I have always been a survivalist, ever since I was old enough to put food, a knife and a hatchet in a bag and headed to the nearest patch of woods. I have always asked, if something bad happened, do I have what’s needed to survive? After I joined the military and bought a car, I’ve always had an axe, knife, poncho, a canteen, map and a ration pack in the trunk as well as my military bug-out kit. Always, after I was married did I have 2 weeks of food, candles and other essentials’ in the house. Weapons of course, I was military with the love of competitive shooting, and since ammo cost a lot, I learned to reload. I wasn’t until a few years ago that I really started prepping. Buying long storage foods, and putting in a vegetable garden (odd looks from wife on that one)and buying a generator. During the past 30 years, I have collect a number of books on wild edibles, survival (SAS), winter hiking, and books on back woods lore. I’m a Combat Engineer, Aero Engine Tech, and a Mech Engr Tech. I’ve operated/maintained heavy equipment, purified water, and blew up bridges. Best of my skills is the ability to use an over active imagination to build or improvise the tools that I need. A curiousity that would have killed a cat 20 times over.The only thing that has held me back is I’m also ADD. But not ADHD, and yes you can be one without the other. So I ask you, am I a survivor, a preppie, or both?

"A survivor, survives the outcome. A prepper is able to live a semi normal life afterwards.
"We prep to live after a downfall, Not just to survive it" JT

Unsure of the semantics involved and it may be just a question of semantics. I am not however, the alternative. A victim of the Primary or Secondary Deaths. I think what we need to do afterward is reorganize our society and not just carry-on in the woods like it's an extended vacation. I feel that after the Trigger Event we will need all good men and women to rebuild Canada.

Or you can just stay in the woods but stay out of the way.

Unsure of the semantics involved and it may be just a question of semantics. I am not however, the alternative. A victim of the Primary or Secondary Deaths. I think what we need to do afterward is reorganize our society and not just carry-on in the woods like it's an extended vacation. I feel that after the Trigger Event we will need all good men and women to rebuild Canada.

Or you can just stay in the woods but stay out of the way.

If we were to rebuild Canada again, does that mean that I'll have to start paying taxes again or can I just sic the dogs on the revenooers.

Unsure of the semantics involved and it may be just a question of semantics. I am not however, the alternative. A victim of the Primary or Secondary Deaths. I think what we need to do afterward is reorganize our society and not just carry-on in the woods like it's an extended vacation. I feel that after the Trigger Event we will need all good men and women to rebuild Canada.

Or you can just stay in the woods but stay out of the way.

If we were to rebuild Canada again, does that mean that I'll have to start paying taxes again or can I just sic the dogs on the revenooers.

don't start with that 'Freeman of the Land' crapola.....

I'm with the others who say prepper/survivalist are essentially one in the same, one just has more negative connotation attached to it.

I store a bit, but really, I'm not interested in spending wads on constantly refreshing food stores, etc. My prepping comes more in the form of learning as much as I possibly can, building (or trying to) all sorts of primitive tools and equipment to reduce hardship and growing and storing my own collection of fruit and vegetable seeds.

I'm more of a pacifist in that when/if tshtf I won't go looking for trouble, but i won't let others walk over me either. However, it's good to be friendly with the gun nuts, so I stay on good terms with an uncle who reloads and has over 400,000 rounds stockpiled at any time. lol

If I had the money I could buy the land and implement all of the essential thing mentioned by everyone. But since I have been unemployed for 8 month and I haven’t won the lottery (YET) The most I can do is prep with what I have, and pass on any information that I have to help others obtain Nirvana. “Knowledge is the power to over come most obstacles. Wisdom, tells you if you should”

ranger2012,
"Thumbs up" to what you said. I also worship at the Lottery Altar, one ticket of 649 and one of LottoMax every week. At this stage in my life it is not for me, I make a decent living, but not enough to help all the people that I care about that are not doing well. I have accumulated as much preps as I feel comfortable with, am now on the knowledge track. That is why I will soon be cancelling my internet because it is such an addiction and distraction to what I need to be doing in my own home. I cancelled cable tv almost a year ago, it only hurt a little bit. lol.

Oddly enough none of the people at the current 'top' think like we do. They think of themselves first. This is why we're on a destructive path. Start connecting the dots and they don't make a pretty picture. Short term.

Long term, I think it might get Darwinian.

How many people do you know who won't even know how to feed themselves without all the modern conveniences? No-one I've spoken to is taking me seriously when I encourage them to store enough food and necessary items for even a couple of weeks - how the hell are they going to cope when "it" happens? I'm not sure which (prepper or survivalist) I am, but I'm sure I'll do everything I can to try and survive anything that comes our way! We could scrape through now, but I'm still working on those skills, collecting supplies and gathering information. Envious of those who are really living the lifestyle now and have the skills & knowledge to survive comfortably.

i have given up telling people 🙁 I just hope i get ready fast enough

you cant rush....it might never come...take your time, don't stress and think that even now you ready than most 2c

I also agree they are basically the same thing. Obvious images of camo'd (sp?) out texans (no offense just pointing out the stereotype) with a garage full of guns, bandoliers strapped to their chests and the hobby project tank out back when I hear survivalist and chicken raising, wind turbine, number 10 can collecting preppers. But if I had to really describe the two separately I would say survivalists tend to be the ones planning on picking up the rifle, the BOB's and hopping in the truck with some MRE's and a tent/sleeping bag and driving off, either to a built up BOL if they happen to have one or just to the wilderness. They think of themselves as bushmen and that they will hunt and fish and just hide out. People that call themselves prepper's I have found seem to more often either live in their BOL (a lot are already homesteaders) or tend to be more stockpiling concious, whether it is filling up their house with food, ammo, water, tools etc. or keeping it all at the BOL. I guess in short Survivalists are the more militaristic styled people (not necessarily aggressive or less prepared) and tend to be "one man survival armies", whereas preppers are more of the family group, survive and thrive, community based groups. But hey call yourself whatever you want, just so long as you do what you need to do to prepare!

I am ex-military, In fact a Combat Engineer and I know a wee bit about survival. Anybody can survive, as my ex would say “even a blind chicken will find a grain or two”. We prep so that we will have the essentials to live a near normal life after a downfall, being it economical, or a catastrophe man made or otherwise.
A strict survivalist will only carry the basic gear and will scrounge or steal what he/she needs. A strict prepper that doesn’t know how to overcome obstacles or defend them selves are equally lost, these are the one’s that are preyed upon. We need to be able to do both or align our selves to some who can. ❗

Hey The Beav. Welcome, I am also relatively new to participating in these forums. Love the question Beav. I can only respond with my own perception and it’s always important to remember that your “own” opinions are what form your “own” reality of what a situation is.

I think it’s an exceptional question because it speaks directly to everyone’s own reality. I have certainly seen a huge difference in those realities between American and Canadian bloggers. As you implied; we are more complacent with regards to the security requirements of what we perceive SHTF will be. I think we have different expectations of what the causes of that will be as well. We trust our Government and for their part our economic situation (as much as the next guy), but don’t trust the changing trends in our environment so we look more closely as that being our reality of threat.

Just look at the difference in conversations on American-led and Canadian-led blog content on arms and security. We have a lot of people who are capable and proficient with their firearms. It isn’t that we can’t purchase the same firearms (legally) as they can, we have the same ability to legally purchase up to semi-automatic weapons. At one point we owned more per capita than they did, but look at the difference in mortality rates from weapon related incidents, it speaks to the respect we have for them as tools and not “weapons”. That speaks volumes but certainly doesn’t relate to a naivety.

For most parts I believe that many American’s are into extremism and perhaps that is fuelled by the ever more popular conspiracy market they are growing in their media. Fear sells-absurd fear sells absurdly. However, there are many areas of the States that live in more extreme civil circumstances than we do here in Canada. Have you ever travel the back areas of many of the Southern States. They’re a people onto themselves in their love of guns, ownership of property and one thing I’ve never been able to place my mind around; defence of their liberty.

I always feel it’s important to closely look at the past to try and determine the future. I understand completely our demographics from rural family life and industry to manufacturing industry and city living has also changed since many of these instances. In all times of great calamity in our history we have pulled together as Canadians to aid each other through perilous situations. We have formed as communities to aid each other and in inner cities the people have pulled together, tossed in and created aid to aid the multitudes. I’d like to think it speaks to who we are but I’m also not foolish enough to consider that we are all painted with the same brush. A CME puts out Quebec or an ice storm cripples their power supplies and the rest of Canada pitches in to donate generators, supplies and services. If we’d do that for Quebec (and we have) we’d do that for any area of the nation in need. I suppose it will all come down to what the need is and how drastic and widespread the cause of that need is.

Back to the question. I think a prepper is a person who stocks for a relatively, somewhat civilly- controlled situation that they consider will have a beginning time and end time back to some form of normality ( that does not mean they are not prepared, or willing, to defend for their own( .Most’s capabilities at that are certainly untested.)

A survivalist is someone who prepares themselves or their party for a hostile situation they can manage to exist to some extent in an isolationist environment. Most of us probably believe we have the ability to survive in a minimalist situation and I believe most are untested in their skills. Remember when it comes to Canada we all have climate and even the best survivalists, our native populations spent many winters and lost many peoples to starvation and extreme weather; for all the romance given to their natural abilities to exist. That is the reality of natural existence.

For my part I’m a prepper and totally prepared to stay in a city setting. I have prepared for that for myself and family members. I also have ensured I have enough supplies to help others for an extended period of time if need be. I can protect that to the best of our abilities if that is what the situation determines is the need. I also have the skills and so do my adult children (to some extent) to survive in a minimalistic situation in the bush. I spent a lot of time pursuing those skills over the years. Not for when SHTF, just for the sheer pleasure of challenging myself to the task. I also live in North Western Ontario and there is space, bush and resource.

Again I think our own realities of our individual perception determine what the answer to your question will be. For my part I think I’m prepared for either reality as a prepper and as a survivalist. The important thing that defines that; is that under either circumstance I will have a regard for everyone’s existence in an extreme situation until I have reason to believe that I can’t.