With hunter gatherers, it is feast or famine. They breed up to the supply of available food, then there is a change, any of a large number of causes, then they die off and start breeding up again.
When they have food, they tend to have plenty. When they do not, they starve.
Starvation during winter months was common among hunter gatherers in the new world, as recorded by numerous early explorers. Those who practiced agriculture tended to do better.
Freedom from hunger is a very recent phenomena.
In the Pacific Northwest tribes like the Tlingit Did extremely well without extensive large scale farming, they were fishermen and hunter gatherers. these tribes lived well for thousands of years with that lifestyle until European contact because they were not overpopulated.
They dried their catches of salmon and stored it just like farmer store their grain.
These tribes all built fine buildings, canoes, and great art without being dependent on intensive agriculture.