Survival Enthusiasts – Dooms Day Flagellants or Students of Cause and Effect?

I’m a fairly tolerant person but I must admit that I get bored easily. I always want to learn something new and then demonstrate it to myself; that is how I learn and retain. Acquiring survival skills isn’t something you can learn from reading books, watching television shows or hearing stories around the campfire. You gain proficiency by testing yourself through the art of practice.

I look at the development of my skill base as a ‘Survival Practice’ just like a physician has a ‘Medical Practice’ or a Professional Forester has a ‘Practice in Resource Management’. A ‘practice’ is not something that can be taken away from you. If they can take away your ‘practice’ then it was never yours to begin with.

I have a practice in survival that seems to shift emphasis from time to time as new knowledge, experience and technology influences how I prepare and conduct myself in the bush.

Some folks want to be able to walk into the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on their back and a pocket knife to subsist with. While I appreciate the skill required to do this my practice focuses on different priorities because I go through the rigour of ensuring I have certain tools available to me. When it comes to specific equipment I have a very simple philosophy “It is better to have it and not need it, than it is to need it and not have it.” I borrow that from Les Stroud (Survivorman) whom inspires me to get better at my survival practice whenever I see him on television.


Terrace floods 2007

So what is it that encourages us to develop this survival mentality and hone this interesting practice? Well, for some it is necessity (a way of life) but for most of us we live in towns with infrastructure, shopping malls, drug stores, hospitals, physicians, nurses, grocery outlets, WALMART and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I can’t speak for all of you but here is my motivation for developing my survival practice:

1. I do not feel comfortable basing my family’s entire survival needs on the corporate system of food distribution and infrastructure because these things can be taken away in a heartbeat;
2. I feel a strong spiritual connection to nature and the bounty that it has to offer. I have played and worked in it all of my life and it is a part of who I am;
3. It is a passion for me with emotional linkages and this skill set has helped me to enjoy the splendour of remote wilderness locations without worry;
4. There is great personal satisfaction in being self-sufficient and self-sustaining;

There are many people that are completely and totally dependent on the industrial establishment to provide them with life’s necessities. Many of these people are located in metropolitan centres and this has to be expected. However this does not mean that they do not have a ‘survival practice’.

Right now across this globe there are people wondering what they would do if in the same situation as the people of Japan in that horrible 8.9 subduction earthquake. Your practice should enable you to project what your most likely challenges are going to be and then develop a strategy and plan to ensure you are equipped to over-come them. What will you do when people have finished raiding grocery stores of product and clean drinking water is now a black market commodity?

For some of you, referring to the previous statement, I have now crossed the line from being a Survivalist to a Dooms Day Preacher.

I’m not apocalyptic about survival but I do take the time to reflect on the things I need to pay attention to as they apply to my surroundings in the wild. I do this as a Canadian Ranger on exercise, a Ministry Official with the BC Forest Service driving down a busy logging road or as a Professional Facilitator working with large groups of people in downtown Vancouver. Always evaluate hazards and identify ways of mitigating an impact.

I believe that establishing a ‘survival practice or mentality’ is on-par with the importance of educating young people in math, grammar, or history. How many people die every year simply because they have not developed a system of ascertaining or appreciating hazards and the potential risk posed to their safety? We’ve all heard numerous stories of easily avoidable incidents and accidents.



Where is Momma bear?

 The “WHAT IF” askers have the imaginative ability to foresee particular outcomes to a situation based on the best info available then visualizes and prepares a course of action to overcome ahead of the event. This is the survival mentality in a nutshell and for many people a good life philosophy to live by.

Perhaps one day survival practitioners will be accepted as a mainstream phenomenon and not viewed by so many as an apocalyptic fringe element of society waiting for the next earthquake to occur.

Whether you live in a concrete metropolitan jungle or a wilderness reality the method is the same.

Survival – is simply that.
Stay Alert out there and pay attention to the indicators.
Vigilans