Background: Family of three, with one on the way. For the last several years I have been increasingly working to grow, forage, kill or catch an increasing portion of our diet.

Question: How much meat do you need? Where, when and how are you planning on sourcing it?

My land: I am not in a hunting club and have no private land in North AL. I will be hunting/fishing all public land. I do have private land in South MS that I will hunt over Thanksgiving. I do have access to hunt Redstone Arsenal. There is public TVA and AL WMA land not far from me.

My plan: I drew and elk tag in KY this year, so in DEC I will travel there and attempt to harvest a cow elk. I will be working with a guide, so there is a high chance of success for this hunt. I process all my own meat, so my goal is 150lbs of elk meat out of this trip. I will plan on harvesting one deer on land in MS, with a high probability of success and an expectation of 30lbs of processed meat. This will be my first year hunting RSA, so I would like to harvest one deer there, but give a low probability. I would like to hunt hogs on the Sipsy Wilderness in NW AL and harvest at least one this year, moderate probability of success.

With that said, and assuming several meals of small game and fish, I figure this would provide enough meat for my family such that we would only need to buy a couple pounds of meat per week - and then mostly pork or chicken.

What are your plans/goals for the fall/spring?