Personally I enjoy hunting in Mountains. I use the same specific team and will explore right and up.
I also recommend selling any and all wolves that are not of use to you or your pack goals. Save that money in mushroom hole. I recommend only spending money you got miscellaneously or half of what you got through explore. I also buy cheap but good wolves and CP train them and sell me for more than I got them for.
Being premium also helps incredibly with saving up money in my opinion. Selling palettes can go for a lot, even if its a bit time consuming. Boarding and Training is also a good source of income for premium and basic packs.
I also recommend staying out of sales-

Lastly, DO NOT BUY APPLES IMMEDIATELY!!!
The apple market switches a lot, and can be expensive at times. Wait until someone is offering a bundle or the average apple price has gone down.

Would you recommend saving apples in the apple hole also?

That should be the golden rule xD

And even if you "can't draw" linearts are a great way to use to sell adoptables and make designs!

If you have a goal in mind yes that way your not wanting to spend them all the time like me