Hunting, fishing, caravan taxation, and seasonal agricultural migration also played a role, although this is poorly documented.

Political organization was fluid and much depended on personal prestige since as nomads, the Nogai subjects could simply move away from a leader who was disliked.

Stealing horses, looked down upon in many cultures, was an important part of social and economic life on the steppe.

The Nogai Horde along with the Crimean Khanate raided settlements in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Poland.

The slaves were captured in southern Russia, Poland-Lithuania, Moldavia, Wallachia, and Circassia by Tatar horsemen in a trade known as the "harvesting of the steppe".

[4] Some researchers estimate that altogether more than 3 million people were captured and enslaved during the time of the Crimean Khanate.

During the next 150 years, Black Sea grain ports assist massive southward expansion of Russian agriculture and population.