This isn't that different from what many other homeless people on the fringes of cities/towns accomplish. They setup some kind of make-shift shelter, and subsist via varying degrees of cleverness, begging or charity. The only difference with this guy is he never begged (he just stole), and the setting was slightly more rustic than usual. But for some reason people read this story and desperately try to make it more than it is, by awkwardly infusing this "wilderness survivalist" aspect into it, which really doesn't reflect what actually happened at all.