different food plot hoping for a deer to come my way. After 3 hours standing in the blowing snow, still no luck.

I woke up around 1 am Sunday morning and was so hungry I couldn't fall back asleep. At around 3 am I decided to throw in the towel. At that point I hadn't used any vacation and could go home with my tail between my legs.

So in the end I made it around 55 hours from when I consumed my last "non-natural" foods to when I had to give in. I was beginning to worry about my safety with the weather, if I was out and about trying to hunt or fish and I passed out or something it could get dangerous real quick.

I will be trying again next fall, probably a little earlier in the season, and maybe with a partner to double the hunting effort.

As a side note, on my way home my wife called crying because my 4-year-old swallowed a marble and they were both freaking out. So I likely would've gone home anyway. Glad I had some food in me before I got on the road. For anyone wondering, that cold front rolled through Friday and the temps dropped 30 degrees during the day and it snowed all day Saturday so I had some unexpected rough weather to start things off.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I'll be sure to reread this thread before next year's trip.

Bummer man. Hope you give it another shot.

This is what I do. I usually go out for week at a time a couple times a year. I bring root veggies, flour, bacon and coffee. I boil up some of the veggies and if I get something that day I throw it in. Each morning I add 1 potato and a couple carrots. Oh....I also bring dried beans too but don't usually end up eating them.

Thanks for the update, sorry it didn't work out so well.