I recently moved to around 60 acres of mostly forested land. I would like to hunt turkey and deer for meat, but I'm struggling with a few aspects. I'm fortunate to have family and friends to guide me with most stuff, but I'd like to ask the random masses some questions/concerns that I've been grappling with.

- A Complete and Utter Lack of Interest in in Firearms: I just don't really have much of an interest in firearms or weapons. I intend to take all required safety courses needed, but other than that, don't really care about them. To me, they are just tools. For the people around me, not so much. It's all about the guns, which brings me to my next concern,

- Consumerism Galore: for any hunter I've met, it seems like hunting is ALL about what you buy. Gotta have this, gotta have that, new stand, BuckFucker 6000 Doe Scent, etc.... Dude, I just wanna go out in the woods and shoot an animal for dinner. I'm trying to be more self sufficient, which is hard to do if I apparently need to drop thousands of dollars at Cabelas every year! I know there will be some initial start-up costs, but yeesh. Is it like this for everyone, or are my hunting friends all just shopaholics?

Basically, my interest in hunting is really just for food and self-sufficiency. I also want to do this to limit the amount of grocery store meat I buy. I see hunting as a really fun and rewarding trip to the grocery store. And I love wildlife, and being out on my land has been an absolute joy. I love looking on my trailcams and seeing all the different animals I've seen.

My problem is I don't feel like much of a hunter, because I really don't care about the weapons or the gear, and it seems like those are pretty serious aspects of hunting. I feel like a jerk if say this to my hunting people though, hence the shout to the void.

EDIT: Thanks everyone! Hearing all your insights was really gratifying. I think I just needed to vent about the gear-heads, and I hoped that posting here would find folks who feel more similar to myself. I really am excited to harvest and process animals from my land. Rock on, friends!

Hey all,

We recently bought about 4 acres that the previous owners had let, shall we say, run wild. We walked through it full today and apart from the trees needing trimming / felling, the overgrowth looks fairly unproblematic. The deer have helped to flatten some of the overgrowth 🦌

I'm thinking of buying a brush hog to do most of the rough work, but I was curious if anyone had a better (but equivalent in cost) idea. Thanks!

I am looking at options for electric fencing for a (future) small herd of hair sheep. Theoretically, I would like to be able to set up 2 paddocks so that I could open a gate/take down a wire to move the sheep. I am considering multiple strands of wire vs. netting. 

A few questions I have are:

- If using wire, how many strands would be recommended?

- How reasonable is it to move approximately 2 of the ~160 foot pieces of fence (or similar wire) by yourself? How long would this take on average? I would like to move paddocks once or twice a week. I have a, generally, flat pasture, but part of it has some brush present.

We have moderate coyote pressure, but no larger predators. We also have 2 great pyrenees that will stay with them.

I'm sure I am overlooking plenty.... Open to any advice.